Let's Get Real: Who CARES About LTE?

[SR71]

I think very few people who say they need LTE actually truly do need it. In a matter of five years (or less for some) people have become attached at the hip to their smartphones. The fact that LTE will make your work marginally faster likely doesn't mean you need the speed. Let's get real people.

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View the other side of the coin here... there would be absolutely no refining if somebody didn't adopt the first gen chip.

FWIW most of the disappointment comes from the elongated screen. In fact, most of the concern (that I am seeing) is basically that people feel this IS change for the sake of change. You stretched the screen. Whoopee! Pretty much the definition of change for the sake of change, unless of course we get some killer feature that nobody is really anticipating.

Not necessarily true about the "no refining if no one adopted the first gen chip", because usually if a manufacturer can make their product more energy-efficient, smaller, and work better overall, they will do it, whether or not the first gen chip was widely adopted. This could just be speculation, but I'm basing it on the fact that those same manufacturers also know that until a certain product meets certain requirements by mobile device manufacturers, their product will not get widely adopted. This applies to Apple because they have strict power requirements for their mobile devices and one of their top priorities is battery life on their mobile devices, and since Apple usually orders tens of millions of certain parts for the iPhones they plan on selling, they are a potential huge money maker for manufacturers who make different mobile device parts like LTE chipsets.

Also, one subject of LTE speeds, it's not necessarily the fact that people need the speeds, it's just that consumers will want a device that uses the faster speeds to get their work done faster.

P.S. Sorry for any spelling/grammatical errors. I quickly typed this out on my iPhone waiting in line at an amusement park lol.

 

[lordofthereef]

Not necessarily true about the "no refining if no one adopted the first gen chip", because usually if a manufacturer can make their product more energy-efficient, smaller, and work better overall, they will do it, whether or not the first gen chip was widely adopted. This could just be speculation, but I'm basing it on the fact that those same manufacturers also know that until a certain product meets certain requirements by mobile device manufacturers, their product will not get widely adopted. This applies to Apple because they have strict power requirements for their mobile devices and one of their top priorities is battery life on their mobile devices, and since Apple usually orders tens of millions of certain parts for the iPhones they plan on selling, they are a potential huge money maker for manufacturers who make different mobile device parts like LTE chipsets.

It's all BEEN widely adopted. Fact is, Android and Windows phones are what popularized LTE. Without them adopting this first gen chip it is entirely possible we wouldn't yet even have the second gen to speak of.

 

[Dwalls90]

Nope. Stop assuming that your preferences are universal no matter what the topic. Not sure why this is such a rampant issue. People have differing needs/wants/preferences. It's really not a difficult concept to grasp. Just look around and observe the world around you some time.

Ok, so you are content with paying more per month, for the same amount of data, if that means faster than 3G speeds?

 

[minik]

You have a point.

I do care about LTE network in the states. My home DSL connection has been 7Mbps down and 896Kbps up in the last 5 or 6 years. There's no improvement at all. Late last year, my iPhone 4S on AT&T could get a higher speed than my home connection. Now, it slows down a little bit.

Few months ago, I traveled to Boston with my iPad and the AT&T LTE network was super fast. I didn't change my usage habit, but I received 20% of the 3GB plan remaining email on the 5th day. Since there's no AT&T LTE service in the Seattle area, I miss the speed a lot since I'm always on my iPad and iPhone. With LTE service, it really changes the whole mobile landscape.

 

[brentsg]

I care about LTE on the iPad but not my phone.

 

[JerseyDoug]

Ok, so you are content with paying more per month, for the same amount of data, if that means faster than 3G speeds?

Yep. That's how it usually works. If I deem the marginal cost worth the marginal benefit. Kinda how a market works.

Horses for courses.

 

[SR71]

It's all BEEN widely adopted. Fact is, Android and Windows phones are what popularized LTE. Without them adopting this first gen chip it is entirely possible we wouldn't yet even have the second gen to speak of.

