With the introduction of 5G mobile phones by major mobile phone manufacturers, smart phones are embracing the 5G wave. One might ask: What can 5G bring us and how much will it change our lives?

What is 5G?

Simply put, 5G is the fifth generation of communication technology. Its main features are millimeter wavelength, high bandwidth, ultra-high speed and ultra-low latency. Its peak theoretical transmission speed can reach 20 Gbps, or 2.5 Gbps per second, which is more than 10 times faster than 4G networks. In theory, a one-gigabyte movie could be downloaded in less than four seconds.

5G era is also known as the “Internet of Things Era” and “Internet of Everything Era”. The so-called Internet of Things connects any object to the network to exchange information between objects.

For example, mobile communication systems are like highways, while the media and objects in our lives are cars. Since the 2G era, the highway has been expanded to carry more and more media and objects and move faster and faster. With 5G, the superhighway will be able to carry and connect almost any media and object, and most importantly, unimpeded, allowing humans to experience unprecedented “speed”. This is the characteristic of 5G and the Internet of Things, and the core of the Internet of Everything.

When it comes to 5G, the topic of its development can’t be avoided. First of all, let’s clarify the transition from 1G to 5G.

  • 1G to achieve analog voice communication, mobile phone no screen can only call;
  • 2G digitized voice communications, and the feature phone had a small screen to send text messages.
  • 3G realized the multimedia communication beyond the voice, such as pictures, the screen can be enlarged to see pictures;
  • 4G has achieved local high-speed Internet access, and large-screen smart phones can watch short videos, but the signal is good in the city, but the signal is poor in the hometown. 1G ~ 4G are all aimed at more convenient and fast communication between people,
  • 5G will connect everything anytime, anywhere, and let human beings dare to look forward to participating with everything on earth through live streaming without time difference.

What are the requirements for 5G?

With the application of 5G technology, many opportunities have been created to seize the high ground of the digital economy in China. It is widely used in many fields, including cloud, artificial intelligence, big data and so on. 5G will also bring about the following changes in our lives:

– 5G can achieve high speed and low latency streaming, running while downloading: watching videos and dragging progress bar does not need buffering; Download movies and games in seconds; Online games, VR (virtual reality) games are more popular; And you’ll be able to see almost anything Live, even a front-row view through VR. The net is easy to talk to, the net is fast you are the boss!

– 5G is also the gateway to many dark technologies, such as holographic communications: back in September, mobile network Vodafone made the UK’s first 5G holographic video call. England women’s football captain Steph Houghton has met an 11-year-old Newbury supporter in Manchester City to give him a ‘live’ coaching session.

– Driverless: Leaving aside ethics and laws and regulations, let’s look at driverless cars from a technical point of view. Besides systems and chips, the main constraint on driverless cars is the network. Because the car needs to obtain and calculate a lot of data every second, and make a variety of actions, need high-speed network support. In the 4G era, driverless vehicles will be tested at a very slow speed in order to ensure safety. It can be predicted that 5G, whose theoretical speed is 100 times faster than 4G, will greatly improve the computing efficiency of unmanned driving and greatly facilitate the pace of unmanned driving from concept to large-scale commercial application. At present, Beijing’s Yizhuang has opened several roads that allow driverless cars to drive on the road for testing. It is believed that driverless cars will be the most eye-opening service in the 5G era by enjoying road resources simultaneously with social vehicles.

– AR technology can also hold 5G’s leg: AR will be more used in real life, such as education, medical industry, etc.

With all these benefits, what do we need if we want to use 5G?

  • The communications devices themselves need to support 5G.
  • Base station support for 5G reception and transmission.
  • The location of the phone needs to have 5G coverage.

Tip: Check out 5G coverage in your area

So how do I check if there is a 5G base station in my area? Let’s take China Unicom as an example to talk about how to query the 5G coverage in the region:

Due to the exclusive cooperation between Unicom and Baidu Map, we can open the Baidu Map App, enter keywords such as “Unicom 5G, 5G coverage, Unicom 5G coverage” in the search box, and the location of the 10 5G base stations closest to you will be displayed.

In addition to Baidu Map, you can also query the location of the nearby Unicom 5G base station through the Unicom business hall APP.

In the near future, 5G will permeate every aspect of our life and bring us a brand new life experience and pleasure. At present, 5G has already started the first experience. Have you joined the experience army?

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