Bluetooth 5.0 is here*

[Trixanity]

Today the Bluetooth 5.0 specification was released. As the asterisk in the title hints, that means that devices with support for the standard will show up in either late 2016 or sometime in 2017.

 

In short: it will quadruple the range and double the speed.

 

It's especially geared towards IoT as it will also have increased broadcast messaging capacity allowing it to transmit richer data

Quote

"Increasing operation range will enable connections to IoT devices that extend far beyond the walls of a typical home, while increasing speed supports faster data transfers and software updates for devices," Mark Powell, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG, said in statement. "And now with the ability to broadcast a much richer set of information, Bluetooth 5 will make beacons, location awareness, and other connectionless services an even more relevant part of an effortless and seamless IoT experience."

It seems like the improved range and speed can help with reducing dropped connections in general and reduce stutter in audio playback for those who use bluetooth for audio.

Currently it seems like the most common bluetooth devices, our phones, are class 2 devices (the norm for battery powered devices) meaning that it has a range of 10 m (roughly 33 in freedom units) although there is not necessarily a fixed value so it can be more than that depending on the power of the transmitter. Industrial class 1 transmitters can do 100 m (328 freedom units). Those are official numbers and seems to be more like guidelines.

 

Range basically correlates with the amount of power you run through it (other factors as well), so a device can exceed that. If 10 m is the standard, then we could assume that 40 m (131 freedom units) will become the new standard for devices, particularly if they are to communicate with IoT devices and those could be a fair distance away, especially in large homes. Although since manufacturers can boost the power beyond the official specs as long as they are within safety/emission/etc rules, we might see even bigger range on smartphones than 40 m. The range is also dependent on both devices, just to clarify, so the effective range increases if one device has a massive range (maybe we'll see some sort of IoT base stations with long range that relay signals to IoT devices to boost range throughout an entire house?). Not to mention the standard rules of signal propagation such as walls and other objects being a bitch.

 

 

Source: 

https://www.engadget.com/2016/06/16/bluetooth-5/

http://www.cnet.com/news/new-version-of-bluetooth-to-be-faster-have-greater-range/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth

[Djole123]

Looks like we can finally send files to someone in the other classroom! Oh gosh my dreams just came true!

[alexyy]

That's great,  wireless technology advancements are something we should invest more time into maybe one day we'll be a able to have a household with fully wireless technology. 

[Doobeedoo]

This would great in school :3

[RexinOridle]

Still, iPhone users can suck it, including myself.

[Big-G]

*Clicky baity title...

 

I'd like to see available BT 5.0 products... thanks...

[Trixanity]

7 hours ago, GidonsClaw said:

*Clicky baity title...

 

I'd like to see available BT 5.0 products... thanks...

You're gonna have to wait* for that

*At least six months.

Takes time to implement in actual products from the release of the specification.

[noobhawkia]

Just wondering how many people still use bluetooth...

Because most people I know use wifi file transfer apps like ShareIt or Xender 

[Trixanity]

51 minutes ago, joshkia said:

Just wondering how many people still use bluetooth...

Because most people I know use wifi file transfer apps like ShareIt or Xender 

No one really uses Bluetooth for (large) file transfers. The bandwidth isn't there. It's good for transferring relatively small amounts of data (and the power usage is smaller I believe, especially with BLE)

The pairing functionality is good. Allows you to easily pair it with a bunch of devices such as audio (headphones/speakers/headset), smart devices (wearables, home appliances), IoT. It basically enables communication between devices easily. If we ignore Wifi Direct, Wifi would require a base station of some kind to connect devices whereas Bluetooth connects directly and can do it automatically if already paired.

 

I guess Wifi (including Wifi Direct) wins on speed whereas Bluetooth wins on power consumption. Wifi is a bit more secure (assuming proper security is in place; 256-bit encryption vs 128-bit in favor of Wifi - unless my sources are incorrect), Wifi might win on range in most cases but as stated in the OP you can boost range of Bluetooth by boosting the power and it's up to the manufacturer to set that parameter just like with a Wifi device.

 

I'm uncertain of how Wifi and Bluetooth compares in feature sets, convenience, usability etc.

I'm guessing it's all down to application but for now it seems that Bluetooth very much has its place but the organizations behind Wifi and Bluetooth are obviously competitors as they've started to overlap feature sets (especially when Wifi added the Wifi Direct standard) and seem to want to become "the one standard". Although I feel like it's more the Wifi encroaching on the Bluetooth. Bluetooth has a high speed mode which basically piggybacks on a Wifi radio on the same device to transfer data faster but it's still not faster than Wifi (don't know why but Bluetooth High Speed has a maximum speed of 24 mbps).

[dalekphalm]

2 hours ago, joshkia said:

Just wondering how many people still use bluetooth...

Because most people I know use wifi file transfer apps like ShareIt or Xender 

I use Bluetooth literally every day in my car to play music over my car stereo, and to make hands free calls. Can't say I have much need for it otherwise. Bluetooth controllers can be quite handy though, such as the new upcoming XBO S Bluetooth enabled controller.

