Database Users

Is X1a phased out?

I have noticed that X1a has disappeared from US site in favor of X1 (900Mhz UMTS X1 model):
http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/specifications/x1?lc=en&cc=us
I remember distinctly it used to be the X1a up there as it still is for S. America site, e.g. Argentina:
http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/overview/x1a?lc=es&cc=ar
same change (as in US) holds true for Australian site - used to be X1a
What's going on? Certainly, I wouldn't think that whole nations changed their frequency plans in favor of Qualcomm
In this case to whom is the recent R2A North American ROM upgrade addressed? Was the initial issue of the X1a for the US a limited issue on first come first served basis?

Hmm
I'm no expert, but I wouldn't call the phasing out of the X1a a "first come first serve" I'd call it more of a "this device sucked, lets replace it with the one that works".

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs..._communications:mobile_phones:shop_compare:ss
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665702060

alias_neo said:
I'm no expert, but I wouldn't call the phasing out of the X1a a "first come first serve" I'd call it more of a "this device sucked, lets replace it with the one that works".
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What The! The X1 and the X1a are exactly the same device except one supports 900Mhz UTMS and the other 850Mhz.
As far as the Australia website showing the X1, this makes sense as they are probably about to release this version here (We only got the X1a version last December). But the X1a is still listed on the website.

fxcoupeman83 said:
What The! The X1 and the X1a are exactly the same device except one supports 900Mhz UTMS and the other 850Mhz.
As far as the Australia website showing the X1, this makes sense as they are probably about to release this version here (We only got the X1a version last December). But the X1a is still listed on the website.
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Heh I'm just ranting for the heck of it lol. But as an Electronic Engineer it makes no sense to me to have the 850MHz when you have a 900MHz, because the 900MHz can easily be set to work at 850MHz in software.
That being said, my little rant was based on things I have read on other forums about a lot of problems (network and quality related) being most prominent in the X1a (850MHz) devices. That being said, It's quite possible that it was just the specific production batch that was making those 850s at the time. It's also possible that maybe the guys that own X1as (Americans) are more likely to complain, or simply that a significant number more of tham have been sold, because of geography and customer base.
Don't take anything I say to seriously, I sure as heck don't

alias_neo said:
Heh I'm just ranting for the heck of it lol. But as an Electronic Engineer it makes no sense to me to have the 850MHz when you have a 900MHz, because the 900MHz can easily be set to work at 850MHz in software.
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That's cool lol. I didn't know you could set a 900MHz to work at 850MHz via software. I would have thought if they could do that they would, instead of having to produce a seperate batch for each band. Certainly would decrease production costs.
I genuinely think a lot of complaints are from those people who didn't really understand what they were buying. Either they had never encounted Windows Mobile before and expected it to work like any other Sony Ericsson, or they had inflated expectations of what Sony could do with the software. I'm not saying there haven't been some production issues though.
I see Windows Mobile a lot like Linux desktop OS. Out of the box it's a bit underwhelming; but take the time to play around with settings and programs and customise it to your liking, it can be very powerful and unique.

Yep
fxcoupeman83 said:
That's cool lol. I didn't know you could set a 900MHz to work at 850MHz via software. I would have thought if they could do that they would, instead of having to produce 2 seperate batches for each band. Certainly would decrease production costs.
I genuinely think a lot of complaints are from those people who didn't really understand what they were buying. Either they had never encounted Windows Mobile before and expected it to work like any other Sony Ericsson, or they had inflated expectations of what Sony could do with the software. I'm not saying there haven't been some production issues though.
I see Windows Mobile a lot like Linux desktop OS. Out of the box it's a bit underwhelming; but take the time to play around with settings and programs and customise it to your liking, it can be very powerful and unique.
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Yep, totally agree. Back to the 850/900 I think the problem here is entirely political rather than anything Engineering wise. America didn't conform to the international standard set for GSM as did not a few other countries and so they make the 850 devices for you guys. However, a quad band GSM which is the X1i, should work in America just fine because they support 850 and 900 (like I said, the 900MHz can easily be made to support 850 in software)
About the WinMo/Linux Desktop thing, I agree again, although not entirely (a Linux desktop OS has never been underwhelming for me) because I always know what to expect, and that's that I make it run how I want, the beauty is, it's designed that way.
WinMo however, was never designed to be user customised, and considering SE have done close to nothing with it over the WinMo PDA I sold 3 years ago because it was so horrific nearly gave me a heart attack at my new "investment" but I think the fact that it was made by HTC has left a lot of room for improvement because a lot of their in-house customisations have been ported and made useful here.
Right now I'm happy with my Xperia except for the one flaw I have just today addressed with Send/Receive over Wifi while sleeping not being possible, which is a huuuuge blow for me.

