What's the Deal with 5G, and Why Should We Care? with Alok Shah and Derek Johnston

On the first episode of Recalibrate with Samsung, we seek to answer one of the biggest looming questions in the telecoms space: What will be the impact of 5G? Host Jason Claybrook, Derek Johnston, and Alok Shah of Samsung Networks talk about what makes 5G networks so different, so important, and ways that consumers can utilize them that will make the existing way they’re interacting with their mobile devices so much different.

“Previous generations of 2G gave us voice and texting, 3G was the introduction of data, 4G gave us a lot faster, richer internet experience and ignited the mobile economy, and now 5G is like putting fiber in your pocket, it puts all of that other stuff on steroids. It’s the evolution of mobile technology,” Johnston said.

Shah agrees, and expands: “5G is more than just another generation of mobile, but you get substantially better speeds and big benefits when it comes to latency, also how long it takes from when you do something on your device to the time that the
network responds. The responsiveness can be 30-40 milliseconds or more down into single digit milliseconds with the right network architecture. It enables things that could never be done before.”

‘Enable’ is the correct word, as people are now shopping differently, playing video games differently, including using cloud gaming. Virtual reality has been around for a while but now developers are continuing to play with augmented reality games such as Pokemon Go. The rollout of 5G will change things for more than just gamers though. The sports world will also feel the difference.

Samsung and other companies have done a lot of work in stadiums to enhance the way that the consumer views sporting events, including using overhead cameras, drone cameras, and stitching angles for 360 degree views. This will give each usr a lot more opportunities to access different videos but is creating a new network need with much more bandwidth required.

Networks TechTalk podcast was previously named Recalibrate with Samsung Networks.