More Claims of 4G LTE Compatibility for iPad 3

[Simgar988]

No Way Jose

1. This will be the selling point for iPhone 5 (bigger screen is cool, but not cool enough to be the "flagship feature") Apple wouldn't want to steal that fire.

2. There is no better reason to upgrade than for a Retina display (as I learned the second I turned off my 3GS and turned on my 4.

 

[barkomatic]

I think LTE is pretty much a requirement for new tablets at this point. As long as they fall back to 3G then it really doesn't matter if you are currently in an LTE covered area--you likely soon will be.

 

[Carmenia83]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A405)

The ideal chip to use for LTE, the Qualcomm MDM9615, isn't officially available for OEMs until Q2 2012, so it's possible they talked to Qualcomm to get it early, but since it's built on the brand new 28nm process from TSMC, I don't expect a ton of chips to be available, at least not at te massive scale Apple requires. If it does use that chip, I strongly suspect that an LtE iPad wouldn't be available for a month or more and that the WiFi version would come out sooner. Or perhaps there will be a WiFi+3G version for countries without 4G for a total of 3 distinct models, but that seems rather complicated. Certainly, the CDMA-only version will disappear.

Apple doesn't need to wait for the MDM9615 for the iPad. The 9615 is data AND voice capable, whereas the LTE-capable MDM9600 (Available in 2011) provides DATA ONLY, unless its paired with a snapdragon. Obviously the iPad doesn't need voice capability, so that chip would be appropriate for the iPad. Apple has been waiting for the MDM9615 for the iPhone, so they can fit the technology in the much smaller form factor. Heres more info: http://www.anandtech.com/Show/Index...&slug=why-no-lte-iphone-5-blame-28nm-maturity

 

[pugnaciousp]

I live in a city with no 4G. But when I was in Dallas and my friend whipped out his Galaxy Nexus and pulled a 48mbps on speedtest... I was extremely jealous. Can't wait to see something like that on my iPad 3.

 

[ABernardoJr]

1. This will be the selling point for iPhone 5 (bigger screen is cool, but not cool enough to be the "flagship feature") Apple wouldn't want to steal that fire.

2. There is no better reason to upgrade than for a Retina display (as I learned the second I turned off my 3GS and turned on my 4.

The iPad and iPhone have different markets, and while they definitely overlap, a feature on the iPad isn't going to do anything negative to the iPhone's sales or anticipation. If anything it'll build anticipation as it shows Apple is ready to adopt the LTE standard.

 

[Macdude2010]

Really hoping for 4G, I'm in a city with coverage

 

[iphoneication]

LTE why are we all so excited?

LTE at this stage of the game is only in the major cities LTE is still in its infancy, so why are we even clammoring for this? LTE is another year off at least, even in the relm of verizon. LTE does not make any since what so ever at this point, selling 4g devices before there is even 4g coverage is a corperate marketing scheme, get customers to pay for something that does not even really exist yet......

just the other day i had a sales rep at best buy school me on how i needed an android LTE device,, how fast it is,, etc,,, the funny thing was,,,, there was no LTE in this area,,,,,,,corperate training!

i say wifi only version now,, LTE in 6 months if that,,,, im more focused on features that connectivity!

 

[marcusj0015]

GPS is the main reason that I don't want to just get a MiFi for my devices, I do want the GPS on my iPad. It's just hard to ju$tify for $129, unless I'm going to actually use the modem too. I'd pay $50 more for the GPS.

But Apple does use the cell towers to assist the GPS in acquiring the signal faster. Maybe it's WAY too slow without the cell towers? Or at least, too slow for Apple's taste...

Gary

There are two ways for GPS to work, with cell tower triangulation, and wifi pinpointing. it's not possible otherwise. and the wifi model dosen't require a chip, it uses ip addresses to pinpoint your location.

 

[taxiapple]

But what will or does 4G/LTE plans cost?

Seems to me you might have a 4G device that a lot of people might be hesitant to make use of because of bill shock when they see how much data they were charged for.

 

[serferthom]

i say we will all find out wednesday at 10AM!!!

 

[sennekuyl]

Nooo...! Please Apple focus on [increasing] battery [capacity] over connection speed. Please.

 

[cynics]

Apple doesn't need to wait for the MDM9615 for the iPad. The 9615 is data AND voice capable, whereas the LTE-capable MDM9600 (Available in 2011) provides DATA ONLY, unless its paired with a snapdragon. Obviously the iPad doesn't need voice capability, so that chip would be appropriate for the iPad. Apple has been waiting for the MDM9615 for the iPhone, so they can fit the technology in the much smaller form factor. Heres more info: http://www.anandtech.com/Show/Index...&slug=why-no-lte-iphone-5-blame-28nm-maturity

You seemed well versed on this subject. Do you think the current LTE tech still has too high of power consumption for apples liking?

I have a Xoom that was originally 3G then later upgraded to 4G so I have a direct comparison on the same device with the same usage. I can still easily get a day of heavy usage but that's about it. Prior to the upgrade I would get over 2 days and up to a week with light usage. So charging daily is almost mandatory if I use it a lot.

