T-Mobile is the fourth largest mobile operator in the United States. The company has been busy over the past year rolling out their next generation network -- HSPA+. Magenta has rolled out HSPA+ in over 60 markets and is on track to hit 100 markets by the end of the calendar year. HSPA+ is an acronym for High Speed Packet Access and boasts download speeds of up to 21Mbp/s -- in theory. T-Mobile subscribers who have 3G capable devices will also experience improved performance when on the HSPA+ network -- explains Neville Ray -- Chief Network Officer for T-Mobile USA.
Real world speeds will be slightly more conservative than the theoretical 21Mbp/s. Kevin C. Tofel (editor of jkOnTheRun) tested T-Mobile's webConnect Rocket USB Laptop Stick (HSPA+ native). The results were impressive -- 9.11 Mbp/s download and 2.73 Mbp/s upload. The assumption stands that we will see similar speeds on the T-Mobile G2.
T-Mobile recently announced their very first HSPA+ superphone in the U.S. -- the G2 (AKA HTC Vanguard). The release date is rumored to be September 29th. Some sources also reveal that consumers may be able to pre-order the G2 on September 1st. T-Mobile has been stingy with the details -- perhaps taking a few pages from The Book of Steve Jobs -- let the storm of rumors create the viral campaign.
- 20P video encoding (recording) and decoding at 30FPS
- Integrated 2D/3D GPU's with OpenGL ES 2.0 and Open VG 1.1 API support
- 5.1 surround sound output
- Up to 12 megapixel camera support
- Integrated GPS
- Support for processor speeds between 800MHz and 1GHz (Scorpion CPU's, same as Snapdragon's)
From an infrastructure perspective -- it's clear that our current 3G infrastructure is simply buckling under the crushing weight of data consumption. Evidence of this fact can been seen by AT&T's difficulty in supporting the iPhone in certain markets and the fight for more spectrum.
From a handset perspective -- we are currently in the midst of a mobile renaissance; fractured as it maybe. We are seeing massive movement on multiple fronts -- massive content availability, superphones, the mobile Internet and mobile payment systems.