Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has announced Bluetooth 4.0 will be available by the end of this year. The new updated Bluetooth 4.0 will see a low power mode of operation to help reduce battery drain. The current version of Bluetooth used is 2.1 with Bluetooth 3.0 nearing completion. Bluetooth 4.0 devices will also be able to connect to Wi-Fi devices at up to 25 Mbits per second.

Mobile phone, smartphone and wireless headset manufacturers will welcome this news as it provides an opportunity to make these devices even smaller whilst maintaining the required power levels. A Bluetooth 4.0 device can be run from a watch type battery whereas current Bluetooth devices require much larger batteries.