Verizon iPhone may be among first CDMA handsets to offer concurrent data and voice
Forthcoming enhancements to the CDMA wireless standard could allow Apple to be among the first handset makers to deploy phones on the wireless networks of Sprint and Verizon that would be capable of simultaneous voice and data transmissions like those operating on AT&T's GSM network.
Add to that persistent rumors that Apple will choose for its next iPhone revision a hybrid baseband controller from CDMA proprietor Qualcomm capable of handling both CDMA and GSM transmissions, and it appears more than likely that 2011 will enable the iPhone maker expand its offerings to CDMA network operators while maintaining its mantra of shipping one phone for the entire world (rather than separate GSM and CDMA devices).
In a recent discussion with the Wall Street Journal, CDMA Development Group spokesperson Brad Shewmake told the paper that a solution that will allow CDMA networks to carry voice and data simultaneously will become commercially available in the first half of next year -- roughly the same time Apple is expected to introduce the first iPhones capable of running on CDMA networks.
Such advances could prove critical for Apple, assuming it hopes to promote the same user experience for iPhones running on CDMA networks as it does for those currently on the market. The Cupertino-based company has hyped in its television commercials, for instance, that AT&T iPhone users can hold a call with a friend while simultaneously surfing the web or transmitting directions or contact information over MMS.
Those same multitasking capabilities aren't currently available to Sprint and Verizon customers due to a decision made several years ago by engineers developing the CDMA standard, in which they chose to split voice and data transmissions into separate signals that cannot run concurrently.
In recent days, both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times have citied 'people familiar' with Apple's plans in saying that the company is gearing up to begin mass production of a CDMA-capable iPhone that would hit the market sometime in early 2011.
Add to that persistent rumors that Apple will choose for its next iPhone revision a hybrid baseband controller from CDMA proprietor Qualcomm capable of handling both CDMA and GSM transmissions, and it appears more than likely that 2011 will enable the iPhone maker expand its offerings to CDMA network operators while maintaining its mantra of shipping one phone for the entire world (rather than separate GSM and CDMA devices).
In a recent discussion with the Wall Street Journal, CDMA Development Group spokesperson Brad Shewmake told the paper that a solution that will allow CDMA networks to carry voice and data simultaneously will become commercially available in the first half of next year -- roughly the same time Apple is expected to introduce the first iPhones capable of running on CDMA networks.
Such advances could prove critical for Apple, assuming it hopes to promote the same user experience for iPhones running on CDMA networks as it does for those currently on the market. The Cupertino-based company has hyped in its television commercials, for instance, that AT&T iPhone users can hold a call with a friend while simultaneously surfing the web or transmitting directions or contact information over MMS.
Those same multitasking capabilities aren't currently available to Sprint and Verizon customers due to a decision made several years ago by engineers developing the CDMA standard, in which they chose to split voice and data transmissions into separate signals that cannot run concurrently.
In recent days, both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times have citied 'people familiar' with Apple's plans in saying that the company is gearing up to begin mass production of a CDMA-capable iPhone that would hit the market sometime in early 2011.
Comments
Forthcoming enhancements to the CDMA wireless standard could allow Apple to be among the first handset makers to deploy phones on the wireless networks of Sprint and Verizon that would be capable of simultaneous voice and data transmissions like those operating on AT&T's GSM network.
I think this bolt-on solution is possible but I’ve yet to see any evidence of this happening or how it will be accomplished. I hope it’s as smooth and fast as 3GSM.
I know some say they don’t care about this service but this is the one feature I will not go without after realizing that I’m using data on pretty much every call I’m on. Whether is doing a look up of a movie time, sending a pic to someone, sending a text reminder of what’s being discussed on the phone, or simply bidding my time checking email and reading news while on hold.
Add to that persistent rumors that Apple will choose for its next iPhone revision a hybrid baseband controller from CDMA proprietor Qualcomm capable of handling both CDMA and GSM transmissions, and it appears more than likely that 2011 will enable the iPhone maker expand its offerings to CDMA network operators while maintaining its mantra of shipping one phone for the entire world (rather than separate GSM and CDMA devices).
I still don’t see how this would be technically or financially viable for Apple. It’s not like Apple has tried for a globally unlocked iPhone up to this point so having CDMA tech that requires per unit royalties based on the percentage of the handset cost per device sold seems excessive when it will likely never get utilized.
