[snickothemule]

There’s little stopping Bluetooth from making its way into more devices, but its battery drain is many times that of, say, tried and true IR. But a new, lower power Bluetooth is coming next year.

By Texas Instruments, a new, 6mm-square Bluetooth system-on-a-chip can operate for “more than a year” on a small button-cell battery (like you see in watches or very tiny remotes). Everything from mobile phones to laptops could get a battery boost from the technology, but low power, low cost Bluetooth also opens to door to sticking the technology in more places, too (imagine an RF remote or console controller that you don’t need to recharge).

It’ll be interesting to see how many companies adopt the new tech when it’s available next year, along with how many side with the latest developments in Wi-Fi instead. [Texas Instruments and Press Release]

source: New Bluetooth Runs For A Year Off A Watch Battery | Gizmodo Australia

Bluetooth® low energy
Bluetooth low energy holds the promise of wireless connectivity everywhere, to everything
Bluetooth low energy is an emerging open standard under development by the Bluetooth SIG that will offer state-of-the-art communication technology in the sports and fitness, medical, watch, home and office and other consumer markets. Bluetooth low energy technology will offer a low-cost, low-power interface to your cellular phone, laptop, or other Bluetooth enabled product. Though Bluetooth low energy is a separate standard from Bluetooth, it can be easily integrated into existing Bluetooth chipsets and is poised for extensive roll-out in cellular phones and Bluetooth-enabled devices in 2010.
Why Bluetooth low energy:

* Compared to classic Bluetooth-enabled products, Bluetooth low energy enables the use of coin cells and energy harvesting solutions where applications can operate more than a year on a tiny button cell battery without recharging.
* Dual-mode devices enable connectivity to cell phones as Bluetooth low energy is easily integrated with traditional Bluetooth technology.
* Single-mode devices only support Bluetooth low energy and is optimized for low-power, low-cost solutions.

http://www.ti.com/ww/en/analog/blue...rf_general&HQS=Other+PR+bluetoothlowenergy-pr

Good old Texas instruments. To think that a game controller could not run out of power for a year, or that having bluetooth switched on in my phone wont drain the battery so quickly sure sounds delightful.

 

[ElijahTW]

While this does seem quite impressive, I need to see some real-world tests to believe it. I also wonder what speed it operates at.

 

[PCXL-Fan]

Very interesting. Cool post snicko.

Its quite obvious. Whats really at work though. The guys at Texas Instrument are just gonna slap on one of those photo-electric calculator strips.