Digital Trends

Bluetooth Is Not Dead

We've heard for years that Bluetooth was going to be the next big thing in wireless communications in the US. It has garnered much interest overseas but never really caught on that much in the States. It seems like that is about to change, as many companies had innovative Bluetooth offerings at CES this year.

Known primarily as a motherboard manufacturer in the US, EPoX introduced a line of Bluetooth devices for home and office use. They featured parallel and a USB Bluetooth printer adapters for wireless printing, a Bluetooth enabled keyboard and mouse setup and several Bluetooth motherboard modules. What most impressed us from EPoX was the BT-DG04A, a Bluetooth enabled flash memory stick. The unit features a USB Bluetooth module for connecting to other devices and comes with 64MB, 128MB or 256MB of onboard storage.

BenQ had an offering in this arena also, showing their s900 series Bluetooth keyboards, designed in conjunction with BMW DesignWorksUSA.

3Com had a Bluetooth PC card allowing a laptop to wirelessly communicate with other devices. Several manufacturers had Bluetooth headsets for cellular phones to show off. Many of these devices are not yet ready-for-prime-time, but will be on the market in the next few weeks and months.

Headset manufacturer Plantronics showed off their line of Bluetooth communication devices, including the M3500 mobile headset with Audio IQ. Audio IQ is supposed to improve audio quality, especially in noisy environments. The M3500 should be available in early Spring of 2004.

One of our favorite Bluetooth products was the FIC MP3 Bluetooth Headset. It connects to your wireless phone, notebook PC, or pocket PC via Bluetooth. It plays MP3s and stores data and works as a cordless headset when connected to your phone.

TDK featured Bluetooth communication kits made specifically for various PDAs and mobile phones. The kits allow for easy communication between PDAs, laptops and phones and will be available later this month.

Everything Wireless

While Bluetooth was prominently displayed throughout CES, wireless networking products were still a huge portion of the show. Many manufacturers showed off their new 802.11a, b, and g products.

IOGEAR, which had one of the best looking booths at the show with a futuristic neon-green and clear plexi theme, was showing off their Wireless-G broadband gateway and a new wireless USB print server.

Another product that IOGEAR exhibited was the GWU514, an 802.11b USB client device with a built in thumb drive with 128MB of storage.

Going one-up on its competitors, Buffalo announced its 125mbps wireless AirStation router. The WHR2-G54 operates on a theoretical maximum 125mbps chipset, surpassing the latest offerings from D-Link and Netgear which feature 108mbps maximum data rates.

Netgear's 108mbps offerings got a facelift with the addition of an integrated USB2.0 port, allowing for network attached storage. Called the WGT634U Super Wireless Media Router, the device will be available in Quarter 1 of 2004 with a retail price of under $200.

We're starting to see some new and innovative features on SOHO routers. Compex impressed us with their NetPassage 26g router, a wired and wireless 802.11g router that includes two USB ports for connecting a printer and webcam.

But it's not just the networking gear that is wireless this year. Many product categories have wireless components that were shown off at CES.

Sony introduced their Wireless Dream System, which features wireless rear speakers. Samsung had a similar device, using Bluetooth for their rear speakers, but we were unable to see the product.