I Don't Think I Really Want LTE

[jmunster]

I may not really want LTE when it is available, for two reasons:

Battery life on the Xoom is pretty good. It isn't as good as my old first gen wifi iPad, but it can last all day under pretty heavy usage and still have a good bit left. It has certainly never left me high and dry. From my experience with the Evo and what I hear about the newer LTE phones, the 4G radios still suck juice. For the way I use it, the 3G seems good enough and I am not willing to sacrifice battery life. I don't need another device in my life that has it's 4G functions disabled by choice.

I have the minimal 1GB data plan for my Xoom and it is more than enough , even on months of heavier travel. I spend most of my time around WiFi at home and the office, and I don't find myself away from it all that often (other than the ATL airport, come on! All the other airports seem to offer free wifi!!) If I am on cellular I am probably just doing email and light surfing. Upgrading to a faster data connection may make pages load faster, but under light data usage the benefits would be minimal. And I don't want to be tempted to a higher tier.

So, I love my Xoom as it is and don't really feel the need to get LTE. They certainly need to make it available as promised, but I may not take them up on it. Especially if I have to give it up for an entire week!

Anyone else not feeling the attraction to the LTE?

jay

 

[superlawyer15]

it adds value to your device

I would still get the upgrade even if I didn't have a Verizon data plan

 

[jmunster]

Device value is kind of like home value, it only matters when you want to sell (or refi). But true, it would help resale. Have to balance the whole week without though.

 

[anon(42011)]

I would get it bc that's what I paid a premium price for, as well as device value. Hopefully you can turn it off when not in use? Built in 4g with mobile hotspot will be very useful to me as I'm not buying into the 4G phones with their even smaller battery/battery life. Rather have a reliable phone that lasts all day away from a charger. Don't have any issues with battery life on my Xoom, but will be interesting to see how 4G affects it. :\

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

 

[pinmonky]

After getting a Thunderbolt, I'm torn. The LTE speed is remarkable, but seeing what the radio does to that device's battery life is a tad frightening. Since I do have a TB, I probably won't bother to upgrade my Xoom since I can just tether it if need be, but if you want raw bandwidth, LTE is the way to go. I also have the 1GB plan and travel quite a bit and that hasn't failed me yet (even in the non-WiFi-friendly ATL airport). Verizon's 3G is still plenty quick in most places.

I am disappointed it isn't available on the Xoom yet, but that's the risk we take as early adopters.

 

[dhendriksen]

I have the same thoughts. It will be tough, but I so t rush the upgrade when available. If there is a convenient time for me I'll do it, but it is no big deal.

I also hate that ATL has no WiFi. In the past 10 days I was in Atlanta, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Salt Lake city (home)...all had WiFi except ATL.

 

[Maikai.Guy]

I'll get the upgrade, even though I'm connected to WiFi most of the time. The battery life is so good, it can easily take a hit and still be great.

 

[pauldroidr2d2]

After getting a Thunderbolt, I'm torn. The LTE speed is remarkable, but seeing what the radio does to that device's battery life is a tad frightening. Since I do have a TB, I probably won't bother to upgrade my Xoom since I can just tether it if need be, but if you want raw bandwidth, LTE is the way to go. I also have the 1GB plan and travel quite a bit and that hasn't failed me yet (even in the non-WiFi-friendly ATL airport). Verizon's 3G is still plenty quick in most places.

I am disappointed it isn't available on the Xoom yet, but that's the risk we take as early adopters.

HTC tends to use batteries that aren't large enough for the phones they put out. So, I wouldn't necessarily use the Thunderbolt as a reason to not want 4G LTE.

 

[jmunster]

HTC tends to use batteries that aren't large enough for the phones they put out. So, I wouldn't necessarily use the Thunderbolt as a reason to not want 4G LTE.

I don't know. There isn't a battery big enough to support an Evo on wimax all day without substantially changing its form factor. At least from my experience... I have been lead to believe the same is true for the Thunderbolt.

 

[dhendriksen]

My Thunderbolt has noticeably worse battery life on 4G. Sufficiently sized battery or not doesn't matter...it drains faster while on 4G.

 

[pauldroidr2d2]

I don't know. There isn't a battery big enough to support an Evo on wimax all day without substantially changing its form factor. At least from my experience... I have been lead to believe the same is true for the Thunderbolt.

HTC, is notorious for using smaller batteries in their phones. Compare and equivalent phone from Motorola with and HTC phone, and the batteries being used in the Motorola phones will tend to be higher capacity batteries.

 

[pauldroidr2d2]

My Thunderbolt has noticeably worse battery life on 4G. Sufficiently sized battery or not doesn't matter...it drains faster while on 4G.

Yes, batteries do drain faster while using 4G. I have both a Droid Charge, and a Thunderbolt, both use 4G, and I will see better battery life out of my Charge than I will out of my Thunderbolt. That is due in part to the standard battery that comes with the Charge is a higher capacity battery than the standard battery for the Thunderbolt.

 

[jmunster]

Yes, batteries do drain faster while using 4G. I have both a Droid Charge, and a Thunderbolt, both use 4G, and I will see better battery life out of my Charge than I will out of my Thunderbolt. That is due in part to the standard battery that comes with the Charge is a higher capacity battery than the standard battery for the Thunderbolt.

What is the mAh difference? I put a 1750mAh battery (thanks to the AC store) in my evo to replace the 1500mAh that came with it. The only bigger batter for the unit comes with a new back that appears to double the thickness of the phone. The 1750 lasts longer than the stock unit, but not enough to leave the 4G radio on.

 

[slwerner]

I would get it bc that's what I paid a premium price for, as well as device value. Hopefully you can turn it off when not in use? Built in 4g with mobile hotspot will be very useful to me as I'm not buying into the 4G phones with their even smaller battery/battery life. Rather have a reliable phone that lasts all day away from a charger. Don't have any issues with battery life on my Xoom, but will be interesting to see how 4G affects it. :\

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

As I understand it, you can selectively turn off the 4G (set it to only use 3G). It has actually long been understood that the 4G was going to require significantly more battery power to maintain. As I recall, there was even an article about the need to be able to switch 4G off for battery savings when not needed.

That's how I plan to use it should we Xoom owners finally be upgraded to LTE - switching it on only when I really need faster networking (large downloads, etc.), and having it operate in 3G the rest of the time.

For most of my uses, the 3G is plenty fast (browsing and small documents on the Google Doc cloud via Docs To Go), but I do occasionally download larger files, and it's at those times that I do wish that I had the option to switch up to 4G to get the transfers done quicker.

Plus, as you note, we did pay a premium price with the understanding that we would be getting the LTE capability (soon).

 

[qnet]

I have the same thoughts. It will be tough, but I so t rush the upgrade when available. If there is a convenient time for me I'll do it, but it is no big deal.

I also hate that ATL has no WiFi. In the past 10 days I was in Atlanta, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Salt Lake city (home)...all had WiFi except ATL.

I live near Atlanta and, the Airport has had WIFI for quite a while and, had it the last time I flew, they must have changed something.

On the original subject, I understand were the OP is coming from but, I still want LTE. Verizon't 3G is not very fast in my area, at least not compared to T-mobile and At&T.

 

[jaxx2]

I want my 4g. That's one of the reasons I bought the xoom and will upgrade since planning to sell it when the quad core tablets arrive with builtin 4g. Upgrading should increase the resale value of the xoom.

 

[Lactose The Intolerant]

I'm in no rush since my area wont be getting LTE until 6 weeks after Hell freezes over...