Samsung’s novelty Galaxy flagships – the S8 and S8+ come packed with high-end specs and features, one of these is the new Bluetooth standard – 5.0. The Samsung Galaxy S8 (and Galaxy S8+) (April) beat the Sony Xperia XZ Premium (June) to be the World’s First Phone with Bluetooth 5.0.
According to Bluetooth SIG, the governing body behind the technology, Bluetooth 5.0 brings longer range, faster speed, and a number of advantages over the Bluetooth 4.2 released in December 2014. Not only is it twice as fast as the previous standard – from 1 Mbps to 2 Mbps; it also offers four times the range and eight times increase in broadcasting message capacity.
It connects devices from a greater distance i.e compatible devices can maintain a connection up to about 240 meters away from the phone. Another highlighted feature is the improvement interpolaility and coexistence with other wirless technologies, meaning Bluetooth 5 would be able to coexist and won’t potentially interfere with or hinder other wirless technologies.
Asides from the improvement in connectivity and performance, the Samsung Galaxy S8 also has a ‘Bluetooth Dual Audio’ feature. This update allows the smartphone stream audio to two paired Bluetooth headsets or speakers at the same time; and control each independently.
PS: A Bluetooth 5 (such as the Galaxy S8) device needs another Bluetooth 5 device on the other end to truly benefit from the advamtages of this tehnology.