I never said it wasn't widely adopted, and yes Android and Windows Phone have helped popularize LTE, but even if they hadn't adopted those first gen LTE chips, the manufacturer of those chips would still continue to try to make their LTE chips more energy-efficient, smaller, and smarter. This would then entice mobile device manufacturers into putting said chip into their products, which is the case with Apple. The first gen chips were power hungry, large, and not very good at handling the hand-off from LTE to 3G, while the second gen chips are much smaller, are good at switching between network types, and are less power hungry. Apple noticed this and most likely figured that now was the time to try out LTE.

So yes, had those other OS's/mobile device manufacturers not popularized LTE and used those first gen chips, these second gen chips would most likely still have been created to further entice mobile device manufacturers that didn't see the first gen chips as capable enough or worthy of being used in a mobile device because of the negative things associated with using them (i.e. battery life, constant loss of signal, etc.), and to then want to use these newer, more optimized LTE chips.

Hopefully this clarifies what I was trying to say in my other post.

 

[AustinIllini]

It's all BEEN widely adopted. Fact is, Android and Windows phones are what popularized LTE. Without them adopting this first gen chip it is entirely possible we wouldn't yet even have the second gen to speak of.

Don't say that! Android and WP8 are EVIL and must be annihilated! [/sarcasm]

We say this all the time: "I don't need this" "I don't need that", and so far with technology, it seems to always be "I don't know how I lived without this" or "I can't imagine how slow the first gen iPhone was". Once LTE is available on the big three American networks, Americans will feel the same way about LTE.

 

[bushman4]

LTE is good, when its available. No its not a game changer or something that will have a 'WOW' affect. As for the data usage.......some people will be surprised in the additional data used on 4G.

 

[aznguyen316]

welp I made the switch to an LTE phone here in Tampa Bay area. Samsung S3 and WOW, I'm getting from 25-30Mbps down and 20 up from my apartment. Haven't bothered connecting to wifi since I got the phone. Amazing. And yes my data usage has gone up b/c now I'm using my phone to do more rather saying "eff it" I'll dl when I get home etc bc of the slow 3G Verizon speeds. So glad I have unlimited data =)

 

[lordofthereef]

Don't say that! Android and WP8 are EVIL and must be annihilated! [/sarcasm]

We say this all the time: "I don't need this" "I don't need that", and so far with technology, it seems to always be "I don't know how I lived without this" or "I can't imagine how slow the first gen iPhone was". Once LTE is available on the big three American networks, Americans will feel the same way about LTE.

Eh, I am not sure it's the same case with LTE. It's kind of like DSL versus cable. I remember my slower DSL, and I know I could still live with it, I just prefer not to. That's basically the difference here. Going from Edge to 3G was a HUGE leap (made doing things online on your mobile phone actually doable). 3G to LTE is mostly just going to make things a little bit faster, but not nearly as huge a leap as 2G to 3G. Some of the cool things like greatly reduced latency and ability to stream HD video are going to be moot points to the average user who cares not for a touch more of latency and is unwilling to drop ~$10/GB data; speaking of the US here of course.

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I never said it wasn't widely adopted, and yes Android and Windows Phone have helped popularize LTE, but even if they hadn't adopted those first gen LTE chips, the manufacturer of those chips would still continue to try to make their LTE chips more energy-efficient, smaller, and smarter.

Maybe, maybe not. My side of the argument is simple. If absolutely nobody adopts the first set, manufacturers are not going to invest on making it better. Why? because the market showed no interest. There are few products out there where nobody shows interest in the initial products yet the manufacturer decides to give it a revision and see how it goes the second time around.

 

[AustinIllini]

welp I made the switch to an LTE phone here in Tampa Bay area. Samsung S3 and WOW, I'm getting from 25-30Mbps down and 20 up from my apartment. Haven't bothered connecting to wifi since I got the phone. Amazing. And yes my data usage has gone up b/c now I'm using my phone to do more rather saying "eff it" I'll dl when I get home etc bc of the slow 3G Verizon speeds. So glad I have unlimited data =)

This illustrates one of the more obvious reasons I feel data usage in general will skyrocket upon adoption of LTE.

