Motoral Razr and Blue Smart

Motorola's newest Android phone is the second phone (behind the iPhone 4s) to be enabled with a Bluetooth 4.0 chip.  We're very excited about the product and particularly the Bluetooth ability, but disappointed that it comes with such a hefty price tag  -- $300 with a 2 year contract with Verizon.  By comparison, a 16-GB iPhone 4s is $200.  While the Razr boasts 4G LTE, it may price itself out of a lot of sales.  It's available for pre-order starting today, and will ship by the November 10th.  (I'll provide a review when I receive mine.)

In other Bluetooth news, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group is re-branding Bluetooth 4.0 as Blue Smart.  I love the move of distinguishing Bluetooth 4.0 from older versions, as I believe the low energy aspect of 4.0 will make this technology revolutionary.  But really, Blue Smart?  I think they could have done a little better with the name.  

Our new Android App

We have completed an alpha version of our new Android App SpotLoss.  The free app uses Bluetooth Low Energy to tell the user when a device comes into or leaves a relative area.  The app will alert users when a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) enabled fob or BLE cell phone either comes in close proximity to the user or leaves proximity (depending on the users settings).  Uses for this include telling the user when his or her friends might be close by, notifying the user that they have left their keys or cell phone behind, or alerting a parent if their child wanders too far away.  We are very excited about this new app, and believe it will be revolutionary.

The main problem is that there aren't any Android smart phones that support the Bluetooth Low Energy specification yet.  (Though there should be soon.)

In the mean time, we're developing an iOS version of SpotLoss as well as the hardware fobs that can be used with our apps.  The new iPhone 4S is the first cell phone to include Bluetooth 4.0, which has BLE abilities.