If figured apple was waiting on something that was less power hungry.

Oddly enough turn off wireless data doesn't increase battery life all that much either. Nor does using 3G only have too much effect.

 

[taxiapple]

Deleted

 

[cynics]

LTE at this stage of the game is only in the major cities LTE is still in its infancy, so why are we even clammoring for this? LTE is another year off at least, even in the relm of verizon. LTE does not make any since what so ever at this point, selling 4g devices before there is even 4g coverage is a corperate marketing scheme, get customers to pay for something that does not even really exist yet......

just the other day i had a sales rep at best buy school me on how i needed an android LTE device,, how fast it is,, etc,,, the funny thing was,,,, there was no LTE in this area,,,,,,,corperate training!

i say wifi only version now,, LTE in 6 months if that,,,, im more focused on features that connectivity!

I think you'd be surprised by the range of Verizon's LTE towers.

I recently drove down the east coast from Philly to Orlando. I'd have to say I was 4G 80% of the way, and every night we were in a hotel. Moving out to passed the center of the country looks pretty open.

According to this map I'm about 30 - 40 miles away from an LTE spot but have 3 bars of signal.

http://bizguide.vzw.com/files/2012/02/map_1800x1800_data_verz_4gnes10x6_jan_d20120118.png

Edit, pic too big just click the link

 

[derek1984]

LTE at this stage of the game is only in the major cities LTE is still in its infancy, so why are we even clammoring for this? LTE is another year off at least, even in the relm of verizon. LTE does not make any since what so ever at this point, selling 4g devices before there is even 4g coverage is a corperate marketing scheme, get customers to pay for something that does not even really exist yet......

just the other day i had a sales rep at best buy school me on how i needed an android LTE device,, how fast it is,, etc,,, the funny thing was,,,, there was no LTE in this area,,,,,,,corperate training!

i say wifi only version now,, LTE in 6 months if that,,,, im more focused on features that connectivity!

Because this future-proofs the product. I am one of those that has held out on getting an iPad until now. And I will have it for several years. So it's technology like this that is included that excites me.

 

[ArchaicRevival]

I just read this interesting article: http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/05/ipad-hd-not-ipad-3/

 

[TMay]

Because this future-proofs the product. I am one of those that has held out on getting an iPad until now. And I will have it for several years. So it's technology like this that is included that excites me.

Quite true, and next year, when the iPad3 moves down to a midrange offering, that LTE will still be a solid feature at a reduced price point.

 

[kobyh15]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

LTE at this stage of the game is only in the major cities LTE is still in its infancy, so why are we even clammoring for this? LTE is another year off at least, even in the relm of verizon. LTE does not make any since what so ever at this point, selling 4g devices before there is even 4g coverage is a corperate marketing scheme, get customers to pay for something that does not even really exist yet......

just the other day i had a sales rep at best buy school me on how i needed an android LTE device,, how fast it is,, etc,,, the funny thing was,,,, there was no LTE in this area,,,,,,,corperate training!

i say wifi only version now,, LTE in 6 months if that,,,, im more focused on features that connectivity!

Even if you don't have 4G now you will soon. Why wouldn't Apple include 4G if they could? That would be dumb to sit on it another year if they could include it now. If it falls back to 3G then I don't see what the problem is.

 

[sennekuyl]

Apple doesn't need to wait for the MDM9615 for the iPad. The 9615 is data AND voice capable, whereas the LTE-capable MDM9600 (Available in 2011) provides DATA ONLY, unless its paired with a snapdragon. Obviously the iPad doesn't need voice capability, so that chip would be appropriate for the iPad. Apple has been waiting for the MDM9615 for the iPhone, so they can fit the technology in the much smaller form factor. Heres more info: http://www.anandtech.com/Show/Index...&slug=why-no-lte-iphone-5-blame-28nm-maturity

Now why doesn't the ipad need voice? I am mystified by people who wouldn't consider this to be a good idea, seeing as voice is data. Data only is too limiting.

Now if they were to add mics to the front and kabam! even more useful devices. Hell, computers should come with regular phone capability.

 

[eclipseblur954]

this seems unlikely, i doubt we would see a new spectrum introduced with an ipad, seems more iPhone territory. Although i'm sure the new iPad will have faster 3g like the 4s

Everyone said the 4s would NEED 4g to sell, and a cell phone needs 4g to be a big dog blah blah blah, but in apples eyes the 4s didn't do too bad. 4g will be introduced with iPhone

 

[iSayuSay]

4G LTE is a big possibility, it's a strong selling point feature for new iPad beside high resolution display.

