The ever-changing world of technology is enhancing the user experience with each passing day. With the progress in the world of technology, it is becoming extremely important for different companies to come up with great ideas to grab user attention and bring them on board. One of the greatest inventions of current times is, undoubtedly, wireless connectivity. Gone are the days of tangled wires and black cables. From cell phones to Wi-Fi, to Bluetooth speakers and earphones, our lives have been shaped and changed by these devices since the dawn of the new millennium.
Like, when was the last time you left your home without your mobile phone or your earphones? ROFL!
Speaking of wireless technology, our lives have never been the same after the invention of Bluetooth. Back in 1990, Dr. Jaap Haartsen invented this astounding technology while working in Ericsson and the rest is history. Over the years, the technology has gone through many changes and upgrades and what we have is years of hard work by the developers.
The latest version of the Bluetooth hit the market in July 2016. As the technology completes 20 years (Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) was formally announced on 20 May 1998). Let us take a look in to Bluetooth 5.0 and its previous versions and find out what is new in it!
Last few years have been groundbreaking for Bluetooth connectivity. The latest version, Bluetooth 5.0, went live in the latter part of 2016. It came in with a lot of new and improved features, the most important being its enhanced speed capability. Let’s take a quick look.
- While both 4.1 and 4.2 were built with a speed of 24MBps, this one has an amazing speed of 48MBps (2X compared to its predecessors). As a result, it became an instant hit among the gadget freaks.
- Additionally, this version also had improved privacy and security, to measure up to the high demanding and ever-growing Internet of Things (IoT).
- While V4.1 and V4.2 could connect up to 100 meters or 300 feet, V5.0 was configured to connect up to 300 meters or 985 feet (approximately 4X of the last version: awesome!).
- Another commendable improvement between V4.1 and to some extent V4.2 with V5.0 is the signal interference. While the formers were known to interfere with other wireless devices such as 4G LTE communication, thanks to the improved security, this problem was almost gone.
- The latest version is designed to connections at 2 times the existing speed, 4 times the range of handling and can support about 8 times the amount of data.
- Bluetooth V4.2 and V5.0 introduced Bluetooth Low Energy, which was not present in V4.1. This feature is aimed to diminish the energy uses of Bluetooth peripherals, thereby, reducing power usage and extending battery life.
One of the best features of the latest version is dual audio. This feature allows you to connect and play audio on two Bluetooth devices at the same time. Therefore, you can connect two earphones to one phone and you are ready to go. This feature is currently available on Samsung S8 and above, along with Samsung note. However, it is expected to go live on other phones in the near future.
All these cool features are quite exciting for the technology lovers. The only disappointing thing about V5.0 is that it doesn’t have any backward compatibility with its old or previous versions.
So let us keep enjoying the gift of technology safely and wait for the upcoming new releases.
