We already knew that BT5 was acoming -- now it has arrived. That Bluetooth (BT) would evolve was inevitable and while we are looking at BT5, BT6 is likely to be discussed in the BT SIG’s workgroups. BT5 is, of course, better than BT4. The BT SIG website boasts twice the speed, four times the range, and eight times more data.

Wait a minute... doesn’t 8x data increase imply 8x speed increase? It doesn’t. What they mean is that the broadcasting message capacity has increased eight times, allowing the user to send more data in one blob. So BT5 is only twice as fast as BT4.

Originally, BT was intended for short-range – a few meters – wireless data connections, but BT5 aims for reliable full-home, building, and outdoor IoT connections, which is why the range was increased. Besides better speed and range, reportedly the interoperability and coexistence with other wireless technologies has been improved too.

Get the updated specifications here.