Back when I did my Qualcomm modems and transceivers piece, I gained a deeper understanding about the cellular RF engineering side of the handset puzzle. Specifically, how an OEM can enable LTE on some bands and not enable WCDMA on those very same bands. The interesting and relevant takeaway from the whole exploration is that all ports on the transceiver are created equal, and that if an OEM implements LTE on a particular band, that usually means that the device design can inherit support for 3G WCDMA on that same band, given the right power amplifier. I alluded at the end of the article to the fact that if you see an OEM implement band 4 on LTE and not band 4 on WCDMA...
A Look at Broadcom's BCM21892 LTE Baseband at MWC
Yesterday we stopped by Broadcom to look at their newly announced BCM21892 LTE baseband, which we saw teased previously at CES doing a VoLTE call. If you're not famliar...
8 by Brian Klug on 2/27/2013
A Look at ST-Ericsson's THOR M7450 Category 4 LTE Modem with Carrier Aggregation
Earlier this morning we stopped by ST-Ericsson to talk about their SoCs and modem platforms, and took a look at their new Thor M7450 baseband which includes both support...
15 by Brian Klug on 2/26/2013
NVIDIA Tegra 4 Architecture Deep Dive, Plus Tegra 4i, Icera i500 & Phoenix Hands On
Ever since NVIDIA arrived on the SoC scene, it has done a great job of introducing its ultra mobile SoCs. Tegra 2 and 3 were both introduced with a...
75 by Anand Lal Shimpi & Brian Klug on 2/24/2013
NVIDIA Announces Tegra 4i, Formerly Project Grey, With Integrated LTE and Phoenix Reference Design
It has been a while since we’ve heard anything about Project Grey, the first NVIDIA SoC with an integrated digital baseband, and the result of NVIDIA’s acquisition of soft-modem...
21 by Brian Klug & Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/19/2013
Nexus 4 JDQ39 4.2.2 OTA Update Removes Unofficial LTE on Band 4
Just after it launched, we discussed how the Nexus 4 included undocumented support for LTE on Band 4 (AWS) which could be enabled simply by choosing the appropriate RAT...
18 by Brian Klug on 2/13/2013
Broadcom Announces BCM21892 - Their First 4G LTE-Advanced Baseband
It was teased at this year's CES demonstrating VoLTE calls, we saw it working in a reference design, and today, Broadcom is finally ready to make their first LTE-enabled...
16 by Brian Klug on 2/12/2013
CES 2013 LTE Throughput Face-Off - AT&T versus Verizon Wireless
Last year I ran a series of speedtests on both AT&T and Verizon Wireless LTE during CES, the results of which were pretty interesting. My friends continue to poke...
25 by Brian Klug on 1/13/2013
LTE Broadcast (EMBMS) Shown Running on Verizon's Band 4 LTE on Qualcomm Hardware
Another demo I was impressed by at the Qualcomm booth was LTE Broadcast (EMBMS - Evolved Multimedia Broadcast / Multicast Service) demonstrated on a live test network showing an...
0 by Brian Klug on 1/11/2013
Qualcomm Demos Category 4 LTE (150 Mbps) running on Snapdragon 800 / MSM8974
At Qualcomm's booth among a number of other Snapdragon 800 (the newly-announced SoC formerly or also known as MSM8974) demos was one that caught my attention. Qualcomm setup a...
5 by Brian Klug on 1/11/2013
Broadcom Teases its first LTE-enabled Baseband with VoLTE Demo
I dropped by Broadcom during CES, and while we've already covered most of what they had to show off, one of the things which immediately caught my eye was...
2 by Brian Klug on 1/11/2013
Nexus 4 Includes Support for LTE on Band 4 (AWS)
I noted in my review of the LG/Google Nexus 4 that the device included hardware necessary for LTE on at least some of its bands, namely bands 1 (2100...
46 by Brian Klug on 11/23/2012
Why the iPhone 5 Lacks Support for Simultaneous Voice and LTE or EVDO (SVLTE, SVDO)
So we've seen the new iPhone, and had a chance to briefly play with it at the demo room, but as I've learned in the past so many times...
88 by Brian Klug on 9/14/2012AT&T Announces 7 New Live LTE Markets, 2 Expansions, 47 More Before End of 2012
In a flurry of press releases today, AT&T announced a slew of new 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) markets. The news includes a total of 54 new markets, 7...
13 by Brian Klug on 9/6/2012
Samsung Galaxy Note II Revealed at IFA 2012
Alongside their upcoming line up of Windows devices, Samsung saw fit to reveal the successor to their Galaxy Note at their IFA press conference. The Samsung Galaxy Note II...
15 by Jason Inofuentes on 8/29/2012T-Mobile RF Engineer Does Reddit AMA - Answers a Few LTE Questions
In the past, carriers have been guarded if not purposely opaque about things like radio network planning, infrastructure rollouts, and other competitive details. With the smartphone boom well underway...
14 by Brian Klug on 8/8/2012HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE Joining Verizon Wireless July 5 for $149
We saw it first at CTIA, one of the few devices launched there, and after a long wait it's here; the Droid Incredible 4G LTE by HTC will be...
13 by Jason Inofuentes on 7/2/2012
Samsung Galaxy S III Coming To 5 US Carriers In June
Last year's Galaxy S II US launch was . . . complicated. In addition to waiting for months after the International launch, US carriers saw fit to vary their...
13 by Jason Inofuentes on 6/4/2012
Galaxy Nexus CDMA/LTE 4.0.4 IMM76K Update Rolling Out
It has been nearly four months since I originally wrote about the CDMA/LTE Galaxy Nexus 4.0.4 update, which changed the signal to bars mapping, improves stability, and brought other...
13 by Brian Klug on 6/2/2012
Nvidia Icera 410 LTE Modem Passes AT&T Network Validation
Since acquiring Icera, Nvidia has been busy readying itself for the next level of integration - selling baseband in addition to APs (Application Processors), and further down the road...
8 by Brian Klug on 5/24/2012