Brandon Miniman
12-03-2006, 06:13 PM
Here is part two of the UMTS post, as promised.
Before we talk about speed – it’s important to know whether you’ll be able to receive UMTS signals in your area. Cingular has provided a coverage map, here (http://www.cingular.com/coverageviewer/), that shows where their 3G network is currently available. When you zoom down to the city level, you can select the box “Show 3G.” The map is updated every 1-2 months.
I’m in a suburb 30 minutes outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Though there’s no UMTS coverage at my house, it can be found just 10 minutes to the east and north, and certainly in the city itself. Last I heard, Cingular would have a large blanket of coverage over the US by the end of this year - so unless you live in the middle of no where, you'll be fine.
So let’s talk about speed. Using the DSL Report mobile speed test, found here (http://www.dslreports.com/mspeed?jisok=1), I clocked about 160kbps over EDGE (as expected) and a very nice 850-980kbps over UMTS. Do I "feel" the difference between EDGE and UMTS? Yes, very much, especially when streaming media with Orb. It’s akin to the jump from dial-up to DSL – pages load faster, making it easier to navigate on the internet. When the BlackJack receives a UMTS signal, it says “3G” in the corner and notification area, instead of “U” or “E.”
A lot of how fast the device feels with cellular broadband is determined by how well the hardware handles it. I'd be interested to see if the BlackJack, with a 220MHz OMAP processor, can handle blazing HSDPA speeds. Other 3G devices such as the HTC Hermes pack a quicker processor for this reason.
Navigation: Day 1 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3914), Day 2 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3919), Day 3 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3920), Day 4 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3921), Day 5 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3926), Day 6 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3932)
Before we talk about speed – it’s important to know whether you’ll be able to receive UMTS signals in your area. Cingular has provided a coverage map, here (http://www.cingular.com/coverageviewer/), that shows where their 3G network is currently available. When you zoom down to the city level, you can select the box “Show 3G.” The map is updated every 1-2 months.
I’m in a suburb 30 minutes outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Though there’s no UMTS coverage at my house, it can be found just 10 minutes to the east and north, and certainly in the city itself. Last I heard, Cingular would have a large blanket of coverage over the US by the end of this year - so unless you live in the middle of no where, you'll be fine.
So let’s talk about speed. Using the DSL Report mobile speed test, found here (http://www.dslreports.com/mspeed?jisok=1), I clocked about 160kbps over EDGE (as expected) and a very nice 850-980kbps over UMTS. Do I "feel" the difference between EDGE and UMTS? Yes, very much, especially when streaming media with Orb. It’s akin to the jump from dial-up to DSL – pages load faster, making it easier to navigate on the internet. When the BlackJack receives a UMTS signal, it says “3G” in the corner and notification area, instead of “U” or “E.”
A lot of how fast the device feels with cellular broadband is determined by how well the hardware handles it. I'd be interested to see if the BlackJack, with a 220MHz OMAP processor, can handle blazing HSDPA speeds. Other 3G devices such as the HTC Hermes pack a quicker processor for this reason.
Navigation: Day 1 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3914), Day 2 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3919), Day 3 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3920), Day 4 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3921), Day 5 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3926), Day 6 (http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=3932)