Android O and Bluetooth 5: Everything you need to know

By Jerry Hildenbrand
published

The HTC U 11 and Motorola Z2 Force both shipped with Android N and Bluetooth 4.2 support. Both are gaining Bluetooth 5 support with their respective Android O upgrades. Let's talk about what that means and why they waited.

This is a software-only update

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 hardware supports Bluetooth 5. We know this is the case, not just because Qualcomm tells us, but because phones like the OnePlus 5 and Galaxy S8 and S8+ shipped with Bluetooth 5 support. HTC mentions this in its recent FCC filing:

The major change is to enable Bluetooth 5.0 by software without any hardware change. The source code/SW file about this SW enabling will ONLY be held by HTC Corporation and it is IMPOSSIBLE to release these source code/SW file to any other third party to effect the RF function, power, or rating of this device. Except for the changes mentioned above, no other modification is performed.

The change will come when these phones are updated to Android O (and no, we don't know when that will be), and you won't have to do anything or send your phones anywhere or get a new SIM card. It will just work.

That's cool, but what makes Bluetooth 5 better than 4.2?

Bluetooth specifications are a lot like USB specifications. They use a numeric system to track them, and to qualify as being compliant, the hardware must be able to meet certain thresholds for transfer and receive speeds, power consumption, and compatibility. That means a higher number will be newer and better in some ways than a lower number and a jump from 4.2 to 5 is more significant than a jump from 4.1 to 4.2.

Bluetooth 5 brings longer range, faster data speeds and a better way to connect.

Bluetooth 5 offers three major features: 4x longer range, twice the data speeds, and eight-times longer ADV packets (ADV stands for advertising, and advertising packets are used to broadcast what a device can do to all other Bluetooth devices in range). It's easy to understand why more range is good, but it's important to know that data transfer is more than just sharing files. For example, music is also digital data when streamed over Bluetooth and a higher speed means it can deliver more of the audio data for "better" sound and less chance for syncing errors.

Larger ADV packets are important, too. When a device can share more information about its capabilities, the handshake between two devices is faster and less error-prone. There are a lot of technical advantages to a longer ADV packet, and if you're interested, you should have a look. Just know that devices can't connect via Bluetooth without using ADV packets, and having more data in each makes for a better experience.

An example: Using Bluetooth 5, your phone can stream music to your headphones up to 120 feet away (versus 30 feet for older Bluetooth standards), send twice as much digital data so your music sounds fuller and won't stutter as much, and can connect with fewer errors because the two devices know more about what each is capable of. It's good all around.

So, why are HTC and Motorola waiting for Android O to make the switch?

We can't be 100% sure why they are waiting, but it's likely because of the extra support for Bluetooth 5 that comes in Android O.

The Bluetooth 5 standard was completed in December 2016, so everyone has known about the changes for a while. When Android N was finalized, the Bluetooth 5 standard wasn't complete yet, so there are some pretty significant features that aren't supported. Two important features, in particular, are missing from Android N.

  • The preferred PHY (Physical) Low Energy layer. When two devices communicate over Bluetooth they need to work out the best and most efficient way to send data. Each device has a set of checks to look for the "right" method to use here, and Bluetooth 5 support isn't being checked. This means that the connection would fall back to an earlier Bluetooth standard and the Bluetooth 5 features won't be used.
  • ADV packets longer than 60 bytes can't be checked. When two Bluetooth devices "talk" to each other, the ADV packets are scanned. In Android N, the packet is expected to be a certain length, so packets larger than 60 bytes can return an error or simply not be read. In Android O, this has changed and there is no expected length of each packet and the raw data is read until the end of the packet is reached.

In simpler terms, this means that on Android versions earlier than O, a Bluetooth 5 device isn't able to properly announce what it is and what it can do, and when the connection is finally set up, it will fall back to an older standard even if the hardware supports it.

Bluetooth 5 just wasn't ready when Android N was developed.

The Samsung Galaxy S8, for example, has to use code in the Bluetooth layer from Samsung itself to get around these issues because Android doesn't have the support. This costs a lot of money and takes a lot of time, and in the end, it might all have to be changed to be more compatible with Android O. It's more a business decision than a technical decision. Since Samsung took the time to add its own extras to Bluetooth, it wisely built in the Bluetooth 5 standard instead of an older standard.

Bluetooth is going to be awesome when we get Android O and Bluetooth 5 support, right?

Nope. Sorry.

All the benefits of Bluetooth 5 require both devices to be Bluetooth 5-compliant. If one device, for example, is Bluetooth 4.x-specified, the connection falls back to the 4.x standard. That means until your headphones or car system is Bluetooth 5 ready, none of this matters. Two Galaxy S8 phones connected via Bluetooth can have faster file transfers, but there's no guarantee that Samsung's version of Bluetooth 5 and Android O's version are 100% compatible, so a GS8 to HTC U11 connection might not benefit.

Bluetooth 5 benefits require both devices to be compliant.

When Bluetooth 5 becomes old news and everything supports it (which won't be anytime soon) this will change and we'll see the benefits. One good piece of news is that IoT (Internet of Things) devices are usually ahead of the curve and we'll see Bluetooth 5 support long before other devices start to use it. This can be a pretty big deal when talking about low-energy scanning, because of the longer ADV packets. You'll save battery life when looking for beacons or other LE devices.

