Hasta La Gadget!

WiMAX isn’t exactly a fading technology, but LTE is more and more the name of the mobile connectivity game — at least in Japan, South Korea and the US. That’s what ABI Research gleaned from its “4G Subscribers, Devices and Networks” market data: according to the study the number of LTE subscribers in Japan, South Korea and the US shot past that of WiMAX users in the last quarter of 2011 through to quarter two of 2012. The firm says 77 percent of LTE devices were smartphones in 2011, and it projects that LTE handsets will make up more than 80 percent of device shipments in 2016. ABI says LTE’s advantage will grow in the next few years, as more mobile operators roll out TD-LTE networks, and as we begin to see more LTE chipsets hit the market. Head past the break for the press release.

Continue reading ABI Research: LTE subscriptions surpassed WiMAX usage in Q2 2012

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

ABI Research: LTE subscriptions surpassed WiMAX usage in Q2 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 11:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel’s first LTE-capable Medfield smartphone chips are in the pipeline, along with multicore versions of the processor, with the first examples due before the end of 2012. Intel will be “shipping some LTE products later this year and ramping into 2013″ director of product marketing Sumeet Syal told TechCrunch, and in the meantime the company is working on fettling more Android apps to suit the x86 architecture.

That software hiccup could be a headache to Intel and its manufacturer partners, with devices like the freshly announced Motorola RAZR i unable to run certain software available through Google’s Play store. Google’s own Chrome browser, for instance, currently won’t work on the RAZR i, though Motorola has confirmed it should be functional by the time the midrange smartphone actually reaches the market.

“We’re not quoting any numbers” Syal says, “but the majority of all the apps we’ve tested work just fine.” The company’s team responsible for software has been working “constantly round the clock to make sure that all these apps work” and the number of compatible titles increases every day.

As for multicore, initially that will mean dualcore Medfield, with Intel not ready to talk about quadcore Atom processors for phones as yet. Intel, though, is in no great rush Syal insists, content with its hyper threading system that milks two threads out of a single core.

“You have to take a look at how many instructions per clock can the architecture handle — our belief is that others are throwing cores at the issue in terms  of getting more performance.  We make that determination based on our architecture so we felt very comfortable coming out with a single core dual-threaded for our first product, and as we’re able to get more and more performance in the right implementation of the architecture we believe putting in dual-core would be the right thing for our next generation product” Sumeet Syal, Intel

Timelines for the dualcore Medfield versions have not been revealed yet, and nor has Intel disclosed when the first Atom-based smartphones might arrive in the US.

Intel: LTE Medfield by end of 2012 plus dualcore incoming is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

LG isn’t short of a few Voice over LTE handsets, but this neck-hugging Bluetooth handset promises to offer similarly crisp voice calls, if the feature’s available, without the need to fumble around in your pockets . The Tone + headset totes a pair of in-ear buds, is available in both white and black and will even vibrate in Battle Royale terror style when you receive a call. LG has built in a “professional grade audio codec”, the aptX, to improve audio performance alongside that VoLTE compatibility. The headphones can event pair to two devices (even two smartphones) and read out your received SMS messages. You can expect the micro-USB rechargeable Tone+ to last around 15 hours of talk-time, or 500 hours on standby. Pricing is yet to be confirmed, but LG promise to launch the device in the US, Korea and China by the end of the month.

Continue reading LG’s first VoLTE Bluetooth headset revealed: Tone + packs ‘high-quality’ audio codec

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio/Video, Mobile

LG’s first VoLTE Bluetooth headset revealed: Tone + packs ‘high-quality’ audio codec originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 03:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget inquiry is from is from Is from Joe, who has helped inspire a regular feature and also wants to know which carrier he should pick for Philadelphia. If you’re looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

“Hey! I loved your question about NYC carriers and thought it would be a great idea to let your visitors sound off on other major cities. I’d love to hear opinions on Philadelphia carriers myself, so if you could possibly consider adding this, I think it would be appreciated by many.”

Way back in April, we asked you about which carrier rules the roost in NYC and it caused a little sensation, with hundreds of you bombarding the Ask Engadget inbox to ask if we’d do your city or state. We’ll be sprinkling them in every now and again to let you sound off about the coverage in your local area, so if you live in Philadelphia and have world-class (or world’s worst) signal, let us know in the comments below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

Ask Engadget: best Philadelphia wireless carrier? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Sep 2012 23:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well this is an interesting bit of news: iDownloadBlog’s Jeff Benjamin has discovered that Verizon’s iPhone 5 is indeed GSM unlocked. The way he discovered this was by cutting up an AT&T micro SIM card and putting it in his freshly-acquired iPhone 5 from Verizon. To his surprise (and ours), the iPhone picked up an AT&T signal, and he was able to hop onto the carrier’s HSPA+ network and do a little bit of surfing.

Verizon later confirmed to him that their version of the iPhone is GSM unlocked, which in theory means that you could pick up a micro SIM from AT&T or T-Mobile and take advantage of their networks. That’s going to take a bit of work though, as it sounds like Benjamin had something of a rough time getting that AT&T micro SIM to fit into his Verizon iPhone 5.

What’s even more exciting is that Verizon is giving these phones to people who are on contact. Benjamin says that he attempted this micro SIM switcheroo on the same day that he picked up his iPhone 5 from Verizon (today), which also happened to be the day that he signed up as a Verizon customer for the first time. This, obviously, is good news for travelers, as it means that they can potentially switch between networks if they need to while on the road, despite signing a two-year commitment to Verizon.

The fact that the iPhone 5 comes in three different models that support various LTE bands has proven to be a headache for some consumers, and we’ve been talking about how it highlights a broader LTE problem since the different models were revealed. After all, this LTE issue isn’t only limited to the iPhone 5, but thankfully Verizon has at least done something that helps with it a bit. What do you think? Does this help sway you more toward Verizon as your iPhone 5 carrier of choice?

iPhone 5 comes GSM unlocked at Verizon is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.