Bluetooth primer?

[shakushinnen]

Hi all,
I'm loathe to admit it, but I have very little idea as regards to how Bluetooth might be useful to me,
especially wrt my cell phone (Rebel 4, with no phone plan), which I mainly use for photos and light surfing.
If anyone would be kind enough to provide me with a basic primer, I would appreciate it; and if I were to
get one of these devices what would I be looking for?
Thanks,
.... john

 

[AugieTN]

Wireless headphones is probably the most popular use

I also use Bluethooth in my car for listening to Podcast, to control my trailer brakes when I'm towing my travel trailer and to link my phone to my laptop with KDE connect

Also the Bluetooth signal goes about 30ft (9 meters)

 

[olbriar]

Well BT is a useful connection tool. Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances. I use BT to stream tunes to wireless earbuds and to keep a line of communication between my phone and smartwatch. It's very handy in some situations but far from necessary. If you've not felt the need of BT communication.. no biggie. It costs nothing if you should decide to use the tech.

 

[shakushinnen]

AugieTN and oldbriar,
Thanks for your advice. What then is the advantage of Bluetooth over wireless Wi-Fi?
.... john

 

[AugieTN]

Wireless headphones, my trailer brakes or the connection to my car don't work on WiFi. It's a direct connection between your phone and the bluetooth item.

 

[Hadron]

Bluetooth is used for short-range communications between devices. The things I use it for are :

* wireless headphones
* sending small numbers of files or images between devices
* streaming audio from my phone to a better speaker and/or mic (kitchen radio, portable conference speaker)
* connecting to a wrist-worn fitness device
* controlling the lights on my aquarium
* using my phone as a remote trigger for my proper camera

The big advantage over WiFi is that many of these devices don't have WiFi connections, or even if they do they don't support these functions over WiFi.

WiFi and Bluetooth are intended for different things. WiFi is for high bandwidth transfers, typically connecting to the internet rather than directly device-to-device (though my phone and camera can use a direct WiFi connection for some tasks, e.g. part of the camera firmware update process). Bluetooth is for device-to-device connections, generally has shorter range, and uses a lot less power, but doesn't handle the speed of data transfer that WiFi can.

 

[shakushinnen]

Wireless headphones, my trailer brakes or the connection to my car don't work on WiFi. It's a direct connection between your phone and the bluetooth item.

Ah, I see, so it's more related item to item?
...... john

 

[shakushinnen]

Bluetooth is used for short-range communications between devices. The things I use it for are :

* wireless headphones
* sending small numbers of files or images between devices
* streaming audio from my phone to a better speaker and/or mic (kitchen radio, portable conference speaker)
* connecting to a wrist-worn fitness device
* controlling the lights on my aquarium
* using my phone as a remote trigger for my proper camera

The big advantage over WiFi is that many of these devices don't have WiFi connections, or even if they do they don't support these functions over WiFi.

WiFi and Bluetooth are intended for different things. WiFi is for high bandwidth transfers, typically connecting to the internet rather than directly device-to-device (though I my phone and camera can use a direct WiFi connection for some tasks). Bluetooth is for device-to-device connections, generally has shorter range, and uses a lot less power, but doesn't handle the speed of data transfer that WiFi can.

Ah ..... OK ....... got it.
Thank you all.
..... john

 

[AugieTN]

.....* controlling the lights on my aquarium.....

That has to be the most unique use of Bluetooth I have ever heard of. I tip my hat to ya!

 

[Hadron]

I'm sure there are weirder ones out there (I'll bet people program some really specific things on Raspberry Pi's). But yeah, the controller of my aquarium lights has a bluetooth module so I use an app on my phone to set the timer.

 

[ocnbrze]

.....* controlling the lights on my aquarium.....

That has to be the most unique use of Bluetooth I have ever heard of. I tip my hat to ya!

I'm sure there are weirder ones out there (I'll bet people program some really specific things on Raspberry Pi's). But yeah, the controller of my aquarium lights has a bluetooth module so I use an app on my phone to set the timer.

so it depends on the lights. my reef lights require more control and needs a wifi connection to my network if i want to tweak my light output and when to turn them on and off. i also have my wave pumps as well as my sump pump all connected to my phone via wifi.....so it depends on the equipment.

for me, i use bluetooth mainly for my jbl speakers, my samsung buds, and my gear watch 4. i also just bought a body scale that can measure my weight and determine my body fat. it is controlled and saves my data on my phone. it also needs bluetooth to connect to my phone.

 

[shakushinnen]

so it depends on the lights. my reef lights require more control and needs a wifi connection to my network if i want to tweak my light output and when to turn them on and off. i also have my wave pumps as well as my sump pump all connected to my phone via wifi.....so it depends on the equipment.

for me, i use bluetooth mainly for my jbl speakers, my samsung buds, and my gear watch 4. i also just bought a body scale that can measure my weight and determine my body fat. it is controlled and saves my data on my phone. it also needs bluetooth to connect to my phone.

Reef lights, aquarium? Where are the pictures?
...... john

 

[ocnbrze]

Reef lights, aquarium? Where are the pictures?
...... john

this thread talks about my 180 gal freshwater tank and towards the end it talks about my reef tank setup.

my new project-Aquarium keeping part 2

part 1 covered my itch to get back into the fish keeping hobby. within the thread i also talked about how i got my 180 tank installed. please see this thread:my new project-Aquarium keeping part 2 will cover my next projects (note plural) this post will cover my 180gal project. and post #2...

forum.earlybird.club

and this one talks about my pico reef tank:

my new project-Aquarium keeping part 3

hey guys looks like i'm in for another project. you can see my other projects here: https://androidforums.com/threads/my-new-project-aquarium-keeping.832644/ https://androidforums.com/threads/my-new-project-aquarium-keeping-part-2.1324432/ ok so looks like my mom has got the bug....LOL. she...

forum.earlybird.club

 

[shakushinnen]

ocnbrze ...... Wow!!! They're beautiful. You must be very proud of them. The zoas are breathtaking.
Thanks for show them to me.
...... john