Sebastian LimDid you know that the “G” in 5G stands for ‘Generation’?
A symbolic gesture in writing, indicating the tremendous technological leap we have made; we’ve come a long way since man’s first moon walk. (No, not that moon walk).
But what is 5G? Most searches would just tell you that it is a direct upgrade from 4G. (But hold on, what is 4G?)
This is a question that would throw most grandparents into an endless rabbit-hole.
A simple answer like “4G is data” isn’t going to satisfy you, so let me do you a favour and explain it – as jargon-less as possible.
4G in layman terms is a connection picked up by radio waves that sends-and-receives data, information to-and-from large base-stations (mobile providers) with sky-scraping antennas as a medium of transportation. And in doing so, it allows customers to connect with the Internet through their phones (That wasn’t so hard right?)
By now, you should have a basic understanding of how 4G works.
Now, moving on to the much-anticipated bigger brother – 5G.
In essence, the 5th generation is nothing like its predecessors.
(Illustration courtesy of CNBC)
In order to incorporate 5G into a country, an entire infrastructure has to be constructed, meaning a whole lot of new tech because 5G runs its data on a whole different radio wave. A CNBC study shows its bandwidth frequency to be – 3.4GHz, a standing in-between Wi-Fi broadbands and satellite broadcasting. That would cost a truckload of money – no make that 2 truckloads! Nah! Make that 5 instead!
So What Can We Expect From 5G?
Plenty! The most noticeable change would be its increase in speed and latency, a huge reduction in lag (connection delay) and faster data-transfers (a win-win situation). Scientists and analysts have predicted of a much more mobile-age (portable) for humankind.
Imagine, a world where information can be stored inside the lens of glasses, the redundancy of carrying around smartphones will be solved in an almost paper-weight pair of glasses, information inches from your eyes. Scientists and analysts foresee a variety of advancements that could very much soon be true.
Google Glass is a wearable computer with an optical head-mounted display that is being developed by Google (Photos: Shutterstock)
Self-driving cars used to be works of fiction, but in recent years, powerhouse car-manufacturer, Tesla, has been driving out (yeah, that was a pun), self-operable vehicles such as Tesla’s ‘Model 3’, the vehicle has intricate hardware that allows it to theoretically drive itself.
It isn’t however, perfect; just last year, a self-driving Tesla vehicle crashed into a parked police vehicle.
Accidents like these are majorly affected by the lack of response rates (lag) with the software. Thankfully with the emergence of 5G, speeds are predicted to increase by 10 folds!
Want a more intimate example? Well, in current times, a connection to 4G would take minutes to download a 3-hour film. But with 5G… it would just done within a matter of seconds!
So When Can We Expect It?
According to a report, Nitin Bansal, the Head of Network Solutions in Ericsson, predicted that the possibility of Brunei integrating 5G would come in sometime between 2021 and 2022. (That’s still some time away!)
So while we await the arrival of 5G, take a short breather, kick your feet up, sit back and think of a time when things were simple (…) What? Nothing springs to mind?
Well, in that case, why don’t you watch some YouTube videos!
Let’s just hope you have a fast enough connection so you won’t have to see this annoying YouTube circle loading animation…
Hopefully, this will be non-existent by the time 5G comes into the picture. *fingers crossed*
What aspects of life would you like to see improved with this new wireless network? And while you’re here, check out Neue’s past articles – “10 types of mobile users in Brunei” and “Levelling The Playing Field: Top 5 Speculations”.