Bluetooth - What The Heck Is It!

hey guys,
i bought my ibm x41 tablet and it has bluetooth but i have no idea what the heck this thing is or how to use it and all that stuff...
any help would be appreciated!

thx

 

This is from the wireless guide i created. Covers everything about it:
Bluetooth is an enigmatic wireless technology, created a decade ago, that's always been on the cusp of breaking out. These days, bluetooth is fairly popular, more so with cell phone users than PC users, but that could change overt time. In short, Bluetooth is a wireless solution for short range communications between two devices, including PCs, PDAs, printers, cell phones and so on. It can transfer both data and voice communications, making it particulary useful for the small portable head phones you often see on cell phone users.
Unlike WiFi, however, Bluetooth isnt designed for large data transfers or Internet access, though it can be used for both if your masochistic. Because of its slow 1 Mbps data transfer limit, bluetooth is instead better used in situations where wires are unwelcome or unavailable. For example, if you travel with a cell phone and PC, you need to bring power supplies for both devices, but if they are both bluetooth enabled, you wont need to bring a third cable to synchronize your PC address book with the phone; you can just do it wireless, with bluetooth.
If your interested in using Bluetooth, you'll likely have to purchase a small Bluetooth radio for your PC. These generally take the form of USB fob, though i've seen them in various other form factors as well, including USB add ons, PC Cards, and SD cards. But as with WiFi, its always simpler and more convenient if you can simply get that feature built into the computer.

5A. Enabling a Bluetooth Radio
When you install an external Bluetooth radio or enable your internal Bluetooth module, Windows XP changes in subtle ways. First, a small bluetooth icon appears in the tray area, giving you a handy way to deal with various Bluetooth related tasks. Second, a new bluetooth devices control panel applet appears; you can access this applet by navigating to the control panel, choosing printers and other hardware, and then choosing Bluetooth devices.
5B. Using the Bluetooth Devices Utility
If you click the Bluetooth Devices icon in the tray, you will be presented with the pop up menu. This menu enables you to perform the following tasks:
Add a bluetooth Device: Before you can use a bluetooth device with your computer, you must add it to the system. For security reasons, many bluetooth devices must be locked to a certain device so that its features cannot be accessed by other nearby Bluetooth devices. Likewise, for funtional reasons, you might want to lock a bluetooth device to a particular PC. For example, you wouldn't want the keystrokes from a bluetooth keyboard to cause data entry on the wrong computer.
Show Bluetooth Devices: This option displays a list of the bluetooth devices that are associated with your PC
Send a File: Many bluetooth devices support data transfer, and you can use this option to send a file to a particular device.
Receive a File: Likewise, many bluetooth devices support recieving files as well. Your PC can both send and recieve files.
Join a Personal Area Network: Just as WiFi and ethernet equipment can be used to create a local area network (LAN), certain bluetooth hardware can create a Personal Area Connection (PAN), in which participating bluetooth devices offer their services to each other. For example, you might create a PAN that includes a PC, a PDA, and a printer (all which have to support bluetooth). in this scenario, boh the PC and PDA could exist between any of them
Open Bluetooth Settings: This option displays the Bluetooth Devices Control panel applet
Remove Bluetooth Icon: This option will remove the bluetooth Devices Icon tray.

5C. Adding a Bluetooth Device
To add, or associate, a bluetooth devie with your PC, you must first ensure that the device is on and its bluetooth radio is enabled. The following steps add a bluetooth capable Pocket PC to a PC.
1. Click the bluetooth devices tray icon and choose Add a bluetooth device from the list. The Add bluetooth device wizard appears.
2. Turn on your pocket pc (or other bluetooth enabled device) and ensure that its bluetooth radio is enabled and that the device is configured to be discoverable. The process for doing so varies per device.
3. In the add bluetooth device wizard, check the box titled My Device is Set up and ready to be found and then click next.
4. In the next phase of the wizard, XP will scan for compatible bluetooth devices and display a list of the devices it finds. Select the device you want to connect to.
5. In the next screen, the wizard prompts you for a pass key. This is like a password, and it will be used to associate the device for your PC. Select let me choose my own pass key and then enter a phrase that is 8-16 characters long.
6. Click next and the wizard will note that it is exchanging passkeys with the bluetooth device. Your PDA will beep and launch its Bluetooth Passkey screen. Enter the same 8-16 character passkey on the PDA; if you wait too long, the screen will disappear and you'll have to restart the wizard.
7. XP will find the New Hardware and display a series of balloon help windows. These very depending on the device. When the hardware recognition is done, you can click finish to complete the wizard.