alias_neo said:
Heh I'm just ranting for the heck of it lol. But as an Electronic Engineer it makes no sense to me to have the 850MHz when you have a 900MHz, because the 900MHz can easily be set to work at 850MHz in software.
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I thought that the UMTS bands were hardware based...
Both phones are quad band GSM... but neither is quad band UMTS.
I'm trying to remember where I saw this, but I think there was a chip in the phone that allowed the UMTS bands so a simple software change wouldn't fix this. So the X1i wouldn't work on 3G in the US or on NextG in Australia.

buzz83 said:
I thought that the UMTS bands were hardware based...
Both phones are quad band GSM... but neither is quad band UMTS.
I'm trying to remember where I saw this, but I think there was a chip in the phone that allowed the UMTS bands so a simple software change wouldn't fix this. So the X1i wouldn't work on 3G in the US or on NextG in Australia.
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Yes, I think alias_neo is talking about a different frequency set
The 850/900 frequencies he's talking about are for GSM - this has never been the issue with the X1i/X1a imbroglio
It's the UMTS 850Mhz fequency that the X1i is hardware-crippled against
An X1 model with 900/2100Mhz bands for UMTS (such as listed in the 1st post) is another variation again. Some countries use the UMTS 900Mhz frequency for their regions, but it is not widespread. We need further confusion like a hole in the head !!

alias_neo said:
Heh I'm just ranting for the heck of it lol. But as an Electronic Engineer it makes no sense to me to have the 850MHz when you have a 900MHz, because the 900MHz can easily be set to work at 850MHz in software.
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Are you able to write a software to do this? I'm sure many would love it if their X1i can use 850 3G as well.

ianl8888 said:
Yes, I think alias_neo is talking about a different frequency set
The 850/900 frequencies he's talking about are for GSM - this has never been the issue with the X1i/X1a imbroglio
It's the UMTS 850Mhz fequency that the X1i is hardware-crippled against
An X1 model with 900/2100Mhz bands for UMTS (such as listed in the 1st post) is another variation again. Some countries use the UMTS 900Mhz frequency for their regions, but it is not widespread. We need further confusion like a hole in the head !!
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Ahh, well, I have lost track of where this is going now, and since I havn't slept in 2 days (it's now 6:30am on the 3rd day) any point I had is probably flawed. i think my point was that the "Hardware" crippling is probably more of a low level software crippling and could infact be rectified (only by the chip manufacturer) using the same hardware. But again, I think my point was that the reason they have this difference is political and because some countries refused to stick with the international standards.

Ashwm said:
Are you able to write a software to do this? I'm sure many would love it if their X1i can use 850 3G as well.
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No, you misunderstand me, by software I mean low level machine code, "burned" into the chip by the manufacturer and not changeable. Only he manufacturer of the chip can do this at the point of manufacture.
But of course I could be entirely wrong, I make this assmption based on the fact that I often work with "programmable systems on a chip" (ASICs/FPGAs etc).
It's also quite possible the frequency setting circuitry IS infact made the good old fashioned way of laying out the silicon in a set circuit design.

alias_neo said:
But again, I think my point was that the reason they have this difference is political and because some countries refused to stick with the international standards.
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1) "some countries" include Canada, US, South Americas, Australia, South Africa.
The UMTS 850Mhz frequency is used in the regional (less populated) areas to cover the distances involved with a longer wavelength. Such areas need less bandwidth too, because of the lower population densities
Politics plays no part here, thank goodness. it's just straight physics.
2) the "international standard" for cities is 1900/2100Mhz. All the cities I know that have UMTS broadcasting use these frequencies, including cities in the above listed countries
The concept of larger, less-populated areas is probably not easy for city-dwellers to grasp, but the "international standard" for such areas is UMTS 850Mhz. The only "odd-ball" aspect here is that city-dwellers don't understand this, I think.

ianl8888 said:
1) "some countries" include Canada, US, South Americas, Australia, South Africa.
The UMTS 850Mhz frequency is used in the regional (less populated) areas to cover the distances involved with a longer wavelength. Such areas need less bandwidth too, because of the lower population densities
Politics plays no part here, thank goodness. it's just straight physics.
2) the "international standard" for cities is 1900/2100Mhz. All the cities I know that have UMTS broadcasting use these frequencies, including cities in the above listed countries
The concept of larger, less-populated areas is probably not easy for city-dwellers to grasp, but the "international standard" for such areas is UMTS 850Mhz. The only "odd-ball" aspect here is that city-dwellers don't understand this, I think.
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Nup- there are many, many 900MHz regional deployments.
Australia is unique in the sense that it has both a 900MHz and a 850MHz regional deployment. Lots and lots of stupid redundancy. Oh well.

