ericdabbs

Do you guys think Sprint will try to carry the LG Optimus G Pro when LG begins shipping it in the US in Q2 2013?

I know it looks similar to the Note 2 minus the S-pen. Its got some things going for it like the Full HD IPS display which is superior to the Super Amoled display on the Note 2 and the has the Qualcomm S4 Pro processor. The LG Optimus G phone seemed to sell well and I can see customers willing to give LG a chance again. I say that Sprint should go for it this year and see if it can gauge interest from those away from the Note 2/Note 3 this year

ok you already know 750>1900 coverage wise. sprint users will be stuck with 1900 only coverage which in my opinion will be lacking and insufficient in alot of places. this is a flagship phone and people will be using this for two years with no access to better coverage wich smr LTE would offer. there would be plenty of people wanting to leave sprint if a sprint user cant access lte on 1900 in a building while vzw users will asssuming its on the same tower on a non rf freidnly buulding. simple as that. i just fell like they should be putting it in phones by now

I completely agree with you that Sprint should be adding Tri-band LTE phones to its flagship phones at this stage to prepare customers to be able to take full advantage of all 3 LTE bands later on this year. But its really up to Sprint and Samsung to agree and work together on this. My guess is that since the S4 is going to be released sometime in May or early June that only LTE 1900 will be added unfortunately given that the HTC One only contains LTE 1900.

IMO Verizon is in a different situation which allows them to get away with just having the LTE 750 for these last 2 years because it has great coverage, great building penetration and is a 10x10 carrier and has twice the capacity to provide a good LTE experience. For Verizon adding LTE 1700/2100 will be entirely seamless and customers will just see a more consistent data speed increase when it gets deployed. However Sprint is in a different situation where they only have a single 5x5 carrier on LTE 1900 currently and has half the capacity as Verizon's LTE 750 carrier and customers will see a similar or a worse signal to voice when going indoors.

If Sprint continues to just add LTE 1900 only phones throughout 2013, it tells me that Sprint plans to focus on deploying another 5x5 carrier on LTE 1900 rather than building out LTE 800 and LTE 2500 for added capacity.

I am curious if smartphones in 2013 will now include micro usb 3.0 connectors instead of just micro usb 2.0. I would love to see 2013 smartphones with micro usb 3.0 connectors not only because of faster transfer speeds but battery charging will be faster due to the 3.0 standard being able to draw more current (500 mA USB 2.0 vs 900 mA USB 3.0) for devices.

I actually hope the HTC One does real well this year in terms of sales over the Samsung galaxy s4 so it starts putting some pressure on Samsung to continue to innovate and not resort to the shenanigans that have plagued the iPhone with small incremental upgrades in terms of build design.

The 4 applications Calculator, Flashlight, Ringtone Trimmer and Sound Recorder don't seem to be too critical. The more important thing is that the bootloader is unlockable and able to accept custom roms. Keep in mind that the unit reviewed is probably the international version which may be different than the US versions. Once the devices are released in the US, I am sure people will be looking to see if these rumors are true.

Yeah I saw the bit from the presentation about FDD-LTE and TD-LTE dual support which is good news and hopefully Sprint will add the 800 and 2600 MHz bands. We shall see in the next few weeks what Sprint and Samsung have decided to do.

I guess so. Looks like a nice device overall but I want to see which Sprint bands is supported with this device.

I am very interested in this as well. It will help me make my decision on my next phone.

I believe it's all aluminum.

So this is an improvement over last year correct? Hopefully the feel of the sides now are much better than all plastic.

Are the sides made of aluminum like it was rumored or is it still plastic?

I am curious for those that are familiar with the situation...at what point does Clearwire need to make a decision on whether they will accept a Sprint or Dish deal? I know that Clearwire has started tapping into Sprint funding which I thought Sprint had put a condition in the merger agreement that if Clearwire ever accepted any funding it could NOT consider any other transaction but that doesn't seem to be case. Does Dish still even have a chance of a Clearwire deal given this condition? It appears from reading articles about Clearwire that they stated that they are still mulling over the Dish deal which doesn't make sense to me.

I just want Clearwire to make a darn decision already so that the whole Sprint/Softbank/Clearwire transaction can be analyzed by the FCC and DOJ. Doesn't Clearwire have a deadline to make such a decision. I don't believe Clearwire can drag on this saga forever. Clearwire needs to quickly decide on who they want to be bought out by so that they can move on and start building their TD-LTE network.

