Samsung Galaxy S 2 and Verizon, any possibility of LTE? (discussion)

[DolfanCole]

Verizon is making comments that they want to have a full 4G LTE Network by 2013 and there is a probability that by that time they will make phones with only 4G LTE radios and NO 3G at all. This really leads me to believe that this phone will be 4G LTE considering it isn't even released and there is no known release date for this phone.

Motorolas Super phone will be the Bionic which will be 4G. They have since released the Droid X2, which is 3G and will be considered a mid level phone by enthusiasts.

HTC's super phone is currently the Thunderbolt which is 4G. They have since released the Incredible 2 which is 3G and again only a mid level phone.

LG is releasing the Revolution soon and even though it is 4G I am under the impression that it will be mid level (I could be severely wrong, I haven't done too much research on this device) and that they will release a monster in the future that will be 4G.

Samsung released the Charge which is 4G and to me feels like mid level. The specs aren't amazing on this phone when looking forward. They are planning to release a monster phone which could be top tier for a long time and I can't believe in any way that they would allow it to be 3G. It just doesnt make any sense to me.

I don't think Verizon will stop releasing 3G-only devices any time soon. There are just too many of their customers that won't see LTE for quite some time (unfortunately, myself included) to even think about phasing them out and into LTE-only phones.

The Revolution is as much of a super phone as the Thunderbolt. There aren't many differences spec-wise and the Revolution supposedly will have VOIP. The same could be said for the Charge in relation to the Thunderbolt. The only real "super phone" would be the Bionic, and who knows what that will end up having and when it'll be released.

Also, the D3 will be 3G and it hasn't been released yet nor have there been any dates released. In fact, the only information out there is leaked. Verizon AFAIK hasn't even acknowledged the device -- much like the GSII. While it's not a "super phone", it will definitely have hardware improvements over the previous installment and will have that "Droid" moniker.

 

[Robin_M]

Well said, Dolfan.

I have a hard time relating to "mid-level" phone vs. "super phone". EVERY phone that Verizon is puting out these days seems to be significantly better than it's predecessor, whether it's made by Motorola, HTC, or Samsung; and whether or not it is LTE capable or has 3G only. The Samsung GS2 is simply the next generation Samsung Galaxy S phone. It is speced way better than it's predecessor, the Fascinate, which itself was a great phone. I'm looking forward to owning an SGS2 with 3G. When that contract expires in two years, I'll likely be ready for an LTE phone, and Verizon's LTE service will likely be ready for me.

LTE is great, if you live in a major metropolitan area, and you use your phone a lot for web browsing. But until it's coverage is universal, Verizon would be very fool hearty to force LTE phones on their loyal 3G customers who want to upgrade to a much more capable phone than they are now using. It just doesn't make sense that they would do that - at least not for the next couple of years.

 

[Friend-O]

There's some chatter over at HoFo about the possibility of the Bionic containing 2nd gen LTE radios. If that were the case and 2nd gen LTE radios really are ready, that means that the chances of seeing LTE in the GS2 increase dramatically, as that would allow Samsung to retain the current, slim form factor, instead of having to go a bit thicker to accommodate 1st gen radios. I'm hoping and praying...

 

[landale]

No phones this year will have second gen LTE modems. Currently the only LTE/CDMA modem in existence is the Qualcomm MDM9600 featured in all Verizon LTE devices thus far. The second gen MDM9615 and MDM9625 won't even start sampling until Q4 which means at best we won't see this modem until next summer at best. I have pretty much decided that my next phone is going to be either the Droid Bionic or Galaxy S II but its going to come down to form factor and screen quality more then 4G.

 

[Friend-O]

No phones this year will have second gen LTE modems. Currently the only LTE/CDMA modem in existence is the Qualcomm MDM9600 featured in all Verizon LTE devices thus far. The second gen MDM9615 and MDM9625 won't even start sampling until Q4 which means at best we won't see this modem until next summer at best. I have pretty much decided that my next phone is going to be either the Droid Bionic or Galaxy S II but its going to come down to form factor and screen quality more then 4G.

Gotcha. You're probably right, but I hope you're not...no offense.

 

[Droid800]

There's some chatter over at HoFo about the possibility of the Bionic containing 2nd gen LTE radios. If that were the case and 2nd gen LTE radios really are ready, that means that the chances of seeing LTE in the GS2 increase dramatically, as that would allow Samsung to retain the current, slim form factor, instead of having to go a bit thicker to accommodate 1st gen radios. I'm hoping and praying...

Nope. BMX has said more than once that Verizon has not approved the first revision yet, and it won't be happening any time soon.

Even if it was approved, there's no way it would be small enough to fit in the SII. Just look at the Evo and Evo 3D; despite the fact that the Evo 3D has a newer WiMax radio, it isn't any thinner.

 

[Friend-O]

Nope. BMX has said more than once that Verizon has not approved the first revision yet, and it won't be happening any time soon.

Even if it was approved, there's no way it would be small enough to fit in the SII. Just look at the Evo and Evo 3D; despite the fact that the Evo 3D has a newer WiMax radio, it isn't any thinner.

You are the shatterer of dreams, sir...

