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Bluetooth 5 will quadruple the range, double the speed

engadget.com

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Re: Bluetooth 5 will quadruple the range, double the speed

#101

Post by icebraining »

TD-Linux wrote: post #77
r0m4n0 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree, I look forward to the day I can leave my iPhone in a gym locker and work out with just headphones

I'd highly recommend getting a tiny mp3 player (say Clip Zip, though they are now discontinued...) and a short light headphone cable. Why send audio wirelessly when the tech to play it is as small as the receiver? There are also headphones with built in players, I don't know how the quality of those is though.

Why send audio wirelessly when the tech to play it is as small as the receiver?

Because you might want to stream audio from the Internet, or you don't want to waste time converting newer audio formats to MP3 and then copying them over, or you'd rather not have cables around you when you work out, or you might want to track what you've listen (particularly useful for audiobooks and long podcasts), etc.

Yes, these are not indispensable life necessities nor anything like that, but given the choice, I'd rather beam the audio from my tablet than carry an extra player.

Re: Bluetooth 5 will quadruple the range, double the speed

#102

Post by digi_owl »

jacobolus wrote: post #76
micheljansen wrote: post #69

That's nice, but the biggest UX problem with Bluetooth is still the pairing misery. It's 2016 and it's still nearly impossible to use any one Bluetooth device with multiple other devices. Try switching a Bluetooth headset from an iPhone to a Mac or convincing your car to switch from one phone to another. It's a huge mess and its not just a matter of the technology not working as designed. These are fundamental proble…

Apple’s stylus has a pretty effective and reliable pairing method: just briefly plug it into the tablet. Too bad this method can’t be more generally used.

You get pretty much the same thing these days if both devices support NFC. Just get within range, and ding.

Re: Bluetooth 5 will quadruple the range, double the speed

#103

Post by vardump »

modeless wrote: post #4

I don't need more range or more speed. I need it to reliably connect and stay connected while devices are well within range of each other, and stop breaking every time I upgrade anything. Unfortunately that would require making it less complex, which is about as likely as a broken egg spontaneously reassembling.

Speed, who cares. I need better latency.

At least Bluetooth mice/trackpads need better response time.

For example Magic Trackpad 2 is so horrible to use compared to Macbook built in trackpad because of bluetooth latency.

It's also jarring for audio and it doesn't help that they also use latency-inducing SBC.

Re: Bluetooth 5 will quadruple the range, double the speed

#104

Post by cyphax »

abritinthebay wrote: post #90
cyphax wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the bluetooth spec the limit though, or maybe the implementation? I can leave my phone on the table downstairs and my headphones still work fine in the attic, which is through 2 floors of reinforced concrete. I was very surprised to be able to do this, but kitchen-living room should be possible. Unless your kitchen is in the west wing, and your living room is a mile down the hall in the east wing in which case I'm…

As it's 2.4ghz it may also be partially spectrum pollution. That said - that seems rather impressive for Bluetooth, I've had one reinforced concrete wall pretty consistently screw up most bluetooth signals in my experience, so I'd posit that you're getting unusually good reception there.

I wonder what strength the radios broadcast on. I do have a 2.4GHz wifi-router both downstairs and in the attic so you would expect no signal at all, given the situation. I'll admit that by this point it's extremely sensitive to spectrum pollution; a nearby laptop with wifi on will mess with it enough that it starts stuttering. My only issue with bluetooth is with Android; it semi-randomly likes to change pitch and speed by a little [1]. Very noticeable if you listen to electronic music. Had it with my previous phone (Android M, CM) and now with my current phone (also Android M, stock) and different devices (headphones, car).

[1]https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=209473

Re: Bluetooth 5 will quadruple the range, double the speed

#105

Post by makomk »

jmiserez wrote: post #74
BinaryIdiot wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem though is the Sun will negatively affect Bluetooth range. If you're inside it's great and you can go into multiple rooms depending on the materials / wall thickness between you and the device. Once you go outside on a sunny day if the phone isn't directly in the line-of-sight (and even then) you'll get constant disconnects. Using multiple headsets / headphones and phones (including iPhone and multiple And…

The Sun affects the range? How and why, that doesn't make sense at all?

The Sun is quite a noisy radio transmitter across a very wide range of frequencies. Downside of having a big, hot unshielded fusion reactor in the sky.

Re: Bluetooth 5 will quadruple the range, double the speed

#106

Post by supercoder »

TD-Linux wrote: post #77
r0m4n0 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree, I look forward to the day I can leave my iPhone in a gym locker and work out with just headphones

I'd highly recommend getting a tiny mp3 player (say Clip Zip, though they are now discontinued...) and a short light headphone cable. Why send audio wirelessly when the tech to play it is as small as the receiver? There are also headphones with built in players, I don't know how the quality of those is though.

Because it's impossible to stream music, podcasts and take calls ?

Re: Bluetooth 5 will quadruple the range, double the speed

#107

Post by icebraining »

thomaskcr wrote: post #23
bokenator wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found that microwave interferes very strongly with Bluetooth headphones

And bodies. Had to move my laptop dock to the other side of my desk when I switched headphones from a pair that had the transmitter in the left ear to the right.

Sacks of water will do that :)

Re: Bluetooth 5 will quadruple the range, double the speed

#108

Post by digi_owl »

thomaskcr wrote: post #23
bokenator wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found that microwave interferes very strongly with Bluetooth headphones

And bodies. Had to move my laptop dock to the other side of my desk when I switched headphones from a pair that had the transmitter in the left ear to the right.

Yeah that is perhaps the most problematic aspect of Bluetooth. The radio interface is designed with the presumption of the signal bouncing off nearby surfaces. Thus it is sensitive to line of sight issues.

Mind you, i have also been able to connect to a USB dongle through solid wood walls, so mileage may vary.

Never mind that you can get two classes of radios, on top of the LE stuff. With each class having different transmission strengths.

Re: Bluetooth 5 will quadruple the range, double the speed

#109

Post by digi_owl »

icebraining wrote: post #107
thomaskcr wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And bodies. Had to move my laptop dock to the other side of my desk when I switched headphones from a pair that had the transmitter in the left ear to the right.

Sacks of water will do that :)

Wet dogs can play havoc with wireless.

Re: Bluetooth 5 will quadruple the range, double the speed

#110

Post by justincc »

TD-Linux wrote: post #77
r0m4n0 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree, I look forward to the day I can leave my iPhone in a gym locker and work out with just headphones

I'd highly recommend getting a tiny mp3 player (say Clip Zip, though they are now discontinued...) and a short light headphone cable. Why send audio wirelessly when the tech to play it is as small as the receiver? There are also headphones with built in players, I don't know how the quality of those is though.

Pretty much all the decent dedicated MP3 players have been discontinued. The last really great one for me was the Samsung's range (nee Yepp). But unfortunately the last one was the YP-U7 back in 2012 and it's very obvious they aren't going to make any more, even though they never announced it.

Sony still does players but they're not very good.

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