With the wearing OS 5.1 update, which was released last March, Google has quietly introduced a new feature called Channel Sounding for Pixel Watch 3, which can improve its accuracy to identify other devices using its existing Bluetooth hardware. But although the channel’s sound now supports through the smart watch, it is not yet used because wearing it is one of the first Android devices to enforce it. Android AuthorityAnd you need a number of devices supporting the feature to work.
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (CIG) announced the latest repetition of its wireless communication protocol in September 2024, and one of the most interesting upgrades of Bluetooth 6.0 has nothing to do with wireless headphones.
Most Bluetooth -based trackers rely on the power of the signal between two connected devices to evaluate their distance, but it is often unreliable due to obstacles or interference. The sound of the channel instead measures time in sending multiple radio signals to different frequencies between two attached devices. According to Bluetooth, this point of view is allowed to “centm surface accuracy” as well as directional awareness.
Identifying the exact location of the tracking device such as Apple Air Tag using the iPhone is easy thanks to the use of their ultra -wide band (UWB) hardware. The wireless UWB provides more accurate local awareness among the protocol devices, allowing apps like Apple to determine the exact distance of the tracker such as air tags and provide you with directional arrows that guide you to its location.
But UWB needs its radio and antenna, which increases the cost of a device’s hardware. The advantage of channel sound is that it uses Bluetooth hardware that is now common in every smartphone, smart watch, and wireless headphone set.
Devices will need Bluetooth hardware that supports the new 6.0 protocol, but at this location the Pixel Watch 3 is about 10 months old, many devices are already available. We need more companies to release software updates that increase support for Bluetooth 6.0 so we can really start to take advantage of these new features.
