Get smart — the future is 5G
Humans have been able tosend information at distance to one another for quite a while now, and we’veactually become pretty good at it. What started out as primitive shoutingacross the treetops moved swiftly on to smoke signals, to the humble homingpigeon and then even louder shouting, which is still used today. Thankfully,progress in modern electronics allowed us to take things to the next level.
5G is the next generationof mobile connectivity, following on from its predecessor 4G which is currentlyused by billions of smartphones across the globe. You may have seen the hypefor this new technology online and in the press after it was discussed at Mobile World Congressearlier this year, and the excitement is certainly justified.
Although it’s only onegeneration up, the jump in network speed is truly staggering, with 5G reportedto be able to reach speeds of ten gigabits per second, one hundred times fasterthan its predecessor. To put this into perspective, downloading a two-hourmovie on 4G would take roughly six minutes, whereas it’s only 3.6seconds on 5G. However, this ought to be taken with apinch of salt as we know all too well it’s not uncommon for network speeds todeliver less than advertised…
Okay, so mobile networkswill be getting faster, is that it? Well kind of, but there’s more to it thanthat. 5G will allow for advances in other areas of technology that rely, orwill rely, on wireless connections as the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devicesgrows. Imagine a world where not just people but all things are connected:self-driving cars on smart roads, the traffic signals they follow, all the wayto smart bulbs, plugs and other home devices. This level of connectivityrequires a huge increase in network speeds and reliability which is just what5G is designed to provide.
One of the most notable and important features the 5G will offer is incredibly low latency. As the next generation will operate at much higher frequencies (which also allows for faster data transfer rates), there is less time between each packet of information sent and received — digital interactions will be near real-time at rates between 1 and 4 milliseconds.
This opens the door fornew and emerging technologies like cloud and mobile gaming, namely Google’s Stadia, the cloud-basedgaming platform revealed at GDCin March this year. As all the processing power is done by remote servers, lownetwork latency is essential for making cloud gaming on mobile devicescompetitive and, more so, enjoyable.
5G’s benefits of lowlatency and high data transfer rates bleed into the world of virtual reality(VR) and augmented reality (AR) too. Like with cloud gaming, the heavy liftingis done remotely and will allow device builds to become more discreet, smallerand wireless to provide greater cloud-connected experiences.
The arrival of 5G willpush the processing power and move consumption away from the PC and into thecloud. This means users can experience VR from anywhere and require only aheadset, nothing more. It offers fantastic flexibility in the worlds of workand play. Meetings can still take place face-to-face over a coffee, exceptyou’ll be thousands of miles apart, sitting across from an empty chair whereyour contact sits projected onto glass in AR. Additionally, future videoformats will be much more data-intensive. Video with six degrees of freedom, inwhich viewers can move around and ‘interact’ with the scene, will require anextremely high bitrate of upto ten times that required for 4K video.
The introduction of 5G’scapabilities into our society is going to be a real game-changer, and I believeit’s for the better. Sure, greater connectivity means quicker Boomerang uploadsand more reliable network coverage, but it also opens the door to a world ofgreater interactivity, product innovation and technological wonder.
