avon b7

GG1 said:

avon b7 said:

GG1 said:

avon b7 said:

GG1 said:

swiftrun said:

I’d like to replace my 6s Plus with a new iOS device. 
This is a pricey adventure and I want to make sure before I layout $1500-$2000 the device is 5G capable. 
Apple could solve this problem quite easily if they could sort out their problems with Qualcomm. 
I agree the 5G infrastructure isn’t there yet.  But Apple needs to have their devices 5G ready so it’s only a matter of a iOS update to turn it on.  

Figure it out Apple, sooner than later!!!ߘ᦬t;/div>

Don't wait for 5G. There are two parts to 5G - the first is the 5G overlay on EXISTING frequencies (less than 6 GHz). The second is the frequency extension to millimeter wave frequencies (25+ GHz). The former should only require a modem change (existing antennas should be OK), but it's the latter that will also require now mmWave antennas to be added - that should take a few phone iterations to get the mmWave antennas optimized.

So I highly suspect that any phone that ships this year that says it supports 5G will only be supporting the first part.

Except Huawei, which says its Balong 5000 is already NSA and SA compatible (apart from being multi-mode too).

Balong is the modem chip. SA is a signalling scheme within the 5G protocol for smart antenna selection (presumably targeted only for the mmWave band, but I'm not sure). The placement of the integrated mmWave antennas in the 5G phone will be difficult to get right (much more so than today's phones). If you remember SJ's "You are holding it wrong," wait till the first iteration of phones arrive with mmWave antennas!

Did Huawei announce a Balong-equipped phone with SA mode capability? And with mmWave band capability? I couldn't find an announcement.

I stand behind what I said above - it will take a few phone iterations to get the mmWave antennas optimized, especially for SA mode. The Balong 5000 may support it, but that's only one piece of the 5G phone puzzle.

Huawei has not - officially - presented a Balong 5000 equipped phone. It has said Balong 5000 is both NSA and SA compatible. At the time it was the only such modem compatible with both modes and is compatible with Kirin 980.

It has announced that both the current Mate 20 Pro and coming Mate X will ship in Balong 5000 variants. As such, we can assume - today - that antenna arrangements and issues have been resolved. I believe they gave mmWave benchmarks for Balong 5000. I'm speaking from memory though. 

EDIT: 

"On mmWave spectrum (high-frequency bands used as extended spectrum for 5G), Balong 5000 can achieve download speeds up to 6.5 Gbps – 10 times faster than top 4G LTE speeds on the market today.

Balong 5000 is also the world's first chipset that supports both standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) network architectures for 5G."

https://www.huawei.com/en/press-events/news/2019/1/huawei-5g-multi-mode-chipset-5g-cpe-pro

I read that press release. No mention of a mmWave, SA-capable phone (yet); maybe at Mobile World Congress later this year. That is the most capable, technically challenging configuration for a 5G phone, IMHO. The five 5G phones listed right now on GSM Arena are all in the sub-6 GHz bands (what I call the first part of 5G).

The bolded sentence above is suspect. mmWave propagation is not trivial. When someone announces a shipping mmWave/SA phone, that means that the supporting carrier(s) is ready from the infrastructure side. I suspect not for at least 2 years, and only in very few cities.

While I don't doubt the Balong benchmarks, they represent carrier aggregation that I doubt any service provider would allow.

Edit for clarity.

At this point I don't think anyone has reason to doubt. Everything they promised on 5G has appeared on time.

Kirin 980 was released at the end of August 2018 and they made it very clear it was Balong 5000 compatible. The first Huawei Phone to be announced with the Kirin 980 was the Mate 20 Series. Now, following the official reveal of Balong 5000, the Mate 20 Pro will be retrofitted with it at some point. The first consumer product to get the Balong 5000 was the CPE, followed by the window (outside) antenna to go with it. The first Balong 5000 phone will probably be a toss up between Mate 20 Pro and Mate X. The backplate of the X is neither metal nor glass but a specially formulated (plastic?) composite material. I wonder if the reason for this material is connected with reception. Perhaps that's a stretch.

