[jreuschl]

As far as I can tell, the Photon will not have support based on the FCC testing. I don't know how quickly Sprint will phase coverage to the Nextel brand, but I guess I am disappointed the Photon does not have support for this. Anyone else?

[jreuschl]

Actually, I don't think this is the Photon.. there's nothing about GSM testing.

[wirelessness#ac]

What other Android devices have this support? (on Sprint of course)

[jreuschl]

The EVO 3D does as a Samsung coming out later this month, too.

[mxmarcus]

will be nice to know what exactly passed FCC

[jreuschl]

Must be some unknown, unless the Motorola that is going on Virgin supports 4G

[mylgt1]

Don't wanna sound like a newb but what are the advantages of having the 800MHz? Does this mean they will have push to talk capabilites in the future?

[jreuschl]

Yes. They plan on eventually completely dumping Nextel. By moving the Sprint CDMA frequency to the old Nextel frequency, it will save them a ton of money by integrating the two networks, and there is a big benefit of better in-building signal on that frequency vs. the current 1900MHz.

[JayWill]

I ran across this article posted yesterday ...



Maybe the Motorola device that cleared the FCC yesterday is indeed slated for Virgin Mobile for a future roll out of WiMax on the pre-paid carrier.

[sndplace]

The EVO 3D does as a Samsung coming out later this month, too.

Could this causing the bad call quality people are complaining about?

Yes. They plan on eventually completely dumping Nextel. By moving the Sprint CDMA frequency to the old Nextel frequency, it will save them a ton of money by integrating the two networks, and there is a big benefit of better in-building signal on that frequency vs. the current 1900MHz.

It would be great to work off a better signal. This can mean that they can lower Wimax/LTE to the 1900mhz and get even better and maybe faster speeds. Does/can it work like that? In any case Sprint is still moving strong and will be #1 carrier by the beginning of next year .... lol How will this effect current phones?

[rawvega]

I know not all documents for a given device hits the FCC website on the same day. I'm hoping that maybe the test reports for CDMA800 ESMR just haven't been uploaded to the FCC site yet and that perhaps they'll show up in the next week or two. HTC is already onboard with including CDMA ESMR support as is Samsung. It would be disappointing for Motorola to omit a key feature like this in such a powerhouse of a phone. Such an omission would have me back looking at the Evo 3D or the HTC 'Kingdom" once more information is known about it. I'll still be checking the FCC regularly for any updates though.

[jreuschl]

Yeah, I agree with you. It is giving me pause. I know Sprint stated in a presentation that all devices introduced September-forward would have support for the ESMR... how can this not have it!?

[oversteer325]

Walmart's product page doesn't list 800MHz as one of the bands the phone supports.

[JayWill]

Walmart's product page doesn't list 800MHz as one of the bands the phone supports.

But the fact sheet on Motorola's website does doesn't it?



WiMAX 2.5, WCDMA 850/1900/2100, CDMA 800/1900, GSM 850/900/1900, CDMA EV-DO Release A, EDGE Class 12, GPRS Class 12

[oversteer325]

But the fact sheet on Motorola's website does doesn't it?



WiMAX 2.5, WCDMA 850/1900/2100, CDMA 800/1900, GSM 850/900/1900, CDMA EV-DO Release A, EDGE Class 12, GPRS Class 12

I hadn't seen that site. I hope you're right. Would it not support roaming on Verizon's 850MHz then? I'm really excited for Sprint's network upgrades and the Photon looks like my next phone if it supports all of the bands.

[Citizen Coyote]

Every Sprint phone should roam on Verizon's network as far as I know, since Sprint has an agreement with them to do so. I don't see a reason why the Photon would be different. Also, every tech spec site I've seen says the phone does support CDMA 800. Are we positive that the FCC report everyone is talking about is actually for the Photon and not a similar phone? Isn't US Cellular supposed to get a Photon variant as well, for example?

[ToddK]

Can we now change the misleading title of this thread? ...had me worried for a min. :-)

[rawvega]

Every Sprint phone should roam on Verizon's network as far as I know, since Sprint has an agreement with them to do so. I don't see a reason why the Photon would be different. Also, every tech spec site I've seen says the phone does support CDMA 800. Are we positive that the FCC report everyone is talking about is actually for the Photon and not a similar phone? Isn't US Cellular supposed to get a Photon variant as well, for example?

Yes they are, but the USCC variant wouldn't have WiMAX which this device has according to the FCC documentation in the link towards the beginning of this thread.

Can we now change the misleading title of this thread? ...had me worried for a min. :-)

No, because the title isn't misleading. There's nothing in the FCC documents as of yet that indicates that the Photon has CDMA support in the ESMR band unfortunately.

[Citizen Coyote]

Yes they are, but the USCC variant wouldn't have WiMAX which this device has according to the FCC documentation in the link towards the beginning of this thread.

True, the WiMax pretty much points to Sprint. Someone else pointed out the possibility of the smaller CDMA companies adopting WiMax, although I would think if this was imminent there would be some announcement. Still, I hold it forth as a possibility that it could be turned on in the future via software update.

