MacPCS

Voice.

 

Sprint has a LONG way to go before they can get rid of EVDO and 1x which is why they are replacing it with brand new equipment today.

yeah, VoLTE devices aren't even on the horizon yet. Not to mention the lack of network support for it. That's the first thing that has to happen is for Sprint to stop selling devices with 1xAdvanced and EV-DO. They cannot even think of doing that until their LTE network is built out and VoLTE is launched across the whole thing. That itself is at least a couple years away. Then you have to get all devices to use VoLTE and only then can you start the clock on killing 3G. Which would itself be four or five years.

 

That's why Verizon landed around 2021.

I opened a ticket on the 81 and Mingo site the other day, I was told it will be operating within 3-6 months.

-Will

hey it's better late than never I guess, right?

Been using LTE for a few weeks here in Tulsa and there are a few brief impressions.

 

Speeds can be very good. Last night I was getting 12-13 Mbps down at 51st and Sheridan. Beat my wife's verizon by a couple megs but more importantly was solid and worked as I'd expect.

 

Sadly other than a few situations like that, I find LTE either unavailable or really good EV-DO speeds (~2Mbps) which is not good. Let's take woodland hills mall. A pretty popular gathering place for youths and shoppers. I am lucky if I get any LTE there and the nearest tower to it is the only one in that part of town even broadcasting. Not promising.

 

I get the same tower over at my residence around the 81st and mingo site which still doesn't broadcast. I do get 2-3 Meg's pretty consistently there but a weak sauce signal from an over-stressed tower.

 

In short, once Sprint is done it'll be probably pretty great. Sprint has launched Tulsa.... But I'm not sure how. There are tons of dead areas in major parts of the city that I've not mentioned. Outside a doctors office the other day.... 3G coverage. Even between 61st and Yale/Sheridan it's absolute garbage.

 

So yeah it's launched but by no means a good experience. I will say that 3G in some of the LTE areas is slowly returning to usable again though, so that's nice.

 

They really need 800 MHz here though, but I suppose turning on the 1900 MHz towers wouldn't hurt either. I don't think some places like the malls or hospitals or even the zoo are going to be any good until 800 is going strong though. The Zoo in particular gives me issues. Not really a close cell site.

 

 

I bought the iPad Air today. I ended up getting the 32GB Wifi-only model. It's just too easy to just share somebody's phone's Internet connection when there's no Wifi around.

 

I had toyed with getting the new model iPad mini, but because of the iPad Air's reduced width and weight, it seems like I'm holding a mini by comparison. Much lighter, and the screen is amazing.

yeah the air is a pretty nice update over the 4th gen iPad. I think I'm going to get a retina mini instead though since the resolution and performance is basically identical but it's 100 bucks cheaper and is more portable.

 

I just hope they're in as good of supply as the air seems to be from the online store.

 

I'm glad they fixed the bezel on the air though. That really helps make that one very appealing to me.

Tablets might have 2x2 MIMO as well, but 8x8 is asking quite a bit of any sort of mobile device.  Hotspots only probably.  That's still pretty good though that it'll be enabled for those who have it.  

Of course AT&T doesn't care.  They don't care about a lot of things they should care about.  Shocking then to think they don't care about an independent group of would-be real world network performance mappers.  

 

but if there was a real iOS client, they would still benefit greatly at least among the people that use sensorly at all.  

I wish Sprint would adopt the dog.  for their commercials I mean.

 

Who doesn't love doggies?

I am curious to hear your take on Sprint LTE in Tulsa.  I hit that 81st and Mingo site last time I went home but I stayed connected to the 71st Union HS site. 

I can guarantee you the 81st site isn't live yet.  I'm getting -99 LTE right now, were as 3G I get -70 right here very consistently, and sometimes as good as -62 or so.  I'll definitely post when I see it flip over.  Lord knows this part of town needs it.  I just ran two speed tests and got just under 2 Mbps up and down each with ~110ms ping.  Not really what Sprint is shooting for.  That should be what their EV-DO network is shooting for lol.  

Did you get your 5S yet? My girlfriend got one for $99 this weekend.

it's actually out for delivery right now.

That is not the point. The point is, as in years past, Apple treats Sprint like a second class citizen. Apple provides VZW a CDMA2000 iPhone; Sprint does not get the same until the next iPhone. Apple provides VZW (and AT&T) an LTE capable iPad; Sprint does not get the same until the next iPad. This year, with both iPhone and iPad, Apple leaves out band 41 TD-LTE 2600 for Sprint. But you can practically guarantee to get that "the next time."

 

AJ

i guess, but nobody else has band 41 right now either so it's hard to be too upset at just them.

 

And they didn't have devices as soon as vzw or ATT because they hadn't had a contract with sprint yet. That's just as much sprints fault as Apple.

 

 

The android folks do a great job at mapping sensorly, especially for sprint. Yeah, the database would probably be double, but it's fine how it is now.

it would be more of a benefit to AT&T and VZW where iPhone penetration is higher than Sprint.  Particularly AT&T.  

And watch out for any calls from 867-5309.

 

AJ

it even says that in the article at the bottom.

 

"Bottom line? If you receive a call from 865-6696, don't answer it. Far better to call 867-5309 and ask for Jenny. (Nod to an 80's rock song, if you're curious...)

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/042598_Sprint_iPhone_4_865-6696.html##ixzz2ieQYoJmo "

 

That MUST mean AJ is the one installing these "digital payloads" through the 'back door' of your lock screen keypads that are hackable in iOS 6.1 OMG!!!1!!1one

"Well, we're gonna get that, for sure.  Maybe not this time, but the next time, right?"

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR8A3T6sPzU

 

AJ

What Galaxy Tab has TD-LTE on Sprint?