Leddy said:
Nup- there are many, many 900MHz regional deployments.
Australia is unique in the sense that it has both a 900MHz and a 850MHz regional deployment. Lots and lots of stupid redundancy. Oh well.
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I can't disagree with that - there's marketing politics in that redundancy (not hard to guess ), but either 850 or 900 serves OK for the regions. The physics is essentially the same for either frequency, of course.
However, the 900Mhz in Aus has a very limited deployment, primarily because Optus et al do not want to service the less-populated areas (not sufficient profit). They've been paying lip-service for lo!, these many years.
The 850 frequency became a problem with the Qualcomm-Broadcomm Court issue and this turned up after the 850Mhz deployments
I agree ... oh well !!
The way I see it turning out is that Telstra, who operates the 850Mhz with easily the largest areal coverage, will gradually "corner" the retail market on UMTS 850Mhz devices in Aus and proceed to charge unbelievably high $$ amounts for these. It's already difficult to find 850Mhz devices at any significant discount to their prices. And yes, that's marketing politics ... but the physics dictates the parameters.

ianl8888 said:
1) "some countries" include Canada, US, South Americas, Australia, South Africa.
The UMTS 850Mhz frequency is used in the regional (less populated) areas to cover the distances involved with a longer wavelength. Such areas need less bandwidth too, because of the lower population densities
Politics plays no part here, thank goodness.
2) the "international standard" for cities is 1900/2100Mhz. All the cities I know that have UMTS broadcasting use these frequencies, including cities in the above listed countries
The concept of larger, less-populated areas is probably not easy for city-dwellers to grasp, but the "international standard" for such areas is UMTS 850Mhz. The only "odd-ball" aspect here is that city-dwellers don't understand this, I think.
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In which case, there is no reason 850MHz couldn't be the standard as I assume that even here in the UK our less populated areas would equally require less bandwidth and could live with the extra coverage, of course you would then have to count the rest of Europe and Asia who also use this band. A lot of Europe has wide open spaces just as much as they have cities, there are few countries that don't fit into both categories.
The question, I guess, is how much extra bandwidth are we really getting from those extra 50MHz, or extra coverage from the 50MHz less that determines that there can't just be one standard everywhere in the world.
Of course that's before you get into the fact that some countries may have already allocated the band to something else, making it impossible. (As with USA and the 1700(?)MHz band.

X1a and X1i differ in hardware:
i.e. different UMTS power amps for 850Mhz and 900Mhz
check out:
http://www.phonewreck.com/2008/12/12/sony-ericsson-xperia-x1-review-and-teardown/
also:
http://www.avagotech.com/pages/en/rf_for_mobile_wlan_mmw/mobile_power/w-cdma_pas/
perhaps this hardware cripple was part of the broadcom vs qualcom court ruling

alias_neo said:
...because the 900MHz can easily be set to work at 850MHz in software.
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You could probably make a small fortune telling us how to do that.

George Knighton said:
You could probably make a small fortune telling us how to do that.
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Hehe, like I explained before, and as the poster above has just shown. They are infact made by entirely different manufacturers for different bands, and by software I meant the code actually "burned" into the chips by the manufacturer, ad only by them I meant it could be done, not by some software you install/run on the device.
Anyway, in this case I was incorrect and as I stated earlier, it is possible (which is in fact the case here) that they would use the good old fashioned way of making the chips by actually designing the individual circuits into the silicon directly rather than using programmable chips.
This of course would be because of how critical obtaining an exact frequency is and designing dedicated chips like this ensures that.
In conclusion, you might as well disregard everything I have said on the subject. Either way, it would have made no difference to us the end user, just that the manufacturer could easily (if they wanted) made the cips run either speed.

Determined to shine some light on 3G "850" working on X1i

First, for anyone interested in the subject here is a little list of threads I found discussing the subject:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=565000
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=4579528
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=442144
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=2888831
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=530699
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=2843884
As you can see, there seems to be a lot of contradictory information from seemingly knowledgeable people.
My goal is to find a way to get the X1i on Rogers' 850 band they use in most places where they advertise 3G coverage. This might also be beneficial to some AT&T users as I believe they use the same bands.
I live in a suburb of Montreal. I never get anything better than EDGE and same goes when I am in class on the island of Montreal. However, when I go out once in a while and end up in downtown, in my drunken stupor I notice a little 3G symbol where the E used to be... Ha! My guess is that Rogers is using 850MHz all over the place and 1900MHz downtown. It would make more sense because '850' is better for covering vast areas that aren't so populated and '1900' is better at covering densely populated areas (downtown!).
My phone uses the Sony Ericsson supplied ROM for UK (OEM R3..) with a the 1.17 radio found here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=565182 .
Here's something I discovered that triggered the spark:
-press the call button (get to the dialer)
-press menu (bottom right)
-options
-band
I am now presented with a box to chose my GSM/UMTS band:
"Auto"
"GSM(900+1800)+UMTS(2100+900)"
"GSM(1900+850)+UMTS(1900+850)"
"UMTS(2100)"
UMTS 1900 and 850?? Well well well...
Okay...still EDGE... Another phone (Samsung) supplied by Rogers has 3G right beside me.
Come on people, this really shows that the ROM is intended for a quad band phone. Plus there was a thread that I cannot find anymore with posted PDF's of the phone's chipset specs and it mentioned nothing of the phone being physically different between the X1i and X1a in terms of networking...
I really want to get the ball rolling on this because I have yet to see any solid proof that the X1i cannot do UMTS 850.

you sir, are my savior. thank you for posting and starting this thread. i myself have an X1i in the states and have been reading and reading about this for months on end with lots of conflicting information.
i can connect to HSDPA and Edge network, but never 3G. ONE TIME i saw the 3G logo for about 2 seconds, then it switched over to HSDPA...... i just can't stand the super duper slow edge network

but HSDPA is faster than 3g is it not??

