Google's G1 vs. the iPhone: Major Construction and Design Flaws Emerge (Revised 11/2/08)

Unlike the the V1 iPhone, running on AT&T's slow EDGE data network, T-Mobile/Google's G1 hits the street 3G enabled. (T-Mobile's 3G network is now operational in the San Francisco Bay Area and numerous other metros around the U.S.)

Application developers, who take advantage of Google's open Android OS, is also in question. Currently, over 3,000 applications have been written for the iPhone, and Google and T-Mobile have a strenuous journey ahead to convince developers to write code.

I had an opportunity today to visit a T-Mobile store and check out the G1 more closely. Two concerns immediately came to mind: The G1's flat, non-tactile keyboard and its plastic casing. When I first picked up the G1, its lightness alerted me to potential problems, since I had just come from an AT&T store checking out the 3G iPhone again.

iPhone 3G Dropped Call Problem: Understanding Mobile Devices

Without contributing to angry 3G iPhone customers worldwide--nor criticizing Apple, the carriers or Infineon, the chipset maker currently under siege--let me reduce the "irritation thermometer" a degree or two.

First, I must make clear that I'm not defending Apple, AT&T, other worldwide carriers, Infineon or God. Without divine knowledge, I can tell you that everyone else preceding God is working on the dropped call problem currently attributed to Infineon's chipset. The reported problem appears to relate to iPhone connection transfers from cell tower to cell tower. This explanation may change as Apple, the carriers and Infineon further investigate.

Mobile phone users need to understand that signal-related problems with cellular devices usually stem from a number of related factors--not just one. Here are the main factors:

1. Components
   
   Mobile devices contain a myriad number of individual components--some related to signal/RF functionality, others to cameras, music players, chipsets, displays and other components. The components, as with your PC or Mac, interact with each other, sometimes causing system crashes, dropped calls, weak signals and other problems. Generally speaking, the non-RF components, such as a camera, are unrelated to RF components, such as the phones antenna or 3G chipset. Components, similar to computers, are chosen from numerous suppliers and frequently change as the mobile device evolves: more features, identified buggy components, cost, etc.
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2. Firmware
   
   Firmware are the hard-coded chips built into a mobile device, controlling video displays, RF signal output, touch screens and most other phone functions. Firmware manufacturers, such as Infineon, provide flash firmware updates to fix problems or increase performance. Wikipedia's short article on firmware is a good introduction to the subject.
   
   
3. Software
   
   Little need be said here. Mobile users--especially iPhone users--are very familiar with the software already embedded or occupying internal memory on the iPhone. But keep in mind, especially with the opening of Apple's new Application Store, that adding any software to a mobile phone, just like a computer, has inherent risks. Application developers have rigid protocols for testing software before release, but it's inevitable you will eventually load a software program on your iPhone that causes problems. Software problems are easier to diagnose and fix. First step: remove the software and see if the problem goes away. Like firmware, software developers release upgrades and updates that resolve problems and increase functionality.
   
   
4. Carrier Infrasructure (Towers, cellular radios, etc.)
   
   If you read my previous post here on MTI, you're aware of AT&T's steps to install more cell towers, 3G radios and other RF devices that control its network. However, AT&T, as with all carriers in the U.S. and abroad, rely on roaming partners (covered next) that handle cell phone call pass-offs as you move out-of-range of the current tower.
   
   
5. Roaming Partners
   
   Cell phone carriers share towers and other RF equipment with other carriers to avoid duplication, effectively increasing the geographic areas offering coverage. Without roaming partners, U.S. and other other carriers would have significant coverage gaps, resulting in an increase in call drops. 3G or broadband coverage areas are one of the weaknesses in U.S. coverage and that, in part, accounts for both voice call drops and slow data downloads, most especially on a data-intensive device such as the 3G iPhone. Until recently, T-Mobile, which uses AT&T and other roaming partners, didn't have its own network. It piggy-backed off coverage supplied by its roaming partners. (Check out GSM World, a great site that explains roaming and lists carrier roaming partners.)
   
