Bluetooth - ideal and useless

The hardware engineers did a fantastic job. The way the specifications of Bluetooth are developed, with all the different profiles to cater to every conceivable application, shows the professionalism and brilliance of the people behind Bluetooth.

The same cannot be said of the software people. Virtually every notebook PC comes with Bluetooth these days. But it is effectively useless. The dreams and aspirations of the Bluetooth creators are not, and cannot be, realized. It is a utter complete waste. The culprits are Microsoft and the driver developers of the device makers.

If some of the original goals of Bluetooh were realized, everyone would be able, among other things, :

  • To exchange files between notebooks instead of the hassle of a thumbdrive.
  • To connect to the Internet on the road through the mobile phone in the pocket, seamlessly.
  • To control a PowerPoint show, for example, with a pointer device using Bluetooth, instead of having to plug in another dongle.

I had gone through four different notebooks with Bluetooth. Every time it is always something like the following, which is the latest HP ProBook 4720s of mine:


Going to HP's driver support site merely wastes my time.  Contacting HP support wastes more time without a resolution.

Desktops are worse.  I bought a Bluetooth dongle from BlueSoleil some time ago and the driver BlueSoleil destroyed the PC.

I have yet to see a single person using Bluetooth on a PC.

Why is it so difficult to get this simple but very useful job done?

Comments

frknswt said…
I agree! Bluetooth has never been useful, even though I have it on my phone, laptop, Palm, and now my new Galaxy Tab. Older versions don’t work together or devices don’t recognize each other. It was a great idea, but it seems it will remain only an idea.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 8:13:00 AM PST
Tyw7 said…
But Bluetooth on phones or mobile device is not as useless. Bluetooth is more of a mobile standard to connect devices to the mobile and send files to each other. On PC it's useless. Plus, all wireless devices come with their own dongle. Plus, some of Logitech's devices can share dongles (one dongle for multiple devices via Logitech unite).
Monday, May 7, 2012 at 7:03:00 PM PDT
Anonymous said…
Last night it was wonderful. I transfered a bulk lot of MP3 from my old Nokia to my new Galaxy Note 2. This morning, what happened? I can no longer pair/transfer between the Nokia and Note 2. Laptop and Note 2 stopped pairing as well. Insert usual defense, "I didnt change anything...".
Once I research the cloud a bit more, my Note 2 to Laptop should be a breeze to interconnect for file sharing. Let me not forget the Iphone and Note2 would not pair from day 1, are they being childish and refusing to play together in the hands of the consumer? I keep hearing from the Apple fans that I should make the move to all Apple devices and life should suddenly becomes hassle free? Its tempting as I waste my time trawling through the internet for solutions that dont exist. At least we can all take comfort that we are not alone.
Saturday, December 1, 2012 at 11:28:00 PM PST
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