[dtaflorida]

I use bluetooth for my headset, tethering my other devices(security folks at work ban personal WiFi hotspots, and it's lower power so I leave it on all the time), and I think IOS uses it to identify AirDrop devices which then switch to direct wifi connection for the actual file data(photos and videos). BT5 could be quite nice for tethering.

[Commander Llama]

At long last, we can leave our Bluetooth speakers playing music and go across our domiciles to poop with no interruption in music!

[AlTech]

13 hours ago, Trixanity said:

You're gonna have to wait* for that

*At least six months.

Takes time to implement in actual products from the release of the specification.

But is it going to matter a lot? I hardly ever use Bluetooth.

 

And all my devices support BT4.0 .

 

I'm not buying a new devices just to have BT5.0

[AlTech]

BUT Who cares about Bluetooth?

[tsk]

1 hour ago, AluminiumTech said:

BUT Who cares about Bluetooth?

What century are you from?
Bluetooth is the prefered method for wireless connectivity for devices.

[AlTech]

29 minutes ago, tsk said:

What century are you from?
Bluetooth is the prefered method for wireless connectivity for devices.

The last time I used Bluetooth was with 4.0 + LE between an iPad with Retina display (4th Gen) and a 15" Retina MacBook Pro.

 

And that was over a year ago when I tried to use a cool gimmick which worked less than 50% of the time.

 

Other than that, I have no use for Bluetooth other than if a Bluetooth Xbox One controller came out (Yes I am aware of the new controller).

 

I literally never use Bluetooth because I don't need to.

[Bouzoo]

8 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

BUT Who cares about Bluetooth?

 

6 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

I literally never use Bluetooth because I don't need to.

 

People that use it. As @dalekphalm said, some people use it everyday for streaming music in the car, myself and him included. Then many people prefer Bluetooth over a cable when connecting devices to a PC. This should even lessen the gap between data transfer speeds. Sure you can send files via WhatsApp, Viber and such, but what happens when you cap your data? It becomes so slow and frustrating that sometimes files (and even normal messages!) can't be send. You can't cap Bluetooth. Given you are close to that person of course. These are the first ones that come to my mind.

You literally don't use Bluetooth because you don't need to so nobody should care about it and it should die? That's not how it works.

As were talking about it for the past few days, I don't use NFC so who cares about it? I don't use Apps on any TVs that I have even though they all are smart TVs so who cares about it? I bet more people use Bluetooth on a daily basis then there are people that use Windows phones so who cares about WP right? 

Carriers can lose their service due to some malfunction, your Wi-Fi may die because of a billion reasons but Bluetooth will still work. Not the best example, but you should get the point.

[Trixanity]

8 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

Snip

You're walking into the age old trap of "If I don't use it, then no one uses i".

 

I mean if market researchers only had to ask one person, then everything would be very easy. 

 

I don't personally use Bluetooth all that much. Yet. There are plenty situations where I could see myself using Bluetooth currently and in the future but right now I just don't have that many Bluetooth devices, particularly devices that I use on a daily basis. 

[AlTech]

34 minutes ago, Bouzoo said:

 

 

People that use it. As @dalekphalm said, some people use it everyday for streaming music in the car, myself and him included. Then many people prefer Bluetooth over a cable when connecting devices to a PC. This should even lessen the gap between data transfer speeds. Sure you can send files via WhatsApp, Viber and such, but what happens when you cap your data? It becomes so slow and frustrating that sometimes files (and even normal messages!) can't be send. You can't cap Bluetooth. Given you are close to that person of course. These are the first ones that come to my mind.

You literally don't use Bluetooth because you don't need to so nobody should care about it and it should die? That's not how it works.

As were talking about it for the past few days, I don't use NFC so who cares about it? I don't use Apps on any TVs that I have even though they all are smart TVs so who cares about it? I bet more people use Bluetooth on a daily basis then there are people that use Windows phones so who cares about WP right? 

Carriers can lose their service due to some malfunction, your Wi-Fi may die because of a billion reasons but Bluetooth will still work. Not the best example, but you should get the point.

But let's be honest and not kid ourselves here.

 

If they stopped improving Bluetooth nobody would care (I say nobody and I mean literally nobody except that one Bluetooth fanboy)

 

33 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

You're walking into the age old trap of "If I don't use it, then no one uses i".

 

I mean if market researchers only had to ask one person, then everything would be very easy. 

 

I don't personally use Bluetooth all that much. Yet. There are plenty situations where I could see myself using Bluetooth currently and in the future but right now I just don't have that many Bluetooth devices, particularly devices that I use on a daily basis. 

I barely ever see Bluetooth used anymore by anyone. It's useful for a tiny percentage of things and not much else.

 

The only people I see using it is for the minority of people. The one or two people with Bluetooth headphones and/or the one or two people with Bluetooth speakers.

 

Literally, that's it. Nobody else where I live generally uses Bluetooth.

