That “two times the speed” benefit is helpful when operating at short range and sending data back and forth. Technically, devices can actually choose between more speed or a longer range. The aptX compression standard already promises CD quality audio over lower 1 Mbps speeds, so 2 Mbps speeds should enable even better wireless audio quality.
RELATED: What's the Difference Between Bluetooth A2DP and aptX? However, walls and other obstacles will weaken the signal, as they do with Wi-Fi (although a better wireless router will help things). Devices can also communicate over distances of up to 800 feet (or 240 meters), which is four times the 200 feet (or 60 meters) allowed by Bluetooth 4.2. With Bluetooth 5.0, devices can use data transfer speeds of up to 2 Mbps, which is double what Bluetooth 4.2 supports. Again, these improvements apply to Bluetooth Low Energy, ensuring devices can take advantage of them while saving power.
The official Bluetooth marketing material from the Bluetooth standard organization advertises that Bluetooth 5.0 has four times the range, two times the speed, and eight times the broadcasting message capacity of older versions of Bluetooth. In other words, it’s faster and can operate over greater distances than older versions of Bluetooth. RELATED: The Best Bluetooth Speakers of 2021 More Speed, Distance, and Throughputīluetooth 5.0’s primary benefits are improved speed and greater range. It’s enabled by Bluetooth 5.0 and will hopefully appear on other manufacturers’ devices, too. However, this shouldn’t be a Samsung-only feature. Just connect two Bluetooth audio devices to your phone, turn on the Dual Audio feature, and you’re ready to go. This feature is known as “Dual Audio” on the Samsung Galaxy. You could even stream two different audio sources to two different audio devices at the same time, so two people could be listening to two different pieces of music, but streaming from the same phone. Or you could play audio on two different speakers in different rooms. In other words, you could have two pairs of wireless headphones connected to your phone, and them stream audio to both of them at once, all via standard Bluetooth. Dual Audioīluetooth 5.0 also enables a cool new feature that allows you to play audio on two connected devices at the same time. On Android, Bluetooth 5.0 should help make Bluetooth headphones something you’d want to use. They use Bluetooth 4.2 and the special Apple W1 chip for an improved connection. Notably, Apple’s AirPods don’t use Bluetooth 5.0. Many more types of devices will be able to communicate over Bluetooth Low Energy in the future. With Bluetooth 5.0, all audio devices communicate over Bluetooth Low Energy, which means reduced power usage and longer battery life. RELATED: Wireless Earbuds Used to Suck, But They're Good Nowįor example, wireless headphones couldn’t communicate over Bluetooth Low Energy, so they had to use the more power-hungry Bluetooth classic standard instead.
It was originally used for wearables, beacons, Bluetooth trackers, and other low-power devices, but had some serious restrictions.
Bluetooth Low Energy is designed to reduce the energy usage of Bluetooth peripherals. Importantly, all the improvements being made to Bluetooth are to Bluetooth Low Energy specification, which was introduced back with Bluetooth 4.0, and not to the classic Bluetooth radio that uses more power. Bluetooth Low Energy for Wireless Headphones (and More) And, when you buy new Bluetooth 5.0-enabled peripherals, they’ll work better thanks to your Bluetooth 5.0 phone. Bluetooth is backwards compatible, however, so you can continue using your existing Bluetooth 4.2 and older devices with a Bluetooth 5.0 phone. In other words, you won’t see any immediate benefit from upgrading to a phone with Bluetooth 5.0 if all your Bluetooth accessories were designed for an older version of Bluetooth.
RELATED: How to Pair a Bluetooth Device to Your Computer, Tablet, or PhoneĪ new version of the Bluetooth standard means various improvements, but only when used with compatible peripherals. Bluetooth is also used for communication between various smart home and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. It’s commonly used for wireless headphones and other audio hardware, as well as wireless keyboards, mice, speakers, trackers, and game controllers. Bluetooth 5.0 is the latest version of the Bluetooth wireless communication standard.