Everyone is talking about 5G,. Your Mum keeps asking if she should get a 5G phone and your phone carrier has started to dazzle you with the wonders that await you when you upgrade your phone (for a cost of course).
But, what actually is 5G….
5G is the next generation mobile broadband network, that will eventually replace 4G LTE networks.
With this new 5G capability there will be higher upload speeds, massive bandwidths and faster download speeds.
Basically, if you thought 4G was pretty good, 5G is going to blow your socks off.
So how does this effect experiential events?
In everyway possible is how. Literally everything!
The first being that 5G could possibly, or eventually, replace Wi-Fi. Ohhhhh.
Which means saying hello to signal in old industrial buildings, car parks and public spaces overrun with people streaming to their phones and clogging up the bandwidth, whilst saying goodbye to guests asking for the Wi-Fi password or complaining about the lack of Wi-Fi.
When it comes to using apps at events, we don’t have to worry about the slow speeds or the constant tapping on the device hoping that it’ll magically load faster. Instead, the event will run more smoothly with connectivity that just works…
And when it comes to tech, 5G could take us to a whole new world. Literally. It can add another layer to immersive experiences like virtual reality and augmented reality.
Immersion is key to AR and even more so for VR experiences, so a laggy or unstable connection is about as damaging as you can get for this tech. Even in a worst-case scenario, a bad VR experience can make the user feel physically sick. That’s where 5G is expected to help in processing the data at faster speeds than ever before without clogging up the network.
And what about Robots and, of course, AI. Once considered ‘science fiction’ and now the only logical evolution of our future. Well, they can only benefit from 5G as more bandwidth and faster speeds means more real-time interaction, more predictive and faster processing of data (so better interaction with our phones and existing AI processes and devices like Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant) and more learning which means more ways for Robots and AI to learn and ultimately help make our lives easier (or take over the world and make humans their pets).
In short, the opportunities for events and experiential are endless and exciting. All we need to do is Dream BIG and 5G will help make our dreams a reality.