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	Home / News / Phones

	Bluetooth reaches 1.2	By Anthony Newman, Thursday 6 November 2003

Wireless technology grows up with extra features and abilities.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), the trade association responsible for Bluetooth wireless technology, today announced the adoption of Bluetooth Specification Version 1.2. The updated version of the core specification includes new features which the SIG claim result in a more reliable and robust user experience for consumers.

This new version of the Bluetooth Core Specification was designed for developers by developers with a view toward a more positive user experience and the future wireless world. The current specification is included in over 1000 products as diverse as computer mice and mobile phones to automobiles and various computing products. Version 1.2 is also intended to set the stage for the development of a growing number of mainstream products such as more feature rich mobile phones, headsets, PDAs, digital music players, cameras and laptops in a consumer's Personal Area Network.

The Bluetooth Core Specification Version 1.2 introduces a host of new features intended to make Bluetooth wireless technology easier and more reliable to use, including Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH) which aims to reduce interference between wireless technologies sharing the 2.4 GHz spectrum.

Cordless telephones, microwave ovens and certain Wireless Local Area Networking (WLAN) technologies, including IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11g, generally share the same wireless frequencies as Bluetooth wireless technology. AFH works within the spectrum to take advantage of the available frequencies without limiting the Bluetooth transmission to a set of frequencies occupied by other technologies. This 'adaptive hopping' allows for more efficient transmission within the spectrum, thereby providing the user with greater performance, even if using other technologies along with the Bluetooth wireless technology.

Enhanced Voice Processing is designed to improve the quality of voice connections, particularly in noisy environments, using error detection methodologies. This version of the wireless technology also allows for faster connections to other Bluetooth wireless devices while also retaining backward compatibility with existing Bluetooth-equipped devices.

Consumer products that incorporate the new version of the Specification are expected to begin shipping in the next quarter, with greater volumes arriving in the market over the next 12 to 18 months.