“The 5G world will be a collaborative ecosystem, and the role of what each of us will do in that remains to be thought through.”
Says Borje Ekholm, the President and CEO of the Ericsson Group (a company working on creating technology concentrated around 5G, IoT and automation technology).
What doesn’t the iPhone 12 have?
Trick question! Everything! Right?
You have your Ultra Wide cameras, iPhone 5 shape and “5G speed OMGGGGG.” Can you believe that spelling! 💥
G+G+G+G+G=5G
Yes, Apple has finally adopted 5G and with that released the shiny, new iPhone 12. But, hold on a second, this “is 5G, iPhone style.”
But, we already have 4G. 📶
I don’t know about you, but I want to not drive a car. I want to program a car. Just imagine how many experiences and how much time can be saved in a world through which transportation concerns aren’t a concern. The innovation it would drive! Heck, you could keep 3 million+ people per year safe from car accidents. Alright, dreamer, but today the largest change we are seeing is in the number in front of the digit ‘G.’
Yes, I can agree that it seems meaningless to simply keep increasing the signal symbol at the top of our screen. I mean, we were just debating on the advantages and disadvantages of 4G, and earlier this year, the craze of 5G began. Under the circling media views, 5G and even 4G are viewed as evil entities out to destroy the human race. 😈 How true is this? Honestly, there are a bunch of hurdles to overcome before we start using driverless cars, but we’ve solved problems before. We can solve this one.
The main problem that can be addressed right now is establishing a clear definition. Once we really understand the entirety of the word fifth-generation network, we can then evaluate its applications.
Who wants coffee? ☕️
At this point, most of us thrive off of coffee ad enjoy going to coffee shops frequently. Yet, the coffee shop you see as you run to your TKS session in busy downtown Vancouver is way different than your local go-to. Local coffee shops are equipped with lounge chairs, tables and outlets. Cozy, spacious, familiar. Yet, they’re not close. We usually have to drive to grab some fuel. Contrarily, in cities, it seems as though there are more coffee shops than people. All walking distance, embracing the get in and get out lifestyle. Your coffee is your data, going from work to the coffee shop. The roads are the spectrum — wireless waves carrying your data between your device and the cellular access points. Big coffee shops are your cell towers — those structures that transmit 4G. Small coffee shops are small cellular access points, transmitting 5G.
Let’s get technical, technical! 🤖
The only, yes, the ONLY difference between 4G and 5G is in wavelength. 5G is powered by millimetre wave technology. These waves measure between 1 to 10 mm and therefore move data 600x faster than 4G (10 gigabits/1250 megabytes per second). You can now view hundreds of photos of the math answers your friend, who also was sleeping during the online call, sent in less than one second. This technology’s outcome, if applied in the world, would disrupt how everyone engages with wireless. So more coffee, faster?
Fast Coffee, Big Dilemmas 🏃♀️
In the 1970s, the 5G at the time were powerlines. Low-frequency electromagnetic fields were emanating from them all the time, and a shocking 1979 study suggested that children who lived near the powerlines developed cancer. Around the same time, as the Cold War panic televisions and even household items were dubbed as ‘dangerous.’ In today’s world, the devices are different, but the fears of regret in terms of using these devices are the same. The stakes are high. But what is happening behind the protests, clickbait, headlines and conspiracies? ⁉️
The Pearl Street Power Station
Thomas Edison built the first power plant fired by coal that sent electricity to 85 buildings. People were initially afraid of Pearl Street Power Station, and parents would not let their children near the lights. The difference here is that we have been using a form of wireless technologies for decades and 5G is just another wireless technology. Like television, tradeoffs include unanswered questions:
1- “Its (5G) everywhere, and I feel the effects of radiation.” 😧
5G is still not being used widely. How many people do you know that personally surf over a 5G connected phone or 5G connected tablet? Even if that number isn’t zero, it is still minuscule compared to the number of people around you that use 4G, WiFi, 3G, 2G or even Bluetooth earbuds. Hence, the wireless technology you are exposed to today has (almost) no 5G radio waves, while it does have a lot of radio waves from other technologies.
2- “5G technology helps spread COVID-19!” 😷
We all have to have heard this one somewhere, right? Whether it be from your grandmother or on random posters that were everywhere early-pandemic. 5G has no chance of becoming a technology that leads to the spread of COVID-19. If you’re going to accuse some technology of spreading the virus, then the candidates will be cars and aircraft. If 5G had been broadly deployed in these tough COVID-19 days, our home-based experience and remote contact would have been much greater.
3. “A 5G device is much more harmful than the 4G and older”.