Looks like Samsung has confirmed the SGS4 announcement for March 14th. The bigger question is whether Sprint or Samsung will screw it up by only offering 1900 MHz LTE support like they did with the HTC One. I am really hoping to see the first tri band LTE phone with 800/1900/2500 MHz support. It would show a great sign that Sprint is acknowledging that 800 MHz LTE is indeed going to be a reality this year and owners of LTE phones from this point forward is expected to get 800 MHz LTE support.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/24/samsung-confirms-galaxy-s-iv-launch-on-march-14th-in-nyc/

 

Which begs the question as to why sprints version is missing the 800/2.5 bands... They have included bands/features that wouldn't be available for 2yr before, like the 800mhz in the 3d... So wondering what the reason is for this development of missing bands... Especially knowing Clearwire is supposed to hand a couple thousand lte sites up by mid yr and testing lte 800 will be later this yr...

 

I used to expect to see 800 lte included before the 2.5 as I would assume sprint doesn't plan on the network needing offloading to 2.5 for at least a little bit and before the acquisition of clearwire it would be paying for something they didn't necc need at the time... But still lost on the lack of no 800.... Less they have some big kinks they need to work out and are unsure how to handle them right now. .

 

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I am very shocked that sprint will allow one of their flagship phones this year to only have the 1900 mhz LTE band support given that 800 and 2500 mhz LTE will be live this year. You would think that sprint would want to start setting up their LTE phones to allow them the capability to start shifting resources around to take advantage of the 800 and the 2500 mhz capacity that sprint paid clearwire to begin using in mid year 2013 to ensure a good 4g access LTE experience that they botched with wimax so that the carriers are not overloaded so quickly. Had the 'G' block been a 10x10 carrier instead of a 5x5 carrier, i wouldnt be as worried as much for the next 2 years but a single 5x5 carrier is not enough to sustain for another 2 years as more and more folks pile onto LTE. I just hope the remaining flagship phones (sgs4, gn3, optimus g 2, moto x, etc) dont fall victim to this mistake.

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The AT&T and T-Mobile variants of the HTC One are up on the FCC OET. Their supported LTE bands correspond exactly with the bands quoted below on the HTC web site:

 

 

 

So, I will project now that the Sprint variant will be limited to band 25 LTE 1900. In other words, it will not likely include band 26 LTE 800 nor band 41 TD-LTE 2600, though we will have to wait for the FCC OET authorization documents for actual confirmation.

 

AJ

Its sad to see sprint still opting to sell phones with only 1900 MHz LTE support. If the sgs4 released later on this year contains 800 and/or 2500 MHz LTE support as well, I'm afraid the HTC one won't sell well on sprint. I highly doubt the HTC website would be incorrect.

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Yes, but you have 800Mhz panels, 1900Mhz panels, 2500/2600MHz already, plus the RRU's for each. Yes S band and 2600MHz can share, but will be not be optimal for either.

The 800 and 1900 MHz frequencies are on the same panel with two antennas on 1900 MHz and one antenna on 800 MHz inside the panel.

the draw back if they did add the 800/2500 is it won't be utilized until sometime in 2014(correct me if I'm wrong), by then the new flagships will be coming out by then.

I don't think that is true at all. Clearwire is suppose to have at least 2000 sites by mid year 2013 and 5000 sites completed by end of 2013. Also Sprint is deploying 800 MHz LTE starting 4th quarter 2013 so there will definitely be some users able to take advantage of the 800 and 2500 LTE bands in 2013.

IMO there is no excuse to not include the 800 and 2500 LTE bands in the 2013 flagship phones. By having only the 1900 MHz LTE band, it is going to put more stress on the single 5x5 G block carrier for the next 2-3 years which alone cannot sustain the growing LTE adoption going forward especially in 2013 when the POed 2011 Wimax customers contracts are up and are looking to renew with LTE phones.

It is clear that Sprint plans to add LTE capacity for the near future on the 800 MHz and 2500 MHz spectrum bands. I don't see Sprint adding another 1900 MHz carrier in the A-F blocks in the near future since there are still plenty of markets that have 20 MHz and lower that do not have enough spectrum to add another 5x5 carrier. I suspect that the next 5x5 1900 Mhz carrier being deployed will have to be the 5x5 H block which Sprint will need to aggressively bid for this year and try to get nationwide licenses to add more PCS spectrum depth. However even if this were to occur, the H block would require its own band class which would be an extension of BC 25 and the 2012 and possibly 1H 2013 LTE phones won't support that H block BC. IMO the 2013 LTE phones MUST include 800 and 2500 Mhz LTE support. It just gives Sprint more flexibility on how to stretch out its resources if the handsets are able to accommodate more LTE bands. Sprint was able to place 800 MHz CDMA support since early 2011 phones (EVO 3D, SGS2) which was 2 years before 800 MHz CDMA support is even available so that is no excuse.

http://www.androidcentral.com/htc-one-us-radio-frequencies

 

LTE

AT&T: 700/850/AWS/1900 MHz

T-Mobile: 700/AWS MHz

Sprint: 1900 MHz

 

I was really hoping the new line of phones would support Sprint's 800 for LTE

I feel the same way. The htc one looks like a pretty good phone but only having 1900 mhz LTE support is an instant deal breaker for me. Why on earth would sprint dare to put out LTE devices in 2013 with only single band support. Sprint can easily add 800 and 2500 mhz LTE support without needing to have an existing network out there. Even the att version has support for 4 LTE bands even though they havent deployed LTE in the 850/1700/1900 mhz bands. Does sprint seriously think they have enough capacity on the 'G' block to support future LTE growth. I just hope the article is plain wrong and i really hope the SGS4 does not repeat the same mistake.

