Oreo to bring big Bluetooth 5.0 update

The latest version of Android has got smartphone users excited across the world with an array of under-the-hood improvements to make everything faster. One of those under-the-hood improvements is the native support for Bluetooth 5.0.

If you have been following news from the tech industry, you must have heard about the benefits that Bluetooth 5.0 brings with itself. Bluetooth 5.0 gains faster speeds for Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connections — the transfer speed for BLE previously was 1Mbps or less but Bluetooth 5.0 bumps the BLE transfer speeds to 2Mbps. That speed bump makes a lot of difference when manufacturers want their smartphones to suck less power while playing audio through wireless speakers or let wearable devices like smartwatches and fitness bands connect seamlessly. Note that apart from an improved range, Bluetooth 5.0 doesn’t bring any other change to the Bluetooth Classic protocol that aids 3Mbps transfer speeds.

Since it’s unveiling, Bluetooth 5 was only available on select smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8. In order to enjoy the benefits of Bluetooth 5, one had to ensure the following: a) had two Bluetooth 5.0 compatible devices. b) the Bluetooth 5.0 accessory had to request connection to the supported smartphone in order to enable higher BLE transfer speeds.

This happened because Android 7.0 Nougat didn’t have native support for Bluetooth 5, which is why it had to be initiated through the hardware. With Android 8.0 Oreo, Google bakes-in support for Bluetooth 5.0, which means that you can seamlessly connect to your Bluetooth 5 devices as you used to do with older Bluetooth standards.

However, it will be a while before an ecosystem of Bluetooth 5 devices roll out in the market.

Currently, the Samsung flagships along with HTC U11, which is supposed to get Bluetooth 5 with a software update, are the only ones that can let you enjoy faster transfer speeds.