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Bluetooth 2.1+EDR has been a decent wireless personal area networking technology for phones, computers and other devices to communicate with one another without cables. But, it lacked the ability to transfer large files quickly. This means that when wanting to transfer 1GB or 2GB of music from your PC to your phone, you had to plug it in anyway or sideload it via the microSD card itself. Bluetooth 3.0+HS should change that.


In devices that have both Bluetooth 3.0 and WiFi, Bluetooth will be used to pair the two, but actual data transfer will take place over WiFi via an ad-hoc WiFi connection. This is very useful when trying to move large files like photos and videos. Bluetooth 3.0 will enable faster transfer speeds with the adoption of the 802.11 radio protocol.

The real news is that, moving forward, Bluetooth 3.0-equipped devices will be able to blast data back and forth at 24Mbps. Also, Bluetooth 3.0 is backwards compatible, and chip makers like Atheros and Broadcom are already working on making the hardware for it.

End products for consumers with Bluetooth 3.0 are expected to be in the market in 9 to 12 months.