If you're not sure what 5G is, it's the next evolution of the mobile internet. With download speeds exceeding most home broadband transfer rates and 4G speeds around 10x, speed is certainly the name of the game for 5G connectivity. Mobile internet acceleration is just one of the benefits of 5G. This will also lead to less congested networks. If everyone downloads a webpage on 5G, it will take less time than on 4G. This means that the download of a web page is blocking the faster network bandwidth (because the download is faster), which means less congestion. Also, 5G was built with more "lanes" than 4G. Therefore, it can handle data usage at peak times slightly better so that users can benefit from a more consistent service. This will also ease the load on 4G networks as fewer users will be downloading and downloading on 4G as some will be on 5G. This means that even non-5G users will benefit, so Candy Crush's home will leave you expecting less, regardless of your network.
The obvious benefits for mobile games.
Given what we know about 5G, there are very obvious ways to offer benefits to mobile gamers. For starters, game downloads will be faster. With games like Injustice 2 and Valkyrie Profile recording over 1GB, most gamers will probably wait until they connect to Wi-Fi before downloading. It's mostly about backing up data, but another factor is that on 4G, downloading takes longer and can wreak havoc on your phone's battery. 5G must also increase the size of data plans. Let's take EE for example. It currently offers 5G with two data plans: 30 GB per month or 60 GB per month. 4G packages, in turn, range from 250 MB to 50 GB per month. With 5G generating more data and faster downloads, a 5G gamer who loses 1GB and a few seconds of download time shouldn't give up on their data plan or battery. Today, many mobile games also require an in-game internet connection. Track your score, rob yourself for gems and other in-app purchases, or connect to a battle royale arena to compete with other players. Other Fortnite-Style Mobile Warriors: These all require a connection and have historically resulted in long waits. In summary, the main and obvious advantage of 5G and speed can be summed up in three words: there is no need to wait.
Image Credit: Shutterstock
Latency Part One: Multiplayer Mayhem.
Lower latency is a less obvious benefit of high-speed mobile internet, but its implications are game-changing. Latency is the time that elapses between an action and the recording of that action. So when you write with ink, latency is the time between removing the pen and marking the paper. For online games, latency is the speed at which a command is recorded and executed on your screen. The lower the latency, the better it is. 5G means incredibly low-latency gaming, which will come in handy when multiplayer dynamism is exploited, especially as mobile gaming tournaments and esports continue to reach new heights. terms of popularity, and that the focus on high-performance connectivity becomes a differentiator between champions and runners-up.Second part of the latency: the netflix of the game.
If you think about the rise of 4G, it coincided with Netflix's adoption of adoption levels in the stratosphere, and that's not a coincidence. Wireless viewing has grown in popularity as high-quality content has become "streamable" on the fast mobile Internet speeds with 4G. What does this have to do with gaming and 5G? Streaming games use more bandwidth, but 5G speeds are fast enough to support it. There are two ways to play games. The first is to stream from one device to another, be it a console or a PC. Most of the processing is done by the main device, which plays the game. The secondary device only receives a video stream and records input commands from the controller. PS4 Remote Play and Steam Link are currently available for mobile and allow you to easily stream from your console or PC to your Android or iOS device, as long as your connection can hack it. The second way to play games is more exciting on 5G. Games run on remote servers and are streamed to your screen, just like Netflix. Subscription services like this are available today - Nvidia's Geforce Now, Sony's PS Now or Google's upcoming Stadia, for example - but they all require a fast, high-speed home connection for smooth playback.
The Google Stadia (Image credit: TechRadar) 5G driver will remove these services from your home and... well, as long as there's a 5G signal. Imagine: console-quality gaming, streamed directly to your phone's 2K or 4K screen in full resolution. Connect a Bluetooth controller and a 5G connection that will allow you to access the server and stream it to your screen in milliseconds. While this may not be enough for some competitive eSport players, this should be enough for the vast majority. Streaming games have other advantages too: Your smartphone doesn't need particularly powerful interiors because it doesn't handle a lot of 3D objects. It also means that your battery won't be as hot and your battery won't drain as fast as when you play a game that you gave power to. Also, streaming games will eliminate the need for powerful hardware, thus democratizing console gaming. As long as you have 5G, your budget phone in 2020 could play star-quality games.
Image Credit: Shutterstock (Image: © Shutterstock)