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Are We Ready For 5G Phones?
Next-generation 5G networks are very much in their infancy right now, but that's not stopping smartphone manufacturers from teasing new 5G phones. At Samsung's Galaxy S10 launch event today, Samsung teased the Galaxy S10 5G, a top-tier model of the Galaxy S10 that offers 5G mobile data connectivity. "The device, which has a larger screen and battery than the S10 Plus, will temporarily be a Verizon Wireless exclusive before expanding to other carriers in the weeks after launch," reports The Verge. "It will go on sale sometime 'in the first half of 2019."
Late last year, LG confirmed that its first U.S. 5G phone would debut on Sprint "in the first half of 2019," just as Sprint launches its 5G network. At around the same time, Lenovo unveiled the Moto Z3, a phone that only connects to 5G with a MotoMod modular accessory. It too is expected to arrive early this year -- but there's no mention of how much it'll cost. OnePlus, Nokia, and Huawei are also working on 5G phones expected to arrive sometime this year. The question is: are we ready for 5G phones? Three of the four largest carriers in the U.S. have only just started offering 5G service in select cities. Sprint, the fourth largest U.S. telecommunications company, hasn't even reached this step. Just like the first 4G phones to hit the market, these first-of-their-kind 5G devices look to merely symbolize what the next decade of mobile computing has in store.
Late last year, LG confirmed that its first U.S. 5G phone would debut on Sprint "in the first half of 2019," just as Sprint launches its 5G network. At around the same time, Lenovo unveiled the Moto Z3, a phone that only connects to 5G with a MotoMod modular accessory. It too is expected to arrive early this year -- but there's no mention of how much it'll cost. OnePlus, Nokia, and Huawei are also working on 5G phones expected to arrive sometime this year. The question is: are we ready for 5G phones? Three of the four largest carriers in the U.S. have only just started offering 5G service in select cities. Sprint, the fourth largest U.S. telecommunications company, hasn't even reached this step. Just like the first 4G phones to hit the market, these first-of-their-kind 5G devices look to merely symbolize what the next decade of mobile computing has in store.
I hear their 5Ge phones work great -- just as well as their 4G / LTE phones!
[ Personally, I don't think AT&T can get dumped on enough for this crap... ]
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
The chip sets are shipping, phones are being engineered and built, carriers are buying spectrum space, vendors are starting to ship the equipment and the marketing blitz is already on.
It doesn't matter if you are ready or not, it's going to happen unless there is some huge unforeseen world/national event that makes it financially impossible. It's happening, like it or not.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
My cat will enjoy it.
looky here! super fast! Now you can go through your data cap in 5 minutes and get throttled to 5 kbps.
5g is pure marketing and will be for a long time.
Serious question. I have an S4 and it's time to upgrade after 6 years and some flakiness lately. So the S10 will likely be my phone for another six years. Is 5G really close enough to get the capability, or will it be six years before it is worthwhile? I do not live in a heavily urban area, so there is that. TIA
How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
So at the current mobile data rates and caps, mobile carriers will either have to charge 100's of dollars for a single 5G plan (maybe 1000+), or admit that they've been price gouging for mobile data for many years.
Remember when we on EDGE and 3G was going to supposedly solved everyone's problems? So 3G gets here and then everyone is bitching about when will we get 4G. So finally 4G is here and all of a sudden now it's not good enough, we need 5G.
Seriously, how soon before people start clamoring for 6G?
We get it, /. Editors are all over Samsung ads instead of giving $10 blows under the bridge
Get a MiFi for whatever the current name is.
This will allow your phone, tablet, laptop, gaming console, etc, to be online for less than a typical voice plan.
Want a sleek phone for a night out and a rugged one for a day on the construction site? They'll both work with the MiFi.
Getting a SIP/VoIP number, if you don't want Google Voice, is easier than ever.
Yep, I never spell check.
More incorrect spellings can be found he
"Tempers are wearing thin. Let's just hope some robot doesn't kill everybody." --Bender
Given the scarce data volumes sold at outrageous prices, 3G was already fast enough to exploit one's "included volume" quickly. When 4G became active, I hardly noticed any difference - the phone was usable for the same kinds of use cases as before, and unusable because of price per volume for everything else. I do not see how 5G is going to change that. Does it matter if it takes a few minutes or a few seconds to burn through your traffic-per-month?
So, what... we'll then be able to burn through our data caps in only a few minutes?
Clearly the push for 5G is driven by potential profit.
That is the nature of our world.
But how does 5G provide this new cash?
Will it just force consumers to buy more expensive services and equipment?
Or will it offer such a wonderful future that consumers will demand it?
The Comms business seems like the IRS - everytime they make a change, we end up paying more.
We all know how this is going to work. Because it's going to be exactly like every "G" rollout that happened in the past.
Stage 0 - ATT will re-name a later revision of the existing standard as a bullshit marketing move. Nobody but insufferable nerds on the internet will really care.
Stage 1- Phones with support will roll out. Being first gen chips they will run hot and have terrible battery life, but it will be a major advertising point for the phones.
Stage 2- Carriers will get towers that support the new data rate in small parts of major cities. The rollout will be so limited that nobody will notice any real difference but it will be a major advertising point for the carriers.
