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BlackBerry Pearl 3G gets FCC clearance again, this time with T-Mobile 3G
Last time we went down this road, the Pearl 3G was earning its approvals on WCDMA 850 / 1900, meaning AT&T, Rogers, Bell, and Telus were all theoretically ready to roll. This time, it's the AWS version getting clearance -- in both 20- and 14-key flavors, no less -- giving T-Mobile USA along with Canada's WIND and Mobilicity everything they'd need to launch RIM's most consumer-friendly model. We still don't have confirmation either from T-Mobile or AT&T as to what their plans are for this thing, but at least we know we've got some legal hardware ready at this point.
Nokia intros a couple CDMA flips, say hello to the 1606 and 3606
While Nokia didn't show up to CTIA with guns-a-blazin', they did offer up a couple new CDMA sets with AWS bandwidth in the Nokia 1606 (pictured on left) and the 3606. Planned for release in Q3 this year -- no pricing info available, for either -- the 1606 is low-end character packing 8MB of memory, flashlight -- with dedicated button, ooh-la-la -- 1.8-inch internal 262k color and external monochromatic display, and 3.5 hours / 10 days talk and standby time. The Nokia 3606 holds more tech joy under its hood -- but is still a lower-end device -- sporting a 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, 15MB internal memory with expansion via microSD, and up to 5 hours of continuous music playback. We've not heard who the lucky carrier will be for either of these, but we expect an announcement can't be too far off.
Western Hemisphere getting behind AWS for 3G
There isn't necessarily any single morsel of news here, but 3G Americas -- the group responsible for keeping GSM on the up and up this side of the pond -- just wants everyone to know that it likes AWS' chances for gaining ground in this part of the world for new HSPA (and eventually, LTE) deployments. Yanks may know AWS better as the weird flavor of bandwidth T-Mobile has gotten stuck with for deploying its desperately overdue 3G services; it utilizes spectrum in both the 1700 and 2100MHz spaces to push bits around, and while it hasn't yet been commercially deployed on a wide scale, the consortium points out that AWS spectrum auctions are in the pipe for Canada, Chile, and Mexico, among others. Naturally, that's very good news for anyone who finds themselves shopping for an AWS handset down the road, seeing how broader support across borders leads to broader manufacturer support -- a fact that 3G Americas is also quick to note. European and Asian buy-in is another matter altogether, but we'll take what we can get.[Via Phone Scoop]
T-Mobile's 3G "crawl-out" blamed on government
T-Mobile is apparently in a tizzy over the apparent slow pace which the government -- like law enforcement and homeland security -- is moving to free up the 1700 MHz spectrum that it spent heavily on in last year's AWS auction. After spending a cool $4.1 billion on 120 licenses for spectrum and earmarking another $2.1 billion for the UMTS / HSDPA upgrades, we get that they're peeved. Unfortunately for T-Mob, $1.1 billion of the AWS auction blood money will be used for the government's spectrum shift and they have up to six years to get it done -- though in T-Mobile defense, they've offered up $50 million to help speed up the process. It looks like it will be a tough slog for the last-place-in the-3g-race crew, here's hoping things work out soonish.[Via PhoneScoop]
Nokia E90 with American 3G? Not looking good
So we've been sitting on this whole E90 controversy for a few days here, trying to separate the wheat from the chaff. Fact is, a part of us is hoping that we can will an HSDPA 850 / 1700 / 1900-sporting Nokia E90 into existence, but we shouldn't have to; the need for firms like Nokia and Sony Ericsson to wake up and spend the extra few bucks to shove global 3G radios into every last one of their phones is painfully obvious. Anyway, numerous readers have pointed out that the document in the E90's FCC filing referencing WCDMA on the 850, 1700, and 1900MHz bands is merely pointing out (for no good reason, may we add) the FCC's own radiation limits on those bands, and is probably not indicative of what bands are present within any particular device. We personally wouldn't think the FCC needs to be reminded of those limits in a test report, but perhaps we'll let the technicians be technicians here and we'll stick to our writin' gig. If y'all hear any good news about Nokia coming to its senses on this one, please be pals and pass on the good news -- but in the meantime, we'll go back to our 3G bellyaching.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Nokia E90 hits FCC with lots of 3G bands -- destination T-Mobile?
Wait up just a second, let us get this straight: after years of teasing Americans with 3G smartphone after sweet 3G smartphone -- none of which packed even a lick of compatibility on US bands -- Nokia's going to rock its newest undisputed king of the hill, the E90, with every band we could possibly hope for? Of course, we don't want to count our chickens 'fore they're hatched lest we get fooled again, but the presence of Nokia's latest QWERTY-based Communicator device in the FCC's trusted hands sporting WCDMA on the 850, 1700, and 1900MHz bands is a very promising sign, indeed. As a refresher, T-Mobile will be launching its WCDMA network this year -- the last of the four national carriers to go 3G -- on the freshly-minted 1700MHz band, leaving future users without much of a handset selection from which to choose (as in, zero devices so far and few on the roadmap). But hey, with phones like this seemingly sitting in T-Mobile's pipeline, that's just fine by us.
T-Mobile details 3G plans
As expected, T-Mobile has provided full disclosure today on exactly what it plans to do with all that juicy spectrum picked up in this summer's FCC auctions. Having been left out of the 3G race put on by its fellow national carriers, it comes as no surprise that T-Mobile has officially committed to rolling out UMTS / HSDPA on the 1700 and 2100MHz bands at a cost of some $2.1 billion. Unfortunately, the specrum is a few megahertz off from the UMTS 2100 used elsewhere, meaning existing 3G handsets designed to operate in Europe will be relegated to doing their 2.5G thing when roaming stateside; that being said, beggars can't be choosers, and we're sure T-Mobile is ecstatic to simply have somewhere to drop some next-gen data. Perhaps understanding that the wireless customer base at large can be both fickle and impatient, the nation's fourth-largest carrier is wasting no time getting its 3G equipment set up -- the rollout begins, like, now (they claim half of NYC's hardware is already in place) and will continue through the next several years, with compatible handsets and peripherals hitting retail sometime in mid 2007. Seeing how we're writing this very article from a 3G connection ourselves, all we can say is that it can't come a moment too soon.[Thanks, Hrag S.]
