[Q] LTE - Motorola Photon 4G

so sprint just announced there first lte network area, and i just happen to live smack dab in the middle
http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/28/sprint-caps-year-of-network-vision-milestones-with-first-lte-clu/
so other than huge jumping jacks being done by me, how likely is it that our/my phone will be able to be the new baddest MoPho on the planet?
**edit** wrong link

Photon doesn't have an LTE radio so its not like you'll get to use it *jealousy shrug* lol. LTE sprint phones should make an appearance on sprint's line up some time next year. I'm thinking after the summer or Q4.

i thought i read somewhere that the photon had a dual wimax/lte chip?

bullfrog527 said:
i thought i read somewhere that the photon had a dual wimax/lte chip?
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Nope lol. Just wimax, cdma 1x evdo, and the gsm bands. I don't think there's a single phone on the market that has both wimax and lte if it is I bet you won't find in the US.
http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_photon_4g_mb855-3987.php

bullfrog527 said:
i thought i read somewhere that the photon had a dual wimax/lte chip?
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Theres been rumors it does and that motorola has been hiding it..
We wont know until motorola releases the official full hardware specs of the phone this month (i think around mid this month) along with the phones kernel
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TheChronicDroid said:
Theres been rumors it does and that motorola has been hiding it..
We wont know until motorola releases the official full hardware specs of the phone this month (i think around mid this month) along with the phones kernel
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
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There's no way they could hide it lol. The phone would have to be thicker to include a wimax and LTE radio. Again, there's no phone in the US that has this and I assure you the photon isn't going to be the one. There's been plenty of complete tear downs/videos and a wimax radio was alone. No LTE. I doubt they would "hide it" then reveal it. That doesn't really make sense to a marketing standpoint; if it had an LTE radio sprint would market the **** out of the photon to make money since the photon would be the only phone in the world with that combo.

I've been told many times by Motorola & Sprint that it has LTE, and we will get it in a software update. I am going to wait and see. Who knows, we may be surprised, although I am not counting on it.

kennypow3rs said:
There's no way they could hide it lol. The phone would have to be thicker to include a wimax and LTE radio. Again, there's no phone in the US that has this and I assure you the photon isn't going to be the one. There's been plenty of complete tear downs/videos and a wimax radio was alone. No LTE. I doubt they would "hide it" then reveal it. That doesn't really make sense to a marketing standpoint; if it had an LTE radio sprint would market the **** out of the photon to make money since the photon would be the only phone in the world with that combo.
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Then why else would they not release there specs till january around the same time sprint reveals a big suprise at ces the 10th and motorola be the first company around the same time as development of this phone talk with beceem to create a wiimax+lte chip anddd they could not release that info to sell sprints other phones for the time being then the people who have those phones but want lte when available would have to buy the photon?.. also like the guy said above me many sprint stores will tell you there will be an update for lte on our phones.. And the phone wouldnt be that much thicker at all if it was anyways its already a lil thick compared to samsung phones... The only tear downs ive seen couldnt get past the metal plating covering the radios.. If they did the lte+wiimax chip is a pretty simple looking chip so easily missed.. Not saying your wrong just saying I do believe there is a possibility and listed all the arguements ive heard stating why (ive also validated those arguements too) either way I love this phone!!
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium

I guess I'll be one of the first to find out! It would be really cool if it is true, oh well if not.

bullfrog527 said:
I guess I'll be one of the first to find out! It would be really cool if it is true, oh well if not.
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Do you plan on doing a teardown and soldering off the metal plates? Because if so yoyu would settle a long time rumor and possibly make it to engadget or phandroid. Either way I'm excited.
Sent from the MY perspective EVO SHIFT 4G using xda premium

I meant ill find out if it does when they turn on the network and update the software on our phones.

bullfrog527 said:
I meant ill find out if it does when they turn on the network and update the software on our phones.
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You willing to put a little wager on that? You're not getting an update because it doesn't have LTE in the phone lol.
Hey chronic you wanna bet?

deedscreen said:
I've been told many times by Motorola & Sprint that it has LTE, and we will get it in a software update. I am going to wait and see. Who knows, we may be surprised, although I am not counting on it.
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I work for corporate Sprint and can say that the Motorola Photon 4G does not have a LTE chipset in it nor do any of the smartphones in current product line up have one either. Go into a Sprint S&R Center and have a TSR show you the MoBo of a MoPho and you'll see the chipset is a WiMax one. The Sprint market where LTE has been turned up is immaterial in the sense that they are not any devices currently available to take advantage of it. I would suggest people to tune into CES 2012 where we will make announcements pertaining to various technologies to be deployed as well as new products and services

I've been telling these dudes this lol.

