Quezi

iPhone 3G with a Jawbone Bluetooth headset (photo by robertnelson - CC-BY)

Bluetooth is a versatile wireless standard which allows electronic devices to exchange data with other nearby devices. For two Bluetooth devices to work together, it’s not enough that they both contain a Bluetooth chip and antenna. They must also support the same Bluetooth profile, which defines how the data exchange takes place.

The iPhone 3G has a Bluetooth chip but supports only the Headset Profile (HSP). This allows a headset to receive a monaural (monophonic or mono) signal from the phone. It also allows for the volume to be adjusted, ringing to be signalled, and for calls to be answered and terminated (hung up).

For listening to stereo music it would be necessary to have support for the Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP).

With no Bluetooth profiles other than HSP, it’s not possible to use the iPhone 3G for dial-up-networking (DUN, or tethering a cellphone to a computer or PDA), image transfer, printing, SIM access (so that a car phone doesn’t require a separate SIM card), etc.

The iPod Touch (2nd Generation) does not support any Bluetooth profiles, although it does contain a chip working on the same frequency that can connect to the Nike+iPod device (“Sport Kit”) using a proprietary protocol.