ORICO BTA-408 Mini USB Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter
Specification
- Model: BTA-408
- Brand: ORICO
- Function: Bluetooth USB Adaptor
- BCM20702 Controller
- Built-In Transmitter Antenna
- V4.0 Bluetooth
- 3 Mbps Transfer Rate
- Distance up to 65.6 feet (20 meters)
- Compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10 and MAC.
- Item Included: CD Driver, User’s Manual, and Cover
Dimension
Available Colour – White, Gold, Pink, Yellow, Blue, Red, Black
Where To Buy
Unboxing – ORICO BTA-408 Mini USB Bluetooth 4.0 Adaptor
When it comes to computer peripherals such as HDD Peripherals, USB Hub and charger, HDD docking/enclosure, and NAS enclosure, there are only a few companies that come to mind. One of them is definitely ORICO Technologies Co.,Ltd. If you haven’t heard of ORICO yet, ORICO is a global company based in China which mainly engaged in HIGH-END market of USB 3.0 Hub, USB charger, HDD docking/enclosure, and NAS enclosure…etc. As a matter of fact, ORICO currently holds 63% of the share of supplies in China alone.
In the Philippines, ORICO first got their fame and popularity from offering a wide range of HDD enclosures. Today, ORICO is considered as one of the authority company when it comes to quality computer peripherals. Excluding keyboards and mouse since they don’t offer those.
So without further ado, we are going to take a closer look at one of their top of the line Bluetooth adaptor, the ORICO BTA-408 USB Bluetooth 4.0 Adaptor.
The ORICO BTA-408 features a rather simple packaging. The packaging is of a clear hard plastic that also holds and locks the Bluetooth adaptor in place. It also acts as a protection from trivial damages such as scratches during travel. The front of the packing highlights the product name as well as a list of supported devices for Bluetooth connectivity.
The back highlights the product specification, product features, serial number, various industry certification, country of origin, and all compliance. It also includes the companies contact information.
The packaging is quite easy to open and it contains 3 items. One Bluetooth adaptor, one user’s manual guide, and one CD driver installer.
CD Installer Content
The CD installer driver contains all the drivers needed for various Windows Operating system.
Closer Look – ORICO BTA-408 Mini USB Bluetooth 4.0 Adaptor
Our first impression of the ORICO BTA-408 is that it’s surprisingly petite. It goes by 3.55cm by 1.8cm by 0.66cm and has a stylish look all over it. It also has a hole at the top for keychain purposes. The sample that we have here is in red and it is available in 7 different colours. Lastly, the logo of the brand is embossed on the cover of the Bluetooth dongle.
Removing the cover reveals a gold plated USB with Bluetooth 4.0 marking and the certification marking of CE and FCC. Basically, the CE marking indicates conformity with health, safety, and environmental protection standards for products sold within the European Economic Area (EEA). The FCC mark certifies that the electromagnetic interference from the device is under limits approved by the Federal Communications Commission in the United States.
The ORICO BTA-408 features a Bluetooth specification v4.0 class 2 and is also backward compatible with older Bluetooth versions. It features a built-in BCM20702 controller, utilizing an antenna design and a gold-plated USB. The casing is made from ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) which is considered as an Engineering Plastic that ensures impact resistance, strength, and stiffness.
Size Comparison
Here’s a comparison of my thumb against the ORICO BTA-408 without the cover.
Here’s a comparison of the Bluetooth dongle and a triple A battery. As you can see, in terms of length, the dongle is just about half of a triple A battery.
Performance – ORICO BTA-408 Mini USB Bluetooth 4.0 Adaptor
According to the specification alone, the ORICO BTA-408 is capable of up to 20 meters in range. That means any Bluetooth enabled device can detect the BTA-408 anywhere within a 20 meters radius range. Furthermore, it supports almost all Bluetooth enabled devices such as cell phones, tablets, speakers, headsets or headphones, mouse, keyboards; etc.
We tried using our Fossil Q Founder Smartwatch and we detected the ORICO BTA-408. We also paired it with but couldn’t actually use it for any purpose after the connection.
