Bluetooth is prevalent in lots of our devices, but it has yet to become a standard in our PCs, laptops and netbooks, and I’m not sure why exactly. You’d think with all of those BT devices out there more manufacturers would start to make Bluetooth a standard feature. I’ve got the Acer Aspire One D250 and it does not come standard with Bluetooth, you’ve got to purchase a higher priced model to get it or purchase an internal card after the fact. There is another way though to get Bluetooth on your computer and that’s with a USB dongle, but many of those are big and bulky and nobody wants one sticking out of their netbook at all times.
Today for review I’ve got the smallest Bluetooth Dongle I’ve ever seen, and I’ve got a few of them, it’s called the Atomic Pico Bluetooth Dongle and our friends at Mobile Fun have sent it over to us for review. It’s so small in fact that once you stick it in a USB port you really don’t even see it and it will never get in the way, you could easily leave it in there forever if you want. So continue on to check it out…
Info:
The Atomic Pico Bluetooth Dongle is without doubt the smallest bluetooth device in the world (yes it’s even smaller than the nano dongle).
It’s perfect for adding bluetooth wireless capabilities to a laptop or computer because it doesn’t stick out, this means you’ll never need to worry about it snapping off or damaging your computer. Once inserted the dongle will sit almost flush with the USB port, you could even leave it connected permanently.
Why choose the Atomic Pico Bluetooth Dongle?
* It’s the smallest bluetooth dongle in the world!
* Advanced technology: Bluetooth v2.0.
* Plug & Play Support with Microsoft Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista and Windows 7
* Faster Speeds (3 Mbits/s with new Bluetooth 2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate).
* Lower power consumption.
* Supports secure pairing and encryption.
* Supports A2DP (Advance Audio Distribution Profile) for high quality stereo.
* Multiple connections – connect two or more Bluetooth devices at the same time.
* Full compatibility with USB equipped computers, supporting both USB 1.1 & 2.0 standards.
* Tested compatibility with Bluetooth enabled mobile phones, PDAs, headsets and other Bluetooth devices.
* Backwards-compatible with older Bluetooth devices (versions 1.1 & 1.2).
* Less interference with Wi-Fi networks.
*Skype compatible.
Technical Specification:
* Integrated Ceramic Chip Antenna
* Data Transfer 3 Mbit/s (max)
* 10 Metre Coverage
* Class 2 Specification
* Frequency: 2.4GHz ISM Spectrum
* Dimensions: 12 mm x 13 mm x 3 mm
* Supported Profiles: A2DP, AVRCP, BIP, DUN, FAX, FTP, HCRP, HID, HSP, HFP, LAP, OPP, PAN, SPP
* Security: Pairing Encryption and Authentication
Price: £8.95 ($14.26)
What’s in the Box?:
The packaging for the Pico Dongle is the sealed plastic clamshell style, so you’ll need to hack and slash you’re way into it. You can see the dongle right through the front, and on the back are basic specs and features listed.
Included with the dongle is a software disc that has Blue Soleil bluetooth software on it if you choose to use it instead of the regular Windows BT software.
The Pico Dongle itself is very tiny, it’s mostly USB connection really:
Here’s a couple shots with the dongle and a US Penny and US Dime for comparison:
To really show you a comparison, here’s several Bluetooth dongles I’ve got compared to each other, the Pico is truly the smallest:
Installation, Performance and Comparison:
My Acer Aspire One D250 is the model that does not come with integrated Bluetooth so I figured it would be perfect to use with the Atomic Pico BT Dongle. The Aspire One has three USB ports, and I usually only use two, one for a mouse and one for anything else so I won’t be missing the USB port really.
Plugging it into the UBS port on the Aspire One I find that it almost goes all the way in, it sticks out just a tiny bit. In fact it’s rather difficult to get out once it’s in the USB port. This isn’t too big of a deal since I plan on leaving it in there, it’s unobtrusive and really you’ll never notice it there.
To test the dongle and its range I used my Jabra BT530 since it is capable of being used for music and sound as well as being a BT headset.
At first I used the dongle with the built in Windows XP Bluetooth Stack, but I found that it didn’t work correctly with the headset. The Windows stack couldn’t find the audio profile for the BT530 so I couldn’t use it as an audio device. I ended up installing the Blue Soleil BT software instead, actually I like using the Blue Soleil software better than the Windows stuff honestly. I like the graphical interface, and it just seems to make life easier.
To test it I played music and walked around my house.
The specs claim 10 meter coverage, or about 32 feet, but I didn’t get anywhere close to that really, I could only get a little over 6 meters or about 20 feet before the signal starting cutting out. It also didn’t go through walls but that’s to be expected really, so there’s no surprise there.
Realistically though, at least for my use, I’ll never be walking that far away from my netbook and still need to use the BT headset, so for me that coverage is fine. Sitting here within two feet of my netbook is about normal range, and that works perfectly fine.
Conclusion:
The Atomic Pico BT Dongle works fine for adding Bluetooth to your netbook or PC without adding any extra bulk to it. It’s tiny, and once installed you’ll never even notice it’s there, it truly is the smallest BT dongle on the market today.
The fact that I didn’t get the rated range from the Atomic Pico doesn’t bother me too much really as I personally don’t have a need to go that far away and I think most others will agree with me as well. The majority of our Bluetooth use is going to be close to the source really, or just a few feet away, and for that it works fine.
Pros:
+Tiny
+Plug and play
+Inexpensive
+Lots of features
+Includes Blue Soleil software
Cons:
-Range isn’t that great really
-Hard to remove
I would like to thank Mobile Fun for the chance to review the Atomic Pico Bluetooth Dongle and for their support of iGadget Life.
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