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GSM and CDMA?

zetroc

Android Enthusiast
Mar 3, 2010
702
99
I've been trying to find some info on the speculated N1 for vzw... do you guys think it will come both CDMA and GSM? Basically just adding CDMA capabilities to the current model used by TMo.

If they just add CDMA on top of the GSM and the phone comes unlocked, I will probably be in heaven. But... how likely is that Google will do this?
 
Would anyone like to explain to me why the States continues with this backward GSM/CDMA split while the rest of the world standardizes GSM as the norm and lets everybody use whatever phone they please, wherever they like, with whatever carrier they choose?

It's not as simple as you make it sound. You have different networks rolled out by different operators at a time when it wasn't clear which technology would become more of a "standard." Our networks are much older than yours and a product of technological footprints layed out by scores of different telecoms.

It's also a completely different model over here. Consumers are used to buying devices directly from the carriers at a heavily subsidized price. If a carrier is subsidizing 60% of the device's cost, they aren't going to want the same device to be able to run on a competitors network.

We'll see more uniformity with LTE data roll-out, but even with GSM now, we still have the issue of certain devices only supporting TMO OR ATT, not both. It's as much of an issue with the manufacturers as it is with the telcos.
 
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My current BlackBerry Tour is both a GSM and CDMA device, that's why I hoped that since the N1 is already GSM, they could just incorporate CDMA... this of course a hope not really knowing what it takes to make a device both GSM and CDMA compatible. Just wishful thinking if you will...
 
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Would anyone like to explain to me why the States continues with this backward GSM/CDMA split while the rest of the world standardizes GSM as the norm and lets everybody use whatever phone they please, wherever they like, with whatever carrier they choose?
We're capitalist? We're encouraging competition and the different evolution of respective technologies among different companies? Most carriers in the U.S. are moving onto LTE anyway, so don't worry.
 
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We're capitalist?

That's hilarious. What exactly do you think capitalism has anything to do with it?

We're encouraging competition and the different evolution of respective technologies among different companies?

Resulting in end users/customers being stuck with a selection of handsets more limited than anywhere else in the world and which are also burdened with bloatware and carriers getting in the way of firmware updates? Oooh. Sounds real fantastic. Rock on, USA.
 
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We'll see more uniformity with LTE data roll-out, but even with GSM now, we still have the issue of certain devices only supporting TMO OR ATT, not both. It's as much of an issue with the manufacturers as it is with the telcos.
It's looking less and less likely that LTE will be the standard to unite them all. Sprint is moving ahead full speed with WiMAX. T-Mobile recently said they would move to 21Mb HSDPA, which isn't really a 4G technology... more like 3.5G. Only AT&T and Verizon have announced plans to got with LTE.
 
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sprint and tmobile have been the odd men out for quite some time now. however they get their clientele by appealing to people in business markets(with sprints merger of nextel) adn cheaper plans.

so as i'm not totally threadjacking, the reason why you saw gsm in those other bb's was they were marketed as "world phones", ergo you paid a premium for them.
 
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The current Nexus One does not have a CDMA chip inside. Currently, if you buy a phone, you either go with GSM or CDMA. Some phones do offer both, such as 'World Phones' but they physically have 2 chips inside, one for GSM and one for CDMA. There was a company that announced a chip that actually supports GSM and CDMA but I don't we will ever see it as everyone is moving to WiMax or LTE. However, there are chips out there today and being used that support both WiMax and LTE. I think ClearWire uses this chip on their WiMax routers.

But the current Nexus One will never and can never support CDMA as it physically has the chip that supports CDMA. You can not change the software on a GSM chip to make it work. It would be l like taking an AM radio that doesn't support FM radio and getting it to support FM, or vis versa. It just can't happen.
 
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Would anyone like to explain to me why the States continues with this backward GSM/CDMA split while the rest of the world standardizes GSM as the norm and lets everybody use whatever phone they please, wherever they like, with whatever carrier they choose?

Pretty simple. There were several companies making cell phone equipment, and each persuaded various companies to pick them, and various companies did for various reasons. Each has their flaws and virtues. We actually have more then just CDMA and GSM. But for the most part, those are the only 2 that survived. Just like cars, we have unleaded and diesel. Each have their strong points and each have their weaknesses.

Or think of it like the HD format war with HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray, or VHS vs. Beta Max. Every company want's their product to be the standard to make more money.
 
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Rim has done it with the 8800 World Phone series - i think that's running a qualcomm arm core

Blackberry 8800 uses a 32-bit Intel XScale PXA272 312 MHz processor, not made by Qualcomm. I didnt say its not possible, just that qualcomm don't have a app processor that supports both in one package afaik.

That means that they would need to use an external analog baseband at the least to add CDMA. Back to my original statement.. don't count on it!

The current Nexus One does not have a CDMA chip inside. Currently, if you buy a phone, you either go with GSM or CDMA.
...
But the current Nexus One will never and can never support CDMA as it physically has the chip that supports CDMA. You can not change the software on a GSM chip to make it work. It would be l like taking an AM radio that doesn't support FM radio and getting it to support FM, or vis versa. It just can't happen.

Yeah, the current N1 cannot support CDMA, thats kinda obvious. We were talking about the new one for CDMA, and the posibility of it also having GSM. The need for an extra chip depends on if the APP processor has the analog baseband in the same die. Most new APP processors do to save power and board layout space, so its pretty unlikely you'll see a high end phone offering both until someone releases a die supporting both - which is pretty unlikely considering the very limited demand.
 
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After reading this thread, I think my big question was answered, but I'll ask anyway for certain clarification:

I'm a Verizon customer currently with a Blackberry Storm 1 (cough cough).
One of the VERY few things I like about my storm is its ability to work in cdma or gsm - it is a world phone.

So, last month I was given a wonderful gift of an unlocked Nexus One. It came with a little T-Mobile chip with 30 free hours or something like that. I have not activated any phone service, but have been messing around with the N1 via wifi, and absolutely love it. I've seen the rumors flying that Verizon will be supporting the N1 (supposedly starting today, but apparently not).

So... I wonder if my unlocked N1 will work with Verizon, whose service is definitely CDMA. It appears not; that they will have proprietary hardware. Can someone clarify?

Thanks,

-Kenny C.
NYC
 
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