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Bluetooth 5 Now Available

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Re: Bluetooth 5 Now Available

#51

Post by andrey-g »

namesbc wrote: post #44
bjt2n3904 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi! RF Engineer here. Bluetooth sucks for a number of reasons, only a few of which actually relate to RF. First, we're bad at naming things. Is it BLE? Bluetooth Smart? BTLE? Bluetooth 4.0, or Bluetooth 4 Low Energy? And what does this have to do with ANT+? This doesn't seem to be a big problem, but it's a sign of deeper problems with the spec. In the long run it makes it very difficult for developers to implement. B…

FYI, Orion Labs claims that they do audio over Bluetooth LE for their Onyx microphone device.

You can do anything over BLE, it's just that it isn't supported natively.

Re: Bluetooth 5 Now Available

#52

Post by matt_wulfeck »

I wonder why 802.11ah isn't getting much industry love. It has a range of 1km! That's enough to cover an entire home and yard with "good enough" low-bandwidth coverage. Combine this with a mesh network and we could get very large private networks without many devices.

Re: Bluetooth 5 Now Available

#53

Post by stronglikedan »

spiderfarmer wrote: post #24
jwr wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BLE devices actually tend to work quite well. If you try a Logitech MX Master Mouse, or an Apple Pencil, or a Microsoft mobile keyboard, you will find that they all perform very well. And most importantly, the dreaded "pairing" is only done once, ever.

My MX master needs to be paired at least a few times per week. It also doesn't wake up my Macbook Pro reliably. It sucks because other than that I love both devices.

I would check the software (as others have suggested) on the MBP side of things. I'm on Win 10 on a Dell M3800, and I haven't had to pair my MX Master since the first time I did it, over a year ago.

Re: Bluetooth 5 Now Available

#54

Post by m-p-3 »

seanp2k2 wrote: post #49
brickmort wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, connecting a device with bluetooth has less than 50% chance of continued success. When it doesn't work it really doesn't work, and there's only so much you can do with most device interfaces. I avoid it whenever possible. Hopefully this new release will change that for future devices.

Yep, I wanted to love Bluetooth for keyboards, but my Logitech and Microsoft wireless keyboards (work and home, respectively) work great with their proprietary receivers (basically like a wireless wire), while the Logitech K810 has random key lag and connectivity issues (try typing your password when Bluetooth doesn't work and you can't log in to re-pair it). Windows 10 also seems monumentally bad at Bluetooth, and I…

Another gripe I have with bluetooth on PCs (I also have the K810) is that most bluetooth receivers don't come with what's called the "HID Proxy" mode.

If most bluetooth adapters had that, I could use it to navigate the BIOS, etc.

Re: Bluetooth 5 Now Available

#55

Post by koolba »

seanp2k2 wrote: post #49
brickmort wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, connecting a device with bluetooth has less than 50% chance of continued success. When it doesn't work it really doesn't work, and there's only so much you can do with most device interfaces. I avoid it whenever possible. Hopefully this new release will change that for future devices.

Yep, I wanted to love Bluetooth for keyboards, but my Logitech and Microsoft wireless keyboards (work and home, respectively) work great with their proprietary receivers (basically like a wireless wire), while the Logitech K810 has random key lag and connectivity issues (try typing your password when Bluetooth doesn't work and you can't log in to re-pair it). Windows 10 also seems monumentally bad at Bluetooth, and I…

> try typing your password when Bluetooth doesn't work and you can't log in to re-pair it

Haha. That reminds me of the classic, "Simply goto to http://example.com/drivers to download the network drivers for your new desktop".

Re: Bluetooth 5 Now Available

#56

Post by problems »

seanp2k2 wrote: post #49
brickmort wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, connecting a device with bluetooth has less than 50% chance of continued success. When it doesn't work it really doesn't work, and there's only so much you can do with most device interfaces. I avoid it whenever possible. Hopefully this new release will change that for future devices.

Yep, I wanted to love Bluetooth for keyboards, but my Logitech and Microsoft wireless keyboards (work and home, respectively) work great with their proprietary receivers (basically like a wireless wire), while the Logitech K810 has random key lag and connectivity issues (try typing your password when Bluetooth doesn't work and you can't log in to re-pair it). Windows 10 also seems monumentally bad at Bluetooth, and I…

> basically like a wireless wire

Yeah, watch out with those, because a wireless wire is about accurate security wise too. Typically the proprietary dongles have very little security wise.

Re: Bluetooth 5 Now Available

#57

Post by lowglow »

audunw wrote: post #48
lowglow wrote: post #19

As someone who is building an applied AI hardware product, what can we expect from BT5 ? > Key feature updates include four times range, two times speed, and eight times broadcast message capacity. Longer range powers whole home and building coverage, for more robust and reliable connections. Higher speed enables more responsive, high-performance devices. Increased broadcast message size increases the data sent for i…

Keep an eye out for this. Should be available very soon https://www.nordicsemi.com/eng/Products/nRF52840

oh that looks awesome.

Re: Bluetooth 5 Now Available

#58

Post by drey08 »

Has anyone here had issues with bluetooth interference from.. traffic lights?

My Sennheiser Momentum wireless headphones seem to be running into this issue. It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does I notice it happens when the traffic lights switch (e.g green to red). There must be some kind of signal interfering with bluetooth that's emitted at that point, though I can't understand why since all traffic lights should be wired, to my knowledge.

For reference this is in Berlin, Germany. Perhaps it's something to do with the traffic tech they use in Germany.

Re: Bluetooth 5 Now Available

#59

Post by WhitneyLand »

moron4hire wrote: post #17

I cannot think of a single way in which Bluetooth has changed my life. Of the Bluetooth devices I have, I do exactly the same things I've always done, just with slightly more annoyance. My smartphone let me answer emails and burning questions on the go, while also letting me give up my car. My VR headset is making me completely rethink what User Experience means to the point of making the current usage of the term UX…

Car integration has been a killer app. The ability to talk handsfree, stream music without wires, etc.

Even if you swear by a headset in your car BT still allows call control via steering wheel buttons so you don't have take yours hands off.

Re: Bluetooth 5 Now Available

#60

Post by askvictor »

drey08 wrote: post #58

Has anyone here had issues with bluetooth interference from.. traffic lights? My Sennheiser Momentum wireless headphones seem to be running into this issue. It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does I notice it happens when the traffic lights switch (e.g green to red). There must be some kind of signal interfering with bluetooth that's emitted at that point, though I can't understand why since all traffic ligh…

An increasing number of roads administrations use Bluetooth to track traffic movement. They can get a signature of a car at one intersection, and track that car as it moves through the city. I guess they look for any Bluetooth device in the area. Supposedly it's anonymized, but you never know. I know they do this in Sydney Australia, not certain where else.
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