Oh well, I guess it was just another wet dream!

wireless.praying.mantis said:
I work for corporate Sprint and can say that the Motorola Photon 4G does not have a LTE chipset in it nor do any of the smartphones in current product line up have one either.
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Was told by Motorola this same thing... however, was told also that they're working on an LTE phone for Sprint... for some reason, Sprint & Motorola don't get along that well...

So if us cellular has a LTE network in select cities, could the electrify have the lte radio? Or do they have another 4G phone in the works?

Now would it be possible that they made the photon with the beacem 500 for the purpose of having a test phone for the network for when they were testing their lte network?
Sent from the MY perspective EVO SHIFT 4G using xda premium

bullfrog527 said:
So if us cellular has a LTE network in select cities, could the electrify have the lte radio? Or do they have another 4G phone in the works?
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From everything I've read from US Cellular, our phone wont do 4g. (this wont surprise some, but there were/are people holding out hope). Just read there announcement today that they have several new phones and a tablet in "R&D" for there new 4g network. Supposed to debut in select areas in June, if memory serves.
Sent from my CWM OC'd CM7 Electrify.

Sprint store reps don't know
I was due for a phone update and asked a rep in one of the Sprint corporate store about the LTE 4G that is coming out and does the current phones have the hardware to be able to use this and was told that all of the current top 4G phones (Galaxy II s, HTC Evo 3D, Motorola Photon, etc..) will be able to use the LTE 4G. Now that I have a Photon and will be stuck for 22 months should I return it and wait for a LTE 4G phone to upgrade to? I thought it was probably tgtbt that the current phones would be able to support the new LTE 4G. I probably should contact someone in Sprint about what customers are being told to make a sale!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Related

