Review: 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook - N4BB
One thing I don't understand is that Ross Cheriton writes that Bluetooth radio is 3.1 + EDR. Such a standard doesn't exist. Either it is 2.1 + EDR or 3.0 + HS.
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Review: 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook - N4BB
One thing I don't understand is that Ross Cheriton writes that Bluetooth radio is 3.1 + EDR. Such a standard doesn't exist. Either it is 2.1 + EDR or 3.0 + HS.
After reading that review, my impression is: not really worth the $550 price tag.
Agreed $550 is a little steep. I wouldn't say that if my 64g PlayBook that originally listed over $700 still had at least 50% of its value.
Christmas will be the time to buy ;)
Both the original wifi Playbook and the 4G Playbook have a Bluetooth 4.0 chipset --- but it doesn't have the BT 4.0 drivers yet.
Bluetooth 3.1 actually exist.
https://www.bluetooth.org/tpg/QLI_viewQDL.cfm?qid=18746
From the N4BB article - "The SunSpider test is where the 4G PlayBook really shines–or more like amazes. This measures how quickly various javascript functions are carried out in the browser. TRANSLATION: The lower this number, the faster your browser is generally. With the beefed up chipset, the PlayBook absolutely demolishes the old PlayBook, the new iPad, the Transformer Prime (with its fancy pants Tegra 3), and almost all tablets (and smartphones I believe) in existence at the moment."..........
Hahahaha, fancy pants tegra 3..... That made me chuckle.
Nope it doesn't (yet?):
https://www.bluetooth.org/Technical/...ns/adopted.htm
A few other products (i.e. some Samsung Smartphones/Tablets) are labeled to support 3.1, too. But there is no official Bluetooth 3.1 standard at the moment.
You will have to raise your issue with RIM. They list the Wifi and 4G varieties as 3.1.
You have to go through the Core Specification Addendums --- Bluetooth 3.1 is basically the "Refer to the Mixing of Specification Versions Part for applicability".
Bluetooth 4.0 low energy means 2 separate things --- (1) a new protocol for sleeping and (2) a new and incompatible low power radio.
Then Broadcom "invented" Bluetooth 3.1 --- using the new sleeping protocol BUT keeping the classic (Bluetooth 1.0 - 3.0) higher power sucking radio. This MIXING means that you have backward compatibility with all the Bluetooth devices from the last 10 years.
Broadcom working to enable 10-year battery life for Bluetooth peripherals | The Verge
https://www.bluetooth.org/tpg/QLI_viewQDL.cfm?qid=17774
Broadcom's BCM20730 is also the Bluetooth chipset inside the Playbook mini-keyboard.
Then Bluetooth SIG backed down and created the Core Specification Addendums to allow the mixing of the specifications --- thus creating Bluetooth 3.1.
Thanks for the explanation how "3.1" was created and what i means. I already thought that it has something to do with the CSAs 2 and 3 but I couldn't find a official specification or details. I wonder why they don't support 4.0, which includes the "Classic Bluetooth technology (1.x-3.x)" AND the new "Bluetooth low energy technology", so should be backwards compatible?
In Bluetooth 4.0, you can have the high power radio (for high speed data transfer) and low power radio (heart rate monitors with tiny watch batteries).
But for Bluetooth keyboard and mouse --- neither options fit the requirement. You don't need the high speed data transfer rate and you have enough physical space to insert an double A or triple A battery.
Your Bluetooth 3.1 keyboard has enough space for a pair of double A batteries that will last you 10 years of battery life. You don't need a Bluetooth 4.0 keyboard with a pair of double A batteries that will last you 40 years of battery life.