Bluetooth still has its place in several instances. From what I can tell, this wifi protocol depends on you having a WiFi network mediate the connection, such as at your house or at a Cafe. Bluetooth is true ad hoc requiring no middleman.
Bluetooth struggles with bandwidth enough that it affects sound quality and latency, but that doesn’t mean it’s unusable. It also has enough range that I beats some other competing wireless protocols as well.
I’d love to see WiFi or a higher bandwidth option come out, and I’m hoping this is the beginning of that. They may have to resolve issues with channel conflicts and the need for network mediation. It would be awesome for gaming.
Currently, there are some alternatives, or bluetooth versions which work pretty well.
Often wireless gaming brands offer a usb dongle. That dongle often uses a proprietary protocol over 2.4ghz. And allow enough bandwidth for audio and mic. Some brand give more or less bandwidth to the mic, or have better compression, or bandwidth.
And currently, there is a fairly “new”, already here since bt 5.3 : LC3. It’s a very well optimised protocol which allows for about the same quality at lower bandwidth than other protocol. It also has lower latency.
This protocol has started to be used by gaming brands, like Creative, in a usb dongle. Or even in standalone headphones.
On the Creative headset, it would allow enough bandwidth for audio and mic without much compromise (like if it wad a proprietary dongle).
Obviously the quality may not be as good as wired. But it should be enough for most people.
Bluetooth still has its place in several instances. From what I can tell, this wifi protocol depends on you having a WiFi network mediate the connection, such as at your house or at a Cafe. Bluetooth is true ad hoc requiring no middleman.
Bluetooth struggles with bandwidth enough that it affects sound quality and latency, but that doesn’t mean it’s unusable. It also has enough range that I beats some other competing wireless protocols as well.
I’d love to see WiFi or a higher bandwidth option come out, and I’m hoping this is the beginning of that. They may have to resolve issues with channel conflicts and the need for network mediation. It would be awesome for gaming.
WiFi Direct is a thing
Currently, there are some alternatives, or bluetooth versions which work pretty well.
Often wireless gaming brands offer a usb dongle. That dongle often uses a proprietary protocol over 2.4ghz. And allow enough bandwidth for audio and mic. Some brand give more or less bandwidth to the mic, or have better compression, or bandwidth.
And currently, there is a fairly “new”, already here since bt 5.3 : LC3. It’s a very well optimised protocol which allows for about the same quality at lower bandwidth than other protocol. It also has lower latency. This protocol has started to be used by gaming brands, like Creative, in a usb dongle. Or even in standalone headphones. On the Creative headset, it would allow enough bandwidth for audio and mic without much compromise (like if it wad a proprietary dongle).
Obviously the quality may not be as good as wired. But it should be enough for most people.
Huawei also seems to have announced (not sure if yet released, it should be in an honor phone), their bluetooth competitor. They say 6x faster (more bandwidth I guess) https://newatlas.com/mobile-technology/nearlink-wireless-huawei/.
I think the earpieces act as a Wi-fi hotspot themselves