The arrival of the Bluetooth connection to mobile phones was a revolution. After all, until then, file transfer between devices was limited to a slow infrared connection, and a rather incapable multimedia messaging system. Now, nearly three decades later, Bluetooth 5.3 knocks on our door, and it’s much more ambitious than those first versions that surprised us so much.
Yes, this technology has survived the test of time thanks to something essential: constant updates. Now him Bluetooth 5.3 arrives to become a revolution in terms of security and privacy; sections that until now had been quite forgotten but that are becoming more and more important.
Delving into this section, we know that now the length of the encryption key has been improved in Bluetooth 5.3. What does this translate to? In greater protection for our devices. That is, if the key size of other Bluetooth-enabled gadgets is not able to reach certain minimum values, Bluetooth 5.3 will prefer not to connect to them. This protects your device from possible vulnerabilities or backdoors —something that has been noticed since the beginning of Bluetooth—.
Of course, this isn’t just file transfer oriented. It has more to do with smart accessories that we can connect to the mobile, such as light bulbs, locks, medical devices and many more.
A much more efficient Bluetooth connection
Efficiency is probably one of the three words that describe Bluetooth 5.3. Energy efficiency is one of the most important factors of this new version, and thanks to a new system of filters and updates, the system can automatically eliminate all those instances that it considers redundant. A) Yes, higher performance is achieved at the cost of a lower energy loss on the device.
Also, the same is applicable for connection channels. With a new system, the sending device and the receiving device they will be able to communicate what their preferred channels are when establishing connection. In this way, the incidence of interference will be much lower, especially in listening and audio playback devices.
But the improvement in the bandwidth of Bluetooth technology is perhaps one of the most anticipated. Until now, music played over this connection has been subject to loss; which made it difficult to transfer lossless quality audio like the ones we find in Apple Music and other similar services. Now, however, companies like Qualcomm have managed to transmit audio with lossless quality through Bluetooth 5.3, along with the use of other complementary technologies.
A new generation of audio
Of course, although we personally love the idea of increased privacy and security when using Bluetooth technology. Where we’re really excited to see a change, though, is in streaming audio via Bluetooth. doWhat does Bluetooth 5.3 mean for wireless headphones and other playback devices to come?
Bluetooth 5.3 translates into higher sound quality. Until then, lossless audio could only be achieved through wired connections. Now finally we can transmit from point to point sounds rich in details and much closer to the artist’s intentions. After all, some of the great detractors of this technology have been those audio purists, who prefer to listen to music in FLAC format from specialized speakers. But as of today, we are looking at the possible democratization of lossless audio for the rest of the music enthusiasts.
In addition, its high energy efficiency could allow devices to incorporate batteries of the same size, but managing to extend its useful life in a much more efficient way. Thus, the hours of playback could be significantly lengthened, bringing us closer to a future in which we depend less and less on chargers.
Although Bluetooth 5.3 was submitted in July 2021, it was not until this year that we have seen the arrival of the first devices with this technology. However, there is still much more to see, and we are already eager to see how big companies like Apple or Samsung use it to their advantage.