Published by tonefm January 11th, 2007
in Tips/Guides.
We haven’t tested this (as I don’t want my Blackjack in GSM only mode), but if you are in a Cingular non-3G area and want to save on battery life, you can try this to keep your phone in GSM/EDGE only mode.
1. Enter *#1546792*#
2. Select Option 3 (Network and Call Settings)
3. Select option 5 (Network Mode)
4. Select GSM
If anyone decides to give this a shot, let us know how it goes.
Published by tonefm January 10th, 2007
in News/Info.
Yesterday, Apple (no longer Apple Computer) once again rocked the technology world with the announcment of their first mobile phone, the iPhone. At a glance, the iPhone, in its sleekness and sexiness, puts to shame the iPod, macBooks, mac minis and all of Apple’s other technological beauties. Unfortunately, lying beneath it’s sleek exterior is a confusing and considerably glaring omission.
As we progressed through the Apple iPhone demo and overview (http://apple.com/iphone), we sat jaws agape at truly drool-worthy innovations in device design, user interface, mobile browsing, and more. The device, from a hands-off point off view, simply has practically all the typical tech savvy user could want. Apple, as it usually does, seems to be breaking down the barriers been technology and human intuition.
As rumored, the device will be released exclusively with Cingular in the United States, leaving Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint/Nextel customers in the stone ages until the exclusivity passes. The 4GB model is reportedly going to retail for $499 while the 8GB model with retail for $599 (each with a 2 year contract agreement). Apple has indicated the iPhone will be available in both Apple and Cingular stores come June.
Cingular, as many of you know, has recently fully launched it’s 3G (third generation) wireless network. This network, based on the UMTS and HSDPA protocols, features data speeds as much as 18 times faster than Cingular’s previous network, based on the GSM EDGE protocol. Cingular has been developing and building this network for over two years. The first HSDPA/3G enabled device available on Cingular’s network, the LG CU500, was available to Cingular customers as early as June 2006. Cingular 3G service has been active in certain cities for well over 16 months.
So what is the “black-eye” of the Apple iPhone that we speak of? On a device that is centered around a multimedia experience, moreover is designed to redefine wireless multimedia, Apple and Cingular have teamed up to release a device that DOES NOT support Cingular’s third generation network. The Apple iPhone’s data communication, instead, is based on Cingular’s EDGE network.
What does this mean to the average user? Slower downloads of multimedia content. Web pages, images, games and software, and most importantly, music - will all download much slower on the Apple iPhone compared to HSDPA/3G enabled devices. A typical 5 minute song will download on a 3G phone in approximately 35 seconds. This same song on the Apple iPhone or other EDGE devices would take an estimated 5 minutes and 10 seconds to download. A typical webpage? 3 seconds on a 3G device - on the iPhone, 30 seconds. How could Cingular and Apple allow the most innovative multimedia device to come along in years to be crippled by inarguably slow data transfer rates, especially at a time when 3G is readily available and stable?
We’ll spend some time researching why this glaring oversight might have occurred (clearly, it was in reality no “oversight”, mistakes like this don’t happen) and hopefully provide some insight into the matter. Rumors have circled that 2G components enabled the phone’s construction to be smaller. This should be quickly dismissed, as the thinnest and sleekest SmartPhone device ever released, the Samsung Blackjack, is 3G enabled.
