Wireless Home Networking - Index of

Chapter 15: Using a Bluetooth Network
� PDAs that use the ACCESS Garnet operating system (OS): These PDAs
run the Garnet operating system (formerly Palm OS) — which is an older
but still useful and user-friendly OS. You can find Palm PDAs on Palm
Computing’s Web site (www.palm.com) and also by searching the Web
site of ACCESS (www.access-company.com), the spin off that develops
the OS.
� Handhelds that use the Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system:
Windows Mobile handhelds are typically (though not always) a bit more
expensive and faster than ACCESS OS PDAs. The major manufacturers
of Windows Mobile systems include Hewlett-Packard (www.hp.com),
Toshiba (www.toshiba.com), and Samsung (www.Samsung.com) —
even Palm makes a Windows Mobile version of its smartphone. In many
ways, down to the user interface, Windows Mobile models tend to
mirror Windows-based desktop and laptop computers in a smaller,
shrunken-down form.
� Smartphones: As we mention earlier in this chapter, in the section
“Discovering Bluetooth Basics,” the line between PDAs and cell phones
becomes more blurry with each passing day, and in fact smartphones,
which combine a PDA and a cell phone in one device, are taking over
the PDA world. Companies such as Palm are building cell phones and
PDAs in one (the famous Treo phones), and other companies such as
Samsung (www.samsung.com) sell Windows Mobile–based combos.
Some smartphone devices use entirely different operating systems (such
as Symbian, Blackberry, or even the open-source Linux operating system
used on many business server computers). Even Apple is in the smartphone
business with the release of the Apple iPhone. This multimedia
mobile phone device has not only Bluetooth but also Wi-Fi and EDGE
built into it. The iPhone uses an optimized version of the OS X operating
system. This phone generated so much hype that even though it’s less
than 1 percent of the smartphone market — which is less than a half
percent of the total cell phone market — we have to mention it here
because it’s just too cool to leave out.
Despite the variations among the PDA world, there’s also a commonality —
PDAs work much better as connected devices that can talk to computers and
other PDAs. And, because PDAs and cell phones are increasingly converging,
or taking on the same functionality, any of the applications we discuss in the
preceding section may come into play with a PDA.
In particular, the synchronization application we discuss in the preceding
section is especially important for PDAs because they tend to be mobile,
on-the-road-again (thanks to Willie Nelson) extensions of a user’s main PC.
Most PDAs now require either a docking cradle (a device you physically set
the PDA in, which is connected via a cable to the PC), or at least a USB or
another cable to synchronize contacts, calendars, and the like with the
PC. With Bluetooth, you just need to have your PDA in the same room as
the PC, with no physical connection. You can even set up your PDA to
automatically synchronize when it’s within range of the PC.
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