   
6. Location
   
   "Location, location, location"--the often-used explanation for real estate prices--is even more true with cellular. Forget the carriers' TV commercials ("More Bars," "Best Network," "Fewer Dropped Calls"). Cell phone RF strength varies from moment-to-moment, especially when you're mobile, and no carrier can predict the strength and quality of the signal on your handset at any point in time. Generally, speaking, you'll get a stronger, more stable signal, if you're outside away from buildings, trees and other RF obstacles, but RF signal strength and call drops are unpredictable, despite the coverage maps carriers show on their websites.
   
   
7. Weather
   
   Inclement weather affects RF signals from your handset to-and-from cell phone towers. As you move through space in your car, bus, train or walking, weather conditions, as with tower locations, will affect signal strength, call quality, 3G availability and, yes, dropped calls. Read this short article on weather and other factors affecting your mobile phone.
   
   
8. Voice & Data Traffic
   
   (See my previous MTI article on the 3G iPhone straining AT&T's network.) In general, as greater demand is placed on mobile carrier networks, performance deterioriates. The carriers continue monitoring network quality, making adjustments in cell tower switching, installing additional antennas and adding roaming partners. RF propagation is very complex, as you've probably sensed by now.
   
   Before U.S. users started rapidly switching from wired to wireless phones, the problems encountered were due primarily to old analog networks (TDMA is a one example.) When the carriers went digital, they improved call quality and coverage, but U.S. users increased dramatically. Penetration is now approaching 85% of the entire population with 260,000,000 handsets in use.
   

For an excellent summary of how cell phones work, check out "How Stuff Works," a great site that answers questions on almost any topic.

New Age of Data-Enabled SmartPhones Strain U.S. Carrier Network Resources

The mobile growth age in the United States of expanded handset data usage is challenging AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile and other carriers to deliver web content, email and other services. In a recent InfoWorld article, "AT&T Lays Down the Law for Apple," it becomes clear that the iPhone, claimed by many as the first "handset computer," is just the beginning of other sophisticated voice/data handsets sucking bandwidth from the carrier's networks.

In one sense, it's a catch-22. The carriers must convince U.S. cell phone users to upgrade their handsets and purchase data plans to boost sales volume. On the other hand, all of the carriers are scrambling to compete in a growing, but inadequate 3G broadband wireless world.

While AT&T, due to its resources, is probably ahead of the competition, T-Mobile has enabled 3G networks in Los Vegas, New York and elsewhere, but only offers 3G on a few handsets. Verizon is heavily advertising data-enabled smartphones, including BlackBerry's, while Sprint, hardest hit with high customer churn and the Nextel situation, continues introducing so-called "iPhone killer" handsets, such as the Instinct, that strain its broadband network.

According to the InfoWorld article, iPhone users are placing the greatest download demands on AT&T's data network--more than other handsets--due to the increasing numbers of data applications available for the device. Downloading YouTube videos is the tip of the iceberg since the opening of Apple's Application Store. The situation is analogous to Comcast and the other cable companies offering broadband Internet services. As download speeds and customer demand increase, cable broadband networks are also strained.

Moreover, as reported in today's San Jose Mercury News, customers in central Silicon Valley are complaining of poor or non-existent voice coverage, including Palo Alto, the home of Hewlett-Packard and other major technology companies. The Mercury quotes a report from Joint Venture, which attributes the problem to insufficient cell phone towers.

U.S. carriers, facing stagnant revenues if they can't convince customers to purchase data plans, must continue spending billions to build their infrastructure and remain competitive to satisfy customer data demands for web, email, audio, video and other data-intensive uses of their networks.

Whether the carriers can meet the challenge is yet to be seen.

3G iPhone Battery Life & Data Download Performance: Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

For anyone thinking of visiting their local Apple or AT&T store Friday to buy the new 3G iPhone, take notice. You are NOT going to be happy with your Web surfing experience and you are NOT going to be happy as you watch the iPhone's battery drain like an SUV sucking gas. The hype continues.

Walt Mossberg in his Wall Street Journal 3G iPhone review was too nice. But at least he published his test data in today's All Things Digital to warn off the wary. The user comments will fill you in on other complaints about iPhone features--or lack thereof--I won't cover here.

