ericdabbs

If the Galaxy Nexus is suppose to be released within the next 1-2 weeks, wouldn't Sprint have to issue a press release now to get the buzz going on about that? I know Sprint is trying to milk as much press on the HTC Evo 4G LTE phone but cmon already. There are people out there that are waiting patiently to get their hands on the Galaxy Nexus LTE phone and there is still no official press release from Sprint.

It does look like the Galaxy Nexus will now have a 4/22 release date since its so late in the game. I do want to see the Galaxy Nexus released ASAP before it becomes an after thought if not already.

Well. There hasn't been an official press release from Sprint so I wouldn't say its official yet. Its no secret that Sprint has been using Kankakee as a LTE market testbed. I don't know what the basis of the Fiercewireless article is all about.

Thanks for the info (and for busting my bubble) lol

 

You are probably correct. By the time Sprint gets it, it will be outdated. Plus with the success that Samsung has had with that device, I am sure that a part 2 is already being designed more along the specs of the Samsung s3. And it would most likely be announced/deployed around the 1 year anniversary of the first Note. (Which is probably at the end of the year) This would be the time that both Sprint and Verizon would get a chance to have dibs on it.

 

As for the HTC EVO LTE, if May 7 is the pre-orders, when do some of you think the phone would actually be in consumers hands?

 

TS

I agree with you. Sprint should just shoot for the Galaxy Note 2 when Samsung starts to develop it and forget about the Galaxy Note 1. Sprint needs to shoot for the GS3 though since that is the most anticipated android phone currently which I hope is in line for a Fall release when Sprint's major LTE markets should be lighting up.

According to Robert the tentative rumored release date is June 10th. Seems kinda long to have a preorder for over a month. Since Sprint likes to have phone launches on sundays, either June 3rd or 10th makes sense.

HAHAH. Wow AT&T copying Sprint. That is a first. How can I modify the link so that I can search the Los Angeles area? Is there a main site where I can type in my city?

Yeah I saw this move on tech blogs today. Hopefully it works out for both Tmobile and Leap.

WCS Spectrum is completely worthless

 

"The uplink and downlink portions of the WCS spectrum band are separated by the DARS spectrum used for Sirius satellite radio. As a result, the WCS spectrum is subject to power limits and guard band requirements designed to protect these delicate satellite signals. Unfortunately, this renders the spectrum useless for mobility. Thus, outside of a few limited wireless broadband tests, the WCS spectrum remains as un-utilized today as it was when it was first licensed."

http://wirelessspect...trum-bands/wcs/

 

ATT had been trying to sell theres as well but doesn't appear to have any commercial value.

You are right the WCS spectrum is pretty much worthless. Unfortunately in this day and age with mobile broadband speeds booming there is a huge demand for mobile services spectrum. I am not an expert in satellite communications but does it really need to use a lower frequency in the 2.3 Ghz band?

I feel like the 2305-2320 MHz and 2345 -2360 MHz spectrum is wasted due to Siri operating in 2320-2345 MHz. I wish there was a way to move Siri farther out in the band so that the WCS band from 2305-2360 MHz could be used for mobile broadband.

Moto would also have to upgrade thier screens a bit for me also. But a ICS Razr Maxx with a quad core/S4 processor and a SLCD2 screen would be pretty dang sweet. umm.. basically a EVO-LTE with a 3000 battery. LOL

Agreed. Moto needs to upgrade their screens to at least Super LCD screen that HTC is running along with the choice of unlocked bootloaders. A 2500 - 3000 maH battery would be very welcomed but I prefer a removable battery.

The thing is what is Sprint going to do with the WCS spectrum anyways if it has a small chunk in only the southeast region. Either the FCC needs to expand the WCS spectrum band or Sprint needs to buy the WCS spectrum licenses from AT&T.

This is the reason why AT&T and Verizon has not deployed LTE on AWS spectrum yet because they are trying to acquire enough spectrum for nationwide deployment. I really think the FCC needs to do a better job of not selling small 2-3 MHz chunks of spectrum to carriers and should only be selling spectrum in 5 or 10 MHz chunks. If you look at the map in the link you realize how all carriers have small chunks of spectrum from every single band that is currently being wasted since they don't have enough for full deployment.