I still find it very strange that the Photon would not support 800 CDMA, no matter what the current FCC docs show. Why would Sprint do that?

[rawvega]

True, the WiMax pretty much points to Sprint. Someone else pointed out the possibility of the smaller CDMA companies adopting WiMax, although I would think if this was imminent there would be some announcement. Still, I hold it forth as a possibility that it could be turned on in the future via software update.

USCC, Alltel and Cellular South have all committed to LTE. The chance of a WiMAX handset being for any of them are slim to none, with slim having left the building. After them, you're talking about the ultra small CDMA carriers...

I still find it very strange that the Photon would not support 800 CDMA, no matter what the current FCC docs show. Why would Sprint do that?

I question why Motorola would do that as Sprint doesn't build the Photon. CDMA800 SMR is still relatively new with only a handful of handsets supporting it thus far: Samsung Trender, upcoming Samsung Conquer 4G, HTC Evo 3D, HTC 'Kingdom' or whatever it'll be called when released and the forthcoming LG LS855. I'd also hazard a guess that the Samsung Galaxy S2 (Within) for Sprint will have support for that band whenever it's released.

SInce HTC, Samsung and LG have gotten on-board, I really have to question why Motorola would release their first high-end Android effort on Sprint without including CDMA800 ESMR support. Really baffling and barring some (unlikely) eleventh hour change or update to add this support, it's killed Moto's chances of getting my money. Too bad since I was really stoked for the Photon.

Just to clear up any confusion that Moto may have caused by listing CDMA800 on their spec sheet, the Photon will support CDMA850 just like every other Sprint phone for the last several years. Phonescoop explains it nicely if one reads both of the following two links:

[JayWill]

Just to clear up any confusion that Moto may have caused by listing CDMA800 on their spec sheet, the Photon will support CDMA850 just like every other Sprint phone for the last several years. Phonescoop explains it nicely if one reads both of the following two links:

In other words you're saying what Moto is listing on their fact sheet as CDMA800 is actually CDMA850? I guess this would line up with what is listed on the FCC details for the device, assuming the 824.7 - 848.31 range is technically the 850 band. Looking at the HTC EVO 3D FCC details, you see another line item (that isn't listed on the Photon) with a 817.9 - 823.1 range, which I would assume is the techincal range for the 800 band.

You'd think after this whole thing ... that Motorola would have included this capability for their flagship Sprint device.

[rawvega]

Exactly right, sir. The 824-848 is no big deal, it's been in Sprint dual band phones for years for roaming purposes. The big deal is the 817-823 as that will be native Sprint spectrum that phones like the Evo 3D will eventually be able to use for CDMA service once it's repurposed from iDEN beginning some time later on this year. The obvious benefit will be father range and greater indoor penetration. It probably won't matter to the mainstream user. However, to a phone geek like myself, it's a big tactical error by Motorola not to include the 800 band in their flagship phone, especially since, as I pointed out earlier, their biggest competitors are starting to include it.

[4aks]

Exactly right, sir. The 824-848 is no big deal, it's been in Sprint dual band phones for years for roaming purposes. The big deal is the 817-823 as that will be native Sprint spectrum that phones like the Evo 3D will eventually be able to use for CDMA service once it's repurposed from iDEN beginning some time later on this year. The obvious benefit will be father range and greater indoor penetration. It probably won't matter to the mainstream user. However, to a phone geek like myself, it's a big tactical error by Motorola not to include the 800 band in their flagship phone, especially since, as I pointed out earlier, their biggest competitors are starting to include it.

they are just taking a page out of the Apple playbook, by leaving out a cutting-edge feature, relying on the rest of the product being good enough to make the sale. So a year from now they'll have an easy upgrade sale with a new 2.0 version the desired feature.

[Citizen Coyote]

In other words you're saying what Moto is listing on their fact sheet as CDMA800 is actually CDMA850? I guess this would line up with what is listed on the FCC details for the device, assuming the 824.7 - 848.31 range is technically the 850 band. Looking at the HTC EVO 3D FCC details, you see another line item (that isn't listed on the Photon) with a 817.9 - 823.1 range, which I would assume is the techincal range for the 800 band.

You'd think after this whole thing ... that Motorola would have included this capability for their flagship Sprint device.

Ok, this argument is looking more convincing the more I look into it. Disappointing, certainly, but I wonder if there's a technical reason Motorola couldn't fit ESMR into the phone?

Edit: Digging around on Phone Scoop, I found this interesting . In a nutshell, the mod doesn't feel ESMR accessibility adds a whole lot on the consumer end. Rather, he notes that it seems more directed at allowing Sprint to increase capacity in the 3G band, thus either avoiding AT&T's woes and/or parceling out more bandwidth to their subcontractors.

Whether or not he's correct is a matter for debate.

[intheb0x]

more info on the merging of bands and what sprint hopes to accomplish.



does anyone know for sure since the dummy units and set info for the phones should be arriving in stores soon for the launch date?