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Let's see, CDMA, 20% of the world uses it... also, current 3.9G LTE will be a project based on the 3GGP's project, which the 3GGP is a follower of what technology? Oh yes! GSM. Release 8 of the UMTS enhancements if I am correct.

None of this makes CDMA anymore dead than the other current wireless technologies. Yes, they are all moving to the same next gen tech, but that doesn't suddenly make the old tech any more viable.
 
It's about Android NOT Verizon

To me it sounds like there's going to be a CDMA variant. I would bet against it being a CDMA&GSM combined handset since that would just add extra hardware and power requirements for the 80% of the world that don't give two ***** about the US and don't want their handsets encumbered with chips they don't need.

The reason Apple are doing a CDMA variant now is because of Android not Verizon. Android's biggest market is to people on Verizon who can't get an iPhone. Outside of CDMA, most people choose something other than Android. A CDMA iPhone allows them to compete in the one market they can't. It's clear from the earnings call that Jobs sees Android as direct competition and wants to beat them. Prior to Android, they had no competition from Verizon which is why they did not bother with CDMA. Now they do.

A 'World' phone seems unlikely. Apple already has a 'World' phone - the GSM model. There are GSM networks available pretty much everywhere around the planet. They might like to add pentaband GSM support to add T-Mobile 3G though like Nokia have so that they now no longer have to have t-Mobile specific models.
 
Then your in an area with high/good signal strength. Your phone's antenna is attenuating (losing signal) when you touch the spot it is just not noticeable to you since you have high strength. Every iPhone 4 has the issue.

Well, speaking of--I was recently in a place where no one in my area gets service--and then death gripped--I still had 1 bar. I also had another friend with an iphone 4 there with me--he had no issue. Also, in this place previously, when I had my old phone (Samsung Blackjack II) I had ZERO BARS everytime, no matter what.

And, just for reference--I am not going to jb my phone just to see this issue.
It has yet to be a problem for me. And I live in the boonies where AT&T only provides Edge.
I have also been in an urban area and had great service.

I love my ip4 and don't regret my purchase at all.

For me, and my real world usage --I get great service on my ip4. Better than any previous phone before.
 
Should I buy iPhone 4 now?? I'm really indecisive with all these rumors about new phones and whatnot. Let me point out that since I'm staying overseas, I'd be getting a factory unlocked phone though. Any suggestions/advice??
 
Yes, Apple keeps a SIMPLE set of sku's, but one sku is way beyond simple. 2 sku's is still simple. There's no reason Apple can't have a CDMA model + a GSM model. There are plenty of varied product models in Apple's lineup.

Additionally, have you seen any of the global phones with both GSM and CDMA radios? They are much larger and would not fit into the current iPhone form factor. I don't see Apple moving backward in design to make a thicker/larger phone so that they can fit both CDMA and GSM radios inside.

The 3,2 model has been around in the iOS code for quite a while. It's clear this model has been in development for a while and is most likely another version of the iPhone 4. So yeah...this is most likely a CDMA iPhone with the GSM version of the iPhone 5 still to come out this summer. I've always said it makes sense to have 2 different release cycles for 2 different versions of the iPhone.

Then why is it being reported that it has a SIM card slot?

My take...the CDMA iPhone is still what it has always been vaporware. You'll never stop hearing about it though because newspapers/blogs/whatever know that all they have to do is write Verizon and iPhone in a headline together and they drastically increase their traffic.

You do realize that the current iPhone uses CDMA/GSM. It just happens to be WCDMA(UMTS)/GSM(EDGE)...

CDMA is not dead tech.

You don't know what you are talking about.

Should I buy iPhone 4 now?? I'm really indecisive with all these rumors about new phones and whatnot. Let me point out that since I'm staying overseas, I'd be getting a factory unlocked phone though. Any suggestions/advice??

Buy it now. January will come and go with no CDMA iPhone. If you are living overseas a CDMA iPhone is completely worthless to you anyways.

To me it sounds like there's going to be a CDMA variant. I would bet against it being a CDMA&GSM combined handset since that would just add extra hardware and power requirements for the 80% of the world that don't give two ***** about the US and don't want their handsets encumbered with chips they don't need.