I forgot which poster posted this link to spectrum licenses for all the carriers but I thought this map was really useful to see what licenses each carrier has and what ares it covers. The map looks pretty legit and accurate but I would have to leave that up to AJ and Robert to decide on that.

I found it interesting that ATT had 3/4 nation covered with WCS spectrum and Sprint has a tiny bit of WCS spectrum in the southeast region. I think Sprint should sell the WCS spectrum to AT&T so that it can have nationwide spectrum OR exchange it for some PCS spectrum (highly unlikely) in some markets where Sprint only has 10-20 MHz of PCS spectrum. I don't see what Sprint would do with that WCS spectrum unless the FCC plans on expanding the WCS band wider.

http://specmap.sequence-omega.net/

I'm pretty sure I saw somewhere that Motorola's plans for ICS on the Photon wasn't until late Q2 or Q3. That was a couple months ago though.. guess it could have changed.

Motorola said officially Q3 2012. I am talking about leaked ICS roms. I am hoping we start seeing some leaked ICS roms in late May or June.

That's a very good point. Always a good move to keep the existing base informed. I wonder, though, whether or not Sprint has the leverage to acquire an iPhone with PCS capability. Surely, as one of the "Big Four", and with it's huge contract with Apple, everything will work out just fine.

Apple has to provide an Sprint LTE iPhone because it is part of their huge contract with Apple. This would be a breach of contract if Apple is intentionally tainting the waters by not offering a LTE iPhone especially if the two other carriers are receiving it and they are not on the same LTE bands. It would only be in Apple's interest to provide a Sprint LTE iPhone. Lets face it LTE will need to be supported on multiple frequency bands anyways in the near future. At the current moment we have 700 Mhz, AWS and PCS bands that needs to supported for LTE.

The Sprint CFO recently noted at a conference that Sprint does NOT need to have a certain number of POPS that it needs to cover with LTE before it can be given a LTE iPhone. The CFO said that the terms were the same as Verizon and AT&T.

When do you guys think we will start seeing the ICS leaked roms from Motorola? I have been dying for Motorola to hurry up and create the ICS rom already. I think its ridiculous that it has been taking so long.

I even unlocked the bootloader so that I can try out CM9 with ICS and let me tell you that is really nice. I love the new features and the UI but I recently reverted back to stock Gingerbread just so I can be ready for any ICS leaked roms.

I hope that Sprint and Motorola are working on a Photon 2 with LTE support and includes the Snapdragon S4 chip. I don't want to see the Tegra chip on the new Photon 2 phone since it doesn't have LTE support and the Tegra 3 chip IMO is outdated since it uses Cortex A9 processors and is 40 nm. The Tegra 4 apparently isn't due out until Q1 2013. Hopefully Sprint is not making this mistake because I am starting to not like the Tegra series and prefer the Snapdragon or OMAP chips.

I have a feeling that based on Sprint's naming convention of the HTC Evo LTE phone that the new Photon will be officially called "Motorola Photon 4G LTE" phone. I really do hope that Sprint adds the "4G LTE" icon to the backing of its phones and on the LCD display just like how Verizon does it.

Sacrilege

 

At the present time, it looks like I will be getting the EVO 4G LTE to replace my aging HTC Hero (that is my backup phone), as for my main line (The Photon) I would love to have the Note, but from what I gather (one of the posting by Robert) it seems that the Note is not in the lineup of upcoming devices. So I just may bite the bullet and get it on AT&T. (This would also give me a head start of knowing the ins and outs of the device) If and when Sprint does come out with their version, I'll just pay the ETF on AT&T and get the Sprint one. Shoot, I've payed ETFs before so one more time is not going to kill me.

 

TS

Wait a sec, why do you have a AT&T and Sprint service? Man you must have the luxury to be paying 2 cell phone bills because I don't.