New Photon feedback and info about new sprint 4g LTE network

I just got mine today and so far im very happy. The pentile display isn't at all noticeable (and im pretty nit picky). The rep did say that it appears that they've improved the screen on newer stock. I timed my purchase so that if the epic 4g touch (galaxy s 2) comes out next month as is expected then i should still be in the 30 day return policy.
On another note, i found out today that apparently sprint is switching to or adding a 4g LTE network. Not sure if this will replace wimax or supplement it. So far I've heard this from three different sprint employees who i know and trust.
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jdverley said:
On another note, i found out today that apparently sprint is switching to or adding a 4g LTE network. Not sure if this will replace wimax or supplement it. So far I've heard this from three different sprint employees who i know and trust.
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Sorry not trying to be mean or anything but that's not news. It's been reported for a while now.
Sent from my PHOTON blaster!
+1
inimitableac said:
Sorry not trying to be mean or anything but that's not news. It's been reported for a while now.
Sent from my PHOTON blaster!
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Sent from my gingerbreaded delight using XDA App
Yeah Sprint signed a deal to install LTE, and since Sprint has stopped with their Wimax installs I would say that they are switching gears and going to LTE instead of Wimax. From what the network engineers have told me, its a simple software upgrade so I'm hoping my new Photon will not be obsolete.
I'm not 100% on a simple software upgrade but after LTE is put up wimax will still be around for a year or 2 after the fact so we won't be obsolete for that time frame...
If you are close to upgrading now, you shouldn't wait it will be awhile before they start releasing phones for LTE,
I work for sprint and we have got newsletters that Dan Hesse will announce our 4g lte plans in october.
Lightsquare is the company sprint signed the deal with
And more than that it will be a while before there is a wide LTE deployment anywhere but a major city. LTE isn't going to be a serious factor for most sprint customers for two years at least.
(I live in a city with one million people in the metro area and we still don't have WiMAX... I'm not holding my breath for 4g service anytime soon.)
One thing to keep in mind, is that Sprint could very well continue to make use of WiMAX alongside of LTE technology. WiMAX is PURELY for data, whereas LTE is used for both. There is no reason why LTE has to necessarily replace WiMAX.
predwing said:
Yeah Sprint signed a deal to install LTE, and since Sprint has stopped with their Wimax installs I would say that they are switching gears and going to LTE instead of Wimax. From what the network engineers have told me, its a simple software upgrade so I'm hoping my new Photon will not be obsolete.
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From my understanding it's not just a simple sofware upgrade for phones. The Photon doesn't have the LTE radios installed to receive the signal.
VDub2174 said:
From my understanding it's not just a simple sofware upgrade for phones. The Photon doesn't have the LTE radios installed to receive the signal.
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But from what I have read and have been corrected in another thread the LTE will be on 3 different spectrum's not just one like Verizon. There is some website that shows the hardware differences and stuff and in there is info on how they will implement LTE.
Snippet from http://www.sprintusers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=219837
Currently, Sprint/Nextel/Clear has three different protocols on three different spectrum bands distibuted on 82,000 towers. By comparison, Verizon and AT&T have about 40,000 towers each. Network Vision will reduce the number of towers to around 45,000 to 50,000 towers, while setting up the remaining towers to handle all three spectrum bands (800 MHz, 1.9 GHz, and 2.5 GHz) and any protocol (CDMA, Wimax, LTE, etc). This will provide Sprint with substantial savings in maintenance costs.
No WiMax yet
In Omaha we don't even have WiMax yet, does this mean we never will and the Photon will never be more than a 3G phone?
I'm a.happy e3d owner but knowing that the photon is a world phone with gsm radios on top of cdma I have a question..now that you guys have an unlocked bootloader (congratulations) do you think its possible that the photon will be able to run on t mobile or at&t LTE bands or at least hspa+ That would be pretty sick knowing that Wimax on sprint is.pretty useless at least for me...
I'm a Sprint Product Launch Ambassador for the Photon 4G and a corporate Sprint Technician.
The Network is upgradable, but the phones are not. Choose to upgrade today and I'll bet you a fiver you'll be up for upgrade again by the time LTE is actually flipped on.
The Network Vision equipment is so modular, that multiple technologies can be run in one single Base Station. Easy to upgrade, switch out, and plenty of slots to run LTE + Wimax concurrently.
I highly doubt our network engineers are going to get a mandate that states shut down Wimax on X day, and leave all users out in the cold with those devices. That doesn't make any sense whatsoever. It will be just like the current migration of Iden, those who choose to move over to CDMA on their next upgrade can do so, those who choose not to (that NEED PTT as a requirement) will have the option to use the new Direct Connect Network when they are ready to upgrade phones later...as it's easier to just drop the Iden line of Phones and carry the next gen CDMA Nextel line in it's place for upgraders to choose from. Something that will give us a 2 year buffer for those clinging to the PTT service as a must before it's shut down completely...but by then, no one will have not had the opportunity during an upgrade to choose CDMA totally or the new CDMA PTT services.
So, that means those cities that don't already have WiMax will still get it on schedule in spite of the move to LTE?
Theoretically isn't going to work, I don't want to be stuck with a 3G phone for two years. I REALLY like this phone, but I am seriously considering taking it back and switching to Verizon for the similar Bionic. I don't want a monster phone crippled by 3G slowness.......
dustbuckets said:
Theoretically isn't going to work, I don't want to be stuck with a 3G phone for two years. I REALLY like this phone, but I am seriously considering taking it back and switching to Verizon for the similar Bionic. I don't want a monster phone crippled by 3G slowness.......
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You really shouldn't let 4g be the deciding factor. I have 4g where I live and I don't even use it once a month. 4g is a battery hog. Besides even if it wasn't and you were putting 4g to good use on Verizon your bill would be through the roof.
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
Switch to verizon if you want to pay $80 a month for 10 gigs of data.
dustbuckets said:
Theoretically isn't going to work, I don't want to be stuck with a 3G phone for two years. I REALLY like this phone, but I am seriously considering taking it back and switching to Verizon for the similar Bionic. I don't want a monster phone crippled by 3G slowness.......
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Sent from my MB855 using XDA App
dustbuckets said:
Theoretically isn't going to work, I don't want to be stuck with a 3G phone for two years. I REALLY like this phone, but I am seriously considering taking it back and switching to Verizon for the similar Bionic. I don't want a monster phone crippled by 3G slowness.......
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I can count on my thumb how many times I have switched on 4G on my Photon the last two weeks.

