Everything You Need To Know About Bluetooth 5 Technology!

Bluetooth is a communication technology that has been in development for the last two decades. You would expect that a low-cost, low-power wireless technology would be widely used. In this article, we describe the innovations that the new generation wireless technology Bluetooth 5 will add to our lives.

With the latest developments in Bluetooth, we can easily say that this technology has become even more desirable in the eyes of both consumers and manufacturers. But there is always room for further improvement when it comes to technology. According to Toby Nixon, chairman of the current and future Bluetooth specification committee (Bluetooth Special Interest Group, SIG) working to make Bluetooth more capable, there is a sizable demand from manufacturers for further development of Bluetooth. Nixon says the final Bluetooth version will offer solutions in two key areas. One is the Internet of Things solutions associated with smart homes, and the other is low-power Bluetooth beacons used especially in public places (shopping malls, etc.). Nice, but is there any meaningful advantage to switching to Bluetooth 5 when Bluetooth 4 is already doing a great job?

The developers of Bluetooth announced Bluetooth 5 in June of this year and, contrary to expectations, chose to simply refer to the new Bluetooth version as “5”. (Not 5.0.) This is because developers who have surrendered to the marketing team want to appear more sympathetic to the end user.

5, an important revision of Bluetooth 6 years later, is the product of years of work, as with all major revisions. Although we will not be able to talk about all its features in detail in this article, we will talk about all of the Bluetooth 5 features that will affect the end user the most.

Connectionless data transfers

This feature, called “connectionless data transfer”, will add flexibility to device pairing. As you know, we choose a network to connect to the wireless network (Wi-Fi), and after that network gives us permission to enter our computer, we go about our business. But with Bluetooth connections, the issue can be more complicated. Both devices exchange data after going through a semi-manual handshake ceremony. This allows a Bluetooth connection to be accepted or rejected.

Although this process allows the user to play the boss during this matchmaking process, it is seen as a waste of time in most cases. Bluetooth 5, on the other hand, will now analyze what type of connection is and provide instant connection when appropriate. It won’t need a special application setup or an unpredictable pairing process.

4x more coverage

Bluetooth has long been known to only work with devices close to each other in a limited area, but with Bluetooth 5, the range increases to 300 meters. With the release of new versions of wireless networks over time, the connection range between walls or floors will expand, and Bluetooth will easily overcome the obstacles that come its way. It may even be possible for Bluetooth to be an alternative to wireless networking technology in some rare cases.
Of course, as with every technology, more coverage means higher power consumption in Bluetooth. This means our handheld smartphones won’t have as much range as our desktop PC or beacons.

2 times faster

You’ve probably already guessed that Version 5 will of course be faster than Bluetooth 4.2. The speed of Bluetooth 5 is 2 Mb per second. Of course, this is a theoretical speed and even under the most ideal conditions, a constant 2 Mb is difficult to catch, but it is obvious that it will make a significant difference compared to the flood.

It seems difficult to rival a modern wireless network connection at this speed. After all, with the latest Wi-Fi standard, it is now possible to reach speeds of several hundred megabits. However, it is possible, although not sustainable, that Bluetooth 5 can be used instead of Wi-Fi when necessary. Considering the theoretically accessible distance of 300 meters, it will find more use than the saddle.

smart location

One of the few big developments brought by Bluetooth 5 is the information carrying beacons, as we mentioned before. These data-transmitting devices, which will be abundantly placed in crowded streets or shopping malls, will be able to send you data as you wander around them with your smartphone in your pocket.

Thanks to the improvements made in the speed and coverage of Bluetooth 5, these beacons will also be able to guide you by taking into account the point you are at. This data can be anything from pedestrian navigation to advertising, from the campaign of the day to the services to be offered by the stores in that area.

Bluetooth 5 beacons also have much sharper location accuracy. In other words, when you are given a store description in a shopping mall, they can even detect the floor you are in in the shopping mall.

Not only for the end user, but also for detecting a product searched in the warehouse will be much more precise and faster with the 5th version. Apple, on the other hand, can be said to be the flag bearer of this kind of use with its iBeacon technology. Thanks to iBeacon, instant messages and directions can be sent when the application in iOS is approaching or moving away from the desired point.

Will new hardware be required?

In fact, Bluetooth developers have done their best to implement Bluetooth 5 on existing Bluetooth 4.0 hardware, but life is not that easy, unfortunately. It is likely that without the new Bluetooth chips, the improved range and transfer speed of Bluetooth 5 will not be possible. So older devices may not be able to offer all the benefits of Bluetooth 5, but some other benefits are expected when updated. The currently used beacons, on the other hand, need to be updated in hardware. Of course, it’s hard to say that this is good news for consumers. Apple and Android phone makers will see this new standard as a great “phone refresh” opportunity, and “it’s time to switch your phone to enjoy the awesome features of Bluetooth 5.” they will give the message.