Bluetooth 3.0… in Time for iPhone 3.0?
iPhone 3G uses Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, but it seems like the folks behind the BT standard are ready to release the next big version, coincidentally sharing the same 3.0 version number as the next iPhone firmware update, coming this summer.
There’s been no word on Apple adopting Bluetooth 3.0 for iPhone OS 3.0 or the next generation iPhone hardware expected to be previewed at WWDC in June, but according to BGR, it will be landing on April 21st and will enable:
Ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless technology to achieve transfer speeds of up to 480Mbps. No, seriously. Higher transfer speeds are actually achieved by enabling 802.11 standards when heavy lifting is involved and then switching back to an older, slower standard when big transfers are completed.
Of course, Apple’s track record when it comes to BT is not good, so there’s no saying whether or not they’ll make the jump to Bluetooth 3.0 now… or wait for 2015 to roll around…
April 10th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Would a new Bluetooth version require new hardware chips, or can it work on older hardware, like the iPhone 3G?
April 10th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
How much faster are they projecting the BT 3.0 is going to be compared to BT 2.0.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
No way, nobody will be able to implement this standard so quickly.
@Edisontiger: BT 2.0 is up to 2.1Mbit/s, BT 3.0 should be up to 480Mbit/s
April 10th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
WOW. Sounds like it will probably have something to do with BT Tethering. I doubt it has anything to do with sending files over BT since I haven’t heard any news about Apple enabling that.
April 11th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Thanks rpv. I can’t believe the difference. Thanks agian.
April 12th, 2009 at 6:48 am
If I’m not mistaken, this higher bandwidth will allow for higher quality sounding stereo bluetooth headphones. The fidelity in current sets are less than acceptable. We’ll just have to see if this makes possible home stereo systems being able to utilize the HD audio streams and codecs via bluetooth, or maybe I’m jumping way ahead of current technology?