 

[saillling4life]

Yeah it's going to be sad when this doesn't release with LTE.

 

[Castor Troy]

Its ALL speculation gents. Nobody knows at this point. People are assuming things right now....

Next Gen Qualcomm will be a lot better on performance with lower power consumption. So I personally hope they skip it this year.

Sent from my Droid

 

[Droid800]

You are the shatterer of dreams, sir...

Ha. Well sorry about that. I personally would like a rebodied SII with LTE. Oh well, the Sensation with HSPA+ will do for now.

 

[Friend-O]

Can we possibly get this thread moved to the Verizon GS2 Function area?

 

[MazoMark]

Although I think this phone would be just about perfect if it had LTE, I expect it to launch as 3G. There is still a big chunk of market that doesn't have LTE available and won't for at least another year, so I'm sure VZW sees plenty of market potential for a 3G superphone.

Plus I think there's a large group of people who see battery life issue with current LTE phones as big liability (although I think Samsung is better on battery life than HTC). I tend to agree with CK on this - I use my phone for daily business and I can't afford to have the battery crap out on me mid afternoon if I wasn't able to recharge during day. Sure, I could carry extra batteries or use an extended battery - but that is an extra hassle I'd prefer not to deal with.

I would bet VZW will either launch a GS2 LTE early next year (assuming next gen radios are available) or just hold off on LTE until they get to the GS3 sometime in mid to late 2012.

 

[bberrynewbie84]

I'll pass on this phone if it doesn't have LTE

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

 

[Robin_M]

I'll pass on this phone if it doesn't have LTE

I'm beginning to wonder if Verizon is passing on this phone for the same reason. That would be sad.

 

[Raptor007]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S 2 and Verizon, any possibility of LTE? (disc

Verizon has a very large part of the US that is not 4G LTE yet, so they still need 3G phones that will draw people in. More importantly the price point for 3G and 4G is the same regardless if you have the unlimited or tiered plans post 7/7/11. They are going to make money.

 

[Drosul]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S 2 and Verizon, any possibility of LTE? (disc

Verizon has a very large part of the US that is not 4G LTE yet, so they still need 3G phones that will draw people in. More importantly the price point for 3G and 4G is the same regardless if you have the unlimited or tiered plans post 7/7/11. They are going to make money.

Every 4g phone that has been released, can also run on the 3g network just fine. Also consider that a 4g modem can be a selling point, by virtue of "future proofing"a phone for the 2 year contract duration, as the LTE network expands. Many people don't have LTE now, but will within 2 years. The big difference is that 3g only users will still buy this phone if it comes with an LTE Modem, whereas many people living in a 4g area absolutely refuse to spend money on a non LTE device.

The current rumors, and the device's own hardware point towards the device being LTE enabled. I think the only reason we haven't gotten an official confirmation on that is because Samsung doesn't want to completely cannibalize the remaining Charge inventory/sales.

 

[Robin_M]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S 2 and Verizon, any possibility of LTE? (disc

The current rumors, and the device's own hardware point towards the device being LTE enabled. I think the only reason we haven't gotten an official confirmation on that is because Samsung doesn't want to completely cannibalize the remaining Charge inventory/sales.

Really? I thought that the conventional wisdom is that this phone is too thin for the current LTE receiver, and that a new smaller receiver is still many months away from production.

Certainly Verizon will not go to the trouble of changing the entire structure of the phone when the Samsung Charge has been so recently released for LTE customers. My guess is that if Verizon picks up this phone at all, it will be a 3G only phone for the Verizon market. I'm betting they will do just that, but one never knows until the official announcement. My thought is that the delay in Verizon's release date may be to give Samsung time to work out all the bugs we've been reading about, and perhaps tweak battery performance a bit more. When Verizon takes the phone to market, battery performance on this feature rich phone should be the sales trading point against lack of LTE compatibility.

 

[chuckz28]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S 2 and Verizon, any possibility of LTE? (disc

Really? I thought that the conventional wisdom is that this phone is too thin for the current LTE receiver, and that a new smaller receiver is still many months away from production.

Certainly Verizon will not go to the trouble of changing the entire structure of the phone when the Samsung Charge has been so recently released for LTE customers. My guess is that if Verizon picks up this phone at all, it will be a 3G only phone for the Verizon market. I'm betting they will do just that, but one never knows until the official announcement. My thought is that the delay in Verizon's release date may be to give Samsung time to work out all the bugs we've been reading about, and perhaps tweak battery performance a bit more. When Verizon takes the phone to market, battery performance on this feature rich phone should be the sales trading point against lack of LTE compatibility.

Actually it is highly likey it will have a structure change. The attain pics show a thicker phone, the previous galaxy s was different on each carrier and it explains the delays.

 

[Drosul]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S 2 and Verizon, any possibility of LTE? (disc

Really? I thought that the conventional wisdom is that this phone is too thin for the current LTE receiver, and that a new smaller receiver is still many months away from production.
.

I should clarify what I meant when I said "The current rumors, and the device's own hardware point towards the device being LTE enabled"..

1. CK has posted that he heard from an insider of sorts, that the phone will be LTE enabled. Rumor and hearsay, but with some credibility behind it.