Jonny4911 said:
but HSDPA is faster than 3g is it not??
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correct, but HSDPA doesn't cover everywhere. in some deadspots i'm only on Edge, and i always wonder if i could get 3G instead.....

@ Jonny4911 : HSDPA IS TO 3G what EDGE is to GPRS...that's a good analogy I can think of. Yes, it is faster than regular 3G.
@ asayamalaka : If you have HSDPA, you shouldn't be worrying about 3G Or maybe you meant something else? This little utility should tell you about your connection speed (just type in the address in your phone's browser) : http://www.dslreports.com/mspeed
Until the devs / savvy guys and girls chime in, it would help a lot if anyone can contribute more interesting links to this thread. I am particularly looking for the those PDF's from Qualcomm but I can't find them anymore...
edit:
asayamalaka said:
correct, but HSDPA doesn't cover everywhere. in some deadspots i'm only on Edge, and i always wonder if i could get 3G instead.....
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Oh... I see. Have you tried what's in the first post with the phone setup? See if it helps...

Look with your eyes and not your mouth
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4373262&postcount=12

Hannigan174 said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4373262&postcount=12
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Hannigan is right with this link, in that you cannot force the X1i to use HSDPA/HSPA+ on the 850mhz band, because it is not in the hardware. With all of the knowledgeable people out there, if it was possible to change it by flashing/hacking/etc., then it would have been done by now. I don't believe that we'll see 850mhz HSPA+ on our X1i's.
That being said, I myself have noticed my lil' ol' X1i receiving the "H" symbol while in the boonies (far away from the downtown core). I believe this is because there have been reports that Rogers is ramping up their support for HSPA+ on the 1900mhz band, in preparation for the Olympics out west. If this is the case, then the ODD time that your phone does not find the 850mhz band (or 1900mhz is more prevalent/strong), then it will hop on that frequency and you'll be able to use HSDPA.
What I was looking for, was not a hack to enable 3G on the X1i's 850mhz band, but rather some kind of "band preference" setting where you could force phone to look for and connect to the 1900mhz band over the 850mhz band (or even disable 850mhz all together, but that might give us less reception). As far as I know (and have been hunting the net), this isn't quite possible.
I am thinking that our (well, specifically mine because of where I live), only hope is that if Rogers continues to grow their 1900mhz network which supports HSDPA, and hopefully our X1i's will choose that network over the 850mhz one. My only worry with this is that the phone might see both frequencies, and pick the 850mhz one because it has more penetration in densely packed areas, making it the primary choice for the phone (since the 1900mhz signal would probably be weaker).
Anyways, I'm speculating a bit, as well as reporting the facts that I've heard from users on this forum and others (HowardForums has a topic open as well).
Let's hopefully continue to keep this thread going as a base reference for our issue here, because getting 3G/HSDPA on our X1i's would SIGNIFICANTLY improve our usability!

@andreitu just to clear one thing up for you, the X1i is a quad band phone, however the quad band is only in reference to GSM bands and does not apply to UMTS bands. The X1i is only Tri band UMTS...
To anyone getting the HSDPA in the US with an X1i, it's because the area you are in is served by a UMTS 1900 enabled cell. (i'm in dallas and am almost always on HSDPA on AT&T)...
Also to answer another point which was raised in both in this thread and in this one here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=4373262#post4373262
On AT&T you will almost neevr see just a 3G connection, since AT&T has performed an upgrade t all base stations that enables HSDPA for 3G - so that everyone gets the fast speed possible when connected to 3G...!

scar45 said:
Hannigan is right with this link
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It wasn't just a link, I was quoting myself. It was a link to something I already said in another thread that covered the EXACT same thing.
Maybe I have been here too long, but I am starting to get irritated by seeing the same questions numerous times. I will at least give the thread starter some credit for showing an attempt to look at other threads first, but please do multiple google searches related to your subject before starting a thread.

