Menneisyys

TIP: Make sure you enable “Receive all incoming beams” if you want to receive files / PIM records over Bluetooth on Pocket PC’s with the Microsoft Bluetooth stack!

I’m very frequently asked about “mysterious” Bluetooth behavior. One of the most widely asked question concerns the inability to receive anything over Bluetooth of Pocket PC’s based on the Microsoft Bluetooth stack if you disable “Receive all incoming beams” in Settings / Connections / Beam (as is recommended by many).

This is caused by the fact that Microsoft considers infrared and Bluetooth transfers very similar. To a degree, referring to the two wireless technologies by the same thing is logical. For an ex-Widcomm user (Widcomm (Broadcom) is the other, well-known developer of Bluetooth stacks widely used on Pocket PC PDA’s), however, it needs a lot of getting used to. (Most of the mails I get on this subject have been written by ex-Widcomm users.)

I don’t think this (en/disabling both infrared and Bluetooth file / PIM receiving with one chexckbox only) is a very good design decision – many would like to enable Bluetooth receive while disabling infrared because of the constant power consumption of the latter and the proliferation & the generic ease of the former.

On Pocket PC devices (please see for example all my power consumption-related articles starting – and linked back – from this report on the power consumption of the HTC Universal), as the infrared unit only works on them when the device is not suspended (switched off), the additional power consumption of the infrared unit is not problematic at all (please note that many say the opposite. DO read my articles to see why they are not right.)

On Pocket PC Phone Edition devices (that is, PPC phones), however, constantly enabling the receiving of incoming beans may shorten the battery life a bit (not much though – the, depending on the use of your device minutes or dozens of minutes you lose, however, may prove VERY important sometimes.)

I think Microsoft should split this checkbox to two, independent checkboxes; for example, “Receive all incoming infrared beams” and “Receive all incoming Bluetooth beams”. Programmatically, it wouldn’t be an issue and would be great.

Devices equipped with the Widcomm Bluetooth stack, as you may have already guessed, don’t have this problem (give it a try, for example, on the WM5-upgraded HP iPAQ hx4700 or any other Widcomm-based, new Pocket PC). With them, as with “Beam” in the built-in Office applications (Contacts, Calendar) and File Explorer, beaming only refers to infrared, not Bluetooth. That is, if you disable “Receive all incoming beams” on any Widcomm-based Pocket PC, you will still be able to receive anything, any time over Bluetooth.

Additional information on the Bluetooth niceties can be found for example here (and, in general, in my blog).

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MS MVP- Mobile Devices.

rcab

I have not had a problem with my x51v but I am bookmarking your posting so that I can find it if needed. I am sure others having problems will find it useful.
Thanks for providing this information.