First cluster of Sprint LTE cell sites goes live

While not Evo 3D related, sprint is moving forward with their Network Vision plan. Everyone has to start somewhere.
http://www.goodandevo.net/2011/12/f...int-marks-major-network-vision-milestone.html
I hope this means good things for me. I'm about an hour drive north of where they started with lte
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this is great because Sprint has so many LTE phones to choose from.
Hopefully the deployment will go much better than the joke that was the deployment of Wimax.
newboyx said:
Hopefully the deployment will go much better than the joke that was the deployment of Wimax.
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Yeah, hope they keep their promise of every customer having LTE by 2013. Haha
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This is saddening yet joyful
t3project said:
this is great because Sprint has so many LTE phones to choose from.
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bwahahahahahaahahaha
This is why I'm waiting until long after my renewal upgrade is available (march) to re-sign. I'd be an idiot to waste my upgrade on a phone that can't take advantage of the coming upgraded tech. I'm hoping my 3D is only going to be needed for 6mths or so.
The sprint towers being deployed for lte are multimodal. Meaning they support multiple bands and would give us better signal all around and faster 3g when they do the 800 mhz switch.
Also I've read rumored (I know rumors are just that) that sprint may release phones that support both lte and wimax in 1 chip. If you upgrade to 1 of those earlier models coming out, you should be in the clear. We'll see though.
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gk1984 said:
The sprint towers being deployed for lte are multimodal. Meaning they support multiple bands and would give us better signal all around and faster 3g when they do the 800 mhz switch.
Also I've read rumored (I know rumors are just that) that sprint may release phones that support both lte and wimax in 1 chip. If you upgrade to 1 of those earlier models coming out, you should be in the clear. We'll see though.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
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That would be awesome.
Jayavarman said:
That would be awesome.
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Too bad it's totally false. It's either going to be a WiMax device or an LTE device (for 4G phones.)
gk1984 said:
The sprint towers being deployed for lte are multimodal. Meaning they support multiple bands and would give us better signal all around and faster 3g when they do the 800 mhz switch.
Also I've read rumored (I know rumors are just that) that sprint may release phones that support both lte and wimax in 1 chip. If you upgrade to 1 of those earlier models coming out, you should be in the clear. We'll see though.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
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Watches YouTube video battery dies lol
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It took Sprint how long to release a Wimax phone after the first Wimax tower was put up?
As I recall, Sprint was only selling Wimax data cards for quite a while before the Evo 4G launched.
If history repeats, Sprint won't have an LTE (or network optimized, whatever) phone for quite a while. And when they do get one, they will probably require all kinds of increased fees and plans in order to get it.
I hope I'm wrong, but my faith in Sprint is pretty low these days.
WatermelonSlim said:
It took Sprint how long to release a Wimax phone after the first Wimax tower was put up?
As I recall, Sprint was only selling Wimax data cards for quite a while before the Evo 4G launched.
If history repeats, Sprint won't have an LTE (or network optimized, whatever) phone for quite a while. And when they do get one, they will probably require all kinds of increased fees and plans in order to get it.
I hope I'm wrong, but my faith in Sprint is pretty low these days.
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I'm with you on that one, Slim. I switched to Sprint 18 months ago (EVO 4G) on the promise of 4G. Now, my bustling college town 100 miles from DC STILL doesn't have Wimax, 3G is STILL a joke here and there's no way I can reasonably expect LTE to be implemented here for at least another year or so. Oh yeah, and voice coverage is so bad that walking inside a one-story brick building, my office, routinely causes dropped calls.
WatermelonSlim said:
It took Sprint how long to release a Wimax phone after the first Wimax tower was put up?
As I recall, Sprint was only selling Wimax data cards for quite a while before the Evo 4G launched.