This question was asked a lot when the phone was new. The 1900/850 option in Phone Settings is just a hardcoded dropdown. It does not magically enable WCDMA on 850MHz on the X1i, the hardware cannot do it.
You can receive 1900MHz signals because the X1i is tri-band 900/1800/2100 (even though the drop down does not indicate so).
In future, please, for the love of god, use search!

rwholden said:
On AT&T you will almost neevr see just a 3G connection, since AT&T has performed an upgrade t all base stations that enables HSDPA for 3G - so that everyone gets the fast speed possible when connected to 3G...!
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i figured this much but wasn't 100% sure. good to know, thanks

I live in california, i also have the x1i, and i have sometimes seen the 3G for like two seconds too. From reading the threads i have noticed that in deed H is faster than 3G, and myself i get H the whole time while in my room but when i go to my friends house downtown i get a "full H reception signal" and oh man dat is even faster than my brothers HTC Fuze>

azteca85 said:
I live in california, i also have the x1i, and i have sometimes seen the 3G for like two seconds too. From reading the threads i have noticed that in deed H is faster than 3G, and myself i get H the whole time while in my room but when i go to my friends house downtown i get a "full H reception signal" and oh man dat is even faster than my brothers HTC Fuze>
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oh man, words can't even describe how fast full blown H is. i think i clocked it at 1mb/sec on a speedtest last week...makes my roommates iphone 3Gs look like a toy. i've always known it was faster than Edge and 3G, just wasn't sure about the 3G till now

asayamalaka said:
oh man, words can't even describe how fast full blown H is. i think i clocked it at 1mb/sec on a speedtest last week...makes my roommates iphone 3Gs look like a toy. i've always known it was faster than Edge and 3G, just wasn't sure about the 3G till now
Click to expand...
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Which is ironic since the iPhone 3GS is HSPA (7.2Mbps) capable...lol. HSPA is fast though. I regularly get between 1.5Mbps and 2.2Mbps here in Raleigh, NC.

Nexus One has hardware to work on AT&T 3G

I was looking at the Nexus One teardown here. http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nexus-One/1654/2
Interesting to note that the RTR6285 RF transceiver does indeed support Band 5 UMTS, which I think is AT&T, according to a cached press release here. http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cach...l+RTR6285+umts+bands&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Note it says...
North American triple-band UMTS (bands 2, 4, 5)
Japanese triple-band UMTS (bands 1, 6, 9)
European, Chinese and rest-of-world triple-band UMTS (bands 1, 3, 8)
Also... the power amplifier SKY77336, according to this document... http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.skyworksinc.com/uploads/documents/200780E.pdf
Does support the GSM850 band. Isn't that AT&T?
So what is really preventing the Nexus One from running on AT&T? Did they just not "bother" to certify it with the FCC because T-Mobile is their launch partner?
This could mean then the radio software, or some other configuration option in the firmware simply has AT&T 3G disabled.
I'll let you guys debate this, but I can't see any hardware reason why this phone couldn't work on AT&T 3G, with proper software/hacking of course.
-James

Actually the real question is, why didn't they certify with the FCC for AT&T 3G? My only idea is that T-Mobile was the launch partner, but the hardware can do AT&T 3G technically, it's just not certified and enabled.
No reason they couldn't certify and enable it later.
And I have to say, I would have no trouble going to T-Mobile, but in Salt Lake City, AT&T coverage is far superior and so are the 3G speed tests. There are many locations my T-Mobile friends can't get make calls to save their life. I hear T-Mobile is much better in other cities.
-James

Doesn't AT&T use both 850 and 1900 for 3G? Does this phone have 1900?

jimbo831 said:
Doesn't AT&T use both 850 and 1900 for 3G? Does this phone have 1900?
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Believe the transceiver and amplifier support both.
I want to get people digging around on this.
-James

Very interesting stuff.
I bet a community could get a pot together and have a prize for whomever can get the n1 working on att first, assuming it actually will work
Thanks for digging up this info, I was actually in the process of starting to research this myself for when I grew tired of living on edge.

Does support the GSM850 band. Isn't that AT&T?
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You've already answered your own question here, GSM is not UMTS.
I'm in the smae boat btw, Telstra in Aus use 850UMTS and I know how painful it can be to have 2G access in most places.

YorikR32 said:
You've already answered your own question here, GSM is not UMTS.
I'm in the smae boat btw, Telstra in Aus use 850UMTS and I know how painful it can be to have 2G access in most places.
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Well technically UMTS is a GSM standard, could be the same thing. Same frequencies certainly.

I was just checking the brochure for the http://www.rfmw.com/data/BRO254-08B.pdf
No where does it make mention of UMTS, like say... T-Mobile's AWS... but it does specifically have the correct frequencies listed for both T-Mobile AWS and AT&T 3G.
I'm going to make the assumption that this indicates it works with UMTS is both bands since it doesn't mention UMTS specifically at all, yet it does work on T-Mobile AWS.

James I love you man! tell me there's a way to "jailbreak" this thing.... what kind of people do we need? someone has to be willing to help with this. Oh why oh why am i only a MBA.... I need a tech degree of some kind!
I don't think it has to do with the FCC. Though we are all in love with the nexus one... remember that google and apple are nearly HALF of the same executive board. They don't want to compete with the golden goose that keeps thier stock portfolio's up that much.
We just need to find out how to activate/change which airwaves this thing is listening too and THEN we will have the first truely unlocked machine!

subscribing to this thread for an outcome.

I've been doing more reading and it seems this isn't the first phone with hardware disabled. I haven't found anything yet on if anyone has made the change yet :+\

Here we go, the Blackstone all over again .