5D. Configuring Bluetooth Devices
Once you've associated Bluetooth device with your pc. You can configure it further using the Bluetooth Devices control panel applet.
Click properties to view the properties sheet for this device. The most interesting information is on the Services tab: Here, you'll see which bluetooth services the device supports. In this case of the pocket pc just added, those services include Dial Up networking and Generic Serial Port, both of which have been assigned to virtual COM ports on your system. For a pocket pc, these services make it possible to synchronize the device over activesync with the pc, eliminating the needs for cables. For other devices, the services will be a bit more interesting. For example, you could use a cell phone to dial up the internet in a pinch, or interact with your system using Bluetooth keyboards and mice.
If you close this dialog and return to the Bluetooth Devices applet, you can configure other bluetooth options, using the options, COM Ports, and Hardware.

5E. Options
Turn discovering on: If you want other Bluetooth compatible devices (including PCs) to be able to discover your system via bluetooth, check this option. My advice, do not enable this option. Typically, you will configure all of your device connections from your PC and wont need other devices to discover you.
Configure Connections: You can determine whether Bluetooth devices can connect to your computer, and, if so, whether you should be alerted when a new device wants to connect. My advice: Require an alert when other devices want to connect.
Hardware
This page lists the devices that are connected to your computer, and not the bluetooth devices that are associated with your PC. You can access this information from the device manager, but this is a handy way to filter down to just the bluetooth devices.

5F. Sending and Receiving Files Via Bluetooth
One thing Bluetooth is really handy is for sending and receiving small files. For example, a bluetooth compatible cell phone can be configured to send photos it has taken to your pc. For the file transfer capability, you'll need to configure where files are sent, for both pc and the device. Naturally, how you do this depends on which device your using. The next two examples continue to use the Pocket PC we previously associated as an example.

5G. Sending Files to a Bluetooth Device
To send a file to a bluetooth device, click the bluetooth devices icon tray area and choose send a file. This launches the bluetooth file transfer wizard. Then, follow these steps to complete the transfer:
1. In the first stage of the wizard, click the browse button. the select bluetooth device dialog appears and the system searches for a compatible device. The resulting list will show both associated and nopn associated devices.
2. Select the device you'd like to connect to and click OK. This returns you to the wizard.
3. Click next to continue. Then, in the next stage of the wizard, select the file you'd like to transfer by clicking Browse and navigating to the file.
4. Click next and the file transfer will start. Depending on the device, you may need to accept the file transfer. On a pocket PC, for example, you will see an authorization req screen that will let you accept or deny this transfer.

5H. Recieving Files From a Bluetooth Device
Receiving files via Bluetooth is similar to the preceding steps, except that you choose recieve a file from the bluetooth devices pop up menu and then refer to your bluetooths devices instructions for initiating file transfer.

5I. Removing a Bluetooth Device
To remove, or disassociate, a bluetooth device from your PC, open the bluetooth devices control panel applet, select the device you wish to remove, and then click the remove button. WARNING: This funtion doesnt use any sort of "Are you sure" dialog, so make sure you're serious about removing the device before clicking the button.

 

To summarize, it's a short range wireless protocol. Best used to connect devices to transfer small amounts of data.

 

Dang, i knew there was something i forgot at the end. Thanks Brian for the Save.

Also, instead of having a router, you can transfer things between devices, but its short range only.

 

remember how you used to be able to sync your palm pilot via IR? it's like that. it's a wireless communication technology that allows you to communicate between bluetooth enabled devices such as PDAs, cel phones, earphones, etc.

it is not a longterm / large data xfer solution