I would much rather have Sprint carry the GSIII than the Galaxy Note at this point. Sprint just has to suck it up and admit that it missed the boat when the device is hot since it did not have a LTE network ready. This doesn't mean that Sprint can't bid for a Galaxy Note 2 when Samsung decides to make one which should be better since it will count on any shortcomings of the Galaxy Note 1.

Right now people are saying that the Galaxy Nexus is already outdated by the time Sprint releases it some time this month and some have claimed that it is DOA. While the specs may be somewhat outdated, I disagree that it will be DOA. Because it is a flagship phone, people will buy it because it is a pure Google experience and the fact that it will have at least a future Android update in Jelly Bean which cannot be said all the other Android phones out there. I don't think it is in Sprint's best interests to work on a Galaxy Note with the same current specs especially if its going to be released sometime in Q4 2012.

I find it interesting that Sprint announced unlimited just before the EVO LTE was announced. Almost seems like they were talking to a specific group or something...

I don't find the timing of the announcement strange at all and I thought the announcement was twofold. I think the reasoning for the announcement of the unlimited data LTE right when the EVO LTE phone was to help dispell the rumors that Sprint will go tiered data because of the anticipated traffic load on their network. Also Sprint wanted to dispell the rumors that LTE plans will increase plan prices by incurring some additional $10 "LTE premium data" charge on top of the current $10 "smartphone premium data" charge by announcing that LTE plans will be the same price as they are currently. I thought the announcement addressed the two important issues that were concerning Sprint customers about the LTE launch and Network Vision.

This is a very smart move by Sprint because PR like this generates huge buzz around the tech blogs and is directed at customers who are very sensitive to their high speed data but are afraid of data overages can count on Sprint to continue that offering. Also it helps reassure existing customers that unlimited data is not going away even with LTE and draws interest from customers (especially iPhone customers) in other carriers who may want to jump to Sprint to take advantage of unlimited unthrottled LTE data which none of the other major carriers can offer. I really hope a Sprint LTE iPhone in October can help Sprint gain more customers.

So what do you guys think about the Evo 4G LTE phone coming with an embedded sim card instead of a physical sim card? Personally I hate it. I would rather have a physical sim card just so I can move between Sprint cell phones in the future as well as the ability to use the LTE phone overseas when the phones are able to support multiple bands. I am curious to find out if the Galaxy Nexus and the LG Viper will have embedded or physical sim cards.

Holy crap, that's him. that's one of the guys I talked to outside. But I thought he said Sprint. He's the President of HTC oh man. lol I need to go back and edit that review.

 

also I know that it was brought up elsewhere that in the making of the EVO 4G LTE video that it showed what looked like a 3D version of the device and that it was quickly announced that wasn't the case. that no 3D EVO LTE is in the works. But permit me if I may, why then at an unveiling does the other video with the pin drop show at time index mark 5:50 the pin transforming into a dual rear lens version of the device much like the older 3D EVO.

 

Me thinks that regardless what HTC is saying, there will be a 3D version of the device a few months down the line.

 

TS

Sorry to burst your bubble but its not true. There will NOT be a 3D version of this device. If you look at the Update section of the article, HTC has confirmed that the model was an early design that Sprint and HTC were working on to try to bring the 3D feature to the EVO 4G LTE but the feature did not make it.

"Update: Well, we just heard back from HTC and the company confirmed that it's not a prototype of any future device. Apparently, it's just an early design when HTC and Sprint were considering carrying over the 3D feature, but it didn't make the cut. Mystery solved!"

http://www.engadget....o-3d-prototype/

This is due to multiple cells. More cells would allow for more capacity. I was wondering more in the case of capacity of one 1900 tower compared to one 700MHz. Would 1900MHz allow it to hold more "bits of data" per MHz compared to 700MHz?

 

Sent from my HTC Titan using Board Express

NO! There shouldn't be a difference between 700 MHz vs. 1900 MHz in terms of "bits of data" for speed. It seems like you are asking about whether a 5x5 deployment at 1900 MHz will be faster in terms of speed than a 5x5 deployment at 700 MHz. it doesn't seem like you are really asking about capacity in terms of users which is what I thought you wanted to know.

