Sony TransferJet devices coming soon

February 9, 2010 | 14:29

Tags: #near-field-communications #pci #sdio #wireless

Companies: #sony

Sony has announced that the first products to use its TransferJet short-range wireless technology could hit the market as soon as this spring.

As reported over on Physorg.com, the tech giant has had the short-range technology in the works since 2008 when it was demonstrated at that year's Consumer Electronic Show - but so far has yet to implement it in a product for Western markets, despite having made the transceiver available to third parties back in November.

However, TransferJet is available in the Vaio F series of laptops and the TX7 and HX5V digital cameras in Japan - and the company has announced that it'll be coming to Western shores soon.

For those making the plunge and buying both the Vaio F laptop and a compatible camera, the advantage is thus: rather than using a USB cable to suck images off the camera, the TransferJet technology allows wireless communication between the two devices at speeds of up to 375Mb/s - albeit at a rather restricted range of just 3cm.

With the ultimate aim being to replace cables altogether for file transfers between cameras, smartphones, and PDAs and their respective desk- or lap-bound brethren, it's a technology that holds promise - but only if Sony can encourage third-party manufacturers to adopt it in their devices and laptops as well.

While the initial plan is for peripheral devices to support TransferJet for connection to a host machine, Sony is also hoping to get support for the technology in smartphone handsets and portable music players - and envisions a future where purchasing an album at a bricks-and-mortar shop is as simple as waving your device at the short-range transmitter. Again, the only way Sony will convince shops to implement the technology is if it can find its way into the majority of portable devices - much as WiFi and Bluetooth have done previously.

Are you looking forward to a near-field, wire-free future - or simply struggling to see the practical applications of a short-range battery-sapping wireless technology? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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