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HTC Vivid and Samsung Skyrocket

I think the excitement is in being able to "future-proof" your phone - with these specs + LTE capability, I don't think they will be "outdated" any time soon.

Right now LTE doesn't have much of a network, but for people living in the big cities where it's up and running, that doesn't matter. It's a lot faster than 3G and HSPA+. Also, AT&T is in competition with the other carriers so you can be sure they will be expanding their LTE network to keep up.

LTE is a battery drain? Where did you read that?
 
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I think the excitement is in being able to "future-proof" your phone - with these specs + LTE capability, I don't think they will be "outdated" any time soon.

Right now LTE doesn't have much of a network, but for people living in the big cities where it's up and running, that doesn't matter. It's a lot faster than 3G and HSPA+. Also, AT&T is in competition with the other carriers so you can be sure they will be expanding their LTE network to keep up.

LTE is a battery drain? Where did you read that?
Typically LTE phones (Verizon) have had terrible battery because of the LTE radios. However, I read a while back that AT&T LTE phones will automatically turn the LTE radio off when its out of range, improving the battery life by a TON
 
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Typically LTE phones (Verizon) have had terrible battery because of the LTE radios. However, I read a while back that AT&T LTE phones will automatically turn the LTE radio off when its out of range, improving the battery life by a TON

It's actually not entirely true. AT&T will be able to use only one baseband chip vs two in Verizon phones, that will handle voice and data. On CDMA network that is not possible right now so the Verizon LTE phones run one baseband for Voice and the secondary for data. That's a huge battery drain.
Let's hope AT&T's phones are gonna be better performers.
 
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I think the excitement is in being able to "future-proof" your phone - with these specs + LTE capability, I don't think they will be "outdated" any time soon.
What's the point in "future proofing"? You get a subsidized phone every 2 years anyway and by the time AT&T rolls out LTE to majority of its service area, we'll probably have quad-core phones and the current $200 with 2-year contract phones will have dropped down in price to free.
 
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What's the point in "future proofing"? You get a subsidized phone every 2 years anyway and by the time AT&T rolls out LTE to majority of its service area, we'll probably have quad-core phones and the current $200 with 2-year contract phones will have dropped down in price to free.
The point of future proofing is making sure your phone is up-to-date for those 2+ years. The people who bought the non-LTE Galaxy S II are already missing out on the new technology. So if they didn't absolutely need a new phone, it would have made sense for them to wait. But I think the Skyrocket and Vivid have the main features where there's no sense waiting any longer to buy.
 
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The point of future proofing is making sure your phone is up-to-date for those 2+ years. The people who bought the non-LTE Galaxy S II are already missing out on the new technology.

No, they are not since AT&T will take a while to build out its LTE network. Most GS2 users won't benefit from LTE.

So if they didn't absolutely need a new phone, it would have made sense for them to wait. But I think the Skyrocket and Vivid have the main features where there's no sense waiting any longer to buy.

In terms of 'future-proofing' it's quite silly to buy first generation devices for a brand new technology. Battery drain on LTE phones has nothing to do with how often the phone checks for a signal. It has to do with efficiency of power usage. Even if you have live in an LTE area, using it will be a huge battery drain whether you're on Verizon or AT&T since the technology isn't there yet for efficient high speed wireless data streaming.

So right now there's absolutely no reason to buy an LTE phone on AT&T. HSPA+ is plenty fast and gives great battery life. In 2 years when batteries and antennas have better efficiency and AT&T has an LTE network, then I'll definitely get an LTE phone.
 
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That's just speculation, its possible they could have great battery life.

No, they won't. It's not speculation. LTE radio chips are power hungry, and today's battery technology is not efficient enough, especially in slim models, to handle all the required energy. With time this will definitely improve, just like it did for 3G technology. But right now, I just don't see buying a first-gen LTE device as "future-proof" since undoubtedly in a year there will be more power efficient devices, but do what you want with your money.
 
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...Battery drain on LTE phones has nothing to do with how often the phone checks for a signal. It has to do with efficiency of power usage. Even if you have live in an LTE area, using it will be a huge battery drain whether you're on Verizon or AT&T since the technology isn't there yet for efficient high speed wireless data streaming.

So right now there's absolutely no reason to buy an LTE phone on AT&T. HSPA+ is plenty fast and gives great battery life....


Battery life is also dependent on strength/quality of signal. My HSPA+ phones drain much faster (less that 12hrs) while at work, where I only get 0-2 bars (-105dBm - -87dBm) in my building (get full bars in parking lot). However at home, on the weekend, where I get full bars (-57dBm) I can make it thru Sat/Sun without recharging.
 
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Battery life is also dependent on strength/quality of signal. My HSPA+ phones drain much faster (less that 12hrs) while at work, where I only get 0-2 bars (-105dBm - -87dBm) in my building (get full bars in parking lot). However at home, on the weekend, where I get full bars (-57dBm) I can make it thru Sat/Sun without recharging.
Interesting. That might explain why my mom's phone is already pretty much drained when she gets home while my dad's (exact same model) can last 2~3 days without recharging.
 
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So AT&T dropped the price on both of these devices by $100. Anyone think that Verizon's recent announcements (Razr, Nexus, Rezound) had anything to do with it or was it simply a reflection of the limited LTE markets AT&T has? Either way, if AT&T wants to be able to charge those kinds of prices, they will need better hardware, no?
 
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Interesting. That might explain why my mom's phone is already pretty much drained when she gets home while my dad's (exact same model) can last 2~3 days without recharging.


To put it further in perspective, my mom lives in a weak signal zone for Verizon (less than 3 miles from 3 different Verizon retail outlets, and there are 5 in our town :rolleyes:) and when I had the Droid 1, I pulled the phone off the charger w/full battery and drove to her house which is only 2 miles away. My battery was good for 24-36 hours of "my normal use", at my house, but drained to less than 20% charge while there in only 4 hours. Phone had 0 bars most of the time, and was "warm to the touch" as it struggled to find/maintain 1 bar.
 
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This talk of future proofing and waiting for better is silly. If you buy the latest tech (LTE) you become a beta tester and get to deal with all the bugs - like battery life or perhaps dropped calls when going between radio types. That is hardly enjoyable.

And the waiting game never ends. After the Skyrocket will be a version with an HD screen. Then a better processor or OS or camera.

Either go with the latest and deal with beta pains or stick to proven tech. Really, you don't need 50 Mbps for a phone anyway. 5 is more than enough.
 
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