Palm and Sony Ericsson to Push Bluetooth

Posted By: Ed Tuesday, March 19, 2002 1:50:29 PM

Palm inc. recently released a Bluetooth wireless-networking SD card and now it's going to put its mouth where its money is. It and Sony Ericsson have announced an agreement in which the two will jointly market the T68 mobile phone, Palm handhelds, and the Palm Bluetooth Card as the ideal solution for mobile professionals.

Palm began selling its Bluetooth card from the PalmStore last week. It costs $130.

Sony Ericsson T68 The Sony Ericsson T68 will be available in the U.S. in the next few weeks. It features a color screen and built-in Bluetooth. The tri-band phone works on 900, 1800 and 1900 megahertz GSM networks.

The agreement between Palm and Sony Ericsson goes beyond just marketing. The two will work together to help wireless providers like Cingular create applications that make use of Bluetooth... and their products, of course.

Cingular expects to offer the T68 and the Palm Bluetooth Card as a way to allow customers to access Cingular's suite of Xpress Mail products, the Cingular My Wireless Window portal, and other enterprise-based data applications.

"The emergence of Bluetooth will enable various devices to connect," said Todd Kort, principal analyst at Gartner. "Users will likely maintain small wireless 'gateways' through a mobile phone in their purses or on their belts so they can pick up any Bluetooth-enabled device, such as a notebook computer, mobile phone or PDA, and find it instantly connected to the Internet through the gateway. We believe that the Bluetooth market will mature quickly, becoming a mainstream property of new mobile phones and high-end PDAs by the end of 2002.''

Thanks to wim huizinga for the tip. -Ed

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Fantastic!

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 2:07:04 PM #
Wow - Palm and Sony teaming up. (sort of)

RE: Fantastic!
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 2:43:16 PM #
Palm and Sony teamed up years ago. Palm makes this operating system (you might have heard of it) that Sony uses on its handhelds.

RE: Fantastic!
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 2:48:04 PM #
Hey - thats right genius. Wish I would have know that. Smartass

RE: Fantastic!
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 3:05:53 PM #
The point is, some people have this idea that Palm and Sony hate each other. Nothing could be further from the truth. The compete on hardware but they cooperate on the OS. They are united in their opposition to Microsoft.

While some Palm and Sony users fight all the time, the companies get along fine.

RE: Fantastic!
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 3:36:22 PM #
Yes, fantastic if you live in Seattle, Chicago, Indy, Dallas or Orlando. How many years will it take for them to push it out to the rest of the country.

Mormons Rejoice!
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 3:47:27 PM #
It's in Salt Lake City! Yahoo!

RE: Fantastic!
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 4:47:14 PM #
Don't forget good ol' NYC!

RE: Fantastic!
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/12/2002 1:44:38 PM #
where is the sonyericcson palmos phone? **** symbian.

The T68 looks like a nice phone.

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 2:18:34 PM #
I just checked out the T68 on sonyericsson's website. This is a nice little phone. Combined with my M515 and the bluetooth card, I think this will make an awesome setup. Just my 2 pennies.

RE: The T68 looks like a nice phone.
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 2:27:17 PM #
Could you please post the link

thanks -mb

RE: The T68 looks like a nice phone.
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 2:36:38 PM #
Here you go:

http://www.sonyericsson.com/uk/spg.jsp?template=PS1&B=ie&PID=9773&LM=PSM_V&gal=105

RE: The T68 looks like a nice phone.
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 2:46:03 PM #
http://www.sonyericsson.com/us/spg.jsp?page=start

RE: The T68 looks like a nice phone.
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 2:50:12 PM #
I friend of mine bought a T68 in the UK last month and is using it in the US with Cingular as his carrier. It's an amazing little phone - especially when it's combined with the wireless BT headset.

Looks like I'll have to talk him into getting a SD BT card as well!

RE: The T68 looks like a nice phone.
mstur @ 3/19/2002 4:03:52 PM #
Since I am a lucky European, I already HAVE a Bluetooth phone (Ericsson T39), Palm m130 and a Bluetooth SD card now since two weeks. Let me say that using Blazer 2.0 this way is amazingly fast. I am also using a GPRS connection, which is connecting four times as fast as a WAP dial in, and costs nothing when you keep it on for hours with no data downloads.

Good bye, AvantGo, hello Blazer ;-)

OTOH, mail downloads are more tricky since my mailbox is usually full of long messages, many of them with attachments. ALL palm e-mail apps still get chocked with this kind of mails, and lose connection due to time out errors :-(

I think what we need is some intelligent algorithm how to let the mail apps choose which mail to collect and which to avoid. Current settings - e.g. of Electric Pocket/ Mailer - still are not sensitive enough to avoid huge messages...