They have already shipped 40,000 5G base stations and as the roll out will be in selected markets with Huawei involved across the entire communications chain (carriers included), mmWave shouldn't be an issue although it may go live in specific areas first. Some of those areas will be industrial parks.

Personally, I thought a bigger problem was going to be heat and power consumption in mobile devices. It seems those issues have mitigated.

From the first official mention of Balong 5000 last August, through to today, all the pieces seem to be falling into place on schedule.

Now I've said that, things will fall apart, LOL.

GG1 said:

swiftrun said:

I’d like to replace my 6s Plus with a new iOS device. 
This is a pricey adventure and I want to make sure before I layout $1500-$2000 the device is 5G capable. 
Apple could solve this problem quite easily if they could sort out their problems with Qualcomm. 
I agree the 5G infrastructure isn’t there yet.  But Apple needs to have their devices 5G ready so it’s only a matter of a iOS update to turn it on.  

Figure it out Apple, sooner than later!!!😡

Don't wait for 5G. There are two parts to 5G - the first is the 5G overlay on EXISTING frequencies (less than 6 GHz). The second is the frequency extension to millimeter wave frequencies (25+ GHz). The former should only require a modem change (existing antennas should be OK), but it's the latter that will also require now mmWave antennas to be added - that should take a few phone iterations to get the mmWave antennas optimized.

So I highly suspect that any phone that ships this year that says it supports 5G will only be supporting the first part.

Except Huawei, which says its Balong 5000 is already NSA and SA compatible (apart from being multi-mode too).

M68000 said:

Can someone explain what “/s” means at the end of comments??  I see this on this forum and other places.  Sorry not up on this slang or lingo

It means 'sarcasm'.

foregoneconclusion said:

larryjw said: I’m certain Apple engineers own the latest foldable Samsung phone and they’ve had many meetings discussing and evaluating the product. 

My own guess would be that Samsung's folding phone doesn't hold any surprises for Apple. Folding screen tech has been around for awhile, and Apple has always been one of the companies rumored to be working with it. 

With both the Samsung and the Huawei devices, the screen tech was not really an issue. The head scratching went into the hinges.

"The "the latest-and-greatest hardware" available to Watch OS vendors is laughably ancient compared to the aggressive advancement Apple's been making between its first Watch and today's Series 4, which sports an advanced S4 "Silicon in Package" chip. There aren't even any other devices that run entirely on a SiP, let alone the fourth generation of such package technology."

This is a twisted view. Although I am not surprised.

Can we also assume then, and by the same token, that some essential iPhone components are also 'laughably ancient' when compared to flagship competitors? 

There is little to no reference here of modern (non Wear OS)  hardware platforms - that have already been announced - that cover the entire gamut of use scenarios from earbuds - passing through watches and even cars - right up to data centers.

https://blog.huawei.com/2019/02/05/activating-ai-power-with-the-ascend-chipset/

Clearly the underpinnings of alternatives are already in place. Not to mention what will happen when Wear OS + hardware is finally fully baked.

So while Apple is working on its end user, consumer electronics devices - which appeal to only a fraction of the market - and has nothing outside of that CE 'bubble', other players are not only thinking about the far bigger picture but actually developing platforms and products to tackle current and future needs and which are applicable to literally - every single piece - of the puzzle. The underlying communications infrastructure (hardware and software and industry standards), the userland devices (hardware and software) and how it all ties together.

That puts any piece on 'a watch' into very sharp focus.

This is a hit job on Google (once again) and of very scant value.

Wear OS may not be performing as expected at this point in time but no one knows if it will allowed to 'fully bake' or not, but if it is half baked today, perhaps it won't take much longer to hit its stride. Who knows.

HiSilicon, Samsung and Qualcomm are not waiting on Google anyway so Wear OS itself isn't even a big deal.