If history repeats, Sprint won't have an LTE (or network optimized, whatever) phone for quite a while. And when they do get one, they will probably require all kinds of increased fees and plans in order to get it.
I hope I'm wrong, but my faith in Sprint is pretty low these days.
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read up much? obv not....
WiMax was up well before Sprint had a WiMax phone b/c Clearwire had WiMax up and was doing nothing but data plans for people.
Regardless of History the VP Sprint has already stated many times their first LTE phone will come around 2nd half of 2012. Lately being more specific he said it looks like 3rd qtr of 2012.
You can say what you want about their lack of wimax in cities after saying they would have it but i bet you wont find where the VP was stating wimax would be in city X by time X and then they failed to comply. Most of the claims of wimax coming to city X's are from sprint reps which we all know is complete crap. All the other statements are very general.
LTE phone will be on sprints network next year i guarantee it, willing to bet whatever you want on that. The WiMax rollout is completely different than the LTE rollout. LTE already has its suppliers signed up and set to roll out in their respective sections of the US. On top of that they have Lightsquared coming in too doing their LTE, and then in future after 2015 you have Clearwire going LTE.
newboyx said:
Hopefully the deployment will go much better than the joke that was the deployment of Wimax.
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LOL, right?
I manage to live in this pocket of the bay area that technology has forgot. I don't get it. There's almost literally money falling out of trees here (or, off of vines, I suppose ) but the technology is SO far behind in every way.
Next time I move I will be paying a LOT more attention to the technology aspect of where I am going. I won't be holding my breath expecting to get LTE here by 2013, and probably no where near then.
sgt. slaughter said:
read up much? obv not....
WiMax was up well before Sprint had a WiMax phone b/c Clearwire had WiMax up and was doing nothing but data plans for people.
Regardless of History the VP Sprint has already stated many times their first LTE phone will come around 2nd half of 2012. Lately being more specific he said it looks like 3rd qtr of 2012.
You can say what you want about their lack of wimax in cities after saying they would have it but i bet you wont find where the VP was stating wimax would be in city X by time X and then they failed to comply. Most of the claims of wimax coming to city X's are from sprint reps which we all know is complete crap. All the other statements are very general.
LTE phone will be on sprints network next year i guarantee it, willing to bet whatever you want on that. The WiMax rollout is completely different than the LTE rollout. LTE already has its suppliers signed up and set to roll out in their respective sections of the US. On top of that they have Lightsquared coming in too doing their LTE, and then in future after 2015 you have Clearwire going LTE.
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IIRC, Clearwire LTE "hotspots" will be available in 2013.
I am also certain that the first LTE phone will available in Q3 2012 as planned. Otherwise, Sprint will become a penny stock, and we will have to lynch CEO Dan Hesse.
Jayavarman said:
IIRC, Clearwire LTE "hotspots" will be available in 2013.
I am also certain that the first LTE phone will available in Q3 2012 as planned. Otherwise, Sprint will become a penny stock, and we will have to lynch CEO Dan Hesse.
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yeah i said 2015 for main clearwire move to LTEAdvanced b/c Sprint stated they are supporting WiMax through 2015.
sgt. slaughter said:
yeah i said 2015 for main clearwire move to LTEAdvanced b/c Sprint stated they are supporting WiMax through 2015.
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Well if Sprint didn't support it till then they would piss a lot of people off, just saying,
Shot from my sharp shooter in 3d
As long as they get a phone with LTE by July, I'll be happy.
Sent from my EVO 3D via XDA Premium.
Noiro said:
As long as they get a phone with LTE by July, I'll be happy.
Sent from my EVO 3D via XDA Premium.
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not likely. VP said 3rd qtr last time he spoke. few months wont make much diff anyway. I just hope that "phone" hes talking about isn't the iPhone5 with LTE as i refuse to get that.
I just dont want to deal with HTC releasing another WiMax super phone in juneish and then doing a LTE phone the following year. Unless that WiMax phone has the new qualcomm chips that have LTE modem built into the die! That will be my next phone whenever it comes period.

