The Muscle Couple has a couple of spare moments and wanted to drop some intel for everybody on the cusp of purchasing an iPhone for the Verizon network in the next couple of days.
First of all, the iPhone you’re buying is a hardware piece that runs on Verizon’s 3G Network. It’s not “4G”.
Secondly, the new 5th Generation iPhone (5Gs) will be launching in under 6 months (no specs released yet but hopeful to be 4G compatible for both AT&T and Verizon)
Why would anybody choose a 3G Phone over a 4G Phone? If folks knew the difference in speed/capability of the 4G Thunderbolt Phone (available from Verizon on February 24th estimated) versus the 3G iPhone, I don’t think so many people would be switching.
There are plenty of answers as to reasons why (the iPhone’s Mobile OS is definitely a work of beauty and probably superior to the Droid 2.2 Froyo OS) but when you understand the difference in speed and then factor in the capabilities of lightning fast data transmission, it’s just silly.
As its first smartphone with the 4G standard LTE, the ThunderBolt will offer data transfer speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps for downloads and 2 to 5 Mbps upload speeds under real world conditions. For comparison, tests on this carrier’s current 3G network gave download speeds of 0.6 to 1.6 Mbps and upload speeds of 0.5 to 0.8 Mbp
So for those who don’t understand the math, just know the 4G Phone will give you 10x faster data speeds. And this is a conservative estimate. The Verizon LTE network is lightning fast in most major cities.
With a 4G phone such as Thunderbolt you will be able to do the following:
- Watch 480p and higher live television broadcasts in real time while away from your home
- stream high def audio and video
- view youtube videos in real time, uncompressed at maximum supportable quality
- utilize Bluetooth 3.0 (when it’s available in the very near future)
- set your phone up as a Mobile Hotspot allowing for “broadband speed” data transmission for multiple Wi-Fi enabled devices
- view Flash files in virtually native resolution (you might have to download a free app from the Android Marketplace)
- utilize Social Media in instant fashion(far better than any previous capability before it on 3G networks)
- download a full size MP3 audio file in less than 4 seconds
- download or upload high res photos in under a minute
There is obviously much more we’re leaving out. But this gives you a pretty good idea of the power and performance of 4G.
I’m sure some of our readers already have 4G phones from T-Mobile and Sprint. They likely already understand the significant benefits 4G offers over 3G.
The point of this article is to not just jump to the iPhone without doing some research and reading about all the great 4G technology coming.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!
MIHWCS
2 responses so far ↓
1 Gavin // Feb 7, 2011 at 8:57 am
I’m currently considering moving to a new phone. My blackberry is fun and all but lately all the apps that I would like only seem to be released for iphones or even androids.
However, the speed of the network isn’t a major concern for me. Mainly because 4G uses up more battery power than 3G which uses more batter power than 2G. And a lot of people turn off 3G just to get that extra power. I like to use WiFi more than anything that uses less than the 3G and 4G. That is the only reason I like my BB right now. The battery lasts all day and I never run around looking to charge it.
I wonder what kind of battery life these phones have.
2 Greenie // Feb 7, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Sound advice!. There’s also the simple fact that there’s always inherent risk in adopting any first-gen product. Thought the iPhone has been around for years, the current Verizon offering is Apple’s first attempt at a CDMA device.
One thing to mention for clarify — there really is no “native resolution” for Flash. When developed properly, Flash applications are resolution-independent.
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