The main goal of a wireless communication device is that it should be able to deliver higher speeds while using less energy. The bottom line is that modern wireless devices are getting better at transmitting and receiving information so that, in the vast majority of situations, an older “G” device uses more watts of power than a 5G device. Most of the 5G complaints on social media are sent from devices that radiate with a higher power than that of a 5G system.
Addressing The Problem: 🗺
Miscommunication. How do we know to differentiate between fact and fiction? 5G is a new topic, and it’s scary. Just like Thomas Edison’s Pearl Street Power Station. To really understand the essence of this exponential technology, we need to know what it is. You’re probably thinking, “Alright, but what the heck is “iPhone 5G?” 📱
Toothbrush vs iPhone 12
Here is what you came for! The toothbrush is referring to smart toothbrushes that use “general” 5G technology. The iPhone 12, well… Uhm, it’s referring to Apple’s 5G.
- General 5G 📕
We all recognize 3G and 4G, they’re the mobile networks we’re using right now. You see them at the top of your phone screen, and they’re giving us access to the Internet. But, let’s add on another G. 5G is marketed as the strongest and fastest connection. South Korea has already launched 5G networks last year. As well as suppliers in China, the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany. More 5G phones, just like the iPhone 12, are on the way. Samsung released the first one in 2019, bringing commercial 5G to life. Wait, what about the toothbrush? 😁
$250–300 dollars for an at-home dentist? Sure! It, at first thought, does seem meaningless, and it did during the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Fortunately, then came 5G and AI that’s 100x better. Colgate and Oral-B are both launching new smart toothbrushes: the Colgate Plaqless Pro and the Oral-B iO.
Colgate’s Plaqless Pro claims to have a first-of-its-kind optical sensor technology that senses biofilm build-up in the mouth and offers real-time coaching through the Colgate Connect App.
I’m sensing the competition here. 😼
Oral-B’s iO toothbrush offers a smart pressure sensor to detect and direct users to brush within the maximum pressure range and a smart display that provides coaching and inspiration during your brushing session. The Oral-B iO App says that it uses an artificial intelligence analysis of thousands of reported brushing sessions to make its brushing recommendations.
Finally, there was also a toothbrush that uses radio frequency vibrations to loosen and clear plaque and tartar. The Silk’n ToothWave is not available in the U.S. yet, but it claims to be the only toothbrush that can remove stubborn impurities attached to your teeth.
- iPhone’s 5G (What’s so great about it?) 🤷♀️
“We’ve yet to really see how 5G usage affects performance long term, but a morning using 5G didn’t cause any major concerns. We will update this review over time as we use the iPhone 12 Pro more and in various use cases — especially on 5G — but so far, we’ve not seen any indicators that this phone will struggle to make it through the day on a charge.” excerpt from Apple iPhone 12 review by Stuart Miles.
“There’s 5G. Then there’s 5G on iPhone.” Is there, and what differentiates your work from that of the super cool personal dentist? Apple states they’ve utilized 5G, but iPhone style. The battery life is stated to be better; apps will use less energy and custom antennas for 5G.
“So far, we’ve seen amazing real-world speeds, along with improved call quality, battery life and coverage around the world. This is 5G, iPhone style.
What, there isn’t anything wrong with this!
Which one is which? There is a lot of confusion surrounding what 5G is and now what even 5G, iPhone style is? Of course, everyone wanted to jump on the iPhone 12 bandwagon, but what does that mean for the rest of the 5G world? This isn’t another G, this is another revolution coming our way, and to best help transition into the future of 5G, we need to have a clear picture of first of all, what the heck we’re talking about and second of all, what is the difference? *Hint: “Toothbrush vs. iPhone?” 🤔
Action Items 💪
- Form your own opinion on Toothbrush or iPhone by checking out the articles linked below. 😎
- Track the progress of 5G by subscribing to the Microsoft IoT Newletter: https://profile.microsoft.com/RegSysProfileCenter/wizardnp.aspx?wizid=78930ef8-d176-4b5e-b49f-2cefcb6b0891&lcid=1033 !
- See how much hands on experience you can get with 5G. AKA explore the wonders. 🌅
TL;DR:
- 5G technology has started a revolution that everyone needs to be onboard with to further, but currently isn’t.
- 5G isn’t just an additional ‘G.’ 5G is a technology that will transform lives through giving us faster download speeds, low latency, more capacity and A LOT more.
- iPhone (Apple) have distanced themsleves from the so-called “General 5G.” This complicates things since how do we define the problems surrounding 5G when there are 2 versions now?!
Further Readings:
