Bluetooth 5 To Be Revealed June 16 Mass Adoption Begins Next Year

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group will announce its fifth-generation technology on June 16. Bluetooth 5 will bring many improvements to the next generation standard, particularly related to higher speeds and range.

The new Bluetooth 5 technology will double the range and quadruple the speed of low energy Bluetooth transmissions. This technology will also bring new functionality for connectionless services such as location-relevant information and navigation. Bluetooth 5 adds more capacity to advertising transmissions and is expected to fuel the adoption and deployment of beacons and location-based services worldwide.

Better range and speeds are useful features especially if you are in a hurry, but a superior transmission range also brings its disadvantages. The main disadvantage is an increased security risk. In this case, the best solution is to disable Bluetooth when not using it.

On the other hand, a better range Bluetooth also means that users can connect their headsets to their devices and walk anywhere inside a house, for instance, without connection worries.

Manufacturers should roll out Bluetooth 5 compatible devices starting next year. Maybe the awaited Surface Phone will be one of the devices supporting this technology.

Speaking of Bluetooth, Microsoft announced it would upgrade this feature in the upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Update. Many Microsoft Band users reported that Bluetooth wasn’t working properly, so Microsoft’s developers will make sure that Bluetooth Beacons will sport better support, with companies able to pre-pair Bluetooth styluses before shipment. This update will be very useful for Surface owners as all the devices will already be paired when they open the box.

If you often transfer files via Bluetooth, check out this Bluetooth File Transfer app for Windows 10 that allows you to browse, explore, transfer and manage the files of any Bluetooth-ready device.