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Palm Bluetooth SD Card
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By Larry Garfield, Saturday 30 November 2002  
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That new Bluetooth phone isn't very useful without a Bluetooth-enabled PDA. Larry Garfield looks at Palm's Bluetooth SDIO card, and likes it aside from the fear of it cracking.
With Bluetooth phones finally available this year, and more coming soon, the pressure is on PDA makers to add Bluetooth capabilities to their handhelds, so that they can talk to those phones. While many new devices come with Bluetooth included, most still do not. For Palm OS devices that use SDIO expansion slots, Palm offers the Palm Bluetooth SD card, adding almost seamless Bluetooth capabilities.
We tested the card on a Handspring Treo 90, although it should work the same on any SDIO-enabled Palm OS handheld.
 | The Palm BT SD card is a bit long, and we're worried about its durability
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The instructions for the card say to install the software first. The installer is a CD that includes three install modules; Bluetooth and Phone Services, Web Clipping, and Palm WAP Browser. The first installs the Bluetooth stack and drivers as well as a selection of phone profiles, the second the Web Clipping library for PQAs, and the third is self-explanatory.
All of the files are stored in Windows .cab files on the CD rather than as bare .prc files. Versions of the installer are included for Windows and Macintosh only, so GNU/Linux users won't be able to install the drivers manually. Since none of the installers install any files to the desktop, we really have no idea why Palm decided to be so short-sighted. Non-bare Palm file installers are universally inferior.
The card itself measures 4.9 cm long, about 1.5 times the length of a standard SD card. There is a slight bulge at the far end for the Bluetooth 1.1 radio itself, which faces away from the user when inserted, allowing the user to see the printed side with all of the FCC information, on the Treo 90. On Palm-branded devices, it faces the other way. When inserted, the card sticks out from the device just enough that we're a bit worried about it's durability in a pocket.
The driver adds a new "Bluetooth" Preferences panel to the handheld, as well as enhancing the Connections panel. The preferences panel lets the user turn the radio on or off, choose whether or not the handheld can be discovered by another Bluetooth device, and set the handheld's Bluetooth device name. It also allows access to the Trusted Devices list, which are other Bluetooth devices that have been paired with the handheld. Adding a new paired device involves a brief scan for other devices, then entering the same one-time password on both devices.
When adding a new Connection to the device, the user also has a new option to connect Via Bluetooth, in addition to Via Cradle/Cable, IR, and Serial. If a connection users Bluetooth, the user need also select a device to which to connect, which may or may not be an already-paired device.
The card also comes with a simple setup wizard applet named simply "Bluetooth". The wizard also includes an on/off selector for the radio, and three simple setup screens for a Phone, PC, or LAN Bluetooth connection. Each wizard creates a new Connection profile tailored for the type of device the handheld will be connecting to.
 | The card includes a simple setup wizard that is all most users will need
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Once setup, the card worked very well. We were able to successfully HotSync to a Bluetooth-enabled desktop. We also tried the Bluetooth Send feature to connect to another Bluetooth-enabled Palm. When sending a file via Bluetooth, the user need first select Bluetooth or SMS (or VersaMail, if installed) as the medium, then wait for the handheld to detect all local Bluetooth devices, paired or not, and then select the one or more devices to send to. The detection process slows the send, and will report all locatable Bluetooth devices, even if they won't accept a file transfer.
We transferred the 544 KB Wordsmith executable from the Treo 90 to a Palm Tungsten T first over infrared, then over Bluetooth. The detection process for IR was about 5.5 seconds, and the transfer itself took 2 minutes, 4 seconds. The detection process for Bluetooth, including the user selecting which device to send to, was about 20 seconds, while the transfer took about 2 minutes 40 seconds. That makes the Bluetooth transfer about 29% slower than the infrared, and the detection process 3-4 times slower (depending on how fast the user can select a device). On the other hand, the Bluetooth send works at up to 10 meters without line of sight.
The card also includes web clipping support, the Palm WAP Browser, and Palm SMS client for use through a Bluetooth-enabled phone. It also ships with two Bluetooth applications, BlueChat and BlueBoard, both from Colligo Networks. BlueChat is a two-party instant message-type application, and BlueBoard is a joint whiteboard tool that supports up to four simultaneous users. Establishing a connection with each program takes anywhere from 5 to 10 seconds.
Conclusion
The Palm Bluetooth card works as advertised. It adds a solid Bluetooth radio to any SDIO Palm OS device, along with the software needed to make it work. We're a bit concerned about the length being too fragile. Otherwise, the card does what it is supposed to do, and does it well.
The Palm Bluetooth card is available now from the Palm web store for $129 USD.
- What's positive: Simple setup wizard, stable connection
- What's negative: Association and discovery speed, possible fragile design
Overall: 
Conclusion
The Palm Bluetooth card works as advertised. It adds a solid Bluetooth radio to any SDIO Palm OS device, along with the software needed to make it work. We're a bit concerned about the length being too fragile. Otherwise, the card does what it is supposed to do, and does it well.
What's positive:
Simple setup wizard, stable connection
What's negative:
Association and discovery speed, possible fragile design
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