Ericsson Readies Bluetooth Headset For Wireless Phones
By TWICE Staff -- TWICE, 12/20/1999
Ericsson plans mid-2000 U.S. deliveries of the wireless phone industry's first Bluetooth-enabled product: a hands-free headset intended for use with the company's Bluetooth-enabled T28 World phone, due in the second quarter in the U.S.
The headset uses a lithium polymer flat-wafer battery. Pricing and battery life weren't available.
Bluetooth's short-range 2.45GHz RF transmissions deliver cordless connectivity between devices up to 30 feet away from each other. With the Bluetooth headset, users can keep their phone out of sight in a purse, briefcase or coat pocket and answer an incoming call by pressing a button on the headset. Voice recognition enables users to initiate a call from the headset.
The Bluetooth-enabled T28 World phone operates on GSM networks in the U.S. 1.9GHz PCS band and in overseas GSM networks operating in the 900MHz band.
Said to be Ericsson's lightest and smallest phone ever, the unit is a 3.7 x 2 x 0.6-inch model weighing only 3.4 ounces. It will offer about three to four hours of talktime and more than 80 standby hours at an expected retail price of about $299.
Other features include data capability and WAP-compatible microbrowser, voice-activated dialing and answering, vibrating call alert, and automatic world clock. It's Ericsson's first phone based on a low-power 3-volt platform that boosts talktime per ounce.
As a Bluetooth-enabled product, it will also be able to transmit data from a Bluetooth-enabled laptop without connecting the devices by cable. In addition, Bluetooth would provide automatic data synchronization between laptops and wireless phones. Updates to a notebook's contact-list application, for example, would synchronize with a wireless phone's directory of phone numbers as soon as they were within 30 feet of each other.
One other Bluetooth-enabled Ericsson phone is available in Europe, and another European model is planned for second-quarter volume shipments.
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