On top of that there are size, weight, power efficiency, radio spectrum numbers and HW costs to contend with. Apple has the smallest phone of all the players and obviously cares about size yet we are expected to believe Apple will go the other way with a larger chip and larger battery and more chips for radio frequencies? I do buy it.
If you think it’s real please us some evidence that this mythical tech exists. That doesn’t mean showing up a Blackberry phone labeled as ‘world mode’ despite being locked to a US CDMA carrier and only having limited UMTS bands that won’t work in the US. Those are sort of 'world mode’ phones from a geographic perspective but they aren’t going to cover all the carriers Apple currently supports. Apple has 4 GSM bands and 5 UMTS bands in their iPhone 4. That is already more bands than these ‘world mode’ phones have. Note that the ‘world mode’ phone examples weaken any position of this being the ideal solution as vendors who make such phones only make very few models and all have the issues I stated earlier. If these were so great then BB, Nokia, SE, Moto and HTC would release all their phones like this so they can make just one that works for all networks and all countries. Yet, they don’t.
IF Verizon carries the iphone in Q1 2011, it will be CDMA and it will be dual voice/data.
How do I know? Because: Steve Jobs runs Apple, Inc.
Forthcoming enhancements to the CDMA wireless standard could allow Apple to be among the first handset makers to deploy phones on the wireless networks of Sprint and Verizon that would be capable of simultaneous voice and data transmissions like those operating on AT&T's GSM network.
Too little, too late:
"The HTC 7 Surround has a 3.8-inch touchscreen and a slide-out speaker with integrated Dolby Mobile and SRS WOW HD technology for high-fidelity sound. The speaker slides up out of the handset in a similar way keypads slide out for easy typing. The Surround also has a fold-out stand to let users set it up and watch mobile TV or videos on the handset. The HTC 7 Surround will only be available in the U.S., through AT&T, and in Canada, through Telus.
The HTC 7 Mozart has a 3.7-inch touchscreen and an 8-megapixel camera with flash. The Mozart also has Dolby Mobile audio and SRS WOW HD for superior sound. The HTC 7 Mozart will be available in Europe, from Orange and T-Mobile, and in Asia from operators in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.
The HTC Trophy sports a 3.8-inch WVGA touchscreen and is made for people who love gaming on Xbox Live. It boasts a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor for speedier gaming and also has SRS WOW HD for virtual surround sound. It is curved in shape, similar to HTC's Desire smartphone. The Trophy will be available only from Vodafone in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and from M1 in Singapore.
The HTC HD7 is by far the largest of the new HTC 7 smartphones, with a 4.3-inch touchscreen. The HD7 is thinner than HTC's Windows Mobile-based HD2. It has a 5-megapixel camera and one part of the back of the camera acts as a stand in case a user wants to set the phone down and play Xbox Live, or watch videos or mobile TV on it."
The CDMA spec has always allowed for simultaneous voice and data. Verizon implemented it in a way that prevents this. They will only be fixing what they screwed up in the first place.
Too little, too late:
"The HTC 7 Surround has a 3.8-inch touchscreen and a slide-out speaker with integrated Dolby Mobile and SRS WOW HD technology for high-fidelity sound. The speaker slides up out of the handset in a similar way keypads slide out for easy typing. The Surround also has a fold-out stand to let users set it up and watch mobile TV or videos on the handset. The HTC 7 Surround will only be available in the U.S., through AT&T, and in Canada, through Telus.
The HTC 7 Mozart has a 3.7-inch touchscreen and an 8-megapixel camera with flash. The Mozart also has Dolby Mobile audio and SRS WOW HD for superior sound. The HTC 7 Mozart will be available in Europe, from Orange and T-Mobile, and in Asia from operators in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.
The HTC Trophy sports a 3.8-inch WVGA touchscreen and is made for people who love gaming on Xbox Live. It boasts a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor for speedier gaming and also has SRS WOW HD for virtual surround sound. It is curved in shape, similar to HTC's Desire smartphone. The Trophy will be available only from Vodafone in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and from M1 in Singapore.
The HTC HD7 is by far the largest of the new HTC 7 smartphones, with a 4.3-inch touchscreen. The HD7 is thinner than HTC's Windows Mobile-based HD2. It has a 5-megapixel camera and one part of the back of the camera acts as a stand in case a user wants to set the phone down and play Xbox Live, or watch videos or mobile TV on it."
I think this bolt-on solution is possible but I?ve yet to see any evidence of this happening or how it will be accomplished. I hope it?s as smooth and fast as 3GSM.
