Belkin Bluetooth Review - Belkin Bluetooth Review

This is all done through the “Bluetooth Manager” on the PDA. Which you can access either from the Start menu, or by tapping on the Bluetooth icon in the system tray (circled in red). 

Once your in the Bluetooth Manager, it will search for any devices that have a Bluetooth connection, and give you the status of the device.

Tap on the device to bring up the Device information, and under the Action tab, you can connect to various services.

As you can see, from here my device can connect to the serial port, and network access. To sync the PDA with the PC/Laptop, check the “ActiveSync Partner” box, then tap the Start menu to get back to the “Today” screen (the ‘desktop’ if you will). Tap on the Bluetooth icon in the system tray again, and select ‘Start ActiveSync’. Once connected to ActiveSync, you can sync the PDA with the info on your PC.

You can also connect to share network access from a device, which is a cool function, since you can surf the ‘net, send and rcv email, chat on your IM client, basically anything you would do on a full fledged PC with an internet connection. To connect to network access, it back into the Bluetooth manager and into the Action tab. Select ‘Connect to Network Access’ (duh).

(Hey Justi, what about that 240x320 resolution I asked for?!?)

Also as you can see from the above menu, you can send a file wirelessly, pretty quickly as well. I sent all the bitmaps of the screenshots above through the Bluetooth connection, and for an average size file of around 230KB it took approx 9 seconds (approx 26KB/sec).

There are many other types of services available with the Bluetooth devices depending on what devices you are using. This was really just a brief overview of the most commonly used tasks. As Bluetooth becomes more widely available, I’m sure I will update the article.

Conclusion

When I set out on researching Bluetooth products, all that really interested me was connecting two computers wirelessly to share an internet connection in my house, so that I didn’t have to run 200” of CAT 5, and start snaking wire through the walls. Could I have went the 802.11 route, sure, but I already had a router running, and it just wouldn’t be cost effective. For the price of an 802.11 PCI or PCMCIA card, I was able to get up the Bluetooth connection, without dumping the extra cash for a 802.11 router. It was a REAL pain in the beginning with the lack of good documentation for setting up the services, but like I said in the Intro, Belkin has top notch tech support, and had me up and running within 24 hrs of my first contact with them. I also got the added bonus of getting to ditch the USB cradle for my Pocket PC, and run it wirelessly as well. Now I can check my email, surf the net, and keep a tab on the guys on the site for the comforts of ‘the Throne’ (I’m sure that paints a pretty picture in all your heads, but it’s the hardcore techies dream come true…believe me)

Pros:

1. Inexpensive way to enjoy wireless connectivity
2. Belkin name backing the products
3. Excellent tech support
4. Once it’s set up properly, it’s very easy to use
5. PDA adapter documentation includes all necessary info to get connected

Cons:

1. USB and PC card documentation is for the birds, as far as configuring the services available.

I want to thank Belkin for supplying the Bluetooth adapters, and HUGE thank you to Mike over at Mobile Fanatics for ending my search for the right CF type II adapter.