Something that has probably caused quite a few Windows Mobile 5 customers to vent some rage lately was the removal of Bluetooth dial-up networking from AKU3. Why did Microsoft do it? According to a blog entry over at Microsoft's Developer Network, the dirty deed centered around Internet Connection Sharing, or ICS (think "wireless router" capability for your WM5 handset) which is technically superior for a handful of reasons. Translaton: Ole' Softie doesn't want all those spiffy WM handsets from becoming Bluetooth-centric access points to newer 2.5G and 3G wireless data networks. Fair enough; Bluetooth's peak data rates don't stand a chance against the best that HSDPA can throw at it, but still, old-fashioned dialup has its place. The good news here? Microsoft has heard the pleas of DUN-less users everywhere and plans to bring back the profile in a future Windows Mobile 6 AKU. Little consolation for the moment, but thanks to the vibrant hack community, we imagine most of us will have no trouble getting in on said AKU when the time comes.

This sounds like a half-completed statement, but bear with us here: "icube will begin marketing a Bluetooth peripheral called BluRing that links the Apple's iPod to a cell phone so calls can be received while listening to music without the need to take out the phone." Umm, okay. We're not sure how that could work, but let's assume that the BluRing product has some sort of microphone built-in. Yep, check. Ok, whew -- we feel better now. The icube BluRing will come with a remote control (with embedded mic) with a connection to the iPod's 3.5mm earphone connector found on all iPods to date. While we're not sure most customers will want to abandon the iPod's signature clickwheel for music navigation, the BluRing can also be used to "select songs and adjust volume on the iPod." Hmm -- seems like this product really (really) wants to marry an actual iPod and a Bluetooth accessory (with wires to boot). Seems kinda complicated to us, with all all tangly wired mess potential and everything.

[Via textually.org]

In the quest to continue driving down the size of cellphone handsets these days, the quest to make the tiniest (and hopefully most usable) Bluetooth headset is not far behind. Remember when the Nextlink Bluespoon was claimed to be the world's smallest Bluetooth headset? Those days are long gone and Sagem has announced that it now has the world's smallest Bluetooth headset. We better call the Guiness Book of World Records (at least for today), as the Sagem G4 claims that it "could be" the world's smallest (nice cop out), at 35 x 18 x 12.5mm -- and weighing just 8 grams as well. Performance, you ask? Sagem claims 5 hours of talktime and 100 hours of standby, and charging time is only 1.5 hours to boot. Cost? 53 British pounds, or about $103 greenbacks in U.S. currency, but right now, there's only a teaser at Sagem's website -- and it's supposed to be available some time this week.

[Via Pocket-lint]

One of these days we'll see a single-chip solution that implements WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 and even the obligatory FM radio receiver all into once nice, tidy package. Oh wait -- that day has come. Broadcom wants to garner more business from OEM handset manufacturers apparently, as it is trying to solve the dilemma of ever-shrinking handset internal real estate by stuffing in as many RF solutions into a small, single chip as possible. With both WiFi and Bluetooth hovering in roughly the same radio frequencies, Broadcom has assured everyone that both wireless technologies won't be interfering with each other based on an on-chip algorithm to prevent such a radio fuss. And hey -- that FM radio is prime as well -- no reason to leave that off the chip, right? Broadcom's solution here features IEEE 802.11a/b/g along with Bluetooth 2.0 and full-range FM reception to boot.

The A640 isn't new to us, nor is the fact that it's coming to Sprint, but we thought we'd pay this flip another visit now that it's gone all official on us. We've heard rumors that it packs Bluetooth 2.0, but otherwise the feature list is pretty uneventful, with a VGA camera and Ready Link support in the package. If the A640 speaks to you in ways that other Samsung flips simply haven't, it's available for $49.99 on contract from your friendly Sprint outlet.

Even though Cingular has already brought us the Blackberry 7130c, we've still been itching to get our hands on the other versions, including the slick new 7130v, ever since we caught the FCC pictures of them a few weeks ago. Thankfully, it looks our wait might finally be coming to an end. The same forum that has been surprisingly accurate when it comes to blowing up RIM's spot in the past is reporting that the "enterprise friendly" devices will be hitting the UK on T-Mobile and Vodaphone in July, with the T-Mobile US version hitting around the same time. We think waiting another month for our fix of EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0 and the ever-addictive SureType is far too long. Our Treo, on the other hand, is keeping its fingers crossed for an indefinite delay.