IOGEAR Bluetooth USB Adapter GBU221

Now that's a long name for such a small device. Last week I bought this Bluetooth USB adapter for my PC so I could transfer files with my Motorola V9 phone. I had been using my Macbook Pro, but since I only use that computer when necessary, and keep my PC on all day, I wanted to be able to retrieve photos and movies from my phone without having to book my Apple. So I went to Fry's Electronics and found a USB Bluetooth adapter for $14. It must have been on sale because the price after tax was $14.

So I open the package, which wasn't easy because it was encased in that impenetrable, sealed hard plastic case. Then I inserted the device in one of my many USB ports (I have two on my monitor, one on my printer, eight on my USB hub and about four on my PC) and my PC said it discovered new USB device. Then it said to insert a CD if one came with the device, which it did. So I inserted the CD and thought that I installed the drivers from the CD. However, when I went to connect to the phone from my PC, my only options were to send a file or retrieve a file. When I tried to retrieve a file, the application was waiting for the device, my phone, to send a file, and the phone did not have an option to send files that are stored on the micro SD card.

My next step was to uninstall the drivers on my PC and start over. When I did this I re-ran the installation from the CD, and this time the installation took longer and installed about 12 Bluetooth drivers. So it looked like my first attempt to install from the CD failed and I was actually using the limited Bluetooth drivers provided by Windows XP.

Now that I had the correct drivers installed, I once again connected to my phone and this time I was able to browse the data stored in the SD card. However, every time I tried to browse a different folder on the phone, I had to press "Yes" on the phone to reconnect to my PC, and then the Bluetooth connection would disconnect. I was eventually able to retrieve a photo from my phone.

I then tried the same thing on my Mac, and I had no problem connecting to the phone, browsing the files and retrieving files. This morning I tried to figure out if there was some setting on my PC that was wrong, because when I try to pair my PC with the phone, it was asking for a key, and there is no key for my phone. I was able to configure the Bluetooth drivers on my PC to make the file transfer not "secure" and then it did not ask for a key, but I still had the connect/disconnect issues when browsing the phone's files. So I guess I need to do some Google searches and find out if other people have this problem and how they solved it. I don't know if the IOGEAR adapter and its drivers are the problem, or I'm just doing something wrong. I'll write a followup post when I find out.

As a side note, it looks like this simple USB adapter has lots of options, including the capability to set up a Bluetooth network and use a Bluetooth phone to access the Internet. This would be a slow connection, but useful if I'm in a place where there is no wireless connection but there is Sprint coverage. My phone also has a USB port that I currently use for charging. It has a special connection that will only work with my power adapter. I'll check if there is a USB cable I can buy that will allow a direct USB connection to my PC. This would be ideal since USB is way faster than Bluetooth.

Update on 4/10/2009:

I'm ready to give up on this Bluetooth adapter. Even when I connect to my cell phone, I have to re-connect every time I change directories and after every file transfer. I have no problems at all retrieving pictures from my cell phone using my Macbook Pro's Bluetooth. I don't know if the problem is the actual bluetooth device, the drivers or Microsoft. Since I only paid $14 I don't feel too ripped off. Next time I'll do more research before buying a Bluetooth adapter for my PC. Amazon is a good place to read reviews.