5g has arrived! But how will it change the world around us?

Last week, I bought an iPhone 12 Pro. Primarily because my existing iPhone’s battery was struggling to last longer than my morning coffee, but also because I’m a sucker for shiny gadgets.

Tim Cook and crew managed to say the word 5G 67 times during the Apple announcement, but I personally didn’t take any notice as my perception was that 5G wouldn’t be around in the UK for some time.

That’s why it took me by surprise when I went out for a run the next morning, and as I was clicking into my running app, I saw those magic characters appear in the top right-hand corner of the screen – "5G"

I quickly jumped straight into my speed test app thinking that the 5G would disappear again at any moment.

490 Mbps download!

I could hardly believe it. Here I am, standing outside in the cold on my phone, and I have faster internet than I’ve ever had from WIFI. Think of the possibilities…

What is 5G?

5G is the next generation of wireless internet. Unlike 4G, it’s based on an entirely new network infrastructure and works across three different spectrums

LOW-BAND

Offers great area coverage and is the best at travelling through walls. This is what LTE currently uses, so it already can be a bit unreliable because of heavy usage.

MID-BAND

Faster speeds than Low-Band but doesn’t travel through walls as well. It also has lower latency, meaning there is less of a delay across the network, creating a faster-feeling performance.

HIGH-BAND

The fastest speeds and lowest latency. However, it’s not very good at travelling through walls and can only cover a small area. This is what provides 5G with its lightning fast speeds.

How is 5G better?

SPEED

5G is 10 times faster than 4G, with the potential to reach over 20 gigabits per second at its peak.

LOWER LATENCY

5G will cut the average latency from 50 milliseconds to just one millisecond. That will make a huge difference in terms of network delays.

MORE CONCURRENT USERS

4G can only support about 2000 devices per 0.38 square miles, whereas 5G can support up to one million. That’s pretty vital in busy cities and areas, especially with the rise of other connected devices like smart watches.

What will this mean for Mobile App Development?

It’s going to be a while before we get to experience 5Gs full potential. With most network providers, it’s still only available in very specific areas. But that doesn’t mean we can’t start to imagine what the future might look like.

GAMING AND STREAMING APPS

A lot of these apps rely on fast internet to prevent buffering and delays. Faster internet means higher quality imagery will be readily available wherever you are. The days of downloading movies before leaving the house will be behind us, as streaming from anywhere will be more or less instant. Imagine playing Fortnite online whilst on the bus.

VIRTUAL AND AUGMENTED REALITY

These apps tend to need a lot of data processing. 5G will allow more of this processing to be done in the cloud, and this may finally lead to more of these apps becoming usable and useful whilst out and about.

FILE SHARING

Downloading and uploading large files can be slow at the best of times. 5G will allow apps to quickly pull large files from various locations. Smart phones have already started offloading more and more of your data to the cloud in order to save storage on the actual device. This will start to become a much more seamless experience when accessing those photos/videos/files becomes instant.

VIDEO CALLING

Video calling has become extremely important this year, but it can still be costly in terms of the bandwidth it uses. 5G will help make video calling smooth and HD, even whilst you’re outside the house.

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

Driverless cars are well on their way to becoming part of our lives. But a lot of what they’ll be capable of wouldn’t be possible without 5G. Any real time data processing that relies on information from the internet will need to be fast and reliable. We’ll also most likely see a large increase in smart displays in cars, which will need a good internet connection to power their apps.

INTERNET OF THINGS

Everything around our houses are slowly becoming connected to the Internet. Doorbells, thermostats, even our fridge freezer. 5G could see that pattern spread to the outside world too. Imagine smart post-boxes, road crossings and signposts. No longer will we rely on cables running underground to ensure a good internet connection.

What else?

It’s hard to even perceive the types of changes we’ll see off the back of the 5G revelation. If nothing else, our existing apps will become faster and large amounts of data more accessible. We might even see a shift away from native apps because there will be less reason to download anything ahead of time.

It really is too early to predict exactly how it will change our lives, but it is coming, and I for one am ready for a faster future.