[AlTech]

7 hours ago, tsk said:

What century are you from?
Bluetooth is the preferred method for wireless connectivity for devices.

the 21st thank you very much.

 

And Wi-Fi or cellular is preferred any day of the week compared to Bluetooth where I am from.

 

If I want to share a photo from a phone to PC, I just use WiFi or LTE and upload a photo to onedrive. Done, it syncs and I have no issues.

[Bouzoo]

6 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

But let's be honest and not kid ourselves here.

 

If they stopped improving Bluetooth nobody would care (I say nobody and I mean literally nobody except that one Bluetooth fanboy)

I absolutely agree, not many people would care, but if they removed it that would be a completely different story, and we were talking about using it in general, not improving.

[Trixanity]

2 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

But let's be honest and not kid ourselves here.

 

If they stopped improving Bluetooth nobody would care (I say nobody and I mean literally nobody except that one Bluetooth fanboy)

 

I barely ever see Bluetooth used anymore by anyone. It's useful for a tiny percentage of things and not much else.

 

The only people I see using it is for the minority of people. The one or two people with Bluetooth headphones and/or the one or two people with Bluetooth speakers.

 

Literally, that's it. Nobody else where I live generally uses Bluetooth.

That's a very ignorant and narrow-minded way of seeing things but of course you're entitled to it. 

[LAwLz]

11 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

If they stopped improving Bluetooth nobody would care (I say nobody and I mean literally nobody except that one Bluetooth fanboy)

 

I barely ever see Bluetooth used anymore by anyone. It's useful for a tiny percentage of things and not much else.

 

The only people I see using it is for the minority of people. The one or two people with Bluetooth headphones and/or the one or two people with Bluetooth speakers.

 

Literally, that's it. Nobody else where I live generally uses Bluetooth.

I don't use Bluetooth either. I have not used it once on any of my smartphones. However, I think we should still care about it. It is already used by a fair bit of things, such as:

• Speakers
• Mice
• Keyboards
• Gaming controllers.
• Remotes for things like TVs and STBs.
• Headsets and headphones.
• Connecting phones to cars.
• Printers
• Smartwatches

 

But here is the thing (I am sure @Colonel_Gerdauf will love this), with new hardware we get brand new software that can take advantage of it. Longer range and higher data speeds might enable developers to do brand new things with Bluetooth that was not previously possible.

With home automation and IoT getting more and more popular, decent data speeds with long range and low power consumption might make Bluetooth usage skyrocket.

 

But on the other hand, for home automation and IoT I think I would rather it used WiFi. That way it would be possible for all network enabled devices to have access to it rather than just Bluetooth devices. But who knows what the future has in store for us.

[Trixanity]

18 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

I don't use Bluetooth either. I have not used it once on any of my smartphones. However, I think we should still care about it. It is already used by a fair bit of things, such as:

• Speakers
• Mice
• Keyboards
• Gaming controllers.
• Remotes for things like TVs and STBs.
• Headsets and headphones.
• Connecting phones to cars.
• Printers
• Smartwatches

 

But here is the thing (I am sure @Colonel_Gerdauf will love this), with new hardware we get brand new software that can take advantage of it. Longer range and higher data speeds might enable developers to do brand new things with Bluetooth that was not previously possible.

With home automation and IoT getting more and more popular, decent data speeds with long range and low power consumption might make Bluetooth usage skyrocket.

 

But on the other hand, for home automation and IoT I think I would rather it used WiFi. That way it would be possible for all network enabled devices to have access to it rather than just Bluetooth devices. But who knows what the future has in store for us.

I could imagine having an IoT base station that uses both Bluetooth and Wifi for communicating with client devices but uses Bluetooth LE exclusively for communicating with your IoT devices. Maybe this IoT base station will be built into/double as a router. I could imagine router makers such as Asus and TP-Link going into the IoT business by allowing their devices to be the center of all IoT devices - a hub if you will. Kinda like the Philips Hue stuff where you have a hub that controls all your lighting.

 

Or maybe I'm just completely off here and we'll use our phones to individually connect with each IoT device or another completely different scheme.

[LAwLz]

24 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

I could imagine having an IoT base station that uses both Bluetooth and Wifi for communicating with client devices but uses Bluetooth LE exclusively for communicating with your IoT devices. Maybe this IoT base station will be built into/double as a router. I could imagine router makers such as Asus and TP-Link going into the IoT business by allowing their devices to be the center of all IoT devices - a hub if you will. Kinda like the Philips Hue stuff where you have a hub that controls all your lighting.

 

Or maybe I'm just completely off here and we'll use our phones to individually connect with each IoT device or another completely different scheme.

Maybe, but it seems impractical to need a hub that uses Bluetooth and WiFi when we could just have everything use WiFi and connect to all the exiting routers. Are Bluetooth modules and antennas smaller? If they aren't then I think I'd rather just have WiFi. Bluetooth for the initial setup (connecting to the WiFi) and then switch over to WiFi for management would probably be the best of both worlds, but might be too expensive/big.