Ted's Bluetooth Guide for Pocket PC Devices

1. Preface

2. What is Bluetooth

3. Bluetooth: How It Works

4. The Profiles of Bluetooth

5. Connecting a Bluetooth Headset to a PDA

6. Connecting a Bluetooth GPS to a PDA

7. Connecting a PDA to another PDA

8. Transferring Files Between two PDA Devices

9. Transferring Appointments, Tasks and Contacts to Another PDA

10. Transferring Files from a PC to a PDA

11. Synchronizing your PDA to a Bluetooth equipped PC

12. Accessing the Internet on your PDA via Bluetooth equipped PC

13. Sending a Contact to a Bluetooth equipped Cellular Phone

14. Accessing the Internet using a Bluetooth equipped Cellular Phone

15. Dialing a Number on your Cellular Phone using Contacts on a PDA

16. Dial-up Networking Using a Wireless Modem

17. Printing from your PDA via Bluetooth

18. Using a Bluetooth Keyboard with your PDA

Synchronizing your PDA to a Bluetooth equipped PC

As with WiFi, Bluetooth provides the opportunity to sync wirelessly to a desktop PC or laptop.  This provides the convenience of keeping your PDA up to date without using the cradle or a sync cable.  Since Bluetooth is short range the distance is not a great as WiFi to do a wireless sync.  However this is still convenient to have if you do not have a WiFi network available.  A good case of this would be a Corporate LAN which does not have a WiFi Hotspot.  Setting one up by yourself is usually a no-no according to Corporate Policy.  Having a Bluetooth dongle on the desktop alleviates this issue by providing a short range personal connection.  Syncing via Bluetooth uses the Serial Port service.  A virtual serial port link is establish between the PDA and the desktop.  This is just like having a serial cable connected to the PDA to sync to the desktop.  In order to utilize this service you must ensure the Serial Port service is enabled and you must also know what COM port the Serial Port service is running on.

1. Identify the Bluetooth Serial Port service is running on the desktop and determine what COM port to use.  Open My Bluetooth Places on the desktop and then open My Device.  Locate the My Bluetooth Serial Port icon.  Right click on the icon and go to properties.
   Figure 10.1
   Figure 10.2

2. In this example we see that the service is started and the COM port that the service is running on is COM5.  Now open Activesync on the desktop.  You must configure Activesync to listen on COM5 which is the Bluetooth connection port.  Go to the connection settings and select COM5 as the COM port.  Make sure that the 'Allow serial or infrared connection to this COM port' is checked.
   Figure 10.3  Figure 10.4

3. Now that the desktop side is configured you now have to setup the PDA side.  Open up the Bluetooth Manager on the PDA and tap New.  Select 'Activesync via Bluetooth' and tap Next.
   Figure 10.5  Figure 10.6

4. Two screens will now appear which is basically help screens for synchronizing via Bluetooth.  Tap Next on each screen.
   Figure 10.7  Figure 10.8

5. The PDA will now search for any active Bluetooth devices within range that has a Bluetooth profile matching what you are trying to use.  The name of the computer that you're trying to sync to should appear.  If not then make sure that the Bluetooth radio is active on the PC and the Serial Port service is enabled.  Then click on the icon with the two green arrows at the lower left-hand corner of the PDA screen.  After tapping on the computer your PDA will prompt you to create a shortcut.  The shortcut name will appear.  Click on Finish.
   Figure 10.9  Figure 10.10

6. Your PC will then alert you that a connection via the Bluetooth Serial Port is attempted and a Pin Code is required.  Click the mouse in the message bubble.  You will then be prompted to enter a Pin Code on the PC.  The Pin Code is an alphanumeric string.
   Figure 10.11
   Figure 10.12

7. The PDA will then prompt you to enter a Pin Code.  Enter the same Pin Code that you just entered on the PC.  The shortcut icon will now appear in the Bluetooth Manager.  Notice that a Activesync glyph is on the shortcut icon.
   Figure 10.13  Figure 10.14

8. Now tap and hold on the Activesync shortcut icon in the Bluetooth Manager and select Connect.  A connection will be made and a connection will be initialized with Activesync on the desktop.  If you open Activesync on the PDA you will see that it is syncing with the PC via Bluetooth with no wires!  Trying to initiate syncing using Activesync on the PDA will not work.
   Figure 10.15  Figure 10.16

9. You will also see that the connection icon turns green in the Bluetooth Manager when the connection is active.
   Figure 10.17

Accessing the Internet on your PDA via Bluetooth equipped PC

It is quite possible with Bluetooth to access the local LAN or the Internet using a Bluetooth equipped PC.  In essence you are using your PC as a gateway to the LAN or Internet.  Your PC can grant network access to your PDA using ICS (Internet Connection Sharing).  ICS is integrated in Windows 98 SE and up.  As you can guess the Bluetooth Network Access profile is used to grant this type of connection.  This type of setup can seem confusing but is not really that difficult to setup.  So why would one want to access the Internet using this method?  For one it is an option if WiFi is not available.  Plus it is faster than Activesync Internet Pass-thru.  The first step is to configure the PC to allow this connection.  Make sure that the Network Access service is enabled on the PC in My Bluetooth Places.  Also enable ICS on the Network Card that has direct access to the LAN or Internet.