~~Tito~~ said:
Here we go, the Blackstone all over again .
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Well, maybe. The Blackstone has a hardware limitation for the US 3G frequencies. There have been phones in the past that had software limitations that were overcome with a hack. So if the Nexus has the hardware capabilities to do ATT 3G frequencies there is a good chance that someone will figure out how to unlock it.

uh...wow. Yeah, I'll be watching this thread.

Matterhorn said:
Well, maybe. The Blackstone has a hardware limitation for the US 3G frequencies. There have been phones in the past that had software limitations that were overcome with a hack. So if the Nexus has the hardware capabilities to do ATT 3G frequencies there is a good chance that someone will figure out how to unlock it.
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Which phones? Do you have any links we can read so we can start looking for similar solutions?

I found this link to the Diamond on XDA which they supposedly change to 3g at&t but I have read the whole thing it's long.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=432770
I'm still looking for answers! I'm just not smart enough to "create" the answer. I have hope that a future rom will help us but not for a while. For now I'll keep researching.
P.S. my phone comes tommorrow!!!!!!!!11 I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!!111111

The radio chip supports all the UMTS bands it but unfortunately the UMTS power amplifiers (eg. http://www.skyworksinc.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=597) are NOT in the chip. Like the G1 it probably only has amplifiers for 900/1700/2100.
The quadband power amplifier only supports GPRS/EDGE: http://www.skyworksinc.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=437
Looking at the chip diagram here (http://s2.guide-images.ifixit.com/igi/ZhrRALhPFhWyLGKC.large) the two chips next to the SKY77191 look awfully like power amplifiers as well.. if so, conveniently for 900/2100

coolbho3000 said:
The radio chip supports all the UMTS bands it but unfortunately the UMTS power amplifiers (eg. http://www.skyworksinc.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=597) are NOT in the chip. Like the G1 it probably only has amplifiers for 900/1700/2100.
The quadband power amplifier only supports GPRS/EDGE: http://www.skyworksinc.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=437
Looking at the chip diagram here (http://s2.guide-images.ifixit.com/igi/ZhrRALhPFhWyLGKC.large) the two chips next to the SKY77191 look awfully like power amplifiers as well.. if so, conveniently for 900/2100
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Killjoy
jk

Wii60 said:
Killjoy
jk
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Don't get me wrong, I wish this worked on AT&T (points at logo). Guess I'm EDGE-only until my contract expires.
Just wish all carriers would have stuck to one standard

whoever helps figure this out will definitely be getting some donations from me!! i have att and no purpose of buying a N1 without 3g...

Sprint S 4 ve awill it have a GSM sim card for LTE like the HTC one?

Hey guys. Was just curious if anybody has information on whether the S4 will have the LTE sim card like the HTC one or will it have an embedded LTE card like the note 2? I ask because of my work, I live in NY for one month, and then in the caribbean for one month, and back and forth and back and forth. My current phone is the Photon 4G which has the international sim card slot in it, so its easy with that phone. Any help would be appreciated.

It has a sim card right next to the sd card slot behind the phone. Sim is removable as well, I heard rumors that sprint was going to weld it to the mothboard. But it pops in and out really easy.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app

spawn11587 said:
Hey guys. Was just curious if anybody has information on whether the S4 will have the LTE sim card like the HTC one or will it have an embedded LTE card like the note 2? I ask because of my work, I live in NY for one month, and then in the caribbean for one month, and back and forth and back and forth. My current phone is the Photon 4G which has the international sim card slot in it, so its easy with that phone. Any help would be appreciated.
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Yes it does have a removable SIM. See this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2249385
May I ask which carrier do you use your Photon with in the Caribbean and on which Island? I ask this because the bands the One and S4 support are not exactly the same ones as the Photon does.

myphone12345 said:
Yes it does have a removable SIM. See this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2249385
May I ask which carrier do you use your Photon with in the Caribbean and on which Island? I ask this because the bands the One and S4 support are not exactly the same ones as the Photon does.
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Hey man, thank you for the reply.
I go to medical school on the island of Antigua, and currently have my Sprint/Motorola photon 4G with me and have had it since the beginning. I use the cell phone provider called LIME (or Cable and Wireless- depending on who talks about it, and it is GSM). LIME operates on 850 MHz band primarily and 1800 MHz in certain areas on the island, Will the sprint galaxy S4 work fine here?
There is another provider called DIGICEL which utilizes the 900 MHz band.

