5G has come to Spain to stay, and although it is not yet fully extended among the different cities and operators, most manufacturers are making the leap to 5G and trying to convince us that today what we need is a mobile with 5G, which is a revolutionary technology and will change everything we can do with a smartphone.
The promises of 5G are ambitious, and is that at a speed level it can be faster than the WiFi you have in your home, with an extremely low latency that will allow us to enjoy everything we already did with the mobile, but much better (one of the examples where latency plays a key factor is streaming games), but this is where the key question comes in.
Should my next mobile have 5G? Is it a key decision factor? Well, before knowing it, we should ask ourselves several questions.
The most important, do you have an urge to change your mobile?
The change of mobile is a question that we always tend to have in mind. Is your current mobile performing well or is it already showing obvious signs of age? Depending on our economic possibilities or our degree of demand, the answer may vary, but in general we must take into accountthat you should wait for next year.
Although the first 5G mobiles arrived last year, the 2020 range is still immature. This is because the modem required for connectivity is too large to be integrated into the processor, and an extra number of antennas. As a general rule, a 5G mobile has higher battery consumption and an extra cost in the price as it is a new technology. To solve this excess consumption, we find higher capacity batteries that increase the weight without having a notable increase in autonomy.
You are going to have wireless connectivity in exchange for having a more expensive and heavier mobile, with more battery but for practical purposes the same autonomy. It is hoped that in the next generation we will see better polished terminals in that sense, so if you can wait, wait.
Does your operator offer 5G in your area?
Let’s suppose that you don’t want to wait, that you want to have a new mobile already and you are considering using 5G. You have to consider that although having a mobile with 5G is an essential requirement, it is not enough.
You depend on your current telephone operator (or those you consider to do portability) to be able to take advantage of 5G. It is not enough just to jump to 5G, since as it is an expanding infrastructure it may happen that you still cannot enjoy it.
Rural areas and low-cost operators will take longer to support 5G.
If you live in a big city like Madrid or Barcelona, the answer is simpler, although even in the main cities, 5G is like laughter, which goes through neighborhoods. However, it is a matter of weeks before large cities end up having full coverage and it is one of the few situations in which we do recommend that you consider 5G as an important feature.
If you live in large or medium-sized cities, you can consider that your new mobile is 5G, but there is one last question left to ask yourself. Finally, if you live in a small town where 4G is not working well, we would consider the choice of a 5G mobile as something totally secondary and we would only consider it if the mobile you want to buy offers 5G support.
- 5G coverage maps:
- Vodafone.
- Orange.
- Yoigo.
How long will your next mobile last?
As important as choosing a good mobile, perhaps the best question for you is what type of user you are and if the mobile you buy today is going to survive long enough for you to enjoy 5G properly.
If your goal for your next mobile is to last as long as possible (about 4 or 5 years, for example), it is convenient that you bet on 5G as an important addition, since it is very likely that during the life cycle of your mobile you end up enjoying the new mobile network, while if you are one of those who are looking for the best quality / price ratio and change your mobile every two years, it may not be such a priority.
In the event that your goal is to buy a high-end mobile, the choice is simplified because practically all flagships today have 5G support, with Samsung being the only one that offers a 4G variant of its mobiles. In the specific case of the Galaxy S20, the comparison is as simple as evaluating whether you deserve to pay the approximately 100 euros difference for the new generation network.
In summary: How much is it worth that your next mobile is 5G?
- Highly recommended:
- I live in one of the big cities in Spain and I’m with one of the big mobile operators.
- I plan to use my next mobile for a long time (4 or 5 years).
- I want a high-end mobile.
- Recommendable:
- I live in a big city.
- I am with one of the big mobile operators.
- I will use the mobile for about 3 years.
- Not recommended, you should wait 1-2 years:
- My current 4G mobile works perfectly.
- I live in a rural area.
- I am with a lowcost operator.
The entry Is it worth buying a 5G mobile in Spain right now? He appears first in The Free Android.