Stage 3- Rollout in large cities will progress as carriers replace their hardware to meet demand. Phones will get bug fixes but in general implementations will be new so the net result will be meh.
Stage 4 - Second generation chips will become available. Apple will announce support using 2nd gen chips as carrier rollout finally becomes significant enough to actually make a difference. Apple, as usual, will be fashionably late to the party and deliver the most usable devices to the most consumers and have the overall best end-user experience using the new technology.
Stage 5 - The other phone makers will catch up to Apple and roll out 2nd gen devices pretty quickly. Rollout among carriers will be pretty much network wide, save rural areas. Everyone is happy.
What does it do that my phone doesn't do? Like, right now? It's fine. It's fast enough, I think. I just don't really notice it. Which means it's working fine and I'm just not sure what I'd want 5G for?
Hardware is ready for consumer. With real "5" and "G" GUI letters to show working 5G.
Tower is in place for telco.
People know of the "internet" so the content is not new.
Faster networks is the only thing to consider.
Got the super fast new networks from the 5G tower needed to keep up with all the users doing fast internet all day at the same time?
Did your telco make the extra large network investment?
Well did it?
5G, 5G, save me with the smartphone and the lag, lag, lag.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Just what the fuck exactly is 5G anyway?
I thought was was a high frequency, high bandwidth thing but the last article talked about low frequencies and other stuff like IoT. Umm, why would my fridge and lightbulbs need GB/s connections to ANYTHING anyway?
I thought it was really short range. But we won't have a zillion towers with 100 GB/s connections to them...if so, then just plug me into that line instead please and my phone can limp along on leftovers.
Pay as I go data (1st gig free) which I never use because of free wifi.
No way I am ditching this plan.
Once 5G comes out I wonder how much an "unlimited data" plan becomes. 5GB? 10GB? 1TB?
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Asking for a friend.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
My "4G" enabled Moto G6 has a big "LTE" logo next to the signal bars. Didn't that stand for Long Term Evolution? Wasn't it supposed to mean that they would eventually give us real 4G speeds if we all bought modems and handsets first?
WTF ever happened to FINISHING the 4G rollout?
I'll take the 36 month trade in....when my 1 year old phone is 3 years old, I'll consider an upgrade.
Gives 24 months for phone manufacturers + carriers to work on the bugs in the first generation hardware.
Re-purposing old advice: Don't buy the first year a new car model is made (advice from my grandparents).
Surprisingly often how good the older generation's advice works in current day.
I am on AT&T and just got 5G before everyone else! So says my status bar!
...an onion, which is the style of the man about town.
15GB cap is not going to replace home Internet att much less an $500 modem
https://www.anandtech.com/show...
Fuck no. At 5G speeds some spammy underclick or background downloader will blow through my datacap before I can kill my phone.
Cellular is out of control. We need government intervention to break up the monopolies or even just nationalize the internet and make it a public utility like the post office ..
i hope they can go high tech with this:
a device that can teleport soundwaves from one device to another device far away.
input some numbers and a person in a far away country will hear your voice coming out of theirs.
i dont really care for this email, surfing, tracking and targeted advertisment stuff that this "wormhole" technology allows so you can keep the complex cpu and software but will take the week-long quick charging battery and extremly good sound quality, thank you very much.
If you're the kind of person with more money than sense, and an overwhelming urge to constantly let everyone know you have the latest stuff, then yes, you are ready as always to throw your money in the lake.
With the increased network capacity of 5G, data caps might finally be removed or at least significantly increased. The data caps are not there only because the telcos are stingy, they have a limited capacity and need to limit the usage somehow. Without caps, and with increased individual bandwidth, we might be able to cut our DSL connections, relying only on mobile internet. Perhaps. That's something new, or at least almost new.
I'll be out of my 'unlimited downloads' in minutes instead of hours that month.
Personally I dont think we need it.... 3G was enough for what I do on my phone...
This is just an excuse to change gear and get us an upgraded bill....
...is that even on 4G in the U.S. we aren't getting close to the speeds that were originally promised for 3G. With 3G we were promised speeds as fast a 100mbps and in reality is was maybe 3-5mbps. Now with 4G most markets won't deliver speeds close to half of that. And now we're told that 5G will be able to replace dedicated circuits with the same speed and reliability? I call BS. I am VERY skeptical.
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
Why 5g though? High frequency low range, power hungry? Why not wait for a better development?
Also, not to get too tinfoil, but blasting yourself with high frequency radiation will certainly have an effect on your biology and mental state.
And due to the low range we'll see way stations having to be placed everywhere, meaning you'll not really be able to get out of a radiated zone easily, can't really opt out of that
I have an 8GB/month plan, and that's actually quite large for a Canadian consumer. There are very few plans larger than that, and they cost an arm and a leg. I'm already really stingy with downloading things just so I can make sure I'm not paying overages. What the hell do I care about a faster network? I don't want to get through this data any faster, and frankly, I don't have a lot more I can download. I spend a lot of time in wifi range (though my mobile data is more reliable than a lot of those wifi networks; I'll switch over sometimes just so I don't have to wait), and most of what I'm downloading is podcast episodes or my instagram feed.
At least here, this is just going to be an excuse to raise prices again without any meaningful difference in my service. No thanks.
5g unleashed. 6 months later, Cancer rates through the roof.