 

Seems like the same statement applies to Samsung as well.  

Mine is the gold 32GB.  I guess Apple forgot to make any for Sprint lol

 

but that 71st & memorial site doesn't look like its been touched.  Sad situation because the mall really could use that site being lit up.  The 71st & Mingo site too.  I'm not sure how that one looks because I never go over by the school where its located.  

 

I couldn't see any of the cabinets by the fire station though because they're all behind brick walls and I didn't really wanna go get all up in that business.  

Still waiting to get the 5S from Sprint. It's been ordered since launch.

First off, these are hand held shots at or close to 300mm on an APS-C body with an effective distance of 450mm.  Sorry if they're a little less sharp than I'd prefer, but they're pretty good.  

 

71st & Memorial fire station site.  

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7309/10384253424_dce4b68c7e_o.jpg

 

And for good measure, my favorite site at 81st & Mingo.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3834/10384311845_08d1af33dc_o.jpg

The only cases that should cause any problem are ones which metal comes in contact with the phone itself.  I really really like the Tech 21 cases.  Impact mesh or Impact Trio.  http://tech21.uk.com

 

Really good protection, pretty "out of the way" design.  And they're not hideous.  

As someone who is currently holding an iPhone 5c in his hand, I can tell you that the back is cheap feeling, no matter what. I have my personal 5, and a work 5c, and there is a distinct difference in feel. Yes, the build quality is solid, and there is no flex in the plastic, but it takes away from the premium feel of the iPhone.

Yes it's not as nice to behold as a 5 or 5S, but for plastic... you won't find a better / more solid feeling plastic phone. It feels more 'enamel' than plastic.

 

also, my 64GB 4S is full. I had to delete some apps (iPhoto, GarageBand) to install the iOS 7 update because I needed the space. Apps are getting bigger. Videos are rather large and music and photos can add up quickly. Oddly enough I ordered the 32GB 5S because with LTE I'll be able to do iTunes match to save space on my phone while giving myself the option of all my music, so that's definitely going to be nice. I'll still run out of space, probably day 1.

My youngest is celebrating his first birthday this weekend but I'll try to swing by the station to get a look at the site with my camera.

Edit: Ok maybe I'll be nice and let you believe what you want to believe. Sorry I insulted the GodPhone

no belief required. Unlike some other posters in this thread I'm actually posting factual information instead of spreading FUD.

You're not everyone. Some people don't like spending $100 to replace their battery when it doesn't retain as much charge anymore. Some people like to have the ability to get a fully charged battery in a matter of seconds when they don't have access to an outlet for a long period of time. And yes, you can get one of those portable external batteries for an iphone, but it takes up a lot more space to bring with you and makes your phone hugemongous when attached. Every Apple product I've had has outlasted its battery since I take care of my things and keep them for a long time.

first of all, a battery replacement for a consumed battery is 80 bucks, not 100. Secondly, it's rated to keep up to 80% of the original charge for 400 cycles.

 

So, if you use your phone down to 20% every day and recharge it to 100% then you get to 480 days and you're down to 80%. That's not exactly terrible. And again, if you ever want a new one because you have consumed it, Apple will put one in for you. Or like most of us you can just continue to use it for a few months until you are upgrade eligible.

Tomato...tomatto. Plastic is plastic. "Higher quality" plastic does not equate to a nicer metallic frame like a HTC One or even the iPhone 5S. Even if Samsung or LG used the same type of plastic like the iPhone 5C it will get ripped regardless.

 

I never hear of the iPhone being a non-removable battery being a downside to the iPhone neither as a SD card. All tech blogs ever mention about the battery is that it is non-removable and that it doesn't have a SD card but that is just only stating the specs of the phone.

except it does specifically matter what the quality of the materials are when you ask why nobody complains that it's plastic. It feels very good unlike other crappier feeling cheap plastic devices. That's why. It's not tomato v. tomato here. It's a difference that's very tangible and significant. Yes, metal feels better.... That's the whole point. Certain materials feel better. The 5C uses very high quality materials for the shell, they're just cheaper than the 5S or 5 to manufacture.

I don't know personally of anyone that has had their iPhone 5 or 5S get bent like it has been described but I wouldn't say the story is made up though. Phones should not bend period!!! To your point about tech blogs being biased towards Android...I respectfully disagree. Most tech websites if anything seem to be biased towards Apple like they never do anything wrong.

 

Here are a few examples of blatant biased. When the HTC One and LG G2 came out, they both got ripped for not having removable batteries or lack of SD card slots as a negative as if the phone is not worth buying but the iPhone does not have removable batteries or SD card slot and is anointed as the jebus phone. Also when iPhone finally came out with the plastic back feel with the iPhone 5C tech blog but yet tech blogs give it a pass as if its not a big deal but when Samsung or LG does it, it gets ripped to shreds. Talk about double standard.

Tech blogs also pan the iPhone for no removable battery.

 

The plastic argument though is crap. The 5C is a very high quality feeling device, whereas the GS3/4 feel like they're made out of the same shit crappy epson printers are made of. That's why Apple doesn't get criticism about the plastic. It's higher quality and on a steel frame.

Yeah, I mentioned the 4MP Camera in the HTC One in my above post..

I know, there aren't really any other great examples of this though lol

The size of the sensor is far more important than the amount of pixels you can cram onto one.  Tiny little pixels just have a harder time gathering light anyway, which makes low-light a far more tricky proposition.  Apple has always had some of the best image processing and pretty decent lenses.  The problem with camera phones at this point isn't resolution, it's accuracy, dynamic range, low-light performance and speed.  None of these are helped by more megapixels and all of them are actually made a bit worse unless you increase the size of the sensor as well.  

 

See the HTC One for another good example of image quality > megapixels.