1. On the PC open the My Bluetooth Places and then My Device.  Locate the My Network Access icon.  Right click on the icon and select Properties.  Make sure that the 'Startup Automatically' box is checked.  Just below that select 'Allow other devices to access the Internet/LAN via this computer.  The 'Configure Connection Sharing' button at the bottom is a shortcut to setup ICS on your PC.
   Figure 11.1

2. When clicking on the 'Configure Connection Sharing' button the Network Properties window will open.  Right click on the Network connection that has direct access to the LAN/Internet and select Properties.  Normally in most settings this connection icon will say 'Local Area Connection'.  Since I am using a laptop and use PC Card adapters my LAN connection is 'Local Area Connection 2'.  At the time of this writing I am connected to the LAN/Internet using my Netgear WiFi PC Card.
   Figure 11.2

3. The Properties page for the 'Local Area Connection' will now appear.  Click on the Sharing tab.  In the 'Internet Connection Sharing' box check to option to enable Internet Connection Sharing for this connection.  This will enable ICS on your PC.
   Figure 11.3

4. The configuration on the PC is now complete.  The rest now has to be done on the PDA.  Open the Bluetooth Manager on the PDA and tap on New.
   Figure 11.4  Figure 11.5

5. The PDA will now search for any Bluetooth devices in range that has the Network Access profile active.  Your PDA should find your PC that has ICS enabled on it.  Tap on the discovered PC icon.  The last step is the shortcut icon creation.  Tap on Finish.
   Figure 11.6  Figure 11.7

6. The shortcut icon will now appear in the Bluetooth Manager.  If it does not automatically connect you can manually start the connection by doing a tap and hold on the shortcut icon and selecting Connect.
   Figure 11.8  Figure 11.9

7. You are now connected to the PC via Bluetooth.  You should also have access to the Internet.  You can use PIE to confirm this.
   Figure 11.10

Sending a Contact to a Bluetooth equipped Cellular Phone

Bluetooth Technology is truly developed for the mobile user.  What is the one thing in common with all die-hard mobile users?  Well you guessed it; cellular phones.  Bluetooth cellular phones are very convenient to the mobile user.  It affords the opportunity to use wireless Bluetooth Headsets for communication.  You can also use PDAs and desktop PCs to access the cellular phone.  There are several types of Bluetooth cellular phones available.  A good majority of the Bluetooth cellular phones are GSM phones (Cingular/AT&T and T-Mobile).  To date there are only two CDMA Bluetooth cellular phones available.  SprintPCS has the Sony-Ericsson T608.  Verizon's model is the V710.  Connecting a PDA to a Bluetooth cellular phone can be tricky because some phones are buggy.  However we are going to walk thru the process of getting a connection.

Sending contacts from a PDA to a Bluetooth cellular phone can save yourself a ton of time.  It prevents having to put in names using the number pad.  The first step is to put the cellular phone in discovery mode.  Since every phone is different you will need to check your phones documentation on how to do this.  On a good portion of phones by default it is not in discovery mode.  Some phones will stay in discovery mode for 60 seconds, others will stay in discovery mode for 3 minutes.  You don't want to leave your phone in discovery mode indefinitely.  This can open the door to bluejacking.  What is bluejacking?  It is the method of sending anonymous messages to users of other Bluetooth devices who have left their devices visible to other Bluetooth users.  This is more of an annoyance than a security risk.  The reason why this is possible is because quite a few Bluetooth cellular phones do not have to be paired in order send a message or contact to it.  Only the phone being visible to other Bluetooth devices is sufficient.  In my particular case my phone only has to be visible.

1. Make sure that your Bluetooth radio is active on your phone.  Put it is discovery mode so that it is visible.  Check your documentation for your phone for instructions on how to do this. NOTE:  Do not leave you phone visible indefinitely.

2. Open Contacts on your PDA.  Find the contact that you want to send.  Tap and hold on the contact and select Send via Bluetooth.  Your PDA will now attempt to find any active Bluetooth devices within range.  It should find your Bluetooth phone.  Tap on it and hit OK.
   Figure 12.1 Figure 12.2

3. Your PDA will now send the contact over to your phone.  Once the contact is transferred you will see a message on your phone stating that a contact is received and if you want to either accept it or reject it.
   Figure 12.3

During this process pairing was not required.  Therefore I did not have to authenticate with a Pin Code or Pass key.  This is why bluejacking is possible with Bluetooth equipped cellular phones.