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Unlike with Thunderbolt tech, however, consumers can expect Bluetooth 4.0 accessories to launch with price ranges and use cases that are much more palatable to the average consumer. The big benefit of Bluetooth 4.0 will come from peripherals, much like with Thunderbolt(s intc) technology. As mentioned above, it works fine with devices using older versions of the spec, but it doesn’t get to take advantage of any of its power-saving features with Bluetooth 3.0 or lower. Bluetooth 4.0 requires both sending and receiving devices to have the technology on board before it can really start showing benefits for users. The latest spec is backward-compatible with previous versions, so your iPhone 4S will still work with the Bluetooth 2.0 stereo headset you have, for instance, or with your Apple Wireless Keyboard. The 4.0 version of the specification (also called Bluetooth Smart) introduces greatly lowered power consumption, thanks to a new way of maintaining a connection between devices without the need for a constant stream of data being transferred between the two.īluetooth 4.0 also contains the high-speed data-transfer specifications that were introduced with Bluetooth 3.0, which allows for speeds of up to 25 Mbps. It’s the latest incarnation of Bluetooth, the wireless device-to-device technology that allows your phone to talk to headsets, car stereos, keyboards and other devices directly, without the need for a router or shared wireless network. The tech is also present in Apple’s most recent Mac mini and MacBook Air releases. But the 4S also snuck in another feature upgrade, one that’s a ticking time bomb of potential goodness: Bluetooth 4.0. People have paid a lot of attention to two new features that arrived in the iPhone 4S(s aapl): The much-improved camera and Siri, the new voice-powered digital assistant.
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