We know you're not really down with digesting any more catchphrases, but the technology formerly known as Ultra Low Power Bluetooth / Wibree is now being dubbed Bluetooth low energy. Now that we're clear on nomenclature, you may be thrilled to know that CSR showcased its recently unveiled BlueCore7 dual mode (Bluetooth low energy and Bluetooth v2.1) chip at a Bluetooth SIG Medical Working Group meeting. According to onlookers, the handset was able to transfer data to another nearby mobile using just 3 frequencies rather than 32, resulting in an unquantifiable decrease in power consumption. Sounds like a winner on the surface, but we have this weird feeling that mass adoption of this tech is like, years away.

UK's CSR has been making waves in the Bluetooth and eGPS waters, so it's only fitting that it's the first to cram Bluetooth, eGPS, and FM all on one chip. The BlueCore7 silicon combines Bluetooth v2.1+EDR, ULP Bluetooth (or Wibree), eGPS (which they say works better in indoor and other non-GPS-friendly locales), and FM Tx and Rx in what they say is a major step in reducing the size, cost, and power needs of wireless devices. CSR boasts that this chip integrates "more wireless technologies on a single chip than any other product on the market." Who are we to argue? They expect to have BlueCore 7 to be available in volume starting in Q4 2008, when you'll be able to listen to FM radio on your Bluetooth headset while finding your satellite position indoors.

[Via CustomPC]

We haven't heard much about Wibree lately, but the next-gen Bluetooth standard looks to be humming along nicely, with a name change to ULP (Ultra Low Power Bluetooth) and now a dual-mode chip from CSR that supports Bluetooth 2.1 and ULP on the same silicon. The chip consumes 10 times less power than a standard Bluetooth unit while connecting, and 50 times less power during data transfer, as it's essentially a stripped down version of Bluetooth with way fewer frequencies to worry about. This dual-mode chips means we won't have to leave the superior bandwidth of Bluetooth 2.1 behind. The chip should be available in the market sometime in 2008.

[Via The Inquirer]

Texas Instruments loves Bluetooth. The RF and semiconductor company announced that it'll take what experience it has in the ZigBee arena into the Wibree realm since it apparently loves all tech ending in "ee." Seriously though, Ultra Low Power Bluetooth (which took over the Wibree standard just recently) will be TI's focus here as it tries to ply into the short-range connection explosion that we're still waiting on to occur between watches, toys, sensors and more. We love Bluetooth (who doesn't?) and ULP Bluetooth's potential to be a low-cost wireless connectivity scheme that expands beyond cellphones and PCs seems to be ripe for exploitation.

Sometimes, just sometimes sanity prevails. Remember Wibree, Nokia's proposed Bluetooth-like (but not Bluetooth) solution for short-range wireless cable replacement in low-powered devices? Well, as of this morning, Wibree, and its 10x lower power consumption (but shorter range) will become part of the Bluetooth specification for ultra low power wireless devices. Once the spec is integrated, products like watches, toys, and even healthcare devices (er, pacemakers?) can join your Bluetooth Personal Area Network. You know, after the spec if finalized during the "first half of 2008" which will undoubtedly extend to Q3 of 2008 and then Q... ah hell, you know how it goes.

We all love Bluetooth, given that, among other things, it powers our lovely cordless headsets and nicely syncs our Treos with our laptops. But just as we were snuggling into a long-term relationship with this fantastic short-range technology, Nokia has to come out with a new wireless connectivity standard called Wibree (no, not WiBro). Nokia claims that Wibree maintains a data rate of 1Mbps (not as good as Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, which tops out at 2.1Mbps) at a range of up to 30 feet (yes, Class 1 Bluetooth can go up to 100 meters), operates in the 2.4 GHz band, but says that it's "10 times more energy efficient than Bluetooth," according to Bob Iannucci, head of Nokia Research Center. Nokia also said that it's working with Broadcom, CSR, Epson, Nordic Semicondutor and other companies to further develop the standard so that Wibree products can be released by the second quarter of 2007. It seems like Nokia is gambling pretty hard on this Wibree standard, given that the industry and consumers have invested tons of cash in Bluetooth-friendly products already and will no doubt be reluctant to get a whole new set of Wibree-friendly devices. That said, Reuters reports that "Nokia expects devices currently connected by Bluetooth will get a dual Bluetooth-Wibree chip, while devices that are currently not connected will use a Wibree-only chip." That smells like a huckster's gambit to us -- for all this hoopla about efficient power usage, that extra radio will no doubt draw additional power, which will certainly undermine some of Nokia's claims.

Read - Nokia press release
Read - Reuters