I know some say they don?t care about this service but this is the one feature I will not go without after realizing that I?m using data on pretty much every call I?m on. Whether is doing a look up of a movie time, sending a pic to someone, sending a text reminder of what?s being discussed on the phone, or simply bidding my time checking email and reading news while on hold.
I still don?t see how this would be technically or financially viable for Apple. It?s not like Apple has tried for a globally unlocked iPhone up to this point so having CDMA tech that requires per unit royalties based on the percentage of the handset cost per device sold seems excessive when it will likely never get utilized.
On top of that there are size, weight, power efficiency, radio spectrum numbers and HW costs to contend with. Apple has the smallest phone of all the players and obviously cares about size yet we are expected to believe Apple will go the other way with a larger chip and larger battery and more chips for radio frequencies? I do buy it.
If you think it?s real please us some evidence that this mythical tech exists. That doesn?t mean showing up a Blackberry phone labeled as ?world mode? despite being locked to a US CDMA carrier and only having limited UMTS bands that won?t work in the US. Those are sort of 'world mode? phones from a geographic perspective but they aren?t going to cover all the carriers Apple currently supports. Apple has 4 GSM bands and 5 UMTS bands in their iPhone 4. That is already more bands than these ?world mode? phones have. Note that the ?world mode? phone examples weaken any position of this being the ideal solution as vendors who make such phones only make very few models and all have the issues I stated earlier. If these were so great then BB, Nokia, SE, Moto and HTC would release all their phones like this so they can make just one that works for all networks and all countries. Yet, they don?t.
I believe AppleInsider reported some info that Qualcomm was working to develop a radio controller with these capabilities, beyond what's in "world phones" today. This CDMA-capable iPhone (if it's released and evidence mounts each week that it will) would be an ideal product for this rumored radio controller. It's not like Apple wants to be last (or likely even 2nd) with a step-change technology.
Current iPhone users on other networks world wide can use their phone anywhere in the world where GSM exist and they can get data and voice at the same time. Since the iphone is only going to be VZ specific it is not going to be a world phone which is presently the DroidX on VZ. I bet VZ does not want the Iphone competing with the DroidX on their own network. Especially if VZ gives up the ability to sell content directly or users as they do with the Droid phones.
Too little, too late:
"The HTC 7 Surround has a 3.8-inch touchscreen and a slide-out speaker with integrated Dolby Mobile and SRS WOW HD technology for high-fidelity sound. The speaker slides up out of the handset in a similar way keypads slide out for easy typing. The Surround also has a fold-out stand to let users set it up and watch mobile TV or videos on the handset. The HTC 7 Surround will only be available in the U.S., through AT&T, and in Canada, through Telus.
The HTC 7 Mozart has a 3.7-inch touchscreen and an 8-megapixel camera with flash. The Mozart also has Dolby Mobile audio and SRS WOW HD for superior sound. The HTC 7 Mozart will be available in Europe, from Orange and T-Mobile, and in Asia from operators in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.
The HTC Trophy sports a 3.8-inch WVGA touchscreen and is made for people who love gaming on Xbox Live. It boasts a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor for speedier gaming and also has SRS WOW HD for virtual surround sound. It is curved in shape, similar to HTC's Desire smartphone. The Trophy will be available only from Vodafone in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and from M1 in Singapore.
The HTC HD7 is by far the largest of the new HTC 7 smartphones, with a 4.3-inch touchscreen. The HD7 is thinner than HTC's Windows Mobile-based HD2. It has a 5-megapixel camera and one part of the back of the camera acts as a stand in case a user wants to set the phone down and play Xbox Live, or watch videos or mobile TV on it."
All I have to say is how the hell can a phone do surround sound... that is just a marketing ploy and anyone who buys into is an idiot and just goes to show they do not understand what they are buying...
HTC products are design for the uninformed and those who lack ability to think for themselves and buys from a check list, they buy products which have more check boxes checked off even if they do not need it or even if it works.
But hey they can always walk around and say my phone does more things than anyone else's phone.
The CDMA spec has always allowed for simultaneous voice and data. Verizon implemented it in a way that prevents this. They will only be fixing what they screwed up in the first place.
I am under the impression that only EV-DO Rev. B had that feature and that to add it to Rev. A means a retrofit.
I believe AppleInsider reported some info that Qualcomm was working to develop a radio controller with these capabilities, beyond what's in "world phones" today. This CDMA-capable iPhone (if it's released and evidence mounts each week that it will) would be an ideal product for this rumored radio controller. It's not like Apple wants to be last (or likely even 2nd) with a step-change technology.
