54 T3 APRIL 2020Hot 100
1
5G
Last year was the arrival of 5G, but like all new technologies,
it needed time to settle in. A limited range of (more expensive)
phones and a slow roll-out in just a few areas of a few cities
meant that while it did offer the mind-blowing speeds promised,
not many people could take advantage of them. But now things
are accelerating: the number of locations from the networks
already in on the action is rocketing up all over the country, while
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with what it claims will be the fastest of all the 5G networks.
The plans are becoming more competitive as more companies
start to compete, including low-cost providers, and the phones
are becoming cheaper due to 5G support becoming the norm in
chips from the likes of Qualcomm (see #28). It’s likely that we’ll
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as a technology that’s in the mainstream. But it’s not just about
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5G tablet is already available courtesy of Samsung. We still won’t
see the revolution that 5G promises this year, but that can only
come once it’s ubiquitous. In 2020, that process will start, and
that’s why it takes the top spot in our list of the hottest tech this
year: you’re going to see more and more tech designed with it
in mind, since this is the year you can actually take advantage
of that. And let’s not forget why you want that – it’s because 5G
really is impossible to go back from once you’ve tried it. Having
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so satisfying and so damn handy that it’s going to the one
upgrade everyone talks about in 2020.