Project PDA

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi both have their places in today’s offices, homes and on the move: setting up networks, printing, or transferring presentations and files from PDAs to computers.

Bluetooth:

Bluetooth is in a variety of new products such as phones, printers, modems, and headsets. Bluetooth is acceptable for situations when two or more devices are in close proximity with each other and don't require high bandwidth. Bluetooth is most commonly used with phones and handheld computing devices, either using a Bluetooth headset or transferring files from phones/PDAs to computers. Since Bluetooth uses short-range radio frequencies, it is not as effective for setting up networks that can be accessed from remote locations as Wi-Fi is.

Bluetooth also simplified the discovery and setup of services. Wi-Fi is more analogous to the traditional Ethernet network and requires configuration to set up shared resources, transmit files, set up audio links (e.g. headsets and hands-free devices), whereas Bluetooth devices advertise all services they actually provide; this makes the utility of the service that much more accessible, without the need to worry about network addresses, permissions and all the other considerations that go with typical networks.

Wi-Fi:

Wi-Fi uses the same radio frequencies as Bluetooth, but with higher power consumption resulting in a stronger connection. As mentioned earlier, Wi-Fi is sometimes called "wireless ethernet". Although this description is inaccurate, it provides an indication of Wi-Fi's relative strengths and weaknesses. Wi-Fi requires more setup but is better suited for operating full-scale networks as it enables a faster connection, better range from the base station, and better security than Bluetooth. For more on Wi-Fi's abilities, see its main page.

One method for comparing the efficiency of wireless transmission protocols such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi is called spatial capacity.