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Verizon iPhone Carries World-Mode 'Gobi' Chip From Qualcomm
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Are you Kidding??? They have enormous incentive to have a single device. The reduction in expense of their manufacturing alone would be worth WAY more to Apple than the occasional extra handset sale. Let alone the reduced complexity in supply-chain management. Finally, from a user-perception perspective, having a single iPhone that is not directly associated with either AT&T or Verizon would reduce user perceptions that network issues were the fault of the phone.
Qualcomm MDM6600 combines all the core technologies of the third generation, existing in the world. MDM6600 supports frequency ranges from 450MHz to 2100MGts, supports GSM / GPRS / EDGE, CDMA,HSDPA,HSPA (up to 14.4 Mbps) and EV-DO (to 14.7 Mbps) as well as the technology of satellite positioning GPS and GLONASS, which is especially important for the Russian Federation.
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A quieter vibration motor? Seriously? I can barely feel it now. I have a silicon case and can't even hear it vibrate on a table. I have friends with blackberry's and I can hear it vibrate in their pocket from across the room.
A quieter vibration motor? Seriously? I can barely feel it now. I have a silicon case and can't even hear it vibrate on a table. I have friends with blackberry's and I can hear it vibrate in their pocket from across the room.
I highly doubt its a technical issue.
What I suspect it to be is a product segmentation issue.
1. Apple needs a reason to sell you a brand new iPhone 5 in June. The Verizon iPhone 4 is really only a suitable upgrade if you're coming from a "dumb" phone. If you have a smartphone with internet/mail now its a good idea to wait.
2. Apple didn't want to release a Verizon iPhone that, if you put an AT&T SIM card in it, outperformed the AT&T iPhone 4. The chip in the current AT&T iPhone only does 7.2Mbps, the new chip does 14.4Mbps. AT&T is said to be in the process of upgrading their network (both the towers and the backhaul) to support HSPA+ speeds and is supposed to announce some sort of plan by the end of March about how its going to be upgraded.
3. Licensing issues. If (I don't know this for sure) Apple doesn't have to pay a fee to GSM licensing/patent firms if the GSM features aren't active in the phone, its more money in their pocket. What I suspect is that if the iPhone 5 is built around this chip, we still might see separate GSM/CDMA phones because Apple doesn't want to pay for both radio technology licenses for every phone they sell. If its $10 for GSM and $10 for CDMA, then thats $10 more in costs per phone if they use both technologies.
What I suspect it to be is a product segmentation issue.
1. Apple needs a reason to sell you a brand new iPhone 5 in June. The Verizon iPhone 4 is really only a suitable upgrade if you're coming from a "dumb" phone. If you have a smartphone with internet/mail now its a good idea to wait.
2. Apple didn't want to release a Verizon iPhone that, if you put an AT&T SIM card in it, outperformed the AT&T iPhone 4. The chip in the current AT&T iPhone only does 7.2Mbps, the new chip does 14.4Mbps. AT&T is said to be in the process of upgrading their network (both the towers and the backhaul) to support HSPA+ speeds and is supposed to announce some sort of plan by the end of March about how its going to be upgraded.
3. Licensing issues. If (I don't know this for sure) Apple doesn't have to pay a fee to GSM licensing/patent firms if the GSM features aren't active in the phone, its more money in their pocket. What I suspect is that if the iPhone 5 is built around this chip, we still might see separate GSM/CDMA phones because Apple doesn't want to pay for both radio technology licenses for every phone they sell. If its $10 for GSM and $10 for CDMA, then thats $10 more in costs per phone if they use both technologies.
Oh Ok I think I misread....they didn't include a separate GSM chip in there, they used a Qualcomm chip that is dual band sort of all-in-one in the single chip.....people speculated that they couldn't do a world phone this time because they wanted to rush a CDMA iPhone ASAP! But this kinda debunks that...this phone is already a world phone! So why not enable it? They either just didn't want to, and prefer having two models or did Apple figure that if this iPhone 4 had the dual functionality enabled that it would be considered something other than an iPhone 4? I don't get it....
Verizon's other wold phones block the US bands so you don't take you phone to at&t or T-Mobile. They could have done the same for now and allow international use. So I doubt it was Verizon's call....
Verizon's other wold phones block the US bands so you don't take you phone to at&t or T-Mobile. They could have done the same for now and allow international use. So I doubt it was Verizon's call....
Wandering if their is already enough internal space to slide a sim card and try into the ViPhone? May be a clue that the 5 is already designed in a familiar package.
Here in Canada I'm running my iPhone 4 on an HSPA+ network, but it's guess the network itself is backwards-compatible to HSPA speeds.
Completely agree. I've been waiting for Apple to improve the vibration on the iPhone, since the iPhone 3G. It is hardly noticeable, and for text messages it only does one wimpy vibrate. Wish there was customizable vibration with different intervals, etc.
iFixit tweet:
"RT @Lessien If I'm reading page 14 http://bit.ly/hwkjlX correctly, the MDM6600 (which is in VZW iPhone 4) does support T-Mobile 1700Mhz."
"RT @Lessien If I'm reading page 14 http://bit.ly/hwkjlX correctly, the MDM6600 (which is in VZW iPhone 4) does support T-Mobile 1700Mhz."
Once again, Verizon cripples a phone. Verizon doesn't want you to give you options.
That's correct; you can use an HSPA device on an HSPA+ network but will be limited to HSPA speeds (7.2 Mb/s, if I recall correctly).
Indeed, it seems that it does support 1700 mhz as long as it is coded for in the software. Screenshot of the manual for those interested.
Attachments
iPhone 4 is already HSPA capable (7.2mbs). AT&T just finished rolling out HSPA+ (14.4mbs)....but we will have to wait and see if iPhone 5 can support HSPA+.
If you are using Verizon's CDMA, average user throughput is around 1 MBs.
No they just want to charge you when you go overseas and use their "international" service
You win, a thousand internets to you fine sir.
Manufacturing one device for as many technologies as possible will give you economies of scale, along with the power that comes with negotiating with suppliers - you buy more, you get more power and more say.
Product conversion costs also plummet. That is, you don't have seperate lines for this iPhone and that iPhone and this other one.
You'll also have less testing issues, which is a significant issue.
I suspect that the economies involved more than make up for the increased price of the chip.
Would a dual mode phone allow consumers to switch carriers at will. If so, what does that do to subsidizing and plan pricing?
Qualcomm has a chip also as a chip called the 9600 which does everything the 6600 does but add LTE.
Using the 6600 now helps Apple in volume pricing when the next iphone comes along just as
I doubt it. AT&T will likely still lock the GSM/WCDMA side, and I believe that Verizon (and certainly Sprint) will not allow devices from other operators on their networks.
+1000000
This has been one of the most annoying aspects of the iPhone from the very first generation - along with the weak speakerphone/ringer volume.
I have always been jealous of my friends who are able to both hear AND feel their phone ringing in their pockets, or in other rooms, or *gasp* in public. I have just learned to look at it every few minutes to see if I have a missed call that I didn't hear/feel. The price I pay for the other awesome features
I like it weak. It doesn't work in a jacket pocket but it works fine in a pants pocket. It's supposed to be quiet - I've never understood why it's impolite to have phones ring in a board room, but ok to have them make an extremely loud buzzsaw noise instead. Everyone knows your phone is ringing either way.