There are many different wireless technologies but none are fast enough to satisfy the demands of today's best cameras and camcorders. Transfer Jet promises to fix that.
High speed wireless transfer of files from digital cameras and other media devices has been long desired but current standards are often lackluster in real world performance. Sony believes that it has developed a new wireless technology that rivals and even exceeds the bandwidth and speed of a wire based USB connection. If successful this new ultra high speed wireless method for data transfer between electronic devices could revolutionize the industry and bring the world closer to wireless nirvana.
Transfer Jet Previewed At 2008 CES
Dubbed Transfer Jet, the new technology was recently previewed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The new system requires very close proximity between devices in that the transmitting device must basically be laying on top of the receiver but no wires are required to connect the two.
Once the two pieces of hardware establish a connection, the camera or other device downloads the files to the computer at a lightning fast speed of up to 375MB per second. If this claim holds up, that would allow a user to download an entire gigabyte of photos in less than three seconds.
Transfer Jet vs. Bluetooth
In many ways the new Transfer Jet technology is similar to the current Bluetooth standard, however the Transfer Jet system has the advantage of operating at a much higher throughput rate while not having the security concerns that can be found in a Bluetooth connection.
For example, with Bluetooth, transfer of data takes place over a range of several feet. Since the signal is not encrypted, it can be intercepted by other Bluetooth devices.
Safer, More Secure Data Transfer than Bluetooth
The Transfer Jet connection requires very close proximity of only a few centimeters. This close quarters communication greatly limits the possibility of electronic eavesdropping of the wireless transmission while still providing the benefits of very fast data transfer. Similar to Bluetooth, Transfer Jet will offer users the ability to restrict their equipment to communicating with only approved devices, preventing accidental data sharing with other non-approved equipment.
As bandwidth requirements on digital devices become more and more demanding, Transfer Jet will definitely fill a need. What remains to be seen is if this prototype technology will actually make it to market and if the promises will live up to the hype.
