Over the past year, mobile data has become a topic in the mainstream media. The stories are mostly about AT&T’s network growing pains, how iPhone users are overtaxing the networks and are experiencing greatly reduced bandwidth as a result.
Carriers love talking about bandwidth. It seems to be the only thing that matters in terms of mobile data. When the iPhone 3G came out, the dumbed-down line that was used to describe the difference between 2G and 3G in Apple’s marketing was that 3G is “twice as fast”.
I have been trying to make heads or tails of this whole data speed thing for quite some time. I had noticed in more than a few instances that 2G is just as fast, and sometimes faster than 3G. With all this marketing about how much faster 3G is, I set out to do a few tests of my own to determine if 3G is a must-have, or if carriers are trying to oversell the technology as a giant leap when it’s really just an incremental step. Continue reading this article
Hopefully you had a great New Year’s and you’re enjoying a long holiday. There were some cool apps launched this week as well as some good editorials. If you’ve been taking a break from the blogs, here is a recap post to get you up to speed. Click through for a breakdown of the past week
Be sure to check this video out soon because it’s going to be pulled from YouTube any minute now. This is a prerelease device review so it’s important to take it with a grain of salt.
While the outside will likely not change by the time it comes to market, the software will for sure. The reviewer is using an outdated OS, and the device he’s using doesn’t even come with WiFi.
Even though the OS is outdated, the responsiveness of the device is incredible. The reviewer can bounce back and forth between the homescreen and the icon page with almost no latency.
Another interesting feature is how the memory is broken down. There is Device Memory, Application Memory and Media Card memory. On this reviewer’s device, there is 149.9 MB of application memory (nothing to boast about), 1.8 GB of internal memory (couldn’t more of this have been used for apps?) and 14.8 GB of Media Card memory.
It was good to see the device have the new BlackBerry Messenger with the QR code system, but again, the reviewer is using an old OS.
Again, the device is much more responsive. The reviewer describes the typing experience as easier, but doesn’t go into details about the underlying technology that is replacing SureType.
3G Americas, a wireless industry trade association, is reporting that UMTS/HSPA technology has grown in a big way over the past year, adding over 100 million subscriptions in the twelve months ending in Q3 2008.
“As evidenced by the subscriber growth numbers, the GSM family of technologies continues to provide the four key ingredients for mobile wireless success: Coverage, Technology Performance, Devices and Applications,” stated Chris Pearson, President of 3G Americas. “The UMTS/HSPA mobile broadband technology achieved a total of 262 million subscriptions at the end of September 2008, continuing in its ranking as the leader in high speed mobile broadband technology worldwide.”
To date, there are 39 commercial UMTS/HSPA networks in the Americas region in 19 countries. Worldwide, there are more than 256 commercial UMTS/HSPA networks in over 100 countries. Without these networks, our BlackBerry Bolds Around the Word map (which is in sore need of an update) would be a lot less full.
Anyone who wonders why RIM’s recent troubles bringing BlackBerrys to India were such a big deal need only look at these numbers to understand. According to the Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI), India’s GSM networks added a record breaking 7.7 million net customers in October, bringing India’s total GSM base to 241.4 million. These figures, however, do not include the GSM subscriber base from Reliance Communications – which although a predominantly CDMA operator has a growing GSM base as well. Adding Reliance Communications’ estimated 9.2 million GSM subscribers would bring India’s total base to over 250 million GSM customers.
250 million GSM subscribers – just think about that number for a second. That’s almost the population of the United States. How much would it improve RIM’s bottom line to grab even a small percentage of that number?
3G Americas, a wireless industry trade association, is reporting that UMTS/HSPA technology has grown in a big way over the past year, adding over 100 million subscriptions in the twelve months ending in Q3 2008.
Anyone who wonders why RIM’s 