 

[SR71]

Maybe, maybe not. My side of the argument is simple. If absolutely nobody adopts the first set, manufacturers are not going to invest on making it better. Why? because the market showed no interest. There are few products out there where nobody shows interest in the initial products yet the manufacturer decides to give it a revision and see how it goes the second time around.

Very true, but what if OEM's actually did test the first gen chips in their devices and came to the conclusion that the chips were to power hungry (which is most likely what Apple did) and told the chip manufacturers that until they are less power hungry, they will not use the LTE chips in their devices? That would then give the chip manufacturers a reason to optimize the next set of chips so that they're more energy-efficient.

Either way, this argument has multiple sides, neither of ours is right or wrong, hell, they are probably both right.

 

[Dwalls90]

This illustrates one of the more obvious reasons I feel data usage in general will skyrocket upon adoption of LTE.

Exactly. Agreed. The more accessible something becomes, the chance of the service being used increases drastically.

While directly LTE doesn't use more data, having an LTE phone will entice users to use their data more.

 

[TG1]

While directly LTE doesn't use more data, having an LTE phone will entice users to use their data more.

LTE can actually use more data than 3G while performing the same tasks. As an example, depending on the app & settings, music and video can and will stream at higher quality on LTE and use a helluva lot more data.

 

[RenoG]

We all know that we are all mass consuming parasites and will never ever be content with our current speed offerings if a faster one is offered. The industry knows this very well and they will continue to use this against our pocketbooks.....and will pay and like it...

 

[lordofthereef]

Very true, but what if OEM's actually did test the first gen chips in their devices and came to the conclusion that the chips were to power hungry (which is most likely what Apple did) and told the chip manufacturers that until they are less power hungry, they will not use the LTE chips in their devices? That would then give the chip manufacturers a reason to optimize the next set of chips so that they're more energy-efficient.

Either way, this argument has multiple sides, neither of ours is right or wrong, hell, they are probably both right.

Pretty much this. I guess my point is, if everyone played it safe with everything they did, the world would be boring. Apple takes risks, for which they get credit. Various other smart phone OEMs take other risks. I simply like to give credit where credit is due.

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LTE can actually use more data than 3G while performing the same tasks. As an example, depending on the app & settings, music and video can and will stream at higher quality on LTE and use a helluva lot more data.

I like to use the "loading of the web page" example as well. Ever loaded a web page and clicked a link before it finishes loading? With LTE the web page will finish loading, potentially faster than your reaction time. As such, you have downloaded more data (that you didn't really care about) in less time. May not matter much for larger data allotments, but it can certainly make a diffrence with smaller data packages.

 

[cynics]

Pretty much this. I guess my point is, if everyone played it safe with everything they did, the world would be boring. Apple takes risks, for which they get credit. Various other smart phone OEMs take other risks. I simply like to give credit where credit is due.

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I like to use the "loading of the web page" example as well. Ever loaded a web page and clicked a link before it finishes loading? With LTE the web page will finish loading, potentially faster than your reaction time. As such, you have downloaded more data (that you didn't really care about) in less time. May not matter much for larger data allotments, but it can certainly make a diffrence with smaller data packages.

This goes both ways for me. There have been countless times I'm trying to load a web page on my Verizon 4S and it hangs at 3/4 done or something so I'll keep refreshing it, by the time it loads I've used 3-4x the data if it would have just loaded fast and the first time.

This is a big deal for me because I'm on Verizon. When there were all those threads about att throttling, some throttled members were getting better speeds then I was not being throttled on Verizon. Its just unusable sometimes...

 

[BiggAW]

Huh? As over the past few years, youtube has begun offering 720P video over the air. You don't think 720P uses more data than 480P? Because it does.

And if someone checks their Facebook, email, ect. more times, then yes that uses more data. I don't know how you can refute that.

Web stuff isn't any faster on LTE than it is on a 5mbps HSPA+ connection. Hence why I'm not upgrading from my 4S. But also, you shouldn't be doing 720p over a cellular network. Or any type of long form video.