Bluetooth has been with us since the early days of wireless technologies in computers and mobile devices. First announced in 1998, the technology made its way to consumer devices in 2000 via the Ericsson T36 mobile phone.
SummaryWhat's new?What devices will we see this on?Will Bluetooth 5 devices work with Bluetooth 4 devices?Bluetooth 5 release dateConclusionWith each new iteration, Bluetooth makes it faster and easier for us to connect various devices to each other – laptops, headsets, mice, fitness bands, and more. – and do even more advanced things like transfer files and share internet connections. .
Now, Bluetooth 5.0 has been announced, and it will likely be the biggest technological advancement yet. Here's everything you need to know about it.
First (and most importantly), Bluetooth 5 is super fast. It should be about twice as fast as the previous version (Bluetooth 4.2), thanks to a bandwidth of 5 Mbps compared to the 2.1 Mbps bandwidth of Bluetooth 4.2. The improved data capacity means we can expect packet transmission to increase to 2MB/s, up from 1MB/s before.
Device makers and developers will have more flexibility as they can increase the range of Bluetooth signals by decreasing the bandwidth – up to distances of almost a mile if there are no obstacles in the way. the path. This is a huge leap from the current 200m range of Bluetooth 4.2.
Bluetooth used to be a bit confusing as it came in standard and "LE" (Low Energy) variants. Bluetooth 5 will unify those two things into one, with Bluetooth SIG (a body of around 30,000 companies that develops and oversees Bluetooth technology) claiming that the new standard will be much more powerful while, paradoxically, using no more energy at all. .
Yes, Bluetooth 5 will be fully backwards compatible, and while you won't experience its various benefits if you use BT 5 with BT 4 devices, it will still be fully functional as a BT 4 device. However, there is no way to update bluetooth 4 firmware to bluetooth 5. To have bluetooth 5, you need to get bluetooth 5 hardware.
Since this was just announced, it might be a while before device manufacturers start integrating Bluetooth 5 into their hardware. The technology itself will be ready "late 2016-early 2017" according to the official press release, but it may be a few months later when we actually get our hands on it.
Bluetooth is one of those technologies that has become more useful over time, overtaking infrared (remember that?) as the wireless technology of choice for small-scale, short-range data transfers. We take it for granted, but its next iteration brings Bluetooth a lot closer to WiFi in terms of versatility and the number of uses it can have.
There are concerns that Bluetooth 5 will continue to use a 2.4GHz frequency which is increasingly prone to worse signals due to excessive congestion, and if BT 5 will be the big boost we're hoping for, that will depend on how he uses this new warp-hopping technology he's talking about. If this succeeds, then the days of fuzzy and frustrating Bluetooth audio quality could be behind us!