Using a Verizon LTE SIM card?

I was looking around over at the Sprint Community on the Sprint website and saw this under a thread titled "Motorola Photon 4G Chip set".
XDA won't let me post links, so you'll have to copy and paste... sorry
community.sprint.com/baw/thread/80717?start=0&tstart=0
One post said...
"ok so for ***** and giggles, and border line begging and pleading, i convinced a good friend who works in a VZW store to let me expirement with an active 4G LTE sim card (on the condition that i not take any screen shots or steal it). but any ways after about 10 minutes of the phone reconfiguring its self and rebooting ( 2 times) I was using my Photon4G and sufrfing on VZW's LTE network. take it for what its worth but it looks promising. Oh and by the way the photon is wicked fast with that kind of data speed, but it drains that battery i lost 35% in about 45 min."
Now, I dont have a Verizon SIM to try this out, but maybe one of you guys do...
Well that's a cool story bro and all except the Photon doesn't have an LTE chip. I'm not about to go troll on some other message board, but "the condition that i not take any screen shots" combined with the lack of details in "about 10 minutes of the phone reconfiguring its self and rebooting (2 times)"... yeah. Someone is either really confused or lying.
Obvious troll is obvious
sent from deep space on a random Photon
Pics or it didn't happen
We don't believe you, you need more people.
The guy above me already laid down the ether
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I don't doubt that he isn't telling the whole truth there... I wouldn't think that it would be that simple to make it work. But, I've been looking around on the issue and found this, just thought I'd share...
Sent from my MoPho using the Official XDA Android App
troll...
newalker91 said:
He's actually telling the truth. My friend has a Photon and works for Verizon and he's done this. I couldn't get it to do it, but his story matched exactly. He put in the SIM and it fiddled around with it tossing the 4G icon on and off then rebooted, then speedtests showed 30+mbit speeds. The photon does have an LTE chip btw, confirmed by our motorola rep.
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Tell him pics, video or GTFO. Ask your friend how he did it and show you so you can inform us how to try it out.
newalker91 said:
confirmed by our motorola rep.
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oh no... this thread is gonna be a broken record again.
reps talk alot, and i bet that rep doesnt even know what LTE stands for. (if you just now googled it... "now you know and knowing is half the battle. GI Joe!") ask the rep to name all the current moto phones, their, chipsets, and operating frequencies correctly then MAYBE i would believe them. But as it sits now, you could probably play pictionary with Motorola phones and that rep would not be able to match the phones with their names.
Tegra 2 devices don't support Lte that is the reason it took the Bionic so long to come out then when it dropped it was sporting an Omap processor. I've never seen a Tegra device that uses Lte. Take the HTC One X for example has a Quad core Tegra it Supports HSPA+ but the American version which uses Lte and HSPA+ has a S4 chip. Maybe I'm wrong but that seems most logical to me
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tegra 3+ will support lte, the s4 supports lte, omap supports lte. so unless we get the same cpu in the razr/gnexus, the next photon will have the s4 or tegra 3+... same rules apply to teh sgs3 for anyone thinking about it (which means that yea if its s4 and photon 2 is s4 then ALL the high end phone son sprint will have teh same cpu/gpu... oh noes! benchmarks galore!)
so with that tidbit tegra 2 wont support lte
shabbypenguin said:
tegra 3+ will support lte, the s4 supports lte, omap supports lte. so unless we get the same cpu in the razr/gnexus, the next photon will have the s4 or tegra 3+... same rules apply to teh sgs3 for anyone thinking about it (which means that yea if its s4 and photon 2 is s4 then ALL the high end phone son sprint will have teh same cpu/gpu... oh noes! benchmarks galore!)
so with that tidbit tegra 2 wont support lte
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^^^^ What he said!!
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newalker91 said:
He's actually telling the truth. My friend has a Photon and works for Verizon and he's done this. I couldn't get it to do it, but his story matched exactly. He put in the SIM and it fiddled around with it tossing the 4G icon on and off then rebooted, then speedtests showed 30+mbit speeds. The photon does have an LTE chip btw, confirmed by our motorola rep.
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Since when is the Beceem BCSM350-L chip LTE compatible?
correct me if i a wrong but even if this is possible isnt the photons sim locked for towers in the states

Are we all suckers?