I am willing to bet that one of the devs here will find a way to unlock it for use in the states. Just a matter of time.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app

spawn11587 said:
Hey man, thank you for the reply.
...
Will the sprint galaxy S4 work fine here?
...
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That depends... Do those providers support 3G (UMTS/WCDMA/HSPA) or are they 2G only?

myphone12345 said:
That depends... Do those providers support 3G (UMTS/WCDMA/HSPA) or are they 2G only?
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I would say its more of a 2G speed. But they advertise it as 3G

spawn11587 said:
I would say its more of a 2G speed. But they advertise it as 3G
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The answer then is, maybe...
For some completely inexplicable reason, it appears that sprint has intentionally disabled the UMTS 850 MHz band on the S4 (and apparently HTC One too) for use worldwide (i.e., not just in the US as they normally do). This band is available in the a photon 4G though. So, if those carriers have deployed UMTS 850 (as many GSM 850 carriers across the world have) then you could very well have a problem, particularly with data speeds. The phone does not have support (disabled or otherwise) for UMTS 900 but neither did the Photon, plus, UMTS 900 tends to be a bit less deployed compared to UMTS 850 anyway. As I said in my the linked thread, I plan on starting a thread on this issue specifically at some point soon.
For 2G GSM the phone is fine though as it is quadband (like the Photon is). We're talking some painfully slow data speeds on 2G however. For 3G GSM, the phone does support UMTS 1900 and 2100.

myphone12345 said:
The answer then is, maybe...
For some completely inexplicable reason, it appears that sprint has intentionally disabled the UMTS 850 MHz band on the S4 (and apparently HTC One too) for use worldwide (i.e., not just in the US as they normally do). This band is available in the a photon 4G though. So, if those carriers have deployed UMTS 850 (as many GSM 850 carriers across the world have) then you could very well have a problem, particularly with data speeds. The phone does not have support (disabled or otherwise) for UMTS 900 but neither did the Photon, plus, UMTS 900 tends to be a bit less deployed compared to UMTS 850 anyway. As I said in my the linked thread, I plan on starting a thread on this issue specifically at some point soon.
For 2G GSM the phone is fine though as it is quadband (like the Photon is). We're talking some painfully slow data speeds on 2G however. For 3G GSM, the phone does support UMTS 1900 and 2100.
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Is there anyway for me to determine with my photon what frequency the data is coming in on?

spawn11587 said:
Is there anyway for me to determine with my photon what frequency the data is coming in on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that's a problem because I believe Sprint disabled the field test menu (##778#) on the Photon. Also, I don't think the Android SDK provides that info to apps so you couldn't install the an app that will tell you that. You could install one of the many mobile network monitor apps on the play store which I would think at least would tell you if you are on GSM or UMTS/WCDMA/HSPA. If you are on UMTS on the Photon there then I'd say there's a good chance you're on 850. That is what LIME's "4G" service in the Bahamas runs on for example.
Anyhoo,let us know what you find out.
EDIT: I think the commonly used ookla "Speed Test" app will also tell you if you are on GSM or UMTS under location:network if you click on one of the test results in history. That migh be you best way of telling. You still won't be able to tell which frequency you're on unfortunately.

Called Lime...and the best they had for me was that they operate on GSM 850/1800/1900 MHz and GPRS data. Not sure if that helps. but I couldnt get any of the programs to function to show if the photon is GSM or UTMS
So I searched a bit for information and found that
LIME - GPRS,GSM - 2G:850 MHz.
According to here http://m2msupport.net/m2msupport/lime-antigua-and-barbuda-m2m-modules-certification-sim-data-plans/
So I am assuming that the S4 will work just like the photon, or am I wrong?

spawn11587 said:
Called Lime...and the best they had for me was that they operate on GSM 850/1800/1900 MHz and GPRS data. Not sure if that helps. but I couldnt get any of the programs to function to show if the photon is GSM or UTMS
So I searched a bit for information and found that
LIME - GPRS,GSM - 2G:850 MHz.
According to here http://m2msupport.net/m2msupport/lime-antigua-and-barbuda-m2m-modules-certification-sim-data-plans/
So I am assuming that the S4 will work just like the photon, or am I wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried running Ookla speed test on their network with the Photon? It should tell you what network they are using in the results history if you click on the result of the test as per my previous message.
If they are truly just plain GSM 2G like what the above indicates then the S4 should be fine.

myphone12345 said:
Have you tried running Ookla speed test on their network with the Photon? It should tell you what network they are using in the results history if you click on the result of the test as per my previous message.
If they are truly just plain GSM 2G like what the above indicates then the S4 should be fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I forgot to mention that. Tried Speed Test / Ookla and all it says in the results history is EDGE, nothing else.

spawn11587 said:
Sorry I forgot to mention that. Tried Speed Test / Ookla and all it says in the results history is EDGE, nothing else.
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If it says EDGE then you will be just fine with the S4.
---------- Post added at 02:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:49 PM ----------
Oh, and I forgot to mention also, you will probably also need to get it unlocked. Unlike the photon, I don't think th S4 comes unlocked out of the box.

I think the info in this thread is inaccurate. The sprint s4 clearly supports 900 and I called and asked a sprint rep if it has a removeable sim and she said yes.

myphone12345 said:
If it says EDGE then you will be just fine with the S4.
---------- Post added at 02:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:49 PM ----------
Oh, and I forgot to mention also, you will probably also need to get it unlocked. Unlike the photon, I don't think th S4 comes unlocked out of the box.
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Thank you greatly myphone12345. For it to be unlocked what has to be done? I read in another thread that I have to call sprint and they will do that for me. Ive been with sprint now for 10 years, so i doubt they would make me wait 90 days.

