Bluetooth gains speed with Wi-Fi

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group is developing faster Bluetooth by linking it with Wi-Fi.

The new technology will allow Bluetooth to use the Wi-Fi technology commonly found in many electronic devices, speeding the transfer of data-intensive files such as music and images.

The first devices with the enhanced Bluetooth technology could come to market by the middle of 2009.

Some electronic devices already combine Bluetooth and Wi-Fi functions, but they work off separate chips. The new technology will probably use chips which combine Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities. The chips are still under development.

Devices with the combined technology will use standard low-power Bluetooth radios to recognise and connect with each other.

When transferring large files, they will be able to automatically activate Wi-Fi radios, then turn them off to save power when the transfer is completed.