It’s been several years since Apple announced its intentions to move beyond its retail presence in San Diego and build a hub of hardware and software engineering. Now in what looks like the company’s first commercial purchase in the area, Apple has bought HP’s old 67-acre campus as it ramps up work on making an in-house modem and more.
Expand Expanding Close
Bloomberg reports that Qualcomm shares have dropped after the company’s CEO hinted that its biggest customer could switch to a rival supplier for future orders. Reading between the lines, the speculation is that its biggest customer is Apple (Samsung is the only other company close to holding that title) and that a switch to Qualcomm’s rival means Apple’s is considering Intel for LTE modem chips in the iPhone 7:
Carriers have started rolling out faster LTE-Advanced networks, also known as LTE-A and LTE+. If today’s rumor is correct, the iPhone 6 will be able to take advantage of these faster networks, but will top out at 150Mbps rather than the maximum 300Mbps supported by LTE-A.
GforGames is citing a Geekbar post, suggests that the LTE modem in the iPhone 6 will be the Qualcomm MDM9625, which supports LTE-A but only up to 150Mbps.
To put the speeds into perspective, the LTE modem used in the iPhone 5s and 5c tops out at 100Mbps, so we’d see a 50 percent increase in speed rather than a 200 percent one.
It should be noted that the source of the rumor is the same one which yesterday got its NAND and its DRAM confused, and has a record of mixed reliability. However, it wouldn’t be a surprising decision by Apple. LTE-A is at a very early stage, with limited network roll-out and only a few handsets supporting it. Apple generally prefers to wait for a technology to mature before adopting it.
We shouldn’t have long to wait to find out, with Apple expected to officially launch the iPhone 6 at a media event on 9th September.
Recent claimed leaked parts appear to show tapered edges on the display panel and the power button moved from the top to the side of the phone; a raised camera cutout; a single, circular True Tone flash; and the logic board assembly – with far fewer leaks for the 5.5-inch model, perhaps lending weight to rumors that it will go on sale later than the 4.7-inch one.
While Apple’s new LTE-capable iPad launched on AT&T and Verizon last Friday, NetZero announced today a new contract-free 4G-hotspot service that provides consumers with another option for data. You might remember NetZero from its ad-supported freemium dialup service in the 90s. The new service will also provide a free plan that offers users up to 200MB of data per month at no charge.
First you will have to buy one of NetZero’s reasonably priced hardware options:
Expand
Expanding
Close
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZNxjBKI0fI&w=640&h=390]
If you are the adventurous type and want 4G wireless (and it is available in your place of residence), you now have a few more options, thanks to your friendly neighborhood hackerz.
If 4G WiMAX from Sprint is what your are after, you can pick up the Clear iSpot for $100 and connect all of your (up to 8 ) iOS devices to it for $25/month (deal!). However a simple hack allows you to take it a bit further and connect those bandwidth-heavy Macs (and PCs and Androids and Linux if you are into that sort of thing) to your $25/month iSpot. The hack releases the MAC address restrictions which ironically include the latest batch of iPads…yes that’s right, it will only work as intended if hacked. Be warned however that Sprint could take it all away with an over the air update to their little iSpot…unless you are savvy enough to change your Mac MAC address.
If, for whatever reason, you were after Verizon’s USB 4G Wireless service on your Macs, you are officially out of luck. However, a hack developed within the gardens of Howard Forums allows one of the two USB Modems (Pantech) to work on the Mac. Verizon is said to be working on an official Mac version of the drivers for both modems so this would just be a holdover until the better drivers/setup come along.
Now, is anyone thinking about replacing their Broadband connection with 4G Wireless?
Expand
Expanding
Close