???
It's funny that this thread came out as I was researching HSPA and HSPA+ - Telstra's LTE isn't compatible with the new iPad's supported Frequencies.
I thought I'd take a squiz at what the iPad 2, new iPad (no clear tech specs on the Apple site/Wikipedia yet) and then iPhone 4/4S (I now technically own an iPad 3 and officially own an iPhone 4) just to get a comparison, as my Dad uses a Galaxy S II - oh how he loves the droid.
Anyway, straight from Apple regarding the iPhone 4S
World phone
UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz);
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
CDMA EV-DO Rev. A (800, 1900 MHz)4
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz only)
Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology
HS(D/U)PA != HSPA+
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Speed_Packet_Access
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolved_HSPA
Now I appreciate that the iPhone 4S can somehow use HSPA+ but how come Apple hasn't stated this on their site? Nor is it mentioned on Wikipedia, nor for that matter, GSM Arena - With the maximum listed speed being 14.4mbps
As an aside, how do you sell a 4G phone (100mbps minimum according to guide-lines I saw stated above - true or not) when even the new iPad is only capable of actually receiving LTE signals at 78mbps REGARDLESS of the Towers ability to pump out signal at higher speed than that. Marketing or not.
If anyone could explain this to me I'd be more than grateful.
Edit:
Current HSDPA deployments support down-link speeds of 1.8, 3.6, 7.2 and 14.4 Megabit/s. Further speed increases are available with HSPA+, which provides speeds of up to 42 Mbit/s downlink and 84 Mbit/s with Release 9 of the 3GPP standards.
So yeah, PLEASE, someone explain to me how they can say HSDPA can show 4G? It is limited to 14.4mbps!