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One key advantage the Galaxy S8 has over the iPhone and other Android phones

Published Mar 30th, 2017 8:43AM EDT
Galaxy S8 Features Bluetooth 5.0
Image: Zach Epstein, BGR

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You may have overlooked this detail when going over the Galaxy S8’s specs list, but Samsung’s newest creation has a feature that’s not available on any other mass-market phones at the moment. That’s Bluetooth 5.0 support, a new Bluetooth standard that offers huge advantages over previous versions of Bluetooth. It will likely come to more devices including more smartphones in the near future, but for the time being, the Galaxy S8 and S8+ are the only games in town.

Why is Bluetooth 5.0 so exciting? Well, for starters, the Galaxy S8 will support two independent Bluetooth streams, which means you and a friend can both watch and listen to the same content without sharing headphones. Each person will then be able to control the volume for his or her own headphones without affecting the other.

That’s just one of the perks of Bluetooth 5.0, though it’s one you might not use on a regular basis.

However, Bluetooth 5.0 has other features that you’ll probably enjoy a lot more. The protocol offers data speeds that are twice as fast as Bluetooth 4.2, and it also offers four times its range. That means you can be further away from a Bluetooth speaker and still get great sound. And speaking of sound, audio quality should also be improved thanks to Bluetooth 5.0, which means you should get a better phone call experience and a better overall sound for music playback with the Galaxy S8.

Bluetooth 5.0 will hardly be the deciding factor when you’re choosing whether or not to buy a Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+. But it’s still a great feature to have at hand, one that will hopefully be found in more and more smartphones and accessories later this year.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.