Testing Methodology
For our tests, the signal strength results will be represented in -dBm format (0 to -100). This is the power ratio in decibels (dB) of the measured power referenced to one milliwatt. Basically, anything that results to below -50dBm (0 to -49) is excellent. That means that the transmission of data will be stable and reliable.
We will also not bother testing the connection for more than 10 meters in range. It is unlikely that anyone will be using a Bluetooth transmission that exceeds 10 meters.
Tools
- Windows 10 Desktop Computer
- i7-6700k
- Z170 Motherboard Asrock K4
- 16GB RAM
- 256GB SSD
- Huawei P10 Android 8.0
- Bluetooth Intensity App
Tests
- Signal Strength Test – Linear
- Signal Strength Test – with Obstacles
- Transmission Rate Test
- Compatibility Test
Signal Strength Test – Linear
<1 Meter Stability Test
In our less than one meter test, we tested the highest possible signal that we can get. Our result shows that the highest we can get on any ideal cases is -47dBm.
10 Meter Stability Test
For the 10 meters radius test, we made sure that this will be an ideal situation. That means there are no obstacles blocking the connection. Obstacles such as a table, a plant…etc. We also made sure that there are no interferences from other devices such as wireless mouse or Wi-Fi running at the 2.4GHz spectrum. Our test result shows that the highest possible signal strength after 3 trials is -68dBm. Which is still considered as an excellent signal strength.
Signal Strength Test – with Obstacles
For this test, we went outside the office where a single 4-Inches thick wall is in between my phone and my computer where the ORICO BTA-408 is plugged in.
10 Meter Stability Test
We did not bother performing a less than 1-meter test since it is unlikely that someone will be connecting to a Bluetooth device that’s on the other side of a wall and is less than 1 meter away, in a linear perspective.
For this test, we measured a 10 meters distance away from the ORICO BTA-408. A 4-inch wall is present in the middle of the two devices acting as a blockage. In our test result, the highest possible signal strength we can get from such scenario is -88 dBm. At this point, standard RSSI indicates that any signal above -80 dBm will mostly end up being noise and functionality is unlikely to work.
Transmission Rate Test
For this test, we will simply send a file from one device to another and record the time it takes to fully transfer the file. We will then get the actual MB/s from that then convert to Mb/s to get the transmission rate with the same unit of measurement as specified on the specification.
We transferred an image with a size of 6MB from Huawei P10 to my computer where the ORICO BTA-408 is plugged in. It took about 37.3 seconds to complete. On computation that’s about 0.162MB/s. Converting that to Mb/s, we have 1.3Mb/s. That’s about 43% of the claimed 3Mbps speed but that’s fine since the rated 3Mbps speed is theoretical and not the real world scenario speed. Theoretical speed is only achievable when certain conditions are met which is unlikely to happen in real-world cases.
Compatibility Test
The compatibility test is simply testing the adaptor if it will work on other systems other than the stated supported systems.
For this test, we hooked up the dongle with a micro USB Type-B to connect it with an Android smartphone. As expected, it didn’t work.
We also tried hooking it up with a power bank just to see if could at least detect a Bluetooth signal. It didn’t work.
Final Thoughts…
Before anything else, Bluetooth 4.0 is a Bluetooth version that overtakes the version 3.0 back in 2012. Basically, version 4.0 is more power saving, have low cost, low latency, long effective connection distance, and an AES-128 encryption.
Overall, the ORICO BTA-408 is a great option for those who want a stylish, portable, and durable Bluetooth solution to hook their computer with Bluetooth connectivity. Its design is simple yet an eye candy, especially that it comes with other colours. It offers the best Bluetooth 4.0 experience. However, it’s far from being perfect. In terms of size, there are other models in the market that offers a smaller body and size. Although, this is one of the best looking Bluetooth v4.0 dongles we have seen so far.
In terms of performance, we have no complaints. The results that we got from each test are within expectation. Bluetooth v4.0 has not much else to offer especially that it’s been released way back in 2012. The only special thing about version 4 of Bluetooth is its capability to operate at lower power than the older versions and features a support for longer ranges.
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