Android has always been forward thinking when it comes to Bluetooth, and we see this with every new release. Just be on the lookout for other devices that are Bluetooth 5-complaint to take advantage of the new standards.

Jerry Hildenbrand
Jerry Hildenbrand
Senior Editor — Google Ecosystem

Jerry is an amateur woodworker and struggling shade tree mechanic. There's nothing he can't take apart, but many things he can't reassemble. You'll find him writing and speaking his loud opinion on Android Central and occasionally on Twitter.

23 Comments
  • Good stuff, can't wait. Buy a Pixel 2 and have in a few months. The rest, I don't know.
  • From all the owners of Galaxy s8 and S8 Plus... You're not missing much
  • Your comment sounds like what someone would say if they could not take advantage of this until late spring or early summer of 2018.
  • Considering that there aren't any speakers/IOT devices (AFAIK), even if the Pixel is full on with v5. You wont have devices to connect to it.
  • Point taken...
  • Because your bt5 is just a marketing gimmick. It acts no different than bt4. Not even brining up that there aren't any other bt5 devices to connect to yet.
  • Congrats Jerry, you are the reviewer nr 100 to misinform the public while talking about BT5. One example, 4x more data and 4x more range, you cannot use both features it's either one or another, actually speeds drop quite a lot to a few Kbps in the latter.
  • That's the thing, it's all marketing, bluetooth 5 is a mediocre update from everything I've read about it so far. Some people are even under the impression the dual audio that's in the gs8 as a feature of the bluetooth 5 when it's not. They are just using regular bluetooth combine with bluetooth le to get that effect. The 4x more data is very short, like a few feet at most, really not impress with this update.
  • When you are at 4x more range and only getting a few Kbps on Bluetooth 5, what type of transfer rate are you getting on your Bluetooth 4 device? 0Kbps? So that's basically ∞x more data than on Bluetooth 4 at the same distance.
  • My point being, this whole article is wrong, basing in the same faulty example to explain "it's benefits" as MKBHD used.
    Debunking: - The galaxy S8 (and probably other phones using the SD835) won't support the 4x more range connections - Even if it supported, it's not meant for audio stream, and it cannot be used for that, no audio codec will use this connection - The higher bandwidth and faster connection is comparing BT5 with BT4, most speakers and headphones uses BT3 for audio stream, and guess what, BT3 (aka BT classic) is faster than BT5 in normal conditions, BT5 is an evolution over BT4 (aka Bluetooth smart or Bluetooth low energy), it was designed for low energy devices like wearables, and only now BT5 might be usable for audio streams, but we still need a codec for it. -And a codec is my last point, no matter how fast your internet connection is, if you're streaming a 190KBps song, it won't get higher quality just because your internet conenetion is faster. Same with BT, the widest codec used for audio over Bluetooth, doesn't come near the max bandwidth allowed by BT classic, even newer HD codecs like Ldac are well within the margins for BT classic. In short, BT5 isn't faster than what's used for Audio right now, even if it was, it depends on a codec designed for using this bandwidth for getting higher quality.
  • Don't waste your time here, a lot of folks here read the marketing and take it as gospel. It's like the usual "higher number is better," all over again. During the launch of the gs8 I got into it with some of them here when some were saying how the dual audio feature on the gs8 is proof of the bluetooth 5. It was a mess when I pointed out to them that's not a supported feature of bluetooth 5.
  • I wouldn't say she is wasting her time here. Her comment clarified some things for me.
  • Jerry, you said that Samsung did the hard work of hardcoding to get around android N limitation for bluetooth 5 support. I have been all over their site looking for the sdk and documentation for bluetooth 5 support and I got nothing. I just sent them an email for direction, hopefully I get an answer. My brother has the s8 and I don't see anything it's doing that's specific to bluetooth 5 at the moment.
  • I have a pair of Bluetooth running headphones that I pair with my watch when I run. I wear the watch on my left wrist, and I assume the Bluetooth antenna is on the right side of the headphones. Often when I run, the music stutters because of a bad connection, though they are mere feet apart. Should Bluetooth 5 hypothetically help this scenario when I have all compliant hardware?
  • It won't help. I have the exact same problem and Bluetooth 5.0 on my s8 is actually worse instead of better
  • Do you have Bluetooth 5 headphones though? If you don't, then it reverts back to whatever Bluetooth is on the headphones.
  • Zachthebomb13 - That would be correct: A BT 5 phone with BT 4 headphones will default to BT 4.
  • I don't think the OnePlus 5 has full bluetooth 5.0 support. I DO NOT get the 4x range or even 2x the range. Infact with the phone in my pocket the Bluetooth audio still pauses and skips as I walk.
  • There's no such thing as Bluetooth 5.0. It's "5", no ".0".
  • No wonder Bluetooth on the S8+ sucks. Shorter range that my previous phones leading to a lot of audio stuttering. Can't wait for Android O to fix all this
  • Samsung device.. You'll be waiting a while for O
  • It's so magical. **** the headphone jack for this amazing new iteration.
  • What I found amusing is that the Android Police leak of the Galaxy S8 Active training manual – https://m.androidcentral.com/galaxy-a8-active-training-manual-leak-confi... – claimed that it would support Bluetooth 5.1. Sorry, 5 is latest.