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  • Story
  • 2020-03-13
  • 5G – What You Need to Know Before You Upgrade

    5G – What You Need to Know Before You Upgrade

    Overview

    The fifth-generation mobile network is rapidly spreading and is projected to be an even more significant upgrade than previous mobile network iterations. We also just release two new 5G devices in the form of OPPO Find X2 Series, so there’s never been a better chance to explore what benefits owning a flagship 5G smartphone can bring.

    5G offers significantly faster speeds, minimal latency, and a more uniform user experience – enabling a plethora of innovations to emerge in our interconnected 5G world. 5G network will not only interconnect people via mobile devices, but also interconnect machines to create amazingly efficient systems.

    With more devices, sometimes confusing yet critical differences in products and services, let’s take a look at the basics.

    Benefits

    What will 5G provide its users? • Incredible upload and download speeds
    • High quality, smooth calls and streaming
    • Reliable mobile connection
    • Development of smart technologies such as self-driving cars, intelligent connectivity, and smart cities

    How Does 5G Compare to 4G?

    Speed & Capacity
    5G’s theoretical limit of 10Gbps is 100 times more than 4G – which tops out at just 100Mbps. Even when used at minimal power capacity, 5G connections will achieve much faster and more stable connections than 4G network connections.
    For example, Consumer Technology Association asserts that at the maximum capacity – 5G can download a two-hour film in just 3.6 seconds, as compared with 6 minutes on 4G or 26 hours on 3G. It’s clear when comparing mobile network generations that the extreme improvements in speed and reliability are continuing to open new doors to revolutionary technologies and systems.
    Although 5G is significantly faster than 4G, speeds will vary depending on the location, carrier, and device in use. In the USA, users can expect to receive network speeds greater than 1Gbps – which as a baseline is already 10 time faster than 4G network at maximum capacity.

    Latency
    With 5G, users can expect instantaneous access – 4G to 5G introduces a 10x decrease in end-to-end latency, resulting in little or no network interruptions.

    Unified Coverage
    5G introduces more capable coverage – ensuring that device users and machines connected to 5G network have high-speed coverage at all times. The consistency of 5G enables the continual expansion of intelligent connectivity that will bring people high value quality of life improvements.

    5G Use Cases

    Upgrading to 5G is not only an overall improvement to our smartphones but also introduces immersive experiences such as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality to the mainstream. 5G’s incredibly fast speeds, low latency, and low cost-per-bit enables upcoming technologies to thrive.

    5G – What You Need to Know Before You Upgrade

    OPPO AR Glass was unveiled in 2019 and is projected to bring exciting developments to entertainment, gaming, education, healthcare, logistics, and many other applications in the near future. Check out our article 6 Innovative Applications of Augmented Reality to find out more about AR.
    5G is going to be essential to the successful development of Mission-Critical Communications – including remote control of infrastructure, vehicles, and medical procedures. Many processes can become more streamlined, automated, and potentially save millions of lives through the implementation of 5G network.

    OPPO’s vision for Intelligent Connectivity
    As 5G technology continues to grow, low-cost systems will continually become more effective and efficient. Many processes which currently require manual oversight can be adopted by machine systems in order to provide tremendous benefits at low costs to people worldwide. A defining feature of 5G is its design to be forward compatible – meaning it will remain relevant and vital to the development of unknown future technologies.

    What about different frequency bands?
    Different mobile internet service providers will use a mix of different frequency bands to give you 5G, you’ll need to check their services individually. There’s three signal bands, high band mid band and low band. In simple terms, low band has the most coverage, covering hundreds of square miles with yet is the slowest with speeds of up to 250 Mbps. Mid band can cover a few miles with up to 900 Mbps and high band otherwise known as millimeter wave / mm wave will cover under a mile radius yet with exceptionally fast 1-3 Gbps speeds. It’s additionally worth noting that this isn’t the maximum capabilities of 5G and coverage will get better over time.

    5G – What You Need to Know Before You Upgrade

    If you are buying a 5G smartphone, it’s also best to check the specifications to ensure that the device is compatible with the 5G frequencies your network provides.
    Luckily, the recently released OPPO Find X2 and OPPO Find X2 Pro cover an extensive range of frequencies for global roaming.

    The Find X2 Pro supports SA/NSA dual mode 5G with 6 modes and 36 frequencies. At the same time, in 5G mode, it can realize 5G + 4G dual reception, dual cards and dual standby. Combined with multiple antennas, it provides independent antenna reception of master and slave cards, without affecting each other, ensuring the smooth operation of user networks at all times. At a time where 5G is still rolling out city city by city, having the best of 4G and 5G networks at all times is a great way to ensure the fastest connection at all times.

    You can learn more about our new flagship 5G smartphone series OPPO Find X2 Pro and OPPO Find X2 by watching our Launch Event stream below:

    Can I upgrade my phone to 5G?

    Unfortunately there is not a way to upgrade your phone to 5G if it does not currently support it and you’ll need to make sure your smartphone is a 5G device. The OPPO Find X2 and OPPO Find X2 Pro are equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 5G mobile platform, which includes the X55 5G modem. Not only does this support all key frequency bands, but the processor also adds other benefits increasing GPU and CPU performance up 25% from its predecessor.

    5G – What You Need to Know Before You Upgrade

    Availability

    5G broadband service was first offered by Verizon in April of 2019 and is being offered by most major providers in the USA, UK, Australia, and China. Availability will continue to rise in 2020 as 5G devices become commonplace and more users realize and adopt 5G’s capabilities.
    Several 5G smartphones have become available recently, with many more in development or soon to be launched. OPPO Reno 5G was the first smartphone to be released in Europe, and OPPO plans to continually release devices which support 5G broadband.
    Within the next few years, we can expect that the majority of devices will support 5G and all of its incredible potential.

    5G technology’s road ahead is certainly exhilarating to think about! If you want to learn more about what we can expect from the future of 5G, check out our article 5G Development in 2020 and Beyond for more info. Let us know what you think about the development of 5G and the types of 5G features you would like to see from future OPPO products!

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