Okay so short story. In 940 AD, there lived a man, Harald Blåtand, who was king of Denmark. He was known for uniting Danish tribes into a kingdom, and also converting his country to Christianity. End of short story. We’ll come back to this later.
What has this got to do with Bluetooth?
Bluetooth, the radio communication technology that enables low-power, low-cost, short-distance wireless exchange of information between phones, computers and other devices derives its name from Danish king Blåtand. Blå translates to “blue” and tand, “tooth”. Just as the ancient king united his people, Bluetooth as we know it “unites” two devices to share and exchange information. Moreso, the Bluetooth logo was created by combining the runes of the initials of Harald ‘Bluetooth’ Gormsson: ᚼ and ᛒ.
Origins
This technology that started when Sven Mattisson got his PhD from Caltech in 1986 and started work for Ericsson Mobile Communication in 1995.
Fun fact: Bluetooth was formerly called “Multi-Communicator Links, or MC Links”
In 1997, Intel head of technological development, Jim Kardach worked with Mattisson’s to develop MC Links which could not only be used to link mobile phone but other kinds of devices. A joint development group was created when Nokia, IBM and Toshiba were invited to join the project. Microsoft joined in 1999, Lenovo in 2005 and Apple in 2015.
This beautiful technology was launched in May 1998 and the Bluetooth Special Interest Group oversees the development of standards and the licensing of the Bluetooth technologies and trademarks to manufacturers.
Bluetooth now…
The Bluetooth standards have been revised over many years starting with version 1.0 and now Bluetooth 5.0. We’re not going to bore you with the details of the various iterations but Bluetooth 5.0 is a significant quantum leap.
“Bluetooth 5 will transform the way people experience the IoT by making it something that happens simply and seamlessly around them,” ~ Mark Powell, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG.
While Bluetooth version 4.2 works up to 10 meters, version 5 reaches up to 240 meters, with data transfer increasing to 50Mbit/s with less interference.
Comparing version 5 with 4.2, there’s been a significant bump in range, speed, and broadcast messaging capacity; 2x speed, 4x range, and 8x messaging capacity. This new standard unifies all the previous standards.
Bluetooth 5.0 will bring a whole lot meaning into indoor navigation and tracking systems, with this wider range it should virtually cover all your IoT devices. It will serve as a perfect guidance system to roam airports where you are likely to arrive with no internet connection. Warehouses can also use this newer technology to track assets and keep inventor. This should bring another whole new meaning to the nearby tile on Android 7.0+
With Bluetooth 5.0 here we believe the next flagship devices in the next few months will come equipped with it. The fridges, lamps, dress, cookers, cars will follow soon.
I hope you have been enlightened by this post because very soon spammers will find a way to scam people by claiming you can download Bluetooth 5.0 apk 🙂 Do not fall victim.
Featured image: Bluetooth.com
Are there currently phones running on Android 7+ with BT 5.0?
No, there’s none, Cletus. This is expected in the next line of devices from OEMs
Impressive. I never knew how important this technology is.
Interested in the range of gadgets that could use this BT… When do we expect this neologism?
Gideon, we are expecting to see Bluetooth 5 in devices in the next few months, as it’s already out, manufacturers will integrate into their products. This will range from new smartphones to every new device that already uses Bluetooth.