Can someone tell me why should I buy a phone that might not even see LTE by the time my 2 year contract is up. Are we all suckers?
http://bit.ly/b5i0nP
RegnierD said:
http://bit.ly/b5i0nP
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so you're coming from Verizon
RegnierD said:
http://bit.ly/b5i0nP
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That has got to be the creepiest thing I have ever seen! :shudder:
shook187 said:
Can someone tell me why should I buy a phone that might not even see LTE by the time my 2 year contract is up. Are we all suckers?
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I preordered from sprint... I'm starting to rethink my decision because we won't have lte until 2013ish.
My evo 3d is running ICS now, sprint ICS next month, I have 4g now in columbus, ohio.
I really want the bigger brother of my 3d but no lte prolly within the next year for me is making me mull over my decision.
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I'm supposed to have 4g all over the san francisco bay area, but usually its sketchy at best especially indoors, and i'm indoors a lot so most of the time i'm on 3g anyway. Its a great phone on its own and while i will admit buying a phone that works with a network that isn't live yet sounds a little strange, there were a lot of people that did that with the original evo, myself included, and i never regretted it one minute.
Not sure if you're trolling or not, but i think its important to look at the whole picture instead of basing the decision of whether or not to get this phone based on when LTE is coming. If you don't care about LTE, then no, not a sucker at all. If you do care and think its a big deal but still buy the phone, then yes, definately a sucker.
LTE is not the determining factor for me. Phone functionality > speed. I have WiFi if I need it and I'm content with 3G speeds. Beverages been a problem before.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA
shook187 said:
Can someone tell me why should I buy a phone that might not even see LTE by the time my 2 year contract is up. Are we all suckers?
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Yes you all are.
shook187 said:
Can someone tell me why should I buy a phone that might not even see LTE by the time my 2 year contract is up. Are we all suckers?
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Click to collapse
As was stated ealrier, I bought my Evo 4G before wimax was ever deployed in my area. I live most of my life on 3g anyways. I look at this as a great upgrade from my current EVO. So to answer your question do I feel like a sucker. Nope. I am very happy to pay to have a great phone.
Will
glad i live in nyc
we shall be getting LTE pretty soon
I have 4G now and can count the number of times I actually turned it on and used it on 1 hand..Doesn't matter to me....seems like the whole 3D thing to me.I only turned it on just to show somebody or just see if it works.
Sent from my sticky fingered ice cream sandwich Evo 3D
flex360 said:
glad i live in nyc
we shall be getting LTE pretty soon
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How soon is soon? Did sprint tell you that? I'm in Boston and like New York we both have Wimax, and I see no reason why Sprint would deploy LTE in those markets.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA
Well I live in Puerto Rico and here we don't have Wimax and it has been 2 years since Wimax Coming Soon, so I'm really thinking about buying it or not, a lot of people don't care about 4G but really think about 2 years you will end up lock up of Sprint never give us LTE.
I think I will wait a little longer, maybe if they release a white version they convince me LOL
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA
suckers? Not a chance. Sprint bet upon WiMAX, but LTE became the standard and now we have a beast of a device coming out in seven days. Granted it will take some time to build out the LTE network and complete all the network vision upgrades but it'll all be worth it in the end. You know the saying "Good things come to those who wait", yeah, its coming. I have no problem owning a phone with no LTE network, because I know my city/state will be getting it within the very near future.
I think just for the camera, the bigger screen, the thinness, internal memory, Ice cream, and a kickstand to boot. I am no sucker! Who needs LTE anyway. I still don't have 4G for my EVO 3D
Don't call me a Sucker, Sucker!
I mainly preordered cause im eleigible for upgrade and one of the two LTEVO i will be getting soon will be free. Sure ill miss WiMAX cause i tether my tail off when i have the time but thats part of the reason im keeping an OG Evo just in case. I considered switching to another carrier but sprint, although slow ATM, has been decent to me price wise and i dont have to worry as much as i would, and have, with any of the others.
my EVO 4g was a 4g phone but i NEVER got to use 4g in my 2 years with it. all well. Guess im a sucker! on to the LTE to never see LTE! woo!
If you read Engaget's or Cnet's review, they'll make you feel like a sucker.
But I don't, and here's why:
1) Live on the outskirts of DC, Baltimore side. LTE will be turned on very soon in Baltimore (End of May) and DC will be following shortly.
2) I had 4G on my Evo 4G and never used it in two years except for experimental purpose. It heated the phone, drained the battery, etc. Wifi and 3G packed a powerful punch better than turning off and on the 4G radio.
3) I know people with Verizon 4G LTE phones and they also have their 4G turned off because it also doesn't really work in buildings and overheat their phones.
So in short, if you have multiple wifi access areas w/ 3G, this is still a beastly phone. LTE is just one facet of it.
Not all of us. Some of us will be in LTE areas. However, if it is that important to you, don't get a 4G phone till you have 4G in your area and show Sprint you aren't a sucker. The phone is awesome without 4G.
Sprint visioned this phone release incorrectly. They either needed to a) leave the 4G LTE out of the phone title's (that would solve a lot of complaining) or b) released this phone with the announced turn-on of their LTE service.

Why do people keep calling it Photon 4G when ...

