Transfer Jet: Cool New Tech? Or Poor Man's Infrared?
posted Sunday Jan 10, 2010 by Nicholas DiMeo
One of the main points of Sony's Keynote presentation at CES was a new technology called Transfer Jet. This feature, which will be available in Sony cameras, Vaios and photo frames as of now and expand into 40 other companies in the future, allows for a close proximity wireless transfer of media content. If you've ever been to an event and wanted pictures from your friend's camera, only to never see them again, this is the tech you're going to want.
Transfer Jet allows for simple operation, from what appears to be as easy as touching the two devices together to allow the transfer to occur.
Furthermore, Sony boasts the feature as as being a safe and secure connection between the devices. This leads us to believe that they didn't get the FCC approval for Wi-Fi and are keeping it within the 3cm limit, it is simply a rendition of infrared with a different name (very Sony-esque), or that the devices are somehow inductive, like the new Touchstone chargers for the Palm Pre.
The good news is that Sony has promised us that the connection will allow for an efficient transfer. What that could mean is very objective, but they gave some numbers to chew on -- 560 Mbps of physical layer transmission and a maximum data throughput of 375 Mbps.
At any rate, if major companies like Samsung, Pioneer and Panasonic are buying a ticket on this Jet, then we're all for seeing where this baby will fly us. Whether or not the tech is ground-breaking is up to debate, but I'm personally excited about being able to retrieve files without the need for copying over an SD card.
If you want more info on the whole Transfer Jet project, check out the official Transfer Jet project page. There's some really cool info on there. Your thoughts? We want to know! Leave us a comment!
