BT210 Bluetooth USB Printer Adapter
Company: BlueTake Technology
Price: $99.00 (US)
http://www.bluetake.com
Bluetake Technology’s new BT210 Bluetooth USB Printer Adapter is a handy little device that adds remote printing from Bluetooth-enabled devices. What this means is, you can print from your PDA, Mobile Phone/Camera or laptop without having to tether yourself to your printer with an ungainly USB wire.
Printing remotely from your desktop computer is one obvious use, but while this adapter eliminates the USB cord, it adds a power cord. This is not a problem though, as long as you have an extra power outlet near the printer – at least you don’t need any USB wires strung across the room to any of your computers. In an office setting, this could eliminate a whole maze of wires.
While evaluating the usefulness of this device, it occurred to me that I was finding more and more uses for it than I had imagined. For anybody interested in setting up their own little “piconet” (small, personal wireless network) the BT210 is practically a must-have piece of equipment.
Bluetake Technology is making great strides forward in providing products that bring a “Macintosh-style” ease-of-use to all platforms. Upon inspection of the BT210 Printer Adapter, one finds that a lot of thought went into the user-friendliness of the design. The placement of the USB port on printers varies greatly, so the USB plug on the BT210 is extended enough for even the most hidden port, and it swivels to accommodate any printer style. An extendable antenna boosts reception to a claimed 100 meters! In my tests, I consistently got a signal from over 200 ft away.
Printing from outdoors! Wow! This is a boon for us smokers that spend a lot of time puffing outside the office. Even you non-smokers (you know who you are). Just grab a laptop and set up office outside! Who says you have to stay inside on a nice day like this? If you’re lucky enough to have an office with cheap walls or that isn’t lined with lead, you should be good to go! If the boss gives you any hassle for being outside all day, you can tell him I said it’s okay – I mean, what’s he going to do? Fire me?
The package includes the BT210, the power cord with small transformer block, and an “Instroduction” Manual. “Instroduction” may be a typo, but I like to think that they are simply following the recent trend of making up new words for the English language (since we’ve already used all the old ones). So consider it an “Introduction” to the “Instructions”. I’ll get Webster on the phone and see if we can get it included in the next unabridged edition.
When I began the evaluation process, my first impression was that the BT210 was another one of those products that was obviously great at what it does, but not necessarily something every computer user would have a use for. It quickly became apparent that, for under a hundred bucks (US), this was one of those “insanely great” devices that many people need – but they just don’t realize how badly they need it, until they actually have it. As Bluetooth becomes more and more popular in the United States, and especially on the Macintosh, the ability to print from these devices is essential. The BT210 USB Printer Adapter is about as easy and carefree as it gets.
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