I keep seeing people post on a Development section saying Photon 4G with ICS or CWM or unlocked and etc, shouldn't we just call it Photon 3G and it's less confusing since currently we can't get WiMax w/ any of those method. I mean, it's already bad enough when we have marketing people calling, advertising, and forcing it down the consumer throat calling WiMax a 4G service when we all know darn well that is not what ITU want 4G to be call. And it's not like I don't appreciate the works that these chefs do, because I'm. But it kinda annoy the heck out of me when we know darn well as geeks calling these stuff 4G since we know there is no 4G, not even in marketing term.
Can't we just keeping it real?
What are you talking about I used 4g in new York city before I unlocked my phone and it was very fast I used to get 10mb download speed there is no company out there with 3g that's that fast
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
Dovigoldberger said:
I used 4g in new York city before I unlocked my phone
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That is exactly his point. Once the phone is unlocked, it is no longer 4G. Thus roms that break WIMAX (due to being unlocked) should not have 4G in the name.
findthedr said:
That is exactly his point. Once the phone is unlocked, it is no longer 4G. Thus roms that break WIMAX (due to being unlocked) should not have 4G in the name.
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The phone is called "Photon 4g". Consumer modifications to the phone don't change it's name. You are seriously just splitting hairs.
actually, I think the name is "photon" since motorola has put their trade mark after (and on) the "photon" instead of the "photon 4G".
http://www.motorola.com/us/consumers/MOTOROLA-PHOTON™-4G/73047,en_US,pd.html
http://www.uspto.gov/faq/trademarks.jsp#_Toc275426672
findthedr said:
That is exactly his point. Once the phone is unlocked, it is no longer 4G. Thus roms that break WIMAX (due to being unlocked) should not have 4G in the name.
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I am unlocked and have 4G
halfdriven said:
I am unlocked and have 4G
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And how did you do that.
Sent from my MB855 using xda app-developers app
halfdriven said:
I am unlocked and have 4G
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Tell me you're not still using the old school AlienPROM trick
Sent from my CM9ed MoPho!
halfdriven said:
I am unlocked and have 4G
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with cellular (wimax)? I didnt know that was possible. awesome.
I guess one could argue that you are on another carrier (such as AT&T) with a USA gsm-unlocked photon and consider Hspa "4g." Although technically wimax and Hspa are not 4G, some carriers market it as such.
now that would be splitting hairs. :laugh:
4g hspa+, right?
Sent from my MOF'd up MoPho
I could be wrong since I'm not w/ t-mobile, but isn't its 4g apply to hspa+ and not hspa? I don't think photon support hspa+ either, maybe just hspa.
HSPA+ is officially defined as 3G release 7, and is not considered 4G by ITU-R even under a relaxed standard.
that being said, I would be thrilled to have those speeds regardless.
well it apparently DOES have an LTE chip inside as well as so-called Wi-"Max", but if that will ever be functional, who knows, but it does have "4G" capability, just not functioning ones, yet.
photon doesnt have LTE
photon LTE has been DIS-proved time and time again. Do you have facts to prove otherwise?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1724145
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1233294
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1176902
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1672907
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1590963
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1579690
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1411886
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1331277
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1279392
DiamondJay20 said:
well it apparently DOES have an LTE chip inside as well as so-called Wi-"Max", but if that will ever be functional, who knows, but it does have "4G" capability, just not functioning ones, yet.
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So, iPad3 spec is good enough to run ICS and/or JB, so why not call it Android tablet? It does have the android capability just not functioning one yet.
someone0 said:
So, iPad3 spec is good enough to run ICS and/or JB, so why not call it Android tablet? It does have the android capability just not functioning one yet.
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Why would you call an Apple product that currently (and probably forever) runs only iOS an Android tablet? (Confused)
I suppose my Xoom could run Windows 8 if MS wanted to make it so......
I'm sorry I forgot to add the sarcasm tag. I didn't say I could or would, but rather if people should be able to call it 4G simply because the hardware support it but the OS isn't, then the same people could just call iPad3 an android tablet for the same reason. I didn't expect I have to spell this out in a forum full of geeks.
someone0 said:
I'm sorry I forgot to add the sarcasm tag. I didn't say I could or would, but rather if people should be able to call it 4G simply because the hardware support it but the OS isn't, then the same people could just call iPad3 an android tablet for the same reason. I didn't expect I have to spell this out in a forum full of geeks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK - lesson learned for you I guess. Don't expect people who read and post on lots of boards to catch the little nuances of your (unstated) sarcasm. I skim numerous boards and posts everyday and also love sarcasm - and still get in trouble because someone reads me so very literally!
Peace to you!
Okay guys, simmer down...
On a less harsh note, why not call it an Electrify? The only difference between an Electrify and a Photon 4G is one has a WiMax chip and the other does not. If you have a WiMax chip, you have a Photon, but if your ROM can't access it, you might as well just call it an Electrify, since functionally, that is exactly what you have. A Sprint Motorola Electrify, since Electrify literally means "Photon 4G without 4G" (4G as WiMax, not trying to get into the nuances of what is and isn't 4G).
Meanwhile, Electrify users continue to have an Electrify because we have no WiMax to lose.
Also, the correct answer is: "Because that's the model name." 4G is part of the model name.
No sarcasm above this line.
Lastly, I wouldn't trust an iAnything to run to the store for me, let alone Android... Also, "Can" does not mean "Should". You can probably get ICS on an N1 or Desire, but should you? Absolutely not.
So, this may be an unrelated question, but what happens when Sprint switches over to LTE? I'm in LA (Pasadena, to be exact), and sometimes it seems like the promised "4G"-speeds never appeared. I almost switched over to Verizon until Sprint offered me a refurbished Photon in place of yet a 4th replacement Epic 4G.
Sadly, now that I really have fallen for the Photon--I've always thought Motorola makes great phones (but succumbed to the Epic's promised keyboard awesomeness), I'm wondering how long Sprint will support WiMax.
[Sarcasm]Maybe I should switch to the iPhone 5 when they come, at least there's only one party line./[Sarcasm]

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