In my previous post "Steve Jobs, Hype and the 3G iPhone," I wrote about the latency (crawl-and-stall) nature of AT&T's broadband mobile network--and the battery drain problem. Mossberg's review confirms what I wrote.

Mossberg, testing the 3G iPhone in New York City, only achieved download speeds of 200Kbps to 500Kbps. (That's KILOBITS, not MEGABITS.) Due to the large screen size and resolution of the iPhone, 3G vs. Wi-Fi web surfers will be greatly disappointed. Add the fast battery drain and web surfing will be like ocean surfing on a slow wave that dissipates before reaching shore.

Why is this? Why will 3G iPhone users NOT achieve AT&T's 1.4Mbps (that's MEGABITS) claim? Why does the battery drain quickly, like other AT&T 3G phones?

As Verizon rightly claims, "it's the network." Despite the best 3G radio in the iPhone, it can't overcome the built-in latency (crawl-and-stall) and turtle-speeds inherent in AT&T's 3G network. The company is furiously installing 3G cell phone towers across the U.S. But it will take at least another year before most areas of the country have 3G and even average 1Mbps mobile download speeds.

This is not true in most European and Asian countries where mobile carrier networks, optimized for high-speed Internet downloads, deliver 6Mbps to 20Mbps on average. Even smaller countries--such as Finland and Denmark--average 7Mbps. (Listen to my podcast interview with Lennart Svanberg on MarketingBeyond). Svanberg is an Internet and mobile expert. In the podcast, he talks about mobile network data speeds in Europe and Asia.

And the battery drain? It's draining quickly because the 3G radio in the iPhone needs to draw more battery power to maintain the signal and maximize the download speed. And it's not only data speeds draining the life out of the iPhone. Mossberg's tests revealed a maximum of 5 hours talk time vs. 8 hours on the original iPhone, requiring Mossberg to re-charge the iPhone daily.

Considering the additional $240 AT&T is now charging for the data plan ($30 vs. $20) per month without text messaging, I wouldn't buy the first 3G iPhone version. If you have the original iPhone, keep it, unless you're very dissatisfied with AT&T or touch phones in general.
If you're dead-set on buying a 3G iPhone, WAIT for at least a few months until AT&T and Apple fix bugs and optimize the device.

As AT&T--now approaching 75 million customers--continues expanding, network demand for voice and data services will grow faster than AT&T can deliver. Wait for the dust to settle before changing carriers or mobile devices.

FCC Caves In to AT&T: The Value of the 700Mhz Spectrum

The FCC awarded a sizable chunk of the 700Mhz spectrum to AT&T Mobility, giving AT&T access to 72 of the top 100 U.S. markets reaching 192 million customers. The 700Mhz spectrum, formerly used for analog television signal transmissions, is today considered a valuable asset to mobile carriers for data services.

According to Reuters, AT&T paid a mere $2.5B to Aloha Partners LP that had acquired the spectrum several years ago at low cost and never used it. The losing bidders include Google, Verizon, EchoStar Communications and Cablevision Systems.

AT&T Mobility, claiming 64 million subscribers, continues to expand its domination of U.S. wireless spectrum. The only other major GSM carrier in the U.S. is T-Mobile, which didn't bid on the spectrum and continues waffling about building its 3G network.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps voted against the deal, according to the Associated Press, saying he believes "the transfer 'seems destined to reduce competition and diversity in the wireless marketplace.'" AT&T claims the additional spectrum will "'...meet the growing demand for spectrum-intensive wireless data and content services...more cost effectively.'"

As AT&T, formerly Cingular, extends its tentacles--grabbing valuable wireless spectrum and growing its customer base--the danger of monopolistic pricing and control over AT&T's roaming partners grows daily. Unlike carriers in the U.K., Europe and Asia, AT&T lacks healthy competition from other carriers deploying GSM technology, the world standard for cellular services.

Now that U.S. cell phone penetration has reached 250 million lines, mobile carrier marketing is re-focusing on more lucrative data services. The 700Mhz spectrum is key for U.S. carriers to increase profitability by delivering Internet-enabled handsets and applications.

