5 Amazing Things 5G Will Do
By: Johnathan Reeper
Tags: Gadgets, Life, Tech, Internet, Technology

Picture this, you get out of your temperature-controlled bed in the morning, telling your house it's time to wake up. Curtains open, lights turn on, the fireplace starts. You walk downstairs to your kitchen where your coffee is already being made for you, and the weather and news of the day are displayed on the kitchen fridge.

When you walk back to your room, the appropriate clothes for the day have been laid out on your bed, according to the weather, and any appointments you might have based on your calendar. Afterward, you get into your car and start working on the computer hologram in front of you, while your car drives you to work.

Technology is constantly evolving and changing, but the current step that is being made towards a future of 5G, is making this pretend scenario of your morning routine much more realistic.

So far we have had 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G, yet 5G won’t just be a step above 4G, it will be hundreds of steps above 4G. I keep needing to catch myself when talking about this amazing new piece of technology since I still can’t grasp my head around the fact that I shouldn't be speaking about it in the future tense, but instead in present.

5G has already been released and is currently in the process of being distributed around the world, as many more antennas will be needed for a 5G future. It is said that by 2024, 5G will already have 1 billion users, which is a mind-boggling number.

Of course, a lot of concerns are starting to rise about 5G and its safety in terms of radiation, and I have written an entire article concerning this subject. At the end of the day, 5G will be coming to your neighborhood sooner rather than later, and here are the top 5 amazing things 5G will do, that you can start getting excited for.

1. Enable the Performance of Remote Surgery

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

This is probably one of the most important, and significant things 5G will let us do, as it will enable the performance of remote surgery, which will completely revolutionize the health care industry.

5G connection results in extremely fast speeds since the lag time is about 1 millisecond, (lag time being the amount of time needed for the data to go from the sender to the receiver) which is basically unnoticeable and a far improvement from the 30 milliseconds of 4G.

Doctors and surgeons can therefore perform complicated procedures from even 1000 miles away, all with the help of some robotic limbs on the other end, and a 5G network. Healthcare could therefore become much more accessible, as even in remote areas, you could have specialists operating you since they do not need to fly out to you.

This means that especially for extremely complicated procedures, you could have the best doctors from around the globe, help in completing the procedure.

This technology can change lives around the globe, and potentially save thousands.

“You can get the best doctors in the world to work on your mother’s cancer. That was not feasible years ago.” — Kim CEO of Samsung

2. Self Driving Cars

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

People have known for a long time now that self-driving cars are the next step in the automobile industry. Tesla itself has already produced impressive results, manufacturing cars with all of the needed technology, and hardware, the cameras, for example, to drive autonomously.

Yet 5G is exactly the thing needed to take this mode of transportation to the next level so that our streets can be filled with them. Self-driving cars would in theory work right now sure, but they still have many flaws, that would be eliminated with a 5G network.

5G is all about connectivity, as it offers a bandwidth to have nearly instantaneous feedback, from the receiver. So, inevitably, the cars, and traffic signals, for example, will all be connected in some sense.

Imagine a road filled with cars that are connected, and know the exact moves of the other cars, before they even do them. This would add to the list of pros for self-driving cars since they would in that sense become much safer than normal cars since drivers can’t telepathically read each other's minds. But cars can.

Road lights, stop signs, traffic signs, everything will be immediately processed, and the car will act accordingly. Not only that but because everything moves much faster, the car will need far less time to process its surroundings, meaning any sudden movements or obstacles will basically be instantaneously recognized by the car.

Therefore, the number of car crashes and accidents related to automobiles would go down significantly, saving many lives.

5G will bring self-driving cars to the par they need to be at, to be consumed by millions, so you can start getting excited, and maybe begin saving up for a Tesla.

3. Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality

Photo by Maxim Hopman on Unsplash

Virtual reality and augmented reality are quite new to the market, and just like self-driving cars, can be expected to experience a huge leap in their technology and production due to 5G.

For anyone who is unaware of the difference between VR and AR, here's a quick explanation. Virtual reality is when one shuts oneself off of the ‘real world’, by wearing box-shaped goggles, that brings you into a 3D virtual reality.

Augmented reality, on the other hand, overlays the virtual world on top of the ‘real world’. Things like a Snapchat filter, for example, is augmented reality. Yet augmented reality is also applied in more complex scenarios, where the most excitement currently lies.

Things like glasses that project holograms, into your real-life environment, already exist but are about to become so much better.

You see right now, the hardware to carry out these extremely futuristic hologram glasses is here, but the software to make it a good and buttery experience is still missing.

The same goes for VR, although one can definitely say that this market is a lot more developed than that of AR, it has currently reached a sort of plateau where producers are struggling to make improvements in their products since the bandwidth to support all of this simply isn’t there.

Once 5G has been fully distributed, I take it won’t be long until we start seeing Hollywood esc scenes in our own cities, where men and women, swipe through pages and pages of computer screens projected in front of them as a hologram.

VR will then also become much quicker, smoother, and better. It will connect people from across the globe, as they will be able to effortlessly appear in front of each other in holograms, body face, and all.

People with immensely difficult or dangerous jobs will also be able to use VR easily to train and prepare themselves for the conditions they might face in the workplace.

4. Smart Factory’s

Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash

Factories are all about efficiency, and getting the products produced and produced quickly. 5G will enable these factories to be even more efficient than they already are.

The sudden boost in connectivity will make room for a robot central. Robots will be everywhere, making the products like it’s nothing, all because they can communicate perfectly with one another when and what to do.

Of course, robots are already a widely used tool in many factories, but they are still to be brought to their full potential, and 5G seems to be the key to that.

Labor costs will lower immensely, as everything will be handled by robots, and the entire operation will be much quicker, as the creation, packaging, and shipping off of the items will be automated, and carried out by extremely precise, and fast robots.

Feedback from the customer will be delivered to designers in real-time so that they can react appropriately. The destination of products can also be changed immediately, replying to weather changes, or supply and demand.

5. No More Loading Screen

Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash

Staring at a loading computer screen for anything above a couple of seconds is one of the most stressful and agonizing situations for the new generation.

The exact definition of a first-world problem.

Nevertheless, it’s very true, and very painful.

New generation new speeds. Pretty much everything technological will start getting much much faster. The general bandwidth will also have increased so much, the lightning-fast internet connection one often sees in Hollywood movies can finally become a reality.

You’ll be able to download full-length high-quality feature films in a matter of seconds. People will be walking around with their smartphones, watching and enjoying 8K feature films like it’s nothing, the connection seamlessly running the entertainment.

The horrible experience of being in a crowd of people, maybe at a concert, or football game, and the internet is painfully slow if it even works at all, will completely disappear.

Thanks to 5G, the internet will be able to easily support all of us, so that it can keep up its impeccable speed. Livestreams from people such as gamers will also gain much higher image quality as 4K video can be transmitted quickly and efficiently. Any lag time in the stream will be reduced to practically nothing.