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Lots of very nice devices have been being either announced or seen in the wild at this years Mobile World Conference, but I think one of the most exciting thing seen there this year is a new way to use a familiar technology. For ease of connection and ubiquity, Bluetooth has always been the wireless peripheral’s weapon of choice, but has lacked a good deal as far as snappiness. Perhaps no longer.

Set to become official in April, Bluetooth over WiFi (officially called alternate MAC/PHY) will give us Bluetooth connectivity at WiFi speeds. Official in April, but ready TODAY. Gizmodo quotes Mukul Suth of Broadcom as saying that some Broadcom chips being produced today ALREADY have alternate MAC/PHY baked right in, only requiring a software upgrade to unleash the beast.

How does it work? Gizmodo describes the process as follows:

The alternate MAC/PHY method is quite clever: The two devices discover each other and shake hands using Bluetooth (being cellphones, computers, or any other shiny thing supporting the standard). When you start any file transfer, the communication gets passed to the Wi-Fi hardware layer, which will transfer your data at 54mbps. Once the transfer is over, Wi-Fi is disconnected and the control passes again to Bluetooth.

Sounds too good to be true. Check the video below since seeing is believing. USB v3 AND alt MAC?PHY…2009 is going to go by FAST it seems.

(Source – Gizmodo)