What are the differences between Bluetooth 4.2 and 5.0?

Bluetooth is the most commonly used connection technology for smart wearable devices, smart homes and the vehicle Internet of things. Before Bluetooth 5.0 , most mobile devices used Bluetooth 4.2 to achieve one-to-one pairing without network.

Bluetooth is a wireless transmission technology, which can connect two devices in a short distances as furthest as 100 meters theoretically, but actually it’s only about 10 meters in practice. Its biggest feature is to achieve Internet connecting and transmitting data and information without cables among portable mobile communication devices and laptops.

At present, Bluetooth technology is widely used in smart phones and smart wearable devices,smart homes,the Internet of things for vehicles and other fields. The phone Bluetooth has been applied to cellphones which originally used JAVA and Android system.After years development, Bluetooth is about to enter into 5.0 era in an all-round way, so what's the differences between Bluetooth 4.2 and 5.0.

What is Bluetooth 5.0?

Faster and Further Transmission Distance

The Bluetooth 5.0 benefits from forward error coding and the mode mapping, it improve the RX end receiving sensitivity which enabling Bluetooth data to transmit faster in a remarkable level.

Compared with Bluetooth 4.2, the transmission distance of 5.0 is faster and farther.Datum can be transmitted remote 300 meters theoretically , that means all the mobile device in house and office can be stably connected. Its speed can reach 2 Mbps as fastest as it can ,thus making the faster reaction and higher performance Bluetooth devices are more likely to be used.

Long Broadcast Packet 

Except longer transmission distance,Bluetooth 5.0 also substantially enhances the data transmission of Bluetooth broadcasting, which can bring better prospects for commercial Bluetooth,making the use of Bluetooth-based Internet of things can be applied more extensively. According to BLECODER, a technology expert of Wireless Technology Alliance, Bluetooth 4.x protocol stipulates that Bluetooth broadcast supports only 31 bytes of data per packet, and the broadcast channel is limited among 37, 38, 39 channels. In the basis of original legacy PDUs (ADV_IND,ADV_DIRECT_IND,ADV_NONCONN_IND and ADV_SCAN_IN) which used for broadcast data transmitting, Bluetooth 5 adds extended advertising PDUs(ADV_EXT_IND、AUX_ADV_IND、AUX_SYNC_IN and AUX_CHAIN_IND) and allows Bluetooth to send data at a length between 0 and 255 bytes on other 37 channels except 37, 38, 39.

Big Data Transmission

Compared with Bluetooth 4.2, Bluetooth 5.0 supports two kinds of PHY------1M PHY and 2MPHY. Before Bluetooth 4.2, only the rate of 1Mbps PHY was supported,buy now 2m PHY is applied as a new feature of Bluetooth 5.0.Besides,Bluetooth 5.0 also supports a single packet of 255bytes of data transmission as Bluetooth 4.2, so the speed of Bluetooth is twice as fast as 4.2.

Bluetooth Mesh Technology Changes Transmission Application

Bluetooth SIG recently announced the launch of Bluetooth Mesh technology, this tech break the traditional "one-to-one" pairing between Bluetooth devices into a "many-to-many" signal transmission mode.Except being used in Bluetooth 5.0, Bluetooth Mesh technology will also be extended to previous versions.According to Bluetooth SIG,this Mesh technology is a new network technology based on low-power Bluetooth technology, which will bring great changes in  commercial and industrial equipment networks, and make current Internet of things technology be more complete and stable.

The Differences Between Bluetooth 4.2 and 5.0

The influence of Bluetooth 5.0 on Life

There are more and more Bluetooth devices in the home, including keyboard, mouse, headset, audio and so on, which are due to the huge increase in consumer demand for Bluetooth function and Internet of things. At present, there are still a large number of old standard products such as Bluetooth 4.0 / 3.0 / 2.1 EDR, mainly used in selfie, remote control and so on. Because of its good function, low price and good price, it is favored by customers of fast-selling products. Industry, automotive applications, Bluetooth 4.0 is still in charge, the reason is nothing more than stability, enough, good supply, flat price. But if you say that before Bluetooth 5.0, Bluetooth solved a single point. Connected wearable devices and mobile phones interconnect, so Bluetooth 5 is to solve the multi-point interconnection IoT Internet of things problem.

For the average user, the improvement of Bluetooth 5.0 transmission speed will be the most felt update, but for smart home, Internet of things users and developers, the transmission range of four times will also be a significant advantage, the previous 10 meters limit (or even the other wall can not be received) will be broken, which is undoubtedly a lot of profit for wireless transmission distance Internet of things devices. Bluetooth 5.0 is the best choice for home and commercial Internet of things devices, said Chuck Sabin, strategic director of Bluetooth Technology Alliance, in order to improve the quality of connection and mutual use between devices and make Bluetooth the best choice for home and commercial Internet of things devices.

Since Bluetooth 5.0 will increase the transmission distance by up to 300 meters, it will make it grab the position of Wi-Fi in the smart home market. Family members can control all smart products in the home through Bluetooth, smart bulbs to smart door locks, smart devices in the home will be able to connect with Bluetooth. In addition, Bluetooth has the characteristics of low power consumption, compared with the power-consuming Wi-Fi technology, the advantages of Bluetooth for smart home products are also very obvious, it is likely to change the pattern of smart home market.

Improve the ability of wireless transmission

With the arrival of bluetooth 5.0 will also be beneficial for headphones and speakers. First is the power, because the low power Bluetooth will make less power consumption, so the device with Bluetooth 5.0 in theory will greatly improve the battery power. In addition, because Bluetooth 5.0 is 8 times wider than Bluetooth 4.2, a smartphone with Bluetooth 5.0 will be able to output audio to two Bluetooth speakers at the same time, and it will be easier to set up ring field sound effects.