The reason Apple are doing a CDMA variant now is because of Android not Verizon. Android's biggest market is to people on Verizon who can't get an iPhone. Outside of CDMA, most people choose something other than Android. A CDMA iPhone allows them to compete in the one market they can't. It's clear from the earnings call that Jobs sees Android as direct competition and wants to beat them. Prior to Android, they had no competition from Verizon which is why they did not bother with CDMA. Now they do.

A 'World' phone seems unlikely. Apple already has a 'World' phone - the GSM model. There are GSM networks available pretty much everywhere around the planet. They might like to add pentaband GSM support to add T-Mobile 3G though like Nokia have so that they now no longer have to have t-Mobile specific models.

Then again, why is the source to this story reporting that this new iPhone has a SIM card slot? There is absolutely no reason for one if it is a CDMA device without the added GSM radio (what Verizon calls a "World Phone").

Yes, there is a chance, however we won't be certain until one can read about it at Apple.com or Sprint.com.

Anything before that is hearsay and conjecture, i.e., vaporware.

Ironic, I would say the same thing about a Verizon iPhone...since we have all been buying into these stories since Christmas of 2007. Same with that "Verizon Exclusive" device that was a "100% confirmed" to be announced a few months ago at some sort of Apple event...the iPad.

There is no more new or compelling evidence today then there was 6 months ago, 1 year ago, or 2 years ago. There have always been "reliable sources" reporting anything Verizon and Apple related, and they have all proven to be completely unreliable.

I cannot think of a better example then the WSJ and other major publications running with the story that the iPad was a Verizon exclusive CDMA device, and the "one more thing" at the end of the presentation would be the new iPhone (also coming to Verizon). This was reported up to the day before the conference, and turned out to be completely baseless and untrue. Anyone can pen a story and say "according to people in the know". It's all guesswork. And unfortunately...it's most likely all wrong.
 
do you people not understand that LTE uses a sim card and the verizon iphone will be cdma with LTE as cdma for the voice and LTE for the data... verizon ceo said it himself, "we will not get the iphone unless its "LTE"... and they have to earn it... basically earning it there deployment of lte in 38 cities....

January 25, 2011 my friends january 25, 2011
 
do you people not understand that LTE uses a sim card and the verizon iphone will be cdma with LTE as cdma for the voice and LTE for the data... verizon ceo said it himself, "we will not get the iphone unless its "LTE"... and they have to earn it... basically earning it there deployment of lte in 38 cities....

January 25, 2011 my friends january 25, 2011
Frankly, I don't think 38 cities is enough. If you take the top 38 Nielsen designated market areas (DMAs), that's less than 60% of the U.S. population. That's not enough.

Perhaps more importantly, the LTE spec isn't even complete. Historically Apple has not been on the cutting edge of new cellular technology. They released a 2.5G/EDGE iPhone when 3G roughly in the state that LTE is right now. When they released a 3G handset, they did not support HSUPA. And today, even the iPhone 4 does not support HSPA+.

HSPA+ support is the next logical evolution of the iPhone, not LTE. My guess is that we will not see an LTE-compatible iPhone until 2012.
 
do you people not understand that LTE uses a sim card and the verizon iphone will be cdma with LTE as cdma for the voice and LTE for the data... verizon ceo said it himself, "we will not get the iphone unless its "LTE"... and they have to earn it... basically earning it there deployment of lte in 38 cities....

January 25, 2011 my friends january 25, 2011

over the summer BGR had a story how Verizon's back end billing and provisioning systems to support LTE and SIM cards went live
 
Frankly, I don't think 38 cities is enough. If you take the top 38 Nielsen designated market areas (DMAs), that's less than 60% of the U.S. population. That's not enough.

About that much coverage was enough for Apple when the iPhone 3G came out in the USA.

Of course, parts of the rest of the world had more UMTS-3G coverage than the USA did, so the phone would sell well out there.

LTE is a different story. LTE coverage in the USA will be ahead of other comparably sized regions in the world for many years to come. (Europe won't even cover 10% of of its population with LTE until 2014.)

HSPA+ support is the next logical evolution of the iPhone, not LTE. My guess is that we will not see an LTE-compatible iPhone until 2012.

As good a guess as any.
 
About that much coverage was enough for Apple when the iPhone 3G came out in the USA.

