It has been quite a while since Bluetooth 4.0 standards were introduced back in 2010, in the years following the tech has grown to become a major part of many of the devices and services we use on a daily basis. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group, the regulatory body responsible for the standard, has just recently announced that it will be releasing a new and updated version of the technology with some improvements and enhanced functionality.
The first update to the standard in nearly 4 years, Bluetooth 4.1 will introduce intelligent disconnecting to save on your battery life, among other things. The new standard will, for example, automatically shut down your Bluetooth connection when you go out of range while remembering that set-up and automatically re-connecting as you move back into range. Meaning you should be able to leave Bluetooth 4.1 running all day without worrying about it uselessly draining battery life.
Beyond that, bulk data transfer is being improved and the new standard will accommodate functioning as both a peripheral, passing information to something like a smartphone, while simultaneously acting as a hub picking up on relevant data from other sensors.
But the best part of all is that it sounds as though we won't have to buy all new devices to get our hands on it. Veresion 4.1 can be rolled out via updates to existing chips and devices, but that will likely all depend on whether or not manufactures allow it.