The Bluetooth Special Interest Group chose the Motorola MOTOACTV fitness device as its overall winner of the 2012 Bluetooth SIG Best of CES Awards last week. Also announced by the Bluetooth SIG were the three winners of its Now, New and Next categories at the CES show.

Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG, said “In the fall of 2011, the Bluetooth SIG introduced two new brand extensions – Bluetooth Smart Ready, for hub devices, such as the Motorola Droid RAZR, iPhone 4S and tablets, and Bluetooth Smart, for low energy consuming sensor devices, such as heart rate monitors and pedometers – to better define the newest generation of Bluetooth enabled products for consumers. Our overall winner this year, the MOTOACTV, exemplifies exactly what this new generation of Bluetooth enabled products are about. The MOTOACTV can support low energy devices, like a heart rate monitor, while still having all the functionality Bluetooth technology is known for – transferring data to your phone, streaming music through your wireless ear buds and keeping your hands-free. The integration of workout data with a Bluetooth enabled application on the Droid RAZR completes the picture, making it simple for consumers to put data to practical use on hub devices like smart phones.” 

The ‘Now’ category, for products widely available today, was won by the in-car Ford SYNC AppLink voice control. ‘New’ was won by the radio-controlled model VOXLAND BeeWi BBZ351 Helicopter, while the ‘Next’ category was won by the Siemens MiniTek automatic streamer for hearing aids.

The Siemens MiniTek also received the most votes in the Best of CES Fan Favorite award, which was voted for by the public.

Each product was reviewed and judged based on a variety of criteria including innovation, interoperability testing, look & feel and ease of use. Bonus points were awarded to products that included Bluetooth v4.0.