Of course, parts of the rest of the world had more UMTS-3G coverage than the USA did, so the phone would sell well out there.

LTE is a different story. LTE coverage in the USA will be ahead of other comparably sized regions in the world for many years to come. (Europe won't even cover 10% of of its population with LTE until 2014.)
Your comments about the LTE deployment overseas strengthens my belief that Apple will focus on HSPA+ support. Many international markets have been deploying HSPA+ over the past 12-18 months.

It appears that LTE will not have a significant footprint for several years when considering the entire globe. While Verizon's push to deploy LTE is encouraging, I doubt Apple will add network technology to their handset if it can only be exploited by a small fraction of users.
 
My guess is that they will get acquired by one of the 4 "major carriers"

I'd say that's a pretty good guess based on how much of a dud 'Project Belief' turned out to be...

Buy it now. January will come and go with no CDMA iPhone. If you are living overseas a CDMA iPhone is completely worthless to you anyways.

I'd disagree with that. There are plenty of people living "overseas" in China, Korea, Japan, India, et al that could make use of a CDMA iPhone...
 
I've been looking some stuff up. Decrypting firmwares just to make sure.

Let checkout a timeline.

April 3, 2010 - iPad is release, along with iOS 3.2 (just for iPad)
June 21, 2010 - iPhone 4 is release, along with iOS 4.0
- Day of release, Antennagate is noticed.

If you check out the USBDeviceConfiguration.plist, this is what you discover.
In iOS 3.2, you see references to an iPhone 3,1 iPhone 3,2 and iPhone 3,3. Obviously the iPhone 3,1 is the iPhone 4.
By the BG report, the iPhone 3,2 could be an antenna revision but I think it leans more towards a new version of the iPhone (possibly CDMA) because how could apple already be designing an antenna revision (in April 3, 2010) when they didn't even know about antennagate till after the iPhone 4 launch (June 21, 2010)?
 
I've been looking some stuff up. Decrypting firmwares just to make sure.

Great logic. I'm certain it's not an antenna fix. Since Apple signed the European Commision's recommendation for micro-USB charging they new a revision would be needed eventually, so that's my guess.
 
I've been looking some stuff up. Decrypting firmwares just to make sure.

Let checkout a timeline.

April 3, 2010 - iPad is release, along with iOS 3.2 (just for iPad)
June 21, 2010 - iPhone 4 is release, along with iOS 4.0
- Day of release, Antennagate is noticed.

If you check out the USBDeviceConfiguration.plist, this is what you discover.
In iOS 3.2, you see references to an iPhone 3,1 iPhone 3,2 and iPhone 3,3. Obviously the iPhone 3,1 is the iPhone 4.
By the BG report, the iPhone 3,2 could be an antenna revision but I think it leans more towards a new version of the iPhone (possibly CDMA) because how could apple already be designing an antenna revision (in April 3, 2010) when they didn't even know about antennagate till after the iPhone 4 launch (June 21, 2010)?

This is exactly what I was thinking as well. It's not like they didn't know at all, but did they know it would gain so much attention? I think they released it hoping it would go unnoticed or very little notice. And now that we see sales either weren't affected or were minutely affected, there is no reason to release an entirely new model just to fix this issue.

iPhone 3,2 is either a CDMA or hybrid CDMA+GSM device. I lean toward the former rather than the latter.
 
Great logic. I'm certain it's not an antenna fix. Since Apple signed the European Commision's recommendation for micro-USB charging they new a revision would be needed eventually, so that's my guess.
First of all, I think the migration to micro USB charging is happening in 2012.

Secondly, it appears that Apple did not participate in this.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-10165603-78.html
 
Great logic. I'm certain it's not an antenna fix. Since Apple signed the European Commision's recommendation for micro-USB charging they new a revision would be needed eventually, so that's my guess.

I wouldn't think they would go to MicroUSB. Apple always wants to use it's proprietary connectors. Also think about all the accessories that would have to change to accommodate a change from 30-pin dock to microusb.
 
The sim card slot is likely NOT for LTE, Apple wouldn’t jump on something that is not in use yet. Remember the first iPhone was EDGE and not 3G, even though 3G was already in use. Likely the sim card is because they have used the CDMA/GSM chip so the phone has global roaming capability since they are always trying to push the business aspect of the iPhone.
 
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