The FCC and Congress should carefully consider awarding spectrum--owned by the public--to carriers capable of driving smaller competitors out of business.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Mobile Phones

I was online with Engaget mobile phone geeks last night and discovered there's a good deal of confusion: where to purchase the latest smartphones, warranty service, SIM cards, etc. So...here's a quickie post to clarify.

1. Until the U.S. catches up, the most sophisticated and powerful smartphones are available from several reliable sources. Phonesource-USA, which does business on eBay and its own website, is an excellent company and continuously offers the latest unlocked GSM phones from Asia, Europe and the U.K. The company ships quickly from Hong Kong and Nevada and I've purchased smartphones from them for years with excellent results.
   
2. Integron Technologies sells an assortment of consumer electronics items, including smartphones. The service and shipping charges are unmatched on eBay.
3. GSMarena.com has the most comprehensive line-up of smartphones I've ever seen. The website also supplies information on mobile device suppliers. You could spend hours reading about the latest phones from all the major manufacturers: Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola, to name a few.
4. Warranties? Aha...now's the time to be careful. When a phone manufacturer releases a new model--say one from Sony Ericsson--it's distributed to different parts of the world, based on mobile carrier networks, language, features and other factors. So one version of a Sony Ericsson phone is intended for sale in Asia, another in Europe and another in the U.K. The usual one year warranty on its phones is only valid in the country or region for which the phone was made. If you purchase the Asian version of the new K770i SE phone, for example, repairs are done in Hong Kong. However, unless you live in Asia and deliver the defective phone to SE in Hong Kong, the warranty is not valid. This is changing dramatically with some manufacturers I'll cover next.
5. Nokia is rapidly opening retail stores in the United States to sell unlocked GSM phones that you can use on AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile and a few other GSM carriers in the States. Warranties for phones sold in the U.S. are valid. Expect to see Sony Ericsson and other overseas manufacturers distributing increasing numbers of mobile phones here in 2008.
6. SIMS--those strange looking cards found in GSM phones--contain your account information, number of usage minutes if you've purchased a "pay as you go" SIM and around 200 names and phone numbers that your GSM phone can access. In the U.K., Europe, Asia and elsewhere, mobile phone owners can purchase SIM's to swap in-and-out of their unlocked phones to get the best calling rates in each country--in many cases, much cheaper per minute than a SIM from a U.S. carrier that you use overseas. In Europe, for example, you can walk into a store, purchase a SIM for France or Germany or Norway and also buy a phone. Verizon and Sprint in the U.S. use CDMA technology. No SIMS. Your phone's ESN--a unique code--identifies your phone to the carrier. With CDMA, your carrier programs your phone to work on its network. Which leads us to...
   
7. Locked vs. unlocked phones. As you may know, when you purchase a cell phone plan from a U.S. carrier, the phone you receive is "locked" to that carrier's network. The locking is usually done at the manufacturer's factory when the phone is branded for AT&T or T-Mobile. While most GSM phones can be "unlocked" using software codes and/or cables, some can't. And even if you unlock a GSM phone that was previously locked by the manufacturer, the phone may not fully function correctly on a different network. You may have MMS or WAP or even calling problems, like poor voice quality and dropped calls. That's because each carrier uses roaming partners to provide coverage in areas where they're few cell towers and signal strength and your phone may not be programmed to access roaming partners. That leads us to...
8. Frequencies. They're basically four frequency ranges for world cell phones---850Mhz and 1900Mhz in the U.S. and 900Mhz and 1800Mhz used by carriers outside the U.S. Triband phones usually operate at 900Mhz, 1800Mhz and 1900Mhz; Quadband at 850Mhz, 900Mhz, 1800Mhz and 1900Mhz. That's why quadband phones are usually referred to as "world phones." They'll work on virtually any frequency used by worldwide carriers. New standards in the 1700Mhz and 2100Mhz band are arriving for 3G service, but we'll skip that for now.

Hope that helps. Cellular technology is complex and, until there's a world standard, differences will affect how mobile phones work.