Does Sprint's deployment at 1900MHz play into how the network handle capacity for users?(As compared to a similar 5x5 setup at 700MHz.)

 

Sent from my HTC Titan using Board Express

A 5x5 deployment at 1900 Mhz will have more capacity than a 5x5 deployment at 700 Mhz simply because at 700 Mhz you don't need as many towers to cover a certain area while 1900 Mhz requires more towers to cover that same area.

For example say a single tower has the capacity to hold 200 users and you are trying to cover a 10 mile radius. Say for example that it will take two 700 Mhz towers to cover the 10 mile radius and five 1900 Mhz towers to cover the same 10 mile radius. Well in this case the 700 Mhz towers combined can handle 400 users while the 1900 Mhz towers combined can handle 1000 users. So in this case the 1900 Mhz towers can handle 600 more users than at 700 Mhz. Now the example above is not based on any actual data but its used to illustrate in this sense that 1900 Mhz has the capability to handle more capacity than 700 Mhz.

Does it support a sim card? I seen pictures of the verge on the back and it only has a MICROSD slot.

 

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5

According to briefmobile it looks like Sprint will be using embedded sim cards at least for the EVO 4G LTE phone to access the LTE network . I am still not sure if this is a good thing or bad thing. One thing is for sure its still gonna suck not having the ability to switch even among sprint phones on the fly and of course with other carriers.

I still don't understand the reasoning as to why Sprint likes to do things out of the norm. Lets just hope that the Galaxy Nexus and LG Viper have real sim cards like Verizon and MetroPCS.

http://briefmobile.com/sprint-to-have-embedded-sim-cards-for-lte-network

I am just hoping for huge Nextel iDEN subscriber losses and hopefully the majority of them switched to Sprint CDMA Direct Connect. Hopefully the iPhone 4S continued to produce strong subscriber growth to further prove that getting the iPhone was the right decision. Hopefully a decent amount of net postpaid add customers and more Network Vision progress updates to show that it is still on track.

In terms of financials, I expect to see huge capex costs to get the first 6 LTE markets live by June. We probably won't see a better picture of this until Q2 CC but I would be curious to see how the iDEN towers decommissioning all over the US are helping on their opex costs. I don't really expect much improvement at all with the financials for FY 2012.

I think new customers will really pick up in October for 2 reasons.

1) The iPhone 5 with LTE is released. With unlimited data and pretty decent speeds = WIN.

2) The majority of the first round markets should be deployed by then and second round markets should be starting.

Microsoft is trying to encourage users out there to try out Windows Phone to try to gain market share by holding a contest to see if your current smartphone (android, ios, blackberry, etc) is able to beat Windows Phone in a series of contests such as checking the weather, posting pics on facebook, check movie times, etc. If you beat Windows Phone you can get a laptop for free but if you lose you can get a brand new Windows Phone free (no contract required) in exchange for recycling your losing smartphone. This contest is open to all smartphones including old smartphones and is only available at Microsoft Stores only.

I did the Windows Phone challenge last saturday at the Microsoft Store in Costa Mesa, CA using my HTC Touch Pro using Windows Mobile and was able to get the HTC Titan for free. The contest ends on Apr 5th so there are still 2 days left.

Details of the Windows Phone Challenge

http://content.microsoftstore.com/store/smokedbywindowsphone/rules2

Looks like the Sprint Galaxy Nexus training material is coming out today for Sprint employees. Also if you look at the "Update" section in the article below it looks like it confirms Robert's article about LTE turned off by default. Nice to hear the internal docs are coming to fruition.

Update: We've since stumbled upon a full slide deck of the training guide, and while there's nothing too surprising here, we are seeing that early units will ship with LTE turned off by default, though the company will change that at an undetermined time in the future. Call us crazy, but it sounds like Sprint may start hawking these prior to its LTE network being fully active.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/03/sprint-galaxy-nexus-lg-fury-lte-leak/