If you ask someone who has used a lot of smartphones what aspect of using it was the most annoying, the answer is often: Pairing and using it with another device using Bluetooth. Bluetooth is a short range wireless technology (generally around 10 meters) technology that permits device to device communication. Its most common use for most people is pairing a phone with a Bluetooth headset. But, you are not limited to just doing that, of course. You can, for example, use it to transfer files between two Bluetooth enabled devices. I use Bluetooth with Microsoft ActiveSync to synchrnoize my desktop PC with my Windows Mobile smartphone. This lets me sync calendar events, contacts and files without using cables.

As useful as Bluetooth is, the quality of its implementation in the driver stack and, usually more important, the quality of the accompanying documentation often leaves a lot to be desired. I ran into this issue (documentation quality) this past weekend when I needed to pair my wife's recently purhcased phone with her car's Bluetooth system. There's nothing technically wrong with either the car or the phone. But, oh my, the car's Bluetooth documentation left a lot to be desired. It referred to controls and menus without clearly describing how to find these physical controls and reach certain areas of the various menus involved. It took me quite a while to go through the car's owner's manual and mark sections with little yellow sticky notes. Then, once in the car with the phone, a bit of head scratching interpretation was involved before I had the two devices paired and ready for use.

The good news is that once the idiosyncratic pairing process was complete, the phone and car's Bluetooth systems worked well together. But, if you asked me how I actually paired the two, I'm not sure I could tell you or do it again without referring to the manuals again and performing another round of head scratching.