2. The rest of the specs for this phone,place it on the top tier of VZW phones hardware wise, with the Bionic, an LTE device being the only main competitor not yet released. If it is a non-LTE device, it will have to compete with the droidx2, a device that would already have had market dominance for for multiple months. This would give Moto a temporary monopoly on the dual core-LTE market for multiple months with the bionic, and could very well completely save one of Samsung's major competitors financially, after an extremely rough year. It makes far more sense from a competitive business perspective, to push the GSII as LTE right around the time the bionic is released, and before the new I-phone is released. It will cripple Moto's sales/profits, and pre-empt the new iphone. I think the new 1.4ghz processor specs rumored also point to Samsung wanting to really have a sticking point over the Bionic.

3. The phone being released in the US is not actually named the GSII. By calling it the verizon "function" they give themselves the freedom to still advertise the official GSII phones as the "thinnest smartphone ever" while changing the "Function's" case to make room for an LTE modem and possibly a larger capacity battery, since battery life is a chief concern on the first gen LTE modems.

4. The secrecy in development would be essential, if they where going to release the product as LTE. If the device isn't LTE, it doesn't step on any of their other product's toes, and it's only competitor is a phone that was already released.....meaning there really isn't any reason to keep quiet, when you could be building hype for its release. If the device is LTE, however, and is going to be released in a timeframe that lets it compete with the Bionic, it would also completely murder the sales of the already produced charge. I mean, if you where given the option of upgrading to the charge today, or waiting 1-2months for the far superior GSII+LTE which would you choose?

Now point #4 also gives a potential counterpoint to the Function being LTE, however, since the Charge's pricetag hasn't changed at all yet. If the GSII is coming as LTE, the charge's pricetag should be in freefall in order to rid the VZW stock of them, as well as diminished/cancelled production on Samsung's part. Neither has happened, to my knowledge. This may just mean the Function is further out than originally predicted, or that the Charge supply was never really that big to begin with. Time will tell I'm sure.

 

[BigDFSU]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S 2 and Verizon, any possibility of LTE? (disc

I should clarify what I meant when I said "The current rumors, and the device's own hardware point towards the device being LTE enabled"..

1. CK has posted that he heard from an insider of sorts, that the phone will be LTE enabled. Rumor and hearsay, but with some credibility behind it.

2. The rest of the specs for this phone,place it on the top tier of VZW phones hardware wise, with the Bionic, an LTE device being the only main competitor not yet released. If it is a non-LTE device, it will have to compete with the droidx2, a device that would already have had market dominance for for multiple months. This would give Moto a temporary monopoly on the dual core-LTE market for multiple months with the bionic, and could very well completely save one of Samsung's major competitors financially, after an extremely rough year. It makes far more sense from a competitive business perspective, to push the GSII as LTE right around the time the bionic is released, and before the new I-phone is released. It will cripple Moto's sales/profits, and pre-empt the new iphone. I think the new 1.4ghz processor specs rumored also point to Samsung wanting to really have a sticking point over the Bionic.

3. The phone being released in the US is not actually named the GSII. By calling it the verizon "function" they give themselves the freedom to still advertise the official GSII phones as the "thinnest smartphone ever" while changing the "Function's" case to make room for an LTE modem and possibly a larger capacity battery, since battery life is a chief concern on the first gen LTE modems.

4. The secrecy in development would be essential, if they where going to release the product as LTE. If the device isn't LTE, it doesn't step on any of their other product's toes, and it's only competitor is a phone that was already released.....meaning there really isn't any reason to keep quiet, when you could be building hype for its release. If the device is LTE, however, and is going to be released in a timeframe that lets it compete with the Bionic, it would also completely murder the sales of the already produced charge. I mean, if you where given the option of upgrading to the charge today, or waiting 1-2months for the far superior GSII+LTE which would you choose?

Now point #4 also gives a potential counterpoint to the Function being LTE, however, since the Charge's pricetag hasn't changed at all yet. If the GSII is coming as LTE, the charge's pricetag should be in freefall in order to rid the VZW stock of them, as well as diminished/cancelled production on Samsung's part. Neither has happened, to my knowledge. This may just mean the Function is further out than originally predicted, or that the Charge supply was never really that big to begin with. Time will tell I'm sure.

Good points.

Actually something to counterpoint your counterpoint, the Charge is selling quite well at the moment because of all the recent panic with tiered data and people trying to lock in unlimited data and wanting to get an LTE phone as well. Right now there are two choices and the Charge is the popular choice, especially with the mod community. No need for Samsung to drop the price just yet on Verizon. Already selling for much cheaper on other sites anyways. If Samsung is bringing LTE to the S2 then they know they might as well get what they can out of the Charge because once the S2 is released, Charge sales are going to plummet and so will the price if they hope to sell anymore. Given the expected popularity of the S2, I think it is worth it to go that route. Plus while Charge sales might severely drop, I still think you will see it do decent amongst general families at a lower price point who want a 4G phone, but don't want to pay the premium price for a top of the line phone(let's face it, if the Charge is selling for $300 then it is a given that the S2 will probably be $300-$350).