Bluetooth - What can I use it for?

[rxblitzrx]

My laptop has bluetooth, but I have no idea what I can use it for. I was thinking "new mouse" but I guess that idea kinda fell through since i only see like a total of five bluetooth mice.


So what is BlueTooth useful for on a laptop???

I have a Treo with BlueTooth that might prove to be of some use.

 

[TheStu]

Well, mice and keyboards... some cameras and printers have bluetooth on them for wireless syncing and printing

Your phone might have some abilities to connect to your laptop, it all depends on the carrier really.

 

[rxblitzrx]

Shoot, so it's basically useless... at least for anything I can use it for. k.

 

[corkyg]

I have it on my Thinkpad - now 6 months old. Never used it nor even activated it. It was not a factor in my "buy" decision, one way or the other.

 

[onlyCOpunk]

If you have an internet plan on your cell phone (like say you have a smartphone or blackberry) you can connect to the phone via bluetooth and thus use the internet on your laptop. Pretty convenient actually when on the road. Otherwise it can be used to sync your phone.

 

[rxblitzrx]

You know what, I almost forgot that I could do that via BLUETOOTH! I've been using my cable to hook my laptop up to my phone for internet access. This is great!! Now I can connect to the internet with the phone in my pocket while I'm in class.

 

[zig3695]

i have a logitech bluetooth compact mouse that i cant do without. it works so well that ill personally never go back to RF wireless mice. my laptop didnt come with BT nor can be installed, so im forced to buying those tiny usb adapters just so i can use BT on my laptop.

dont be afraid to buy bluetooth gear for your laptop, youll probably find that it works 10x better then proprietary RF gear and of course is universally compatible (which is REALLY nice since all my BT gear can work anywhere there is BT). i also use a GPS bluetooth puck for my laptop.... never get lost! and that same puck works with my phone's bluetooth stack too.

rxblitzrx- youre probably going to notice much better speeds and connectivity with a USB cable, but then again im on EDGE so its always slow and unreliable even with the cable.

 

[rxblitzrx]

zig3695 - Thanks for the info on BT. I'm actually having trouble getting it to even work! Will report back later after I get it to connect to my Treo 700p

 

[zig3695]

of all wireless devices ive had, bluetooth has been the most reliable *by far* and if you think about it makes sense. the BlueTooth definitions are and have been set in stone for some time now, and every bluetooth devices runs on the same drivers (microsoft's bluetooth stack). that simply doesnt leave many areas for error, unless you use 3rd party drivers.

If you are encountering problems, i would question wether or not you have a clean install of your bluetooth stack. many programs and manufacturers disable or cripple windows native bluetooth functions, but those functions are the ones that basically always work and are what you probably need to get back. as to why every bt adapter maker thinks they need their own version of 35MB of bloated bluetooth drivers is beyond me... maybe they just want to give their customer service something to do.