Samsung launched the Galaxy S8 yesterday at its Unpacked event in New York City, but there's still some little details you should know about it. For one, the Galaxy S8 (and Galaxy S8+) are the first phones to support the new Bluetooth version — Bluetooth 5.0.
Here's what Bluetooth SIG says is new in Bluetooth 5:
“Key feature updates include four times range, two times speed, and eight times broadcast message capacity. Longer range powers whole home and building coverage, for more robust and reliable connections. Higher speed enables more responsive, high-performance devices. Increased broadcast message size increases the data sent for improved and more context relevant solutions.”
So, all that is now available in the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. What does this mean for you? Well, better connectivity and responsiveness when you connect to, say, your smartwatch by way of Bluetooth or any of your smart home devices.
Bluetooth 5.0 was really focused on smart home gadgets and the Internet of Things (IoT), but the Bluetooth SIG should be bringing higher quality wireless audio to the spec at some point in 2018. And hopefully, that can purely be enabled through a software update pushed out by Samsung instead of requiring all-new hardware.
