# Why is Bluetooth still popular? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 25, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698 "2016-10-25T17:25:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698/1 "2016-10-25T17:25:25Z")
I bought my first wireless head set yesterday. Skullcandy Smokin’ Buds. It includes a microphone. Odd name. My daughter recommended them and told me they are comfortable to wear. > **[\- Office Depot](https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/140565/Skullcandy-Smokin-Buds-2-Wireless-Earbud/)** Easy install. Once I remembered to turn on the Bluetooth feature on my Android phone. It detected them easily. I may eventually buy a printer that supports Bluetooth. I’m curious why headphones still use Bluetooth? Wouldn’t it be more efficient to use the normal wireless feature that the phone already has? Friends have told me to shut off Bluetooth when I’m not using it. Apparently it drains the phones battery. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698/2 "2016-10-25T17:39:22Z")
A typical smartphone has 3 types of wireless features: the connection to the cellular network (voice, 3G, LTE, etc), WiFi, and Bluetooth. Using a cellular network to connect to a headphone is just silly - you’d have to send the signal to the tower, and have it send it to your headphone - which needs its own SIM card and at least 3G connection. Huge waste of power, bandwidth, money, etc. WiFi is a possibility, but you’d have to set up the headphone to connect to your WiFi network, or have the phone create a WiFi hotspot and have the headphone connect to that. Either way it’s an inconvenience. Also, you need a big battery on the headphone because WiFi uses a fair amount of power. Bluetooth, on the other hand, is designed to connect an accessory to a host computer. Connecting a headphone to a smartphone is _exactly_ the type of use it’s designed to do. And it’s a widely used standard, used not just on headphones/headsets but also smart watches, mouses, keyboards, styluses, location trackers, etc. It’s a 2-way communications protocol, so you can put control buttons on headphones. And there are more and more different types of Bluetooth devices becoming available. For example, I just bought a temperature/humidity monitor that syncs with my phone via Bluetooth. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698/3 "2016-10-25T17:46:57Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Skullcandy Smokin’ Buds. It includes a microphone. Odd name. 😃 Made my day. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698/4 "2016-10-25T17:47:09Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Friends have told me to shut off Bluetooth when I’m not using it. Apparently it drains the phones battery. Not much, if it’s just sitting idle. Unless you’re regularly running out of battery, is it worth it to you to do whatever extra step you have to do to turn the bluetooth on/off every time you want to use it? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698/5 "2016-10-25T17:56:38Z")
I’ll try leaving it on. See how my battery does. Turning it on/off requires going into Android setup. Press the gear icon. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are the first two options. ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698/6 "2016-10-25T18:40:03Z")
What version of Android are you using? You have been able to turn Bluetooth on and off from the quick settings since at least Lollipop. Just a quick swipe from the top of the screen and you can then toggle it on or off. ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698/7 "2016-10-25T18:50:28Z")
I leave bluetooth on all of the time, so I don’t forget when I get in the car. When I check my battery usage stats at the end of a day, bluetooth is negligible. Just leave BT on. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698/8 "2016-10-25T19:59:18Z")
“Why is Bluetooth still popular?” Because Apple or Samsung or Sony or whoever haven’t yet come up with a closed-proprietary equivalent they can convince us is worth paying a fat bundle for. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698/9 "2016-10-25T20:52:41Z")
Bluetooth uses less power, and is easier to set up. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698/10 "2016-10-25T21:03:54Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Not much, if it’s just sitting idle. Unless you’re regularly running out of battery, is it worth it to you to do whatever extra step you have to do to turn the bluetooth on/off every time you want to use it? I know on some of my phones, as they got older, I’d get into the habit of turning bluetooth on and off when I’d get in and out of the car, it’s not that big of a deal. OTOH, if you have a good battery and you regularly go to bed with plenty of charge left, there’s no real reason not to just leave it on all the time. And, with that, if you’re going to toggle BT, you may want to toggle wifi as well (just be careful not to blow through all your data because you’re streaming at home with wifi off) > [@aceplace57](#): > > I’ll try leaving it on. See how my battery does. > > Turning it on/off requires going into Android setup. Press the gear icon. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are the first two options. > [@Cyros](#): > > What version of Android are you using? You have been able to turn Bluetooth on and off from the quick settings since at least Lollipop. Just a quick swipe from the top of the screen and you can then toggle it on or off. Like Cyros said, with newer Android versions/phones you can just pull down from the top and easily toggle BT on and off, but on all my older ones, I had a widget on my home screen that did the exact same thing. Further more, you can put the Gear Icon on your home screen as well. Go to your applications, hold down the Settings/gear icon and put the shortcut where ever you want it. I have mine there from when I first got the phone and was playing with all the settings a lot, however, if you do have a recent android phone, that gear icon also shows up when you pull the top shade down. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698/11 "2016-10-25T21:40:14Z")
Bluetooth is fine. Does it’s job well. No problem with it at all? ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Jake\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake_Jones)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698/12 "2016-10-26T04:49:21Z")
It’s kind of strange to refer to Bluetooth as popular. It is not popular, it is _ **ubiquitous** _ because it is an IEEE standard with universal industry support for the purpose it serves, Personal Area Network (PAN) connectivity. Just you and your personally owned devices, talking to each other. We don’t need no stinking infrastructure! ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698/13 "2016-10-26T10:39:42Z")
**Still** popular? What alternative are you proposing? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698/14 "2016-10-26T13:44:04Z")
I’ve always wondered the opposite: why you can’t get a wider range of computer peripherals that use Bluetooth, thus freeing up some USB ports. I don’t have anything against USB, mind you — if laptops came with 8 of them the need for bluetooth keyboards and mice would not arise. I may indeed seek out a bluetooth headset, since my Logitech rechargeable just died. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698/15 "2016-10-26T15:27:59Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > I’ve always wondered the opposite: why you can’t get a wider range of computer peripherals that use Bluetooth, thus freeing up some USB ports. I don’t have anything against USB, mind you — if laptops came with 8 of them the need for bluetooth keyboards and mice would not arise. I may indeed seek out a bluetooth headset, since my Logitech rechargeable just died. Bluetooth is significantly slower than USB 2.0, and vastly slower than USB 3.1, so only low-speed peripherals (like Mice or Keyboards or low-fi Audio) make sense over Bluetooth. For the OP: Here’s the Venn diagram of wireless standards, which shows why each standard has a niche - [http://www.embedur.com/img/IoT-Technologies-Range-vs-Rate.png](http://www.embedur.com/img/IoT-Technologies-Range-vs-Rate.png) Here’s one that compares the data rate to the power consumption: [![](https://iebmedia.com/images/art_images/ieb34wirelessnet4.gif) ](https://iebmedia.com/images/art_images/ieb34wirelessnet4.gif) ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698/16 "2016-10-26T18:33:06Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > **Still** popular? > > What alternative are you proposing? I’ve been proposing flag semaphore. ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698/17 "2016-10-26T18:44:07Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’ll try leaving it on. See how my battery does. > > Turning it on/off requires going into Android setup. Press the gear icon. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are the first two options. Just remembered, you can use Google Now to do this too. “Ok Google, turn off/on bluetooth”. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-bluetooth-still-popular/769698/18 "2016-10-26T18:54:51Z")
I’ve learned a lot from this thread. I’ve seen people wearing the ubiquitous Bluetooth earpiece for at least 15 years. I incorrectly thought of Bluetooth as outdated. I understand now that it fills an important niche in technology. It’ll be around for quite awhile. Thank you for setting me straight. I like the Bluetooth shortcut on Android’s pull down shade. 😃 very glad someone pointed that out. Much quicker than clicking the gear icon.