Bluetooth is the most used method to communicate the most used devices with a wireless connection of all with our PC, however, there is an alternative called Wi-Fi Direct. How are they different and why has their adoption in the industry not been so well accepted? Is it better than the standard used today, and if so, which ones? Will Bluetooth disappear? Well, let’s try to solve all these questions.
For many people, it is very important not to have a clutter of cables on their desk and they are ready to have to rely on batteries or rechargeable batteries for this. All this thanks to the Bluetooth interface which has been used in its different versions for two decades now. Thus, it is used in keyboards, control buttons, mice, headphones and a long etcetera. However, there is a much better standard, which is Wi-Fi Direct. Which is unfortunately hardly used. What are the reasons ?
Why is Wi-Fi Direct less used than Bluetooth?
All Wi-Fi devices in your home connect to each other through the router, this means not all communication is direct between devices. The idea of Wi-Fi Direct, on the other hand, is to provide a point-to-point connection between two elements using said standard.. Which makes it ideal for connecting peripherals to a PC directly without having an element in the middle. Its advantages over Bluetooth are clear, it can transmit a greater amount of information, has a greater range, and supports encrypted connections.
So why is Bluetooth used more? Well, due to the fact that having more bandwidth in Wi-Fi Direct means higher power consumption, is it accessory and laptop batteries last much less. Which is ironic, especially considering wireless headphones and the huge latency of Bluetooth when it comes to playing music from the playback device. So much so that to avoid a lag between the action of the game and what is heard, consoles generally do not support Bluetooth audio.
If we talk about other types of wireless accessories, the advantages of Wi-Fi Direct are diluted, very little bandwidth is needed to use a keyboard, a mouse and even a control button on a console. Therefore, there are hardly any applications that take advantage of the benefits of this protocol. Also, you won’t be interacting with your PC from a great distance, but you will be close, just like with your music player.
Only wireless printers use it
The only commercial products that use Wi-Fi Direct are printers, which are connected to the current and we can have them away from the PC at home or in the office. They are therefore not limited in these two aspects. Especially with the first, not in vain, the problem of consumption is the biggest mistake of this standard and the reason why its adoption has been limited in the various devices.
And it is that sometimes the fastest is not the best, because it can go against other much more important requirements. In the case of a wireless device, these are the hours of use without having to depend on a charging cable and they do not affect the battery life of the laptop. Let’s not forget that these are the most used computers and multiple Wi-Fi Direct devices could result in hours of use per charge. Also, when we print, we send data timely, on the other hand, a mouse or keyboard send data continuously.
However, and finally, it is ideal for occasional file sharing between two devices. Since there’s a lot more bandwidth than with Bluetooth, they can be sent with secure encryption and the router isn’t in the middle.