Just like Siri, it's a small non important addition for some people, but it's enough to make you rant of not having it on your iPhone 4 or 3GS, or even iPad 2 despite having the same CPU with 4S. And the scheme works, some impatient and -got to have all newest and greatest- people get raged and bought 4s after all, just because they want Siri :lol:

So yeah, 4G LTE, semi retina display and, a tad faster CPU (A5x or quad A6?) will rage many people into buying, or most importantly .. upgrading

But seriously, think about it .. just why would you care about LTE if carriers are still capping your bandwidth anyway? Faster connection means you reach your cap faster, throttled earlier ... Unless the throttle dumbed down to full 3G speed, I really really wouldn't care about LTE

 

[nuckinfutz]

this seems unlikely, i doubt we would see a new spectrum introduced with an ipad, seems more iPhone territory. Although i'm sure the new iPad will have faster 3g like the 4s

Everyone said the 4s would NEED 4g to sell, and a cell phone needs 4g to be a big dog blah blah blah, but in apples eyes the 4s didn't do too bad. 4g will be introduced with iPhone

Oh you mean how the iPhone was first to get the A5 processor? Oh wait...it wasn't. Why on Earth would you think that the iPhone would get LTE first? The iPad offers more room for battery and cooling. If anything it's the better testbed for new product.

But seriously, think about it .. just why would you care about LTE if carriers are still capping your bandwidth anyway? Faster connection means you reach your cap faster, throttled earlier ... Unless the throttle dumbed down to full 3G speed, I really really wouldn't care about LTE

Probably because some of us don't like waiting for our data. What eats up battery life is your iPhone taking 10 minutes to download a file. The radio is going full blast and sucking up power. For LTE you'd get that file in 3 minutes and the radio would go back to a lower power mode.

 

[garylapointe]

There are two ways for GPS to work, with cell tower triangulation, and wifi pinpointing. it's not possible otherwise. and the wifi model dosen't require a chip, it uses ip addresses to pinpoint your location.

Actually, there is only one way for GPS to work and that's by using satellites. Software can attempt to figure your location via IP address and GPS can be sped up via A-GPS which I believe just (via cell towers) gives an approximate location so the GPS knows which satellites to look for first (if I'm in Dearborn, MI, USA, I should be looking at these satellites to triangulate).

FYI - It's not very handy GPS if it requires WiFi. If I've got WiFi I can probably figure out where I am by looking at the street address of the building I'm at or by asking someone. \I'd also need to be connected to the WiFi network on to figure out where I am.

Gary

 

[Misaki]

GPS is the main reason that I don't want to just get a MiFi for my devices, I do want the GPS on my iPad. It's just hard to ju$tify for $129, unless I'm going to actually use the modem too. I'd pay $50 more for the GPS.

But Apple does use the cell towers to assist the GPS in acquiring the signal faster. Maybe it's WAY too slow without the cell towers? Or at least, too slow for Apple's taste...

Gary

There is no "real GPS" in most cell phones. The GPS(or Glonass) is provided by the Qualcomm 3G/4G radio chips.

The iPad is likely to have LTE, because it doesn't need to be paired with a second qualcomm chip: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4925/why-no-lte-iphone-5-blame-28nm-maturity

Here's a reference for GPS:
http://www.qualcomm.com/media/blog/2011/12/15/gps-and-glonass-dual-core-location-your-phone

A-GPS(adaptive/assisted GPS) can only be used with the mobile phone network because it uses the cell tower locations to to triangulate a very coarse location. This is why the few phones that have a real GPS have a separate GPS chip (Ti GPS5300 90nm for example is used in the Nokia N95, which came out the same time as the first generation iPhone) but the performance is often not that good, and GPS requires good line of sight. Good for outside, absolutely useless inside. A-GPS can actually work indoors if picocells are used inside the buildings.

What's been happening is that GPS either gets integrated into the bluetooth/wifi/nfc radio or it gets integrated into the 3.5G/4G radio part. The only logical reason we haven't seen the 3.5G/4G radios being integrated into some unified radio chip is because of patents (see MMI) and the quagmire of different barely-standardized radio bands. WiFi, Bluetooth, nfc, gps and glonass all operate on specific frequencies that don't change country to country.

 

[voidptr]

There are two ways for GPS to work, with cell tower triangulation, and wifi pinpointing. it's not possible otherwise. and the wifi model dosen't require a chip, it uses ip addresses to pinpoint your location.

Wrong.

GPS works by triangulation from a constellation of GPS satellites. You can get less accurate positioning by the mechanisms you mentioned, but they aren't required for real GPS. Assisted-GPS on mobile devices means they can use the data connection to bootstrap the GPS almanac which tells the device where all the satellites are, so it can compute position solutions. Otherwise, the satellites broadcast the almanac themselves, but it's extremely low bandwidth, so it can take up to 12 minutes for a receiver to get a lock that way.

The current GPS hardware is just part of the cellular chipset, they just don't second-source an independent chip for the wifi versions.

There are a couple external GPS solutions on the market now that work with Core Location for about $100, Dual has one that uses Bluetooth, and Bad Elf plugs into the dock port. It's not terrifically cheaper than upgrading to the 3G model, but Bad Elf does WAAS as well, so it's more accurate than the internal one, and you can just move it to the next model when you upgrade.