[gravymonster]

How do you actually do that? I've looked for a setting and tried just turning off bluetooth...

Sent from my BlackBerry PlayBook using Tapatalk 2

[bsirvio]

wondering the same thing...bridge for me is still bt only.

[blockbuy]

yeah - bridge says turn on Bluetooth - no wifi option

nothing in options on phone either

[gravymonster]

I'm noticing nothing in the actual release from rim says anything about it.

Sent from my BlackBerry PlayBook using Tapatalk 2

[LiteBulb]

I would assume u need bb and pb to be connected via Bluetooth, and also via wifi. Then bridged data will go thru wifi instead of Bluetooth. Try file transfer and see if u can feel the speed difference.

[bsirvio]

I would assume u need bb and pb to be connected via Bluetooth, and also via wifi. Then bridged data will go thru wifi instead of Bluetooth. Try file transfer and see if u can feel the speed difference.

ok, that makes sense, but i was under the impression that bridge over wifi meant what at least a few of us thought it did. if it is indeed the case that bt still needs to be turned on, that, to me, seems counter-intuitive. the point was, or at least what i thought the point was, to keep thirst to a minimum by using one signal for everything.

mildly frustrated, but i am pleased with 2.1 so far.

[zavar]

I don't think there are any specific settings for this. If both devices are on the same wireless, it just seems to work. Mh phone is at the other end of the house and I'm still bridged. I see activity on my WiFi router everytime I access bridge items. Not sure how it works, but it does!

[Chaddface]

You have to maintain the bluetooth connection and be on the same wifi network while using wifi bridge.

[SixStringMadness]

You have to maintain the bluetooth connection and be on the same wifi network while using wifi bridge.

Kinda makes me wonder what the point is......

[jonty12]

Kinda makes me wonder what the point is......

agreed. where the speed difference would help is bridging to the internet, but if both are on wifi, what's the point? Another advantage would be less battery usage if you didn't need bluetooth, but again, bluetooth has to be on, so what's the point? finally if you could bridge in an "ad hoc" network between the phone and pb for faster data transfer than that would be good too, but you can't, so, once again, what's the point?

[Chaddface]

Kinda makes me wonder what the point is......

Data goes over wifi. The bluetooth connection is used to create a secure connection.

[SixStringMadness]

Data goes over wifi. The bluetooth connection is used to create a secure connection.

That still seems a bit redundant..... Not being critical, just not real clear on the purpose.

[peter9477]

Assuming this is even working, the point would be both higher transfer rate (over WiFi) and, possibly, reduced Bluetooth power consumption.

Assuming that both devices would have had WiFi on anyway, using WiFi may be more efficient (essentially watts per megabyte transferred) for the data transfer.

The Bluetooth connection would be mostly idle in this state, so overall consumption may be reduced. Might take a bit to set up an experiment to explore that and prove/disprove the theory...

[jonty12]

Data goes over wifi. The bluetooth connection is used to create a secure connection.

and....?? the only place this helps is "open on playbook" for pictures where there's a small speed inprovement. Beyond that, since both are on wifi anyway, there is very little if any benefit to this.

[Chaddface]

Transferring large files between devices which I do often would go much faster over wifi.
I just transferred a 200 MB file from phone to PB using files and folders. The transfer took 5 minutes. I don't know how that compares just an observation.

[Mercury]

I asked Michael Clewley about it and this is what he said

https://twitter.com/MichaelClewley/s...05528964186112

[peter9477]

I just tried a 202MB file transfer with and without WiFi enabled as I did it.

With just Bluetooth: 317s

With BT and WiFi: 282s.

I have no idea if it's reproducible yet... may not have the time to check right now.

Conclusion: none... for all we know, that "leaked" feature isn't even really part of this release. (Edit: okay, so if Clewley says so then I guess we have it. Would have expected maybe a bigger effect though.)

[mdmullis]

I tried a larger video file over the "newer" OS 2.1 WiFi connection and the time of transfer was meaningfully faster - approximately 45% faster....

[farside33]

I can also verify that the data is going through wifi. The wifi data indicator on my phone was flashing while doing a file transfer test.

Result of transfer test using a 5 MB mp3 file.

Wifi disabled: 15 seconds.

Wifi enabled: 5 seconds.

I used two different 5 mb files to prevent any caching mechanisms during the test.

FYI. I did need to reboot both my PB and BB before the wifi mode started working.

[wayoung]

I tried a larger video file over the "newer" OS 2.1 WiFi connection and the time of transfer was meaningfully faster - approximately 45% faster....

How did you transfer a video file? Through file manager it can't see video and on the phone there is no send to playbook option.

[peter9477]

mayoung, see Chaddface's comment earlier... some of us (at least) are using Files & Folders. You can top-swipe to switch to the /BlackBerry folder (where the remote BB phone filesystem is mounted locally) and drill down from there to your videos folder or whatever, then switch back to the PlayBook and do the copy.

[wayoung]

So greater functionality from paid apps than the official blackberry software. Nice.

[Steve Rizla]

As others have stated, the BT connection is required in order to make the secure connection and probably also acts as a way to inform each device that they are on the same Wifi network and what their ip addresses are.

Requiring your phone and PlayBook to sniff out the other RIM devices on a network is not efficient and most likely breaks a handful of their tennets about security.

Just my guess.

[LoganSix]

mayoung, see Chaddface's comment earlier... some of us (at least) are using Files & Folders.

Do you need Files & Folders on the BB Device? My Bridge connection is Unlocked.

No bridge files found. Please connect your phone and unlock the bridge via the icon next to the clock. Then tap the Refresh button here.

Or am I getting an error because I'm on a BES?

[SeekerBerry]

Yes, a BES prevents F&F from accessing data on your BB...