Bluetake POKE 2 USB Adapter
Installation was pretty much straight forward, simply insert the POKE2 into an available USB port and install the drivers given in the driver CD. The good news for the non-technical folk is that to install the unit no knowledge on networking is required, simply follow the detailed instructions provided and everything will fall in place. All the required software is provided in the driver CD, and it also comes with a free copy of WinFax Pro 10.0 which is great if you intend to send faxes using your PC.
After restarting and once you boot-up the machine you’ll notice a blue icon on your task bar. The icon on the taskbar is a shortcut to “My Bluetooth Places” which is now located in the control panel. Go in and get a feel of what’s being offered.
The software (My Bluetooth places)
Going into the control panel you’ll notice a new icon called “My Bluetooth places”. This is where most of the configuration is done. You needn’t worry about interference to other wireless devices such as cordless phones etc since the POKE2 works on a 2.4GHz wavelength.
Since the software section is exactly the same as the ones provided with Bluetake’s USB dongles, we decided to include that in this review rather than repeat what we have said 🙂
Before you click on the “MY Bluetooth Places” shortcut on your desktop, make sure you configure the devices first, by going into the control panel. The initial configuration window will appear as shown below;
There aren’t really much to do here, other than a few point and clicks. All of it is easy to understand, however if you require some assistance, the manual will give a good idea. we attached one dongle to a Desktop machine and the other to a Toshiba Tectra 8100 laptop. When the Bluetooth dongle identifies the each other, it’ll be displayed in the on the Discovery Window.
Now for the applications of the device. Go to my device in “Bluetooth Places” and you’ll see a list of services that it supports. All you have to do is simply double click on the desired service and perform what ever is required. If you do not require a certain service, simply disable it.
The applications offered are simply amazing if the infrastructure of your office is right. Say you have a fax machine that’s connected to a Bluetooth server. Then, if you want to send a fax you needn’t go to the fax machine to send it, rather get the fax machine come to you. Simply double click on the fax icon and perform the required task.
