For most people, 4G feels a little faster, but not anything close to the 10 times we were promised. What’s going on here? Ed Robinson of Riverbed Technology thinks we’ve made websites so obese that the networks can’t keep up. Read more »
After 16 months of iPhone exclusivity, Instagram is on Android, although some iPhone owners aren’t impressed. A Galaxy Note review unit arrived and the large size is already becoming a benefit to me. Plus, Sprint has two LTE phones ready before the 4G network arrives. Read more »
More than a year after promising to make WiMAX and LTE versions of its PlayBook tablet, RIM has delivered squat on its 4G promises. But now new photos have popped up on CrackBerry’s forums that appear to be of the mythical LTE PlayBook. Read more »
LightSquared’s backer, Philip Falcone, explained on Thursday his rationale for a voluntary bankruptcy filing for the planned wholesale LTE network, but given the paucity of actual assets in LightSquared, and the fact that Falcone has invested billions so far into LightSquared, this is almost a no-brainer. Read more »
The single biggest constraint for mobile devices today is batteries, and this includes the new iPad. If Apple wants to keep delivering cutting-edge improvements to its always-on, lightweight tablet, it needs to know the stakes in the looming battery race, and how to break through them. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The number of new LTE devices is up 76 percent in the past three months but tablets, not smartphones, are driving more of this growth. Carriers are mistakenly feeling the strong need to fight back against lower-priced, no contract Wi-Fi slates as tablet sales rise. Read more »
Two years after Sprint and HTC enjoyed a winner with the original Evo 4G, the two are back at it with the Evo 4G LTE, a variant of the One X phone that will serve as a flagship for Sprint’s emerging 4G LTE line-up. Read more »
Apple has a new U.S. carrier partner for the iPhone, and once again, it’s not T-Mobile. Instead it’s nTelos, a carrier with only 400,000 customers. Apple isn’t snubbing T-Mobile here. It’s merely following the path of least resistance. Read more »
The Nokia Lumia 900 is AT&T’s “hero” phone, the carrier tells me; a highly regarded status essentially owned by Apple’s iPhone since 2007. Might this be a true Windows Phone flagship device in the U.S.? After a week of using it, I think so. Read more »
Following up on last week’s news that Sprint’s LTE field testing is nearly complete, the carrier announced pre-orders on April 12 for its first LTE handset. The $99 LG Viper gains the distinction as the first LTE device for Sprint’s LTE network, launching later this year. Read more »
In this week’s mobile tech audio podcast, Matt and Kevin share hands on impressions with 2 LTE devices: the Galaxy Note and Galaxy Tab 7.7. Plus thoughts on RIM, Apple’s new iPad, and Nokia’s Lumia 900 along with a free task manager for Windows Phone handsets. Read more »
ABI Research estimates there will be more LTE microcells in place than actual LTE base stations by 2014. There’s good reason to believe the forecast: For a heterogeneous network with wide coverage, the number of microcells will have to far outweigh the number of base stations. Read more »
Sprint customers holding out hope for new WiMAX smartphones can officially consider such hopes dashed: no additional WiMAX phones will be launched. The carrier’s LTE tests are wrapping up and on track for a mid-year launch; we may see Sprint LTE phones sooner than later. Read more »
Clearwire has had a frustrating year so far. For every step it takes forward it seems to be forced a step a back, but CEO Erik Prusch said he is plenty confident that Clearwire can overcome those setbacks to get its LTE network built. Read more »
Five key technology sectors are enabling the smart city: smart grids, smart transport, smart water and waste management, smart building systems, and the enabling ICT platforms for the smart city. Key players like IT companies, telcos and utilities must learn how to harness those technologies, and quickly. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
AT&T will launch the Nokia Lumia 900 with LTE on April 8 for $99 with a two-year plan commitment. At this price, the Nokia hardware powered by Microsoft’s software and AT&T’s 4G network could go a long way towards restoring Nokia and Microsoft’s smartphone brands. Read more »
4G phone sales are expected to increase ten times over those in 2011, totaling 67 million LTE handsets this year. The new networks are faster and more efficient for carriers, so where’s the savings? There isn’t one and early LTE adopters are paying for the transition. Read more »
U.S. Cellular has begun selling its first 4G device, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, across its coverage area, though LTE speeds will be limited initially to parts of six states. The data plans aren’t cheap, but it’s providing the first 4G option for many small towns. Read more »
Approximately 90 percent of all tablets in the U.S. relied on Wi-Fi over 3G mobile broadband last year, according to industry analyst Chetan Sharma. The data suggests that carriers aren’t a needed distribution chain for slates for several reasons: long-term contracts and redundant data plans. Read more »
Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus is a Verizon Wireless exclusive in the U.S. but Sprint customers may be able to get the device next month. Although Sprint’s 4G LTE network isn’t available yet, the phone will keep the LTE radio for future activation and likely support Google Wallet. Read more »
AT&T has cheaper plans, but Verizon has far better LTE coverage. As for speed, they match each other megabit per megabit — unless you happen to live in Chicago, Los Angeles or any city where AT&T’s networks are undersized. Read more »
We already knew from Apple’s iPad product page that the new tablet has a much higher battery capacity over the prior iPad. But is there a special or new 4G LTE chip to help? Based on iFixit’s teardown, it’s a battery-only solution; no advanced LTE chip. Read more »
Verizon Wireless is upping its already considerable commitment to LTE, revealing to the Dow Jones that it will complete its core LTE rollout this year and reiterating its commitment to selling only 4G smartphones from here on out. Read more »
It looks like the U.K. won’t be the last major European country to have LTE. U.K. regulator Ofcom has given Everything Everywhere permission to use its existing 2G spectrum to launch an LTE network this year, long before it holds the 4G auctions. Read more »
Western Europe may be behind when it comes to rolling out LTE, but Italian operators are doing their best to catch up. 3 Italia unveiled an aggressive LTE plan on Monday in which it would construct and commercially launch its 4G network this year. Read more »
Smartphones have utterly captured SXSW, and while there are certainly tablets and laptops to be seen, the outlets are ruled by dying smartphones. Why? Batteries still have a long way to go, and the conference environment can be uniquely stressful for handsets. Read more »
The industry has moved beyond starry-eyed soothsaying about a world of 50 billion connected devices to start talking about how these mammoth networks of objects and appliances would actually work and how they would be managed. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Amid the various upgrades announced for Apple’s new iPad was a hot new wireless technology. You might think I’m referring to the tablet’s 4G LTE mobile broadband support, but I’m not. I’m talking about the far less sexy, but no less important, inclusion of Bluetooth 4.0. Read more »
Apple finally gave the wireless industry the 4G device it’s so long been craving. Even more importantly, LTE connectivity in the new iPad virtually assures similar treatment in the next iPhone. Apple has stepped up; now it’s the operators’ turn to lower mobile data prices. Read more »
Apple’s new iPad includes support for LTE mobile broadband, with 3G fallback. That’s good to know, but one bit of information Apple neglected to share was the pricing plans for the LTE service from AT&T and Verizon. Here’s the plan data, directly from the Apple Store. Read more »
Apple’s latest iPad has been revealed, and it has Retina display, a faster chip and all sorts of goodies, but for the network crowd only three letters mattered: LTE. And yes, the new iPad has LTE delivering up to 73 Mbps down. Wait — what? 73? Read more »
Verizon published the list of devices it plans to upgrade to Android 4.0, and all but one share a common feature: LTE. Verizon is likely trying to get more consumers on its LTE network as these phones will offer a better experience to new smartphone customers. Read more »
Mobile World Congress took place this week, and aside from a few Microsoft-related announcements, the show was all about Android. We saw new phones from all but Samsung, with many slated for Android 4.0. OnLive Desktop launched for Android, bringing Windows to tablets and smartphones. Read more »
T-Mobile expects to be the first U.S. carrier to offer 4G phones with integrated LTE radios and antennas. T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray made the prediction, which is important because the LTE phones of today drain a device’s battery too quickly for a number of reasons. Read more »
This year’s Mobile World Congress event kicks off this Sunday, and there will be a bevy of wireless developments, news and devices. Without a doubt, everything will be focused on connectivity and mobility, but what specific devices might we see? Here’s what we expect. Read more »
Want to know what’s going to happen at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week? Why not ask the organizers? I got on the phone with the GSMA, and here’s what they told me to expect: connectivity in everything, NFC and, of course, LTE. Read more »
AT&T is using Intucell’s self-optimizing network technology to turn its mobile broadband networks from what are now static collections of cells into the networking equivalent of organisms. The days of cells meekly passing subscribers back and forth to one another are over. Read more »
T-Mobile isn’t just launching a sizable LTE network in 2013, it’s becoming the Grim Reaper for 2G technology as we know it. T-Mobile has unveiled a plan to radically reshape its networks, shutting down the majority of its GSM capacity to focus almost entirely on 4G. Read more »
