Any info about T700w GSM? or 700P ?

[whoster69]

Yeah I saw that as well. To further complicate matters here's another rumor that states a GSM version of the 700p will be released in August.

http://palmaddict.typepad.com/palmad...00p_gsm_o.html

[Andrew Ruess]

Originally Posted by whoster69

Yeah I saw that as well. To further complicate matters here's another rumor that states a GSM version of the 700p will be released in August.

http://palmaddict.typepad.com/palmad...00p_gsm_o.html

I find myself in a real quandry. Should I wait two to four months for the supposed Palm Treo 700p-like device to appear for GSM? And what if they don't have HSDPA capabilities? As people have said, "the Palm OS version would not support UMTS because the OS would nearly have to be rewritten (underway by the way) in order to do the multi-tasking and switching necessary to handle that standard."

So if that is true, I think I would rather jump to Sprint before their SERO plan expires this Friday, June 30, 2006. $30 for 500 minutes, unlimited web/Nights & Weekends/Mobile to Mobile, and can probably get 100 free text messages added from the retentions department before 14 days is up.

I mean, what is the point of waiting for a GSM 700p if it won't have any sort of high-speed connectivity?

But I am glad that Palm is moving forward with its deployment of new Treos and platforms.

[whoster69]

What are HSDPA and UMTS?

I'm new to all of this and trying to learn. Any explanation would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Andrew Ruess]

High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is a new mobile telephony protocol and is sometimes referred to as a 3.5G (or "3½G") technology. In this respect it extends WCDMA in the same way that EV-DO extends CDMA2000. HSDPA provides a smooth evolutionary path for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) networks allowing for higher data capacity (up to 14.4 Mbit/s in the downlink). It is an evolution of the W-CDMA standard, designed to increase the available data rate by a factor of 5 or more. HSDPA defines a new W-CDMA channel, the high-speed downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) that operates in a different way from existing W-CDMA channels, but is only used for downlink communication to the mobile.

1x Evolution-Data Optimized, abbreviated as EV-DO or 1xEV-DO and often EVDO, is a wireless radio broadband data standard adopted by many CDMA mobile phone service providers in Japan, Korea, the Czech Republic, Russia, Latvia, Romania, Portugal, Brazil, Israel, the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Venezuela, Angola, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. It is standardized by 3GPP2, as part of the CDMA family of standards. 1xEV-DO is pronounced "Wun-Ex E-Vee-Dee-Oh." It is commonly referred in the industry as DO ("Dee-Oh").

So, simply, the current cell phones throughout the world are classified into two major groups (there are other smallers standards like iDEN that Nextel uses): CDMA & GSM.

The GSM standard now has over 2 billion users (supposedly) worldwide and use SIM cards to power phones. The benefit of the SIM card is that you can change the terminal (phone) to any other GSM phone without having to let your service provider know. The GSM standard sends data through a superstandard called GPRS. The next evolution of GSM/GPRS is UMTS/HSDPA. It will increase communications to DSL/cable modem like speeds and beyond. UMTS is called a 3G (third generation) technology because of its sequential development to GSM/GPRS (which are 2G and 2.5G respectively). HSDPA is called a 3.5G technology because it is a superstandard to UMTS, much as GPRS was to GSM.

Note: UMTS is a form of W-CDMA, which is is not to be confused with normal CDMA. A company called Qualcomm essentially created both technologies, hedging their bets. If CDMA/EVDO win out, they still make money. If W-CDMA/UMTS/HSDPA win out, they still make money. =)

The CDMA standard is an opposing technology that has something like 200 million users (supposedly) that does not use SIM cards. This means that if you want to change phones you must do so through your service provider. The CDMA standard sends data through a superstandard called CDMA2000 1xRTT (commonly called 1x). The next evolution of CDMA/1x is called EV-DO, and promises increased download capabilities to the handset.

[Andrew Ruess]

Of course, a lot of people like GSM more than CDMA.

1) The ubiquity of the GSM standard makes international roaming very common between mobile phone operators, enabling subscribers to use their phones in many parts of the world.

2) The key advantage of GSM systems has been higher digital voice quality and low cost alternatives to making calls such as text messaging.

3) One of the key features of GSM is the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), commonly known as a SIM card. The SIM is a detachable smart card containing the user's subscription information and phonebook. This allows the user to retain his information after switching handsets. Alternatively, the user can also change operators while retaining the handset simply by changing the SIM.

And HSDPA has a clear upgrade path, which is called HSUPA (High-Speed Uplink Packet Access). HSUPA will allow extremely high upload speeds up to 5.76 mbits/s, which is about 8 times faster than the upload speed you might have on your cable modem right now. Some new HSDPA/HSUPA chipsets will be full spec, meaning that they will be software upgradable to faster speeds in the future.

EV-DO does not have a clear upgrade apth, meaning that a new technology must be made and selected to replace EV-DO once it cannot compete with the upper end of HSUPA. This means even newer phones to replace existing ones. EV-DO will make itself faster by using more data channels, which is something that cannot be upgraded through software on the device (it will require new hardware).

So, in the end, in the next year you might be able to buy a GSM-based phone or connection card that will get faster over the next five years and take advantage of the newest cell speed technology. CDMA phones and cards will not have that capability.

[whoster69]

Great information Andrew!

Thank you very much! I'll be making a copy of those posts!

[rambo47]

Another advantage of GSM phones over CDMA phones of the same model is longer battery life.