RE: The T68 looks like a nice phone.
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 4:32:29 PM #
I used the demo over @ the site. I think overall the phone is a good one, the color screen and all is a plus. And to think compared to other color phones, its batt. life is the best of the best (as I heard). My only flaw is the color. I'm not too fond of gold, I hope they have a silver one as well upon their release :D.

http://pdan.has.it

RE: The T68 looks like a nice phone.
digilaw @ 3/19/2002 4:46:52 PM #
This phone, aparently, has been avalible for Voicestream customers for months. I got a chance to play with it last week and it is very nice. However, its lacking one feature that I need: a speakerphone.

RE: The T68 looks like a nice phone.
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 5:03:45 PM #
"Good bye, AvantGo, hello Blazer ;-)"

Um, lose the graphics and try Eudora Web. Without a proxy it's a bunch faster yet...

"OTOH, mail downloads are more tricky since my mailbox is usually full of long messages, many of them with attachments. ALL palm e-mail apps still get chocked with this kind of mails, and lose connection due to time out errors :-("

The HandEra enhanced Palm Mail app in the Net Install package handles this fine, with a number of options for deciding which mail to fetch. "Limit message to X lines", "Ignore messages over Y Kilobytes", "download Z newest".

RE: The T68 looks like a nice phone.
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 10:52:38 PM #
Don't worry ... it comes in "Lunar Grey". :)

The T68 design looks ugly
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/20/2002 11:06:35 AM #
This phone really looks ugly. Erission phones are getting from bad to worst, they should look to NOKIA for inspiration.

RE: The T68 looks like a nice phone.
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/20/2002 11:18:33 AM #
I agree with you 100%..The ugliness of the phone is the first thing that got to me. I liked Ericcson T29 and T39 phones though.

RE: The T68 looks like a nice phone.
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/20/2002 11:54:05 AM #
Go to this site to see a Singapore forum on T68.
T68 was launched quite some time ago, selling at around USD$420 with a 2 years contract with either Singtel/M1/Starhub.

RE: The T68 looks like a nice phone.
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/20/2002 11:56:14 AM #
http://pub46.ezboard.com/bmobileforumgroup

Sorry, was too fast.

RE: The T68 looks like a nice phone.
tdvaughan @ 3/20/2002 5:30:03 PM #
Weeell, I've used the T86 for a couple of weeks and it really isn't all that. It is slow, buggy and crashes far too often. Also the battery life isn't up to much.
Still, I guess Bluetooth is cool and if they get the firmware fixed it will be pretty good.

Good to hear

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 2:21:57 PM #
Beautiful! Now I won't ae to hunt the machine down unlocked and beg a local provider to let me switch SIM's with a machine bought from them.
Scott

Its about time!

digilaw @ 3/19/2002 2:16:48 PM #
Finally a bluetooth phone in the US. I've been waiting for blutooth to be useful for 4 years and every year they told me this was the year blutooth would be big. I guess the term is better late than never. Though I've already imported a bluetooth phone, I hope the avaliability of a phone here in the US will spur a beavy of bluetooth devices like they have been promising. I am still waiting for bluetooth earphones and remote control for my clie.

People forgot how long it took before 802.11 became a hit
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/20/2002 3:59:00 AM #
Even with the recent delays, the progression of the Bluetooth standard is far ahead of the adoption rates of almost any other comparable technology. Many point to the sudden emergence of 802.11b as proof that Bluetooth has already been superseded by more advanced technologies. However, the truth is that the road towards 802.11b's success began over a decade ago in 1990 when the IEEE 802 Executive Committee established the 802.11 Working Group to create a wireless local area network (WLAN) standard. The b variant simply represents the emergence of a version of the standard that is a viable mass-market commercial solution. In comparison, Ericsson first began toying with the idea of a short-range wireless technology in 1994, four years after work on 802.11 began. Furthermore, although the inspiration for Bluetooth occurred in 1994, real work on the technology as an industry standard did not start until the original Special Interest Group was formed in 1998. The 1.0 specification was released a mere two years ago in July 1999. The 1.1 Bluetooth spec was ready begin March 2001.

RE: Its about time!
digilaw @ 3/20/2002 2:09:16 PM #
As far as I know you are correct. However, the difference between WiFi and bluetooth is the hype. There was a minimal hype on 802.11b but the hype on bluetooth has been huge. This has lead to a large anticipation and continual disapointment when the expectations the hype engendered failed to be realized.

RE: Its about time!
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/21/2002 4:18:00 AM #
Pity that i can't disagree with ya digilaw. :o(

But that's behind us. We are now seeing some interesting products coming to the markets.....but we still hear that same old boring "bluetooth is late, hyped, slow...etc." arguments. Plus they still keep comparing 802.11 with Bluetooth. BORRINGGGGGGGGGGGGGG.