I hope so, but what about Qualcomm?s excessive fees which is why Qualcomm lost to competing technologies that now use GSM/UMTS? What about the number of operating bands per device?
Too little, too late:
"The HTC 7 Surround has a 3.8-inch touchscreen and a slide-out speaker with integrated Dolby Mobile and SRS WOW HD technology for high-fidelity sound. The speaker slides up out of the handset in a similar way keypads slide out for easy typing. The Surround also has a fold-out stand to let users set it up and watch mobile TV or videos on the handset. The HTC 7 Surround will only be available in the U.S., through AT&T, and in Canada, through Telus.
The HTC 7 Mozart has a 3.7-inch touchscreen and an 8-megapixel camera with flash. The Mozart also has Dolby Mobile audio and SRS WOW HD for superior sound. The HTC 7 Mozart will be available in Europe, from Orange and T-Mobile, and in Asia from operators in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.
The HTC Trophy sports a 3.8-inch WVGA touchscreen and is made for people who love gaming on Xbox Live. It boasts a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor for speedier gaming and also has SRS WOW HD for virtual surround sound. It is curved in shape, similar to HTC's Desire smartphone. The Trophy will be available only from Vodafone in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and from M1 in Singapore.
The HTC HD7 is by far the largest of the new HTC 7 smartphones, with a 4.3-inch touchscreen. The HD7 is thinner than HTC's Windows Mobile-based HD2. It has a 5-megapixel camera and one part of the back of the camera acts as a stand in case a user wants to set the phone down and play Xbox Live, or watch videos or mobile TV on it."
So what's your point?
else has something interesting to announce.
They have a great way of deflating the winds of enthusiasm from all these guys.
The only news on Google news the past week has been nothing but this.
Apple has really shown how to control the news feed.
Too little, too late:
"The HTC 7 Surround has a 3.8-inch touchscreen and a slide-out speaker with integrated Dolby Mobile and SRS WOW HD technology for high-fidelity sound. The speaker slides up out of the handset in a similar way keypads slide out for easy typing. The Surround also has a fold-out stand to let users set it up and watch mobile TV or videos on the handset. The HTC 7 Surround will only be available in the U.S., through AT&T, and in Canada, through Telus.
."
Does the HTC 7 Surround have a slide out surround speaker system with subwoofer and all?
All I have to say is how the hell can a phone do surround sound... that is just a marketing ploy and anyone who buys into is an idiot and just goes to show they do not understand what they are buying...
I agree surround sound on a phone would be useless. an iPod with surround sound would be pointless also. Just sayin'...
Pffttt. Thats the sound of any of these HTC devices competing with the iPhone.
The CDMA spec has always allowed for simultaneous voice and data. Verizon implemented it in a way that prevents this. They will only be fixing what they screwed up in the first place.
Not quite true. The CDMA spec was upgraded in 2009 to include the functionality needed to allow simultaneous voice/data. The hardware to implement the new standard was not going to be available until this past summer. From my understanding, on the carrier side of things, this would involve a card swap at the towers. It's supposed to be a relatively easy upgrade (again, just from what I've read). If the hardware was only recently available, it would take Verizon (or Sprint) time to get all their towers upgraded. So the timing could be right for an early 2011 Verizon iPhone. Of course, I've not seen any evidence that Verizon has actually been making this upgrade.
The iphone on VZ is going to be a bad experience for Apple that is for sure.
Current iPhone users on other networks world wide can use their phone anywhere in the world where GSM exist and they can get data and voice at the same time. Since the iphone is only going to be VZ specific it is not going to be a world phone which is presently the DroidX on VZ. I bet VZ does not want the Iphone competing with the DroidX on their own network. Especially if VZ gives up the ability to sell content directly or users as they do with the Droid phones.
Then again, I know may ATT iPhone users, and have read the experiences of many more, who completely disable their iPhone's 3G and use it wi-fi only when travelling overseas because of ATT's excessive international roaming fees. So not much different than a CDMA iPhone which would be stuck using wi-fi only when overseas.
I hope so, but what about Qualcomm?s excessive fees which is why Qualcomm lost to competing technologies that now use GSM/UMTS? What about the number of operating bands per device?
