Standard gets an update: Bluetooth 2.1 announced

2.0 is soooo last year

2 August 2007 14:31 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group, the more than 8000-member strong trade association responsible for advancing Bluetooth wireless technology, has announced the adoption of a new Bluetooth standard.

The group says that "Core Specification Version 2.1+EDR" (Enhanced Data Rate) through advances in security, simplified pairing and power consumption, will offer consumers an improved Bluetooth experience.

The improved pairing includes fewer steps between finding devices, securing the link and then authenticating and should mean connection within seconds.

Version 2.1 + EDR also offers optimised power consumption through a feature called Sniff Subrating which claims to increase current battery life by up to five times in many devices like mice, keyboards and watches.

The Bluetooth SIG anticipates silicon vendors such as Broadcom, CSR, Infineon and Texas Instruments will have Bluetooth v2.1+ EDR chips available immediately and that the first products will follow by the end of the year.

Full tags

Biz, Bluetooth