Poly & Intel: The Next Generation Bluetooth Experience

Liberate your USB port

As laptop designs become sleeker the number of USB ports is reducing, forcing users to often plug and unplug USB devices which is frustrating. Poly and Intel are coming to their rescue by removing the need for the USB Bluetooth headset adapter on supported laptops and hence freeing up a valuable USB port.

20 years ago, the first Bluetooth headsets unchained mobile phone users from wires with hands-free wireless communications. Bluetooth quickly became ubiquitous in mobile phones and smartphones and is now known for its "just works" simplicity.

The same was never true when using a Bluetooth headset directly with a computer. Users would have to jump through hoops ensuring they had the correct drivers, firmware, software, etc. before discovering that the audio quality was inadequate. Poly solved these problems with its own USB Bluetooth adapter.

Thanks to Poly and Intel® the end is now in sight for the USB Bluetooth Adapter with supported laptops.

The Next Evolution

Poly has collaborated with Intel to optimize the Poly headset to meet the Intel® Engineered for Evo™ accessories program requirements for Bluetooth headsets. This ensures simple, reliable, and optimized performance that helps to maximize user experiences, all using the native Bluetooth and without the need for a USB Bluetooth adapter. The first Poly Bluetooth headsets to support Intel® Engineered for Evo™ accessories program will be the Voyager Focus 2and Voyager 4300 Series(through a firmware update). Look for the Intel® Evo™ platform brand on select premium 11th and 12th Gen Intel® Core™ processor-based laptops from a variety of manufactures.

Looking to The Future

For those who spend most of their time on conference/collaboration calls, it is important to be able to answer/end and mute/unmute the call directly from the headset. Although this is not currently supported when using native Bluetooth, Poly is working hard with major UC phone and conferencing software providers to add this feature for native Bluetooth-connected headsets without the need for the USB adapter. This feature will enter preview mode in Microsoft Teams in early 2022*

Using a headset directly with Intel® Evo™ supported laptops is ideal for users who are unable to connect a USB adapter and just want a great audio experience. Intel® Evo™ laptops lay the foundation for early adopters to benefit from using their Bluetooth headset without the need of a separate Bluetooth USB adapter, freeing up their scarce USB ports for other things. As more UC phone and conference software providers add remote call control support for native Bluetooth headsets and users refresh their computers with new Intel® Evo™ laptops and Windows 11, more users will experience the benefits of a direct Bluetooth connection with the full call control support too.

To see the entire lineup of Poly Bluetooth headsets, visit poly.com

Learn more about Intel® Evo™, visit intel.com