I agree with the technological challenges. But since CDMA is on it's way out (granted it will be many years before it's gone), the value of Qualcomm's CDMA patent portfolio will diminish and sooner or later they will have to reduce their fees. Inclusion of a Qualcomm chip in the iPhone could be part of a deal to also include a reduced licensing fee. Apple uses Qualcomm's chips in exchange for a reduction in the CDMA licensing. Or they could work out a deal to only pay the licensing fee based on what carrier the phone is activated with. There's all kinds of possible scenarios that could be part of a deal between Apple and Qualcomm. And Qualcomm will need to start getting creative to extend their CDMA revenue stream as the technology gets phased out over the next several years.
Too little, too late:
"The HTC 7 Surround has a 3.8-inch touchscreen and a slide-out speaker with integrated Dolby Mobile and SRS WOW HD technology for high-fidelity sound. The speaker slides up out of the handset in a similar way keypads slide out for easy typing. The Surround also has a fold-out stand to let users set it up and watch mobile TV or videos on the handset. The HTC 7 Surround will only be available in the U.S., through AT&T, and in Canada, through Telus.
The HTC 7 Mozart has a 3.7-inch touchscreen and an 8-megapixel camera with flash. The Mozart also has Dolby Mobile audio and SRS WOW HD for superior sound. The HTC 7 Mozart will be available in Europe, from Orange and T-Mobile, and in Asia from operators in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.
The HTC Trophy sports a 3.8-inch WVGA touchscreen and is made for people who love gaming on Xbox Live. It boasts a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor for speedier gaming and also has SRS WOW HD for virtual surround sound. It is curved in shape, similar to HTC's Desire smartphone. The Trophy will be available only from Vodafone in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and from M1 in Singapore.
The HTC HD7 is by far the largest of the new HTC 7 smartphones, with a 4.3-inch touchscreen. The HD7 is thinner than HTC's Windows Mobile-based HD2. It has a 5-megapixel camera and one part of the back of the camera acts as a stand in case a user wants to set the phone down and play Xbox Live, or watch videos or mobile TV on it."
Its so easy to market your brand when your name is "HTC".
LOl, wtf cares about HTC? I say Apple, people know what I'm talking about. I say HTC, they think I'm refering to an HMO.
Or you could just buy an iPhone.
Then again, I know may ATT iPhone users, and have read the experiences of many more, who completely disable their iPhone's 3G and use it wi-fi only when travelling overseas because of ATT's excessive international roaming fees. So not much different than a CDMA iPhone which would be stuck using wi-fi only when overseas.
The point is CDMA does not work outside the US and the few countries who have CDMA is using a different version than VZ, so the only way a VZ phone works outside the US is it has to be a world phone so it support both GSM and CDMA.
I realize that most people do NOT travel outside the US, but, the fact the iphone works world wide allows the phone to keep high market value since it can be used everywhere unlike a VZ phone is only good to a VZ customers. The other issue is the fact that most VZ customer have no clue, I tries selling a GSM Palm phone advertise it as such and got all kinds of VZ customers trying to buy if and did not understand they it would not work form them.
I agree surround sound on a phone would be useless. an iPod with surround sound would be pointless also. Just sayin'...
Well I plugged my wifes' iphone into our theater system and played a movie through our system and it did play in surround sound, so I guess it support surround sound too since surround sound is encoded into the audio track.
The iphone on VZ is going to be a bad experience for Apple that is for sure.
Current iPhone users on other networks world wide can use their phone anywhere in the world where GSM exist and they can get data and voice at the same time. Since the iphone is only going to be VZ specific it is not going to be a world phone which is presently the DroidX on VZ. I bet VZ does not want the Iphone competing with the DroidX on their own network. Especially if VZ gives up the ability to sell content directly or users as they do with the Droid phones.
Come on. Do you really think the millions of potential US Verizon iPhone customers really care about "anywhere in the world"? I doubt it. But that's just my guess. There are plenty of "world" iPhone carriers besides Verizon if that's a must-have feature.
The point is CDMA does not work outside the US and the few countries who have CDMA is using a different version than VZ, so the only way a VZ phone works outside the US is it has to be a world phone so it support both GSM and CDMA.
I realize that most people do travel outside the US, but, the fact the iphone works world wide allows the phone to keep high market value since it can be used everywhere unlike a VZ phone is only good to a VZ customers. The other issue is the fact that most VZ customer have no clue, I tries selling a GSM Palm phone advertise it as such and got all kinds of VZ customers trying to buy if and did not understand they it would not work form them.
Really? Since when?