The Real Problem with 5G? It Devours Battery Life

5G technology is appearing in the media more frequently, and not for the right reasons. From "mind control" and COVID-19 contagion to the "new world order" and senseless attacks on antennas, the arrival of 5G is tumultuous, to say the least. However, the truth is that it faces other problems, much more technical and tangible, so to speak. Earlier we explored its serious coverage shortcomings, but today it's the turn of something that hits closer to home: Under current conditions, 5G devours batteries. What solutions are there for the future?

The arrival of 5G connectivity is inevitable, no doubt about it. Going from a few isolated megabits to "gigabit links" will not only be addictive at first, but will become the "new normal" for mobile devices. But the transition won't be perfect. On one hand, the "events" of 2020 have disrupted most deployment plans (if we think about it, this year it wasn't even possible to hold the Mobile World Congress). On the other, several details need to be addressed.

The three most relevant are price, coverage, and battery. First, 5G smartphones will be more expensive, and the jump in speed will definitely be reflected in the data plans that carriers offer. Then there's something we've studied in the past. The 5G coverage process leaves much to be desired, and a simple action like turning your back to an antenna equals a "fall" to 4G. Finally, we reach a particularly irritating point: battery.

5G and Batteries: An Unfair Situation

A Samsung Galaxy S10 5G can surrender up to 50 percent of its battery in just four hours on 5G connections, and that's essentially one of the best cases. The reason was explained by Samsung itself in a support article: For now, many 5G networks are used exclusively for data transfer and don't support traditional messaging or voice. That means any compatible smartphone must maintain 3G or LTE links alongside 5G.

This "back and forth" between networks and protocols, combined with redundant (but necessary) connections, destroys any battery in its path, reduces available processing power, and generates extra heat. It's a perverse and unfair situation, because 5G technology by itself is not to blame. It's the current usage conditions that affect its potential.

But all is not lost. Qualcomm has its second-generation X55 modem, which promises "multimode on a single chip", and will be adopted by dozens of OEMs in the next twelve months (assuming the virus gives us a break). At the same time, a new development from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Lille in France emerges. It's a new radio frequency switch (read "interrupter") that is 50 times more efficient than available solid-state solutions, capable of transmitting a high-definition TV stream at 100 GHz, with a simpler strategy: it remains off most of the time.

For its construction, the researchers used a nanomaterial known as hexagonal boron nitride, which from a certain point of view reminds us a bit of graphene. It's the thinnest insulator in the world (just 0.33 nanometers), and the process involves "trapping" this honeycomb-shaped layer between gold electrodes. An interesting detail is that part of the funding for this project was enabled by the United States Army Research Office. Basically, the Department of Defense believes 5G will be vital for communications between drones and other unmanned vehicles in the future. The question is: How long will it take for a commercial variant to appear?

Source: Popular Mechanics

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