They COMPLEMENT eachother....pfffffffff

ALL MAJOR CARRIERS will offer new Sony Ericsson models

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 2:11:28 PM #
Palm shows off Bluetooth
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-863456.html

AT&T Wireless has expand there Portfolio of GSM/GPRS Phones with the Sony Ericsson T68 with Color Screen and integrated Bluetooth and the Nokia 8390
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020305/nytu061_1.html

GSM Cellular Handsets that work in USA and Canada
http://www.mphone.co.uk/usa.htm

More Carriers will follow: Bo Larsson, general manager of Sony Ericsson's North American operations, said that he expected ALL MAJOR CARRIERS to begin offering new Sony Ericsson models this year. First out of the gate was AT&T Wireless, which on Monday said it would offer the T68 with Bluetooth local wireless capabilities.

from Sony, Ericsson Bet Fun Phones Spark Gains
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020307/tc_nm/tech_sonyericss on_usa_dc_1

T68i, P800 and Z700 Phones have integrated BLUETOOTH.
Sony Ericsson unveils six phones (one with camera, 3 of them have built-in Bluetooth: The T68i, P800 and Z700), two new Bluetooth™ handsfree solutions and more
http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?page=C2_1&B=ie

RE: ALL MAJOR CARRIERS will offer new Sony Ericsson models
eipangan @ 3/20/2002 10:44:59 AM #
And don't forget AU KDDI in Japan is also offering a Sony Ericsson phone.

http://www.au.kddi.com/phone/cdmaone/c1002/c1002.html

I wonder why they won't release a phone similar to this outside of Japan. Phones in Japan are so much cooler.

Rico

this exactly the combo that i have...

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 2:48:18 PM #
and it is really great, especially with GPRS: you can stay online permanently, you pay only when data are being transferred and you can still use the phone.

Unfortunately there is one shortcoming, and I was surprised to notice it: if you use the bluetooth connection for an online setup, you cannot use it at the same time to make the palm dial a phone number. it's either or...I was disappointed. maybe an option for bluetooth 2.0?

Andy

RE: this exactly the combo that i have...
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/20/2002 8:57:39 PM #
Actually, that's most likely a limitation of the software in the phone and/or on the Palm device. Bluetooth just sends data back and forth (like an invisible cable), it doesn't tell the devices what to do with the data. Since Palm and Sony/Ericsson have this pact, perhaps a future software upgrade will let you do this.

-JM.

VERIZON?

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 2:52:45 PM #
Does anyone know if Verizon plans on offering the T68?

Hello.. GSM bites need CDMA here
OrionNE @ 3/19/2002 3:21:16 PM #
I do not live in a area with GSM. CDMA is pretty much the standard.. Anyone know of a bluetooth CDMA phone?

OrionNE

RE: VERIZON?
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 3:33:56 PM #
In Brazil we have the Ericsson T60c, a 800mhz 1xRTT CDMA phone with built in Bluetooth.

Eduardo Akira Watanabe
eduakira@uol.com.br

RE: VERIZON?
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 3:34:35 PM #
Verizon Wireless is CDMA, not GSM. Try the Motorola 270c with the bluetooth add on module.

Questions for Eduardo and the 270c person
digilaw @ 3/19/2002 4:38:33 PM #
Eduardo, we have the t60d in the US and that dosen't have bluetooth capacity. I checked the sonyericsson website on the t60c in Brasil and, though my Spanish is no good and bablefish did a bad job of translating it, there was no mention of Bluetooth on the page. You sure you have your facts correct?
To the person talking about the 270c, I am curious. Do you know if the bluetooth attachment is avaliable for 270c yet? I did a quick check of Verizon and Motorola's websites and did not see that accessory for sale yet (though it was referred to alot). If so any idea if it works as well as the Ericsson PAN? Thanks!

RE: VERIZON?
scouter075 @ 3/19/2002 7:54:54 PM #
According to the Sony/Ericksson website, there is a BlueTooth add on available for the T60d.

Here are the spec:

DBA-10 specifications
The Bluetooth Adapter DBA-10 adds Bluetooth to your mobile phone. Because the adapter contains a built-in Bluetooth chip, it can also be used for data functionality with a Bluetooth PC card and laptop. The adapter snaps onto the base of your phone easily and is small enough to fit in your pocket. It also has a charging port built in, so you don’t have to remove the adapter to recharge your phone.


scouter075@mindspring.com

RE: VERIZON?
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2002 10:01:30 PM #
Verizon just recently started listing the Motorola 270c for my area. I guess keep checking with Verizon or you can order the phone directly from Motorola. As far as the Bluetooth module, all I know is what the web site says which indicates its available.

RE: VERIZON?
digilaw @ 3/20/2002 2:12:05 PM #
Thanks. Yeah the website says the attachment for the 270c is avaliable but you cannot buy it yet. As for the t60, I see, an attachment. The reason I am curious is my sister wants to get a bluetooth phone but is stuck with an AT&T contract. I will check on that t60 attachment. Any idea if its for sale yet? And, if so, where?

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