Friday, February 7, 2003

BlueTooth, t68i, OS X notes Now that I have had a chance to live with BlueTooth on OS X for a while, I have noticed some subtle and not-so-intuitive behavior. I had long wondered why the Address Book on OS X had a little BlueTooth button on the window. Didn't make sense-- why would I not want to have my computer tell me about inbound phone calls and such? More specifically, why duplicate the functionality there we can easily turn BlueTooth off via a menu item similer to the AirPort menu item? As it turns out, there is a good reason. It seems that my t68i phone can only be talking to one bluetooth device at once. In particular, if Address Book and the t68i are locked in the ethereal embrace of BlueTooth love, then I can't use my Jabra Freespeak. Bummer, but not that big of a bummer. Really, it just took a moment to figure out what the hell was going on. It really isn't surprising given the way that BlueTooth is implemented -- both a bandwidth and a pairing issue. As it turns out, you can easily turn break the bluetooth bond between Address Book and the phone by simply hitting the button in Address Book, then answer the phone via the Jabra in a short enough amount of time that there is no risk of bouncing the caller to voice mail. The BlueTooth integration with Address Book continues to impress me. The SMS messaging feature is totally seamless and it is wonderful to be able to reply to an SMS using a full sized keyboard without having to take my hands off the computer and without having to find my phone (which is often buried in my bag or under junk on my desk). I just wish there were a way to delete all the SMS messages that the phone stores from the computer. The combination of the integration with Address Book and the wireless headset has made it such that I actually like my cell phone. A big step. Of course, I still can't stand idiots that speak loudly on the damned commute and I refuse to be one of those idiots. Beyond the "I'll be home in X minutes, bye" conversation, I refuse to use my cell phone on the train. 8:17:09 PM  pontificate