Microsoft testing a handoff like feature for Windows 10 Anniversary Update

[suicidalfranco]

1 hour ago, AlexGoesHigh said:

Pushbullet is love, Pushbullet is life.

 

Though i wish they switched their desktop app to something other that chromium. (not Java though)

i just use the browser add-on, never close opera to begin with and it's the first thing i open when i turn on any computer.

[LAwLz]

41 minutes ago, kurahk7 said:

Maybe Bluetooth does the job just fine while consuming less power using Bluetooth low power? 

For sending such small amounts of data the power usage would be negligible (it should only be a few KB). Being able to "handoff" to a device more than ~2 meters away from your desktop would be well worth the extra power it could potentially use.

 

5 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

Most laptops have bluetooth. 

Okay maybe most modern laptops, but not most desktops (which I guess would be the biggest use case for this).

[79wjd]

3 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

Okay maybe most modern laptops, but not most desktops (which I guess would be the biggest use case for this).

I feel like laptops would have an equally large use case, especially when you consider that most people (excluding offices) nowadays are switching from desktops to laptops (at least from my experience). 

 

Also, I think even a lot of newer (again, non-office) desktops (from the past couple of years) come with wifi/bluetooth included as well. Basically everything from Dell right now has wifi/bluetooth included. 

[Mew]

1 minute ago, djdwosk97 said:

I feel like laptops would have an equally large use case, especially when you consider that most people (excluding offices) nowadays are switching from desktops to laptops (at least from my experience). 

 

Also, I think even a lot of newer (again, non-office) desktops (from the past couple of years) come with wifi/bluetooth included as well. 

Do most Windows based laptops even have bluetooth? Manufacturers skimp on everything so I wouldn't even be surprised if most laptops don't have bluetooth. My business grade dell from 2 years ago didn't come with bluetooth (it came with a junk dell wifi card) so I swapped it for a Intel 7260AC wifi bluetooth combo. 

[79wjd]

3 minutes ago, kurahk7 said:

Do most Windows based laptops even have bluetooth? Manufacturers skimp on everything so I wouldn't even be surprised if most laptops don't have bluetooth. My business grade dell from 2 years ago didn't come with bluetooth (it came with a junk dell wifi card) so I swapped it for a Intel 7260AC wifi bluetooth combo. 

Yes, I can't remember the last time I saw a laptop without bluetooth. Even most of Dells desktops (all the home-use ones) also have bluetooth -- even the dirt cheap ones. 

 

Business desktops/laptops are different since most companies don't care about wifi/bluetooth (whereas wifi is a necessity in many homes and/or it makes peoples lives easier).

[LAwLz]

1 minute ago, kurahk7 said:

Do most Windows based laptops even have bluetooth? Manufacturers skimp on everything so I wouldn't even be surprised if most laptops don't have bluetooth. My business grade dell from 2 years ago didn't come with bluetooth (it came with a junk dell wifi card) so I swapped it for a Intel 7260AC wifi bluetooth combo. 

I just checked on "prisjack" (Swedish site that compares prices on things from Swedish stores). That site has 3580 different laptops and 3482 of them got Bluetooth.

That's new laptops though (ones you can buy online today). It will probably become less and less common as you go back in time.

[Colonel_Gerdauf]

1 hour ago, LAwLz said:

Or they could have an alternative for both. Bluetooth has such a limited range, and it's not a very common feature for desktops and laptops. If snooping is a concern then they could just encrypt it in the application layer when you select the WiFi option.

For the use cases of this application, the "limited" range is more than good enough. Also, Bluetooth is, to my knowledge, less prone to household and office-space interference than even 5GHz WiFi suffers from.
 

Honestly, I was not even looking at this on the perspective of privacy, but rather that of LAN congestion.

[LAwLz]

23 minutes ago, Colonel_Gerdauf said:

For the use cases of this application, the "limited" range is more than good enough. Also, Bluetooth is, to my knowledge, less prone to household and office-space interference than even 5GHz WiFi suffers from.
 

Honestly, I was not even looking at this on the perspective of privacy, but rather that of LAN congestion.

Even if the limited range ends up being perfectly fine all the time (which I doubt it will), it would still be better with WiFi since you could have your desktop, connected with a cable, handoff to your phone (connected with WiFi).

Bluetooth is just as prone to interference as 2.4GHz WiFi is. It's just that the data rates are so much lower than most people don't notice it as much (and it is only used at a distance of like 1 meter). Put your WiFi router 2 meters from your phone and you will probably be able to get the same or higher speed Bluetooth will get you (most likely around 2Mbps).

[Doobeedoo]

Handy  Though wifi and bluetooth would be good.

[AlTech]

6 hours ago, LAwLz said:

Or they could have an alternative for both. Bluetooth has such a limited range, and it's not a very common feature for desktops and laptops. If snooping is a concern then they could just encrypt it in the application layer when you select the WiFi option.

 

There are standards which allow Bluetooth to be encrypted, and I assume Microsoft will use that. I wouldn't be too worried about it.

From What've heard it's just gonna be Bluetooth. No Wi-Fi. Apple uses Bluetooth for their implementation as well.

[79wjd]

1 hour ago, AluminiumTech said:

From What've heard it's just gonna be Bluetooth. No Wi-Fi. Apple uses Bluetooth for their implementation as well.

texts/phone calls go over wifi. Possibly other parts of handoff are also over wifi. 

[AlTech]

11 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

texts/phone calls go over wifi. Possibly other parts of handoff are also over wifi. 

Transitioning from one device to another is Bluetooth. This is what Handoff is.

[KuJoe]

Nice, too bad I implemented this years ago or I might consider using it.

 

Nevermind, looks like it only supports Windows. I use too many Android and Linux devices to use this.

[AlTech]

6 hours ago, kurahk7 said:

Do most Windows based laptops even have bluetooth? Manufacturers skimp on everything so I wouldn't even be surprised if most laptops don't have bluetooth. My business grade dell from 2 years ago didn't come with bluetooth (it came with a junk dell wifi card) so I swapped it for a Intel 7260AC wifi bluetooth combo. 

These days almost all WiFI chipsets come with Bluetooth in it.