[lilmiss]

So last night, I accidentally left my phone in the car. I live on the ground floor of an apartment building and my car is at least 50 feet away.

Normally I can't live without my bb but now, all i did was bridge my playbook to my phone and I could see any calls that came through. Anyone important I just called right back from the house line. And I was able to avoid going outside in the cold (I'm a lazy student). When this thing gets bbm its gonna be AMAZING!!!

I have only one complaint - that it was released in the middle of exam time and I lack the self control to stop playing with it and go study The playbook is gonna make me fail!...totally worth it though

[lilmiss]

Oh and for the record...I have an ipad which I loved...right up until April 19!

[brendonlee]

I've been pretty impressed with the range of the bridge. Normally bluetooth is only effective +/-30 ft i believe, but I'm pretty much able to put my phone down in my house and walk anywhere around and access the data.

[CrackBerry Kevin]

Wicked to hear that. Seriously.. I always thought the range of bluetooth was like 30 feet, but I'm experienced the same thing where devices can stay paired for wayyyy further distances.

Cool on the iPad thing too. Since getting the PlayBook I haven't touched the iPad. Well, I have a few times to see what it felt like, and the whole home button thing just feels so 1980 now compared to the PlayBook's gestures.

[jwn66]

yea i was walking around my house last night, bridge works in the entire house, not a small house either, didn't try going outside to see how far I could make it away from my torch, as I was too lazy lul.

[brendonlee]

even more interesting to me, was that i was in Best Buy today returning my ipad covers (ha), and my playbook was in my car. Thats a good distance, plus going through brick walls, and whatever else is in the way. I happened to look at my phone and noticed that the bluetooth symbol was white (I was expecting grey, since its white only when connected to a device). Too bad i didn't have my playbook with me and my phone in the car, it would have been awesome to see it actually working that far.

I think some official Crackberry.com tests are in order for seeing the approximate open-field range that the bridge works!

[ratsttam]

There are three classes of BT connection. 3= 1meter (3ft), 2= 3 meter (9ft), and 1= 100 meter (~300ft).
2 being the most common. Aparently the PB is a class one BT device, see the excerpt below

Bluetooth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Class Maximum Permitted Power Range
(approximate)
mW dBm
Class 1 100 20 ~100 meters
Class 2 2.5 4 ~10 meters
Class 3 1 0 ~1 meter

The effective range varies due to propagation conditions, material coverage, production sample variations, antenna configurations and battery conditions. In most cases the effective range of class 2 devices is extended if they connect to a class 1 transceiver, compared to a pure class 2 network. This is accomplished by the higher sensitivity and transmission power of Class 1 devices.[8]

[simsim]

So last night, I accidentally left my phone in the car. I live on the ground floor of an apartment building and my car is at least 50 feet away.

Normally I can't live without my bb but now, all i did was bridge my playbook to my phone and I could see any calls that came through. Anyone important I just called right back from the house line. And I was able to avoid going outside in the cold (I'm a lazy student). When this thing gets bbm its gonna be AMAZING!!!

I have only one complaint - that it was released in the middle of exam time and I lack the self control to stop playing with it and go study The playbook is gonna make me fail!...totally worth it though

Aaah student life...

Too lazy to go to the library to get a book 5 minutes before they close, but never too lazy to drive 30 miles after midnight to get a pizza and beer

Great info on the PB bridging distance though!