using Bluetooth: several questions

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SkinnyJoe

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I got Bluetooth so that I can reduce radiation exposure when talking on the cell. Valid assumption? Does Bluetooth increase the demand on the phone's battery? If so, what does this mean in practical terms, i.e. life expectancy of the battery?

If it helps, I have a Nokia 6085 phone and a Motorola H555 Bluetooth.

Thanks
 
It's not so much that it reduces battery life significantly, what it will do is consume more power thereby causing more frequent recharging.

It's a minor hassle but you can turn the bluetooth off when you know you won't be using it. If you're using it all the time you'll just have to live with more frequent charging.
 
Like gajinoz said, turn bluetooth off when not in use. I do it. On my old phone it, well, you can say ran in the background so it didnt drain the battery as much so i kept it on. But if you see the bluetooth symbol on your screen its constantly on. What kind of phone do you have?
 
While Bluetooth emits less radiation, don't consider it protection. What amazes me is the people who wear one all the time, always on. Sitting in your ear, it's less than one inch away from your optic nerve. If you're concerned, get a corded handsfree.
 
Or a bluetooth cordless handsfree. I have a Jabra cordless handsfree speakerphone, it works well in the car or sat on my desk. I got it on clearance because its last years model.
 
Thanks for the suggestions regarding the corded headset. Was under the impression there were none for my phone. Might take the tooth back, and get one of those. :D

On an unrelated note, I charge the battery once the indicator shows 1/2 or 1/4 capacity, instead of waiting for it to die. Is this harmful to the battery?
 
Once in a while no. However, if you do this on a consistent basis yes, the battery capacity will be impacted. Lithium are the most forgiving but even they, over time will develop a memory. I can attest to that based on my laptop lithium battery. One important note with lithium....never run it completely down..that will damage the battery. I normally bring it to the point that it tells me to charge and the battery indicator starts blinking then recharge.
 
I feel honored that your first post is good advice directed to my humble self.

Welcome to Bladeforums!! :thumbup::thumbup:
 
Regarding your original question, yes, using bluetooth will drain your battery slightly faster than normal but there are many other more important factors like network coverage, data use and how many phone calls you make.

I do have an issue with the fears of radiation that we are told is so dangerous. I work on energized power lines and we are often energized to 500 000 or even 765 000 volts which I can assure you is a great deal more radiation than is coming out of your bluetooth earpiece. If the radiation was so dangerous I would have been dead 9 years ago and all of us who work on the lines would be riddled with cancer and weird growths according to the learned doctors out there. I don't believe their hype for a second and if cellphone radiation was all we had to worry about it would be a wonderful but overpopulated world. Driving while talking on the cellphone is infinitely more dangerous than the radiation it emits.
 
By charge do you mean signal strength? :p Bluetooth is just a specific type of wireless used in personal area networks. Sorry, had to point that out. Damn my OCD technerd side... :o

Yes, most wireless headsets will give you a indication of low battery strength. Usually they beep at you.
 
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Actually, no, WiFi is under IEEE 802.11a, b, g, or n, while Bluetooth is 802.15.1. WiFi, especially the more recent letter revisions, has significantly greater transmission throughput and range, designed for networking, while Bluetooth was only designed for short-range, low-throughput communication between devices. Ever tried to transfer multi-megabyte files through Bluetooth? significantly slower than Wifi!

As for what I understand to be Joe's original question, Bluetooth earpieces generally have a multifunction status-indicator LED, part of the purpose of which is to tell you when it's running low on battery power.
 
Quick question about cell phone chargers: some allow you to use the phone as the battery is being charged, and some apparently do not.

Do car chargers fall into the latter category, or is this too generalized?

Thanks.
 
I would think that is more dependent on the phone than the charger. Other than that, personally I couldn't say.
 
The reason that got me curious, the instructions on the car charger say "1)power off your phone..." whereas I can use the phone while I charge it with the wall charger.
 
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