Nokia's Wibree Technology

Mobile phone market leader Nokia unveiled a new short-range wireless connection on Tuesday that is smaller and more energy-efficient than current Bluetooth technology and can be used in small devices such as watches. The new radio technology, dubbed "Wibree", can work alongside Bluetooth short-range wireless connections but use just a fraction of the power. It's up to 10 times more energy efficient than Bluetooth, Nokia claims.

The Bluetooth technology links cell phones with headsets, computers and printers to transfer calls, calendar items, documents, songs and pictures. Similarly, Wibree provides a radio link of up to 10 metres between devices with a data transmission rate of 1Mbps and opens up a new market for ultra low power wireless connections to button battery cell powered devices -- one not yet served effectively by other radio technologies. Because of their small size and low energy consumption, Wibree radio chips will make it possible and efficient to connect phones and other electronics devices to low-power watches or sports sensors and health monitors.

Nokia said it expected the first commercial version to be available during the second quarter of next year. The company expects that devices currently connected by Bluetooth will get a dual Bluetooth-Wibree chip, while devices that are currently not connected will use a Wibree-only chip. Likely Wibree-devices include watches, wireless keyboards, toys and sports sensors.