Originally posted by brecklundin IR images xfer? are you freaking kidding me? Has there been some great leap in technology recently? IR xfer is about the slowest protocol around...oh, well, still looks like a reasonable incremental update to the K-x. But not for me, not even close...migth just have to go window shopping for a 7D this weekend.
It's using IrSimple, which first appeared as a standard in 2005. IrSimple is the fastest of the IrDA's protocols, but it's hardly blindingly so -- about 500KB/sec.
I don't think the intent is to transmit full-resolution photos this way. Assuming the K-r manages the maximum possible speed in the spec, it'd take eleven seconds or so for each full-res JPEG, and around 24 seconds for a single raw file.
Rather, it's intended for making small prints and sending photos from a cellphone, wirelessly. For that usage, IrSimple is perfectly fast enough using downsampled images. A second or so would easily transmit something suitable for, say, a 4x6 print or a blog post.
It's not a feature I'd personally use, but for somebody who owns an IrSimple-capable phone or printer, I can perhaps see the attraction.