IamAnnoyed said:
I think the info in this thread is inaccurate. The sprint s4 clearly supports 900 and I called and asked a sprint rep if it has a removeable sim and she said yes.
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GSM 900 (GSM 2G) yes, but not UMTS 900 (GSM 3G, sometimes called "4G" by companies like T-Mobile USA). UMTS-1900 and 2100 are the only international 3G bands supported by the Sprint variant. That is contrary to most US devices that contain international support (including the Motorola Photon 4G), which usually tend to support at least a third 3G band, usually UMTS-850. It's the disabling of UMTS-850 on the S4 (leaving it with only two "high" 3G bands) that's the problem. UMTS-850 is widely deployed across the Americas, plus several other places around the world.
spawn11587 said:
Thank you greatly myphone12345. For it to be unlocked what has to be done? I read in another thread that I have to call sprint and they will do that for me. Ive been with sprint now for 10 years, so i doubt they would make me wait 90 days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you need to call Sprint. This inconsistency with the 90 days is strange. Seems like different CSRs apply the rule to how long you've owned the phone and some to how long your account has been open in good standing. In any case, even if they make you wait, you can always just keep using the Photon overseas and S4 in the 'States until they unlock the S4.
Anyway, Good luck with your studies! Can't think of a sweeter place to do it in.

Hello, guys.
Who looking to unlock own Samsung S4 Sprint - please send to me PM. I have one way which shall to be checked. I'm still don't havemy own Sprint's S4 on hands to check if this way will works

Questions from a european about carriers in CA & US

Hello folks
I hope if there's any right place at xda for what I want to ask it is the "networking" subforum... If not then I'd like to apologize. :angel:
In the near future (heck in about one week!) I'm starting my journey to America. I'll be in New York for two weeks and then go to Toronto. After two to four weeks there I want to start travelling through Canada (backpacking). And as I have half a year time (or as long as my money suffices ) I really want to go everywhere (except for the far northern part of Canada). Now... I am asking myself what would be the best solution in terms of "connectivity"!?
As I am from small Switzerland I don't really know how it works with different carriers covering different areas because here all the carriers cover the whole country so it's nothing I'd consider when choosing a carrier. Is it like roaming when you're in a region where your carrier doesn't have his own antennas but another one has?
Some other questions are:
0. Will my Sony Xperia Z (bought in Norway ) work in CA & US? (Model Number C6603)
1. Is there any possibility to have a number in NYC and also use it for Canada without a lot of trouble?
2. Would you choose to have a contract (I guess you also call it a plan) or would you go with a prepay card for each of the two countries and just load it with money from time to time?
3. I found this pretty neat site called coveragemapper (unfortunately I cannot post the link... ). According to this site Bell / Telus and Rogers Wireless have the best coverage. Do you think either of them is a good choice?
I know xda is everything but a travelers-forum but I thought everyone who's here really knows the different plans and options from each carrier and how it all works! So I hope that you can help me out with some information!
greets from Switzerland
Michel

You will of course have GSM voice coverage, and decent LTE where it is available. 3G coverage is going to be spotty with that model. North America does not use WCDMA Band I which is the ubiquitous default band in most of the world and that model lacks most of the 3G bands used in the US. (As far as I can tell you only have band V available to you)
Yes, frequency bands in North America are a total mess compared with the rest of the world. (And the pervasiveness of cdmaOne and friends make it even worse)

evildave_666 said:
You will of course have GSM voice coverage, and decent LTE where it is available. 3G coverage is going to be spotty with that model. North America does not use WCDMA Band I which is the ubiquitous default band in most of the world and that model lacks most of the 3G bands used in the US. (As far as I can tell you only have band V available to you)
Yes, frequency bands in North America are a total mess compared with the rest of the world. (And the pervasiveness of cdmaOne and friends make it even worse)
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Hi evildave
Thanks for your reply! Okay, that's good to hear at least it'll work. I do have an old Galaxy Nexus which I could use as well if that's any better. But anyways I won't be depending on my internet connection on my travels. At least hopefully.

hell-o-world said:
Hi evildave
Thanks for your reply! Okay, that's good to hear at least it'll work. I do have an old Galaxy Nexus which I could use as well if that's any better. But anyways I won't be depending on my internet connection on my travels. At least hopefully.
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You would have more consistent and reliable data service with the Galaxy Nexus (at the cost of peak speed).

evildave_666 said:
You would have more consistent and reliable data service with the Galaxy Nexus (at the cost of peak speed).
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Okay, thanks. Actually I dislike the Nexus since I am an audiophile and need a lot of memory space for my music. But I'll see, maybe I'll take it anyways and have it as a spare phone.^^