In 2020, 2019G networks are set to take center stage across the entire mobile industry. In 5, electronics suppliers began to bring communication modules and devices to the 5G market in which these modules already work. In addition, XNUMXG networks are gradually being rolled out in a number of countries, including the United States, Russia, China, and Europe.
New technologies will provide a new stage in the evolution of the entertainment industry. First of all, these are games. Over the past six months, several articles, domestic and foreign, caught my eye, which said that 5G will allow gamers to access game content anywhere and everywhere, on any platform, thanks to cloud gaming. I wanted to check how it works today.
A few words before you start testing
I note that the gaming industry has had a very strong impact on communication technology. Over the past couple of years, fourth-generation networks have succeeded in this. High-speed mobile Internet gave impetus to the development of mobile gaming. According to experts, in a couple of years the volume of this market will exceed $100 billion.
Many mobile equipment vendors have a powerful smartphone or other mobile device in their assets that allows you to play games that not every desktop or laptop would have mastered a few years ago. Especially distinguished here, of course, is ASUS with its ROG line. This smartphone is positioned precisely as a gaming device. Apparently, in the future there will be more such devices.
Well, cloud gaming services remove the binding of games to certain platforms () - you can play anytime and anywhere, there would be a desire. Experts predict a gradual increase in the quality of mobile games, an increase in the number of services that offer gaming anywhere and everywhere, plus an increase in the popularity of mobile devices among gamers.
From words to deeds
In general, experts are experts, but I wanted to check how it all works in practice right now. This is not easy to do, because 5G in Russia works only in a limited number of locations. Another problem is my lack of gadgets that support fifth-generation networks.
Having searched the Internet, I managed to find out that in Moscow 5G works like in Skolkovo, plus Tele 2 and Ericsson launched 5G in , in the 28 GHz band. There is a fifth generation network from Okhotny Ryad metro station to Mayakovskaya. Another test zone launched by MTC and Huawei, it works .
What do I need to test the performance of cloud gaming services when connected to a cellular network? That's right, a modern device that supports 5G and an account in the cloud service. The second is available (there are several accounts in different services at once), but the first is not. As far as I know, Samsung Galaxy 5 is currently working with 10G, but I have an iPhone, and I don’t know anyone with this device.
But it turned out that on the same Tverskaya there is a Tele2 salon, where two laptops with a connection to 5G and 4G are installed, and active accounts of the PlayKey cloud service (unfortunately, there are no other services, plus, looking ahead, I’ll say that go to your accounts in LoudPlay or GFN we were not allowed - only the administrator has access to the laptop software).
In general, it was decided to go to this salon and test at least what is there in order to personally check how the gaming service works with 4G and 5G.
The test is
This test cannot be called superobjective, because:
- Only one cloud gaming service available;
- Only one game is available - Assassin's Creed;
- It is impossible to change something on gaming machines, which means that it is impossible to record from the screen. The video from the testing procedure is the simplest - they filmed a TV screen on a smartphone, to which laptops are connected. Yes, clumsy, but at least something.
Another caveat - laptops that are installed in the cabin do not have built-in wireless modules. They are connected to 4G and 5G modems, which already work directly with mobile networks.
The situation in the salon. There are two laptops, each connected to a modem - one is 4G and the second is 5G. Laptops are connected to a TV so that you can evaluate the quality of the image.
To begin with, we decided to run SpeedTest.net on a 5G-enabled mobile phone from the salon.
With the download, everything is fine - the width of the communication channel is over 1 Gb / s. But with the return, everything is much worse - about 12 Mbps.
Well, then the games themselves have already been checked.
XNUMXG network
Impressions: The resolution is great at max settings. You can see how the wind plays with the horse's mane. In particularly dynamic scenes, a drawdown in FPS is visible, but still these moments do not interfere with playing. There are either no delays at all, or there are, but minimal. Character movements are smooth even when time slows down. Tried dying and then loading the last save. Everything turned out with a bang - the download is about the same as from a PC.
You can see the rain, the movements of the character are smooth, all the details are noticeable.
Verdict: You can play without any problems right now. At the same time, the 5G communication channel on Tverskaya is still not as wide as possible - when a full-fledged fifth-generation network is deployed by the Big Four operators in Moscow, even those minimal problems that are noticeable now are likely to disappear.
fourth generation network
Impressions: tested 4G at maximum speed. The difference was already noticeable on the loading screen - the light began to “freeze”. The game itself after loading turned out to be just a pixel paradise - in the sense that the pixels at the moment of movement are huge. A static picture, if you do nothing, is great. But as soon as a moving object appears - for example, a bird flies by, everything breaks. At the same time, the response time is minimal, almost the same as in the case of 5G.
Lighting effects look very so-so. As soon as the character starts to move - subsidence is simple on all fronts, pixelation distorts the picture very much, to such an extent that even large details of the object are not visible.
Slightly better on medium settings, but problems are still visible to the naked eye.
Verdict: either the 4G coverage in this place is not very good, or something else, but it is almost impossible to play by connecting to the cloud service through the fourth generation network. In any case, on Tverskaya.
As a conclusion
Here I will say that the article is a description of the first experience of interacting with 5G, it was interesting to “touch” fifth-generation networks through cloud gaming. It was possible to go to the salon, try it all out and keep it to yourself, but still it seems that it is interesting not only for me. "Infa first hand" can always be valuable to someone other than yourself.
As for fifth-generation networks, the technology, which, moreover, does not work at full capacity, impressed. It became clear that cloud gaming through a mobile communication channel with such a bandwidth is capable of a lot. We can agree with experts and the same Kojima - fifth-generation networks will give a powerful impetus to mobile gaming. First of all, these are cloud gaming services - using the same 5G modem, you can play your favorite game anywhere where there is coverage.
Where it will be is another question, because the deployment of a 5G infrastructure is a very slow business. But in 3-5 years, we can hope that operators will cover vast regions of the country with fifth-generation networks, and game content providers will quickly adapt and begin to delight us with new high-quality games.
Source: habr.com