Resolved Bluetooth Anyone?

I know little about this technology, but my new phone (not a smart phone) has Bluetooth capabilities, and I would like to send photos from the phone to my desktop PC, and selected Outlook contacts to the phone.

I guess I'll need a Bluetooth USB adapter for the PC?

 

Yes James, you will need an adapter. Plug in USB and software by CD for the comp to recognize your Bluetooth unit. I did this on my HP Notebook and I can use Bluetooth headphones to listen to my music on laptop SSD. Neil.
This is a pretty good explanation of what you need to do. The HTG Guide to Adding Bluetooth to Your Computer

 

Are there any new phones that are not "smart" these days? I don't think so. The term in very relative. A phone does not have to have all the latest extra features to be considered "smart ". What is the brand and model number? Even basic cell phones today typically let you take pictures, check email and Facebook, and send texts - depending on the carrier and plan you choose.

I recommend you check your phone's manual. BT will likely work, but it may be much easier (and faster) to simply connect your phone to your PC with a simple USB cable you likely already have laying around. If your phone and contract (even if month to month or prepaid) allows email, you can simply email your photos to yourself and pick them up on the PC.

That said, BT can be really convenient. My older model Samsung S4 Mini is paired to and automatically syncs with my truck when I get in it for hands free operation through the truck's sound system. I have over 600 music CDs and have copied about 2000 songs to my phone that I can stream to my truck too.

 

Thanks, all. I ordered a BT 2.0 adapter, and a micro USB cable for less than $2.00. The unit is a Tracfone LG 440G. I've done some research online about transferring data via cable, but I'm not sure if it can be done just yet.

 

??? Well, it should be noted transferring data via cable is, by far, the most common and longest used method. BT is in its relatively infancy.

 

Yes, that's true, but some have had issues doing so with this phone - or at least from what I've read.

I'll find out shortly when the cable gets here.

 

Lots of PC's now a days have Bluetooth built in.

 

Especially notebooks.

 

I couldn't find any evidence of a built-in Bluetooth device on my desktop PC so far.

 

Then you will need an adapter. You have to be within about 10 feet or so with the 2 devices as they aren't very powerful.

 

Hi James, My previous Post is valid. My HP Notebook was the cheaper version (Model 1000) and did not have Bluetooth installed. I purchased a kit which comprised a USB Bluetooth Dongle and a 3" CD with the CRS Harmony Wireless Software Stack. I ran the software with the dongle in place and you can locate and pair with any other Bluetooth device within the range (usually 10 metres). I can confirm that my Samsung Galaxy S4 i9505 has paired successfully and transferred photos and music between the two units. If my memory serves me, I paid $25.00 for the kit. You got a deal Neil.
Your System specs and Dell Model don't have Bluetooth installed. Only dearer motherboards have Bluetooth available contrary to what Bill stated. Likewise, USB 3 Ports average 3 and USB 2 Ports could be up to 10.

 

Sorry, but no, that's not true. What the other Bill (MrBill) said was "lot's of PCs" (he did not say "motherboards ") have BT. And that is true. And while many entry-level computers may not come with integrated BT, you don't have move all the way up to the "dearer" models to get it built in.

Of course, "dearer" is a relative term but I note, for example, the $390 Inspiron 11 3000 2-in-1 laptop has built in BT 4.0. And for PCs, even Dell's budget minded $330 Inspiron 3655 has BT 4.0 built in too.

That said, when it comes to motherboards, it did not take long for me to find this $105 Gigabyte GA-H97N motherboard with built in BT either. For $1 more, you can get the $106 ASUS H170I-PLUS DS with built in BT 4.0.

Assuming the PC in question is the Inspiron i620 in your specs, I don't see where it has BT either and being 5 years old, that is not surprising. It does have built in WiFi and I note many phones today support WiFi - when available, to save on cell minutes/bandwidth. So again, check your phone's manual for that.

Having said all that, retiredlearner is right and his previous post is valid since your current PC does not have BT support built in. You will need to buy an adapter if you want to add BT support to your PC. But if me, if all I wanted to do was occasionally transfer photos from my phone to my PC, I would use a simple USB cable - something you probably already have - including the one that came with the phone since most phones today use USB to charge their batteries.

RT is also correct about the range of BT, in real world scenarios it typically is about 10m (~30 feet) but that depends on the class of BT used and the number of obstacles in the way, such as floors, walls and ceilings that may be laden with lots of metal pipes and wires. I note that Class 1 BT has a maximum theoretical range of 100m (~328 feet)! (Source)

 

What make and model phone is it. I have a Motorola Barrage dumb phone and I transfer my photos using a Micro SD Memory Card. I also used to use a smartphone Motorola Droid Ultra and transferred my photos using the USB charging cable that came with the phone's AC adaptor.

 

If I have a bunch of photos to transfer, I use the USB charging cable. If I only have one photo, I usually just email it to myself. My phone has BT and so does my computer, but for me, it is just easier and faster to connect the cable. And also, with the cable connection, I can easily view the photos on the phone through Windows File Explorer because the phone just comes up as another drive. That makes it easy to delete or move over (and then rename) as I see fit.

 

James, Samsung provides Kies software for their phones to use for updates and transfers. Huawei owners can use HiSuite software to transfer and update. I would imagine other brands supply software for users to carry out similar jobs. Odin is another software program and these are available free to use. Info can be transferred using Micro SD cards and there are quite a few cheap USB holders to enable their use. Straight transfer by the USB charging cable supplied with a new phone is the common form as Bill has explained. There are many options and each to his own. Neil.

P.S. The other way I can transfer info from my phone to son/daughter/g'sons Samsung phones is by NFC (near field communication). Phones need the battery with the NFC antenna circuit and we use S Beam and can transfer info by both phones being together back to back to initiate. Very easy to setup and use.

 

My smartphone came up as a drive. I put Copy To Folder and Move To Folder options on the Context Menu so I just highlight all the photos and copy them all at once. I wasn't using half the functions on the smartphone so I went back to the dumb phone. Some times I like to play around in the registry and that could end up to what I call Demolition Derby. So after reinstalling the OS transferring the photos is a lot easier to do using the smartphone.

 

LJ, Picasa does a pretty good job of importing photos - and only new ones. Neil.

 

Thanks Neil. I'll keep that in mind(for as long as I have one).

 

Finally got the USB dongle and the USB micro cable, but all the cable does is charge the phone as it does not show up as an extra drive in My Computer. LG makes a driver for this purpose, and I tried it, but still no joy. Others have complained of this limitation as well.

On the other hand, the dongle does work, and I was able to pair up the phone and the computer, but being such a cheap dongle, it sometimes works, and it sometimes doesn't. Meaning, I have to remove the device and plug it back in to get the files to transfer. I guess you get what you pay for.

 

Must be a problem if you have to remove it and put it back in. I have one that I paid like 10 bucks about 4 years ago and when I plug it in and they pair up it is good to go unless I get to far away and it looses its pairing.