The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has announced that it has approved the final specification of Bluetooth 4, a new low-power version of the short-range wireless communications technology.
The SIG says that power consumption has been cut to such an extent that devices with Bluetooth 4 can run “for years” on standard coin-cell batteries.
“The ability to run on such a miniscule amount of power — as little as 10% of the energy used by Classic Bluetooth devices — will enable a host of new uses for wireless products in everything from sports and fitness to healthcare and home entertainment,” said Mike Foley, executive director of the SIG.
He expects to see Bluetooth 4 in devices including fitness monitors, health sensors, and watches that let you control wireless headsets, phones and other mobile devices as well as receive information from the aforementioned monitors and sensors.
The standard also retains the high-speed data transfer capabilities of Bluetooth 3.0, allowing devices to transfer data at up to 25Mb/sec.
The SIG will begin testing Bluetooth 4 devices in October, with the first expected to go on sale before the end of the year.
