Faster speeds are finally coming to new GSM phones here in the U.S. At first, GPRS, but now EDGE, UMTS and HSDPA are becoming available for data access in larger metropolitan areas.

I've decided to buy a 770 (or it's successor) for it's 'smart' functions and upgrade my original Razr for the 'phone' functions (rather than carry an all-in-one like the N95).

My question is this: Assuming I'm tethetering the 770 (or 880) to a phone via bluetooth, at what point does the bluetooth connection get saturated? At EDGE speeds (75-135 kbps), at, UTMS speeds (220-320 kbps), or at HSDPA speeds (400-700 kbps)? [speed estimates are fom Cingular's site]

Knowing this will guide my choice of phone to get to go with my 770. All I can find about Bluetooth 1.2 transmission speed it that it will be 723 Kbps. Will the new tablet have Bluetooth 2.0?

TIA,

jclarkv

Bluetooth 1.2 has a data rate of 1Mbps which may equate to (very) approximately 700Kbps data throughput once you allow for communication overhead, so it should be good enough for a HSDPA connection.

New tablet and BT 2.0? One can only hope so, it wouldn't make sense to release in 2007 a multi function device designed with connectivity in mind that depends on an "old" communication standard.

Great answer, thanks. Any suggestions for a phone?

LG CU-500 does very well with the Nokia770,
especially with cingular's medianet unlimited plan (19.99 a month).

I'm in the UK, so can't really advise on US phones or US networks - my current phone is a Sony Ericsson W950i and the 770 appears to be having BT issues with this phone so you may want to avoid it (you probably would anyway, as it doesn't support HSDPA...)

Given a choice, I'd probably go with the (yet to be released) Nokia N95 - the GPS in the N95 should be usable with external devices such as the Nokia 770 (and it's successor) in which case it means carrying one less device (ie. the GPS module)

The LG-CU500 spec sheet says it only has Bluetooth 1.1, though. I agree it's a nice phone though.

As to the N95, would one really need a 770 having a phone like that? I do like the 5 megapixel camera, though.

IMHO the 320x240 screen on the N95 is unsuitable for serious web browsing (frankly, anything less than 800x480 is impractical for web browsing!)

If you are interested in GPS, you may want to consider the N95 as a companion to the 770 (or it's successor) in order to avoid carrying around a separate GPS device. If you're not interested in GPS, a low to mid-range Bluetooth EDGE/HSDPA device will more than suffice for basic DUN & phone duties.

w/ LG cu-500, EDGE speed is noticeably snappier than my SonyEricsson s710a (EDGE also), which was quite a bit faster than my former RAZR (GPRS).

HSDPA via the bluetooth seems equally fast as my home wireless. That is in a metro area.
I would doubt bluetooth 2.0 could speed that aspect up,

file transfer via bluetooth is easy to do, but painfully slow.....2.0 would speed that up drastically I bet.

Anyone have an idea how much bandwidth is required for proper BT headset operation?

Great info. Thanks.