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I wish Dish would hurry up and just do a spectrum sharing deal with Sprint so we can move on from this saga. I just can't see which carrier out there would be interested in Dishs S-band spectrum anyways. Sprint can make use of that spectrum since it would be next to the PCS H block spectrum. Even AT&T would have a hard time getting that spectrum given that it recently received permission to deploy LTE on WCS band spectrum. AT&T has enough spectrum as it is.

Can someone remind me again who did Clearwire contract out to build out their Wimax base stations. From reading this thread it sounds like Samsung and Motorola did part of them and I thought I remember reading that Ericcson did some as well. I am glad to see that Samsung equipment is able to support WiMax and LTE just by adding new carrier cards. Companies like Samsung are always forward looking which is great unlike Motorola sites which always seem to be causing trouble. I am not surprised that Motorola had been struggling given the headache it gives to Sprint and Clearwire.

I can't wait to see the rumored nexus 7.7 tablet with a 7.7 inch screen hopefully announced at Google I/O this year. I really wished that Google just came out with a Nexus 8 with a 8.0 inch screen because I think its just the perfect size for a tablet that is not too heavy and not too small in screen size. After seeing the iPad Mini and how light and easy it is to fit in some jacket pockets, I can see why they can become real popular.

Which does raise a question. How many of the sites Clearwire is currently working or will have finished at the point the deal goes through will stay? Is Sprint working closely enough with Clearwire to only have them build out sites where Sprint needs them?

I wonder about this too. If the Clearwire deal does go through with Sprint, I would like Sprint to be able to add Clearwire LTE on the Network Vision Sprint sites so that it can save cash on tower leases, power, backhaul, permits etc on Clearwire sites. Adding Clearwire LTE would be easy on the Network Vision equipment.

I disagree. Indoor coverage in urban areas does matter. While all carriers will say no indoor coverage is guaranteed, when you compare carriers, it makes a HUGE difference when it comes to the user experience.

 

Customers don't care if they are in a basement or behind brick and lowE glass, they want coverage. Sub-1GHz spectrum is the only realistic way to provide it.

I agree that indoor coverage in urban areas does matter. While sub-1 Ghz spectrum is much needed if the carrier plans to provide rural coverage, the voice of those in the rural areas is not as loud as those who are in the large urban areas who can't get a good voice or data signal indoors. The truth is that any carrier needs a combination of low, med and high spectrum to be an efficient carrier with capacity.

Sprint is on the road to becoming a better carrier by having low, med and high spectrum for voice and data.

Do u guys think tmobile lte will be faster on average then sprints?

Its hard to say right now. With tmobile acquiring metropcs, it really helps tmobiles aws and pcs spectrun depth that allows them to deploy a 10x10 lte carrier and in some areas a 20x20 lte carrier once tmobile migrates all hspa+ on aws spectrum to pcs spectrum.

I am very curious about 20 mhz tdd lte carriers on sprint from clearwire to see how speeds compare. The bigger question is how much depth will sprint add to the 2.5 ghz spectrum LTE in all its markets. Sprint obviously would need to extend its 2.5 ghz LTE to cities like phoenix and san diego who never got wimax

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I'm not certain about AlcaLu, but I believe their RRU's can do LTE and CDMA on the same unit. I know Samsung can. And currently Ericsson cannot. However, I hear that Ericsson is working on a new RRU for deployment than can do both LTE and CDMA from the same RRU.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

That is good news to hear about this new potential RRU for LTE and CDMA for Ericcson. Hopefully Alcatel Lucent's RRUs can do LTE and CDMA on the same unit.

Samsung is just on top of everything not only in its Network Vision equipment and its deployment progress but they make great phone devices in the Galaxy S and Note series.

In Ericsson markets it will require an RRU install too.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

What about Alcatel Lucent and Samsung markets?

I wonder if this means that Sprint will still try to push for tri band LTE phones for its flagship phones this year. I really hope so. I think it would be a dumb move if Sprint didn't do that. Offering only 1900 MHz LTE phones in 2013 would be a disaster since the Wimax customers like myself from 2011 renew our contracts. that puts more stress for the next 2 years on only the 1900 MHz band since customers typically renew their phones every 2 years. All the 2012 LTE customers only have 1900 MHz LTE support.

I am glad to hear that 800 MHz LTE deployment will begin in Q4 2013.