What Is Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)? [Bluetooth]

HEAR THIS: 2011 would be the year of Bluetooth. Or rather the opposite year of Bluetooth, the first one being, like, 1995. Anyway, here’s why you want to care in regards to the ‘Tooth again: It’s called BLE. It’s like Bluetooth Light.

BLE is a new edition of Bluetooth…

Announced over two years ago and eventually codified as component to the official Bluetooth 4.0 spec only some months ago, BLE, or Bluetooth Low Energy , is most often like regular Bluetooth, in that it’s an effortless system for making wireless connections over short distances. This is different in a number of hugely important ways, however.

…that uses a small fraction of the facility that its older brother does…

The spec sheet on BLE is a touch disheartening before everything. It’s slower than regular BT by rather a lot, to the point that voice and other audio connections aren’t possible. But, well, this:

Bluetooth low energy single-mode chips consume less power than dual-mode chips and are
optimized to run off a coin cell battery for a year or more.

I usually turn off Bluetooth on my phone and laptop because it drains a noticeable amount of power. With BLE, I wouldn’t must.

…and requires new hardware…

BLE hardware will are available in two flavors: single mode and dual mode. Dual mode hardware is a hybrid of traditional and BLE, and might operate in both high-power and occasional-power modes. (With regards to a phone, one for typical Bluetooth duties, like audio streaming, and the alternative for something like connecting to a heartrate monitor, or forwarding text messages to an eye fixed or tablet.)

Single mode BLE hardware only connects to other BLE devices, but sips power.

…like this.

The watch seen here is without doubt one of the first single-mode BLE devices, and it’s an imposing concept:

The still-nameless Casio prototype also weds its alarm functions in your phone, shows incoming email alerts, and syncs up to the phone to set its own time… Its new Bluetooth Low Energy system promises a battery life of two years.

The tech could also be used in fitness devices and medical equipment, though the Bluetooth SIG expects it to be used in cellphones and laptops, too, since including BLE in new Bluetooth-equipped devices is neither expensive nor difficult.

Expect it to quietly occur in you next phone, laptop, or tablet. Or watch. Or remote! Virtually anything, really.

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This post is tagged: alarm functions, audio connections, effortless system, heartrate monitor, occasional power, wireless connections