Broadcom Puts 802.11n Wi-Fi In Cell Phones New combo chip offers FM, Bluetooth, 802.11n Wi-Fi guru Glenn Fleishman is now writing for Ars Technica, and points to the fact that Broadcom has unveiled a new chipset that should bring 802.11N speeds to mobile phones. According to the chipset manufacturer, their new BCM4325 chip integrates Bluetooth and FM -- but also offers 802.11N throughput speeds up to 50Mbps. So far, the company claims that the new chip won't be any more draining on phone batteries than existing 802.11g chipsets, something accomplished by using single-stream 802.11n.
|
 | | Yay N! Well, now we just need companies(/providers) to actually put such chip into cellphones... *cough* blackberry storm *cough*. | |
|  |  PhoenixAZGet A MacPremium
join:2004-01-04
Phoenix, AZ
kudos:1 | Re: Yay N! iPhone, BlackBerry Curve, BlackBerry Bold, BlackBerry Curve 8900, Various HTC phones etc. all have Wi-Fi | |
| | | | | Re: Yay N! thats why i said providers too. Since Verizon likes to offer crippled phones so that people have to pay for their services. | |
| | | | EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA | Re: Yay N! See, I don't understand this line of argument- the HTC Touch Pro, Samsung Saga, and Samsung Omnia all have Wi-Fi... So why would they be the ones responsible for leaving it out on the Storm? And the VZW Touch Pro is different than the Sprint/Alltel one, so if they were going to remove Wi-Fi they would definitely have the opportunity. | |
| | | |  en102Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | Just need to crack those phones open and share out that WiFi connection - and use a iPod touch instead of a iPhone  | |
|
| | |
 jmn1207Premium
join:2000-07-19
Reston, VA | BlackBerry Needs This...Or Any Wi-Fi At least on the many popular models that have none.
"the company claims that the new chip won't be any more draining on phone batteries than existing 802.11g chipsets"
I am not sure how comforting this statement might be since the 802.11g significantly drains most existing devices when used for any length of time. | |
| | eggboardPremium
join:2000-11-18
Seattle, WA | Re: BlackBerry Needs This...Or Any Wi-Fi said by jmn1207:I am not sure how comforting this statement might be since the 802.11g significantly drains most existing devices when used for any length of time. I've been using my iPhone (1st gen) model since the day Apple released it, and without being fanboyish, I use the Wi-Fi all the live-long day and finish up with a good charge on it. Of course, if you're traveling and can't get a good charge for 12 or 18 hours of regular usage, it's a different matter.
I'm not sure how BlackBerrys with Wi-Fi perform, but 802.11g in handsets has gotten to a point where battery drain is far lower than 3G talking. | |
| |  wifi4milezBig Russ, 1918 to 2008. Rest in Peace
join:2004-08-07
New York, NY | said by jmn1207:At least on the many popular models that have none. "the company claims that the new chip won't be any more draining on phone batteries than existing 802.11g chipsets" I am not sure how comforting this statement might be since the 802.11g significantly drains most existing devices when used for any length of time. I completely agree. 802.11b/g has literally killed the battery of every phone I have ever used in what felt like minutes. My experience with wifi on phones (I have had many of them) has been so bad that I actually prefer to buy phones that do not include that feature any more.
--
Комитет государственной безопасности
| |
| | | jmn1207Premium
join:2000-07-19
Reston, VA
1 edit | Re: BlackBerry Needs This...Or Any Wi-Fi I thought Wi-Fi was a power hog, but everything I have read suggests otherwise. Apparently, if given a choice, Wi-Fi is preferred over Edge and especially over 3G for the iPhone.
The tests shown suggest a much better performance with Wi-Fi.
Here are a few review/articles I was reading:
»www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdo···036&cp=2
»blogs.chron.com/techblog/archive···n_1.html
I'm actually kind of disappointed at my discovery, being a BlackBerry fan boy. Sorry, it's crack. 
Obviously you could save power by not having Wi-Fi enabled, or by not having it at all, as I prefer (yeah yeah sure, right  ), but it seems to be more efficient than other wireless protocols. I suppose it is much closer to the receiver, so the transmit power would not have to be as high.
Unless I see otherwise, Wi-Fi is the shiznit, and I am just a grumpy BlackBerry user stuck with EV-DO Rev. 0.  Five more months to go for a new phone.
Edit: I'm guessing that fanboy is supposed to be one word and not two in the context I meant. I suppose a "fan boy" might be one of those ancient Roman Empire slaves that wafted a large frond around to cool their servant? | |
|
| | yay Now my micro SD 2GB card could fill up in a matter of mins. | |
| | eggboardPremium
join:2000-11-18
Seattle, WA | Re: yay said by ninjatutle:Now my micro SD 2GB card could fill up in a matter of mins. Hey, 8 GB microSD is as cheap as $17 (see Dealram.com), and the LG Renoir supports up to 8 GB capacities. So get a new card! | |
| | KearnstdElf WizardPremium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | dont worry im sure the RIAA will make sure that you cant record anything played from the FM tuner. just like they banhammered the XM portable that had memory.
--
[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports | |
| | |  BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | Re: yay said by Kearnstd:dont worry im sure the RIAA will make sure that you cant record anything played from the FM tuner. just like they banhammered the XM portable that had memory. if the FM "tuner" is like the one my phone has it doesn't actually tune in stations. It allows music from your phone to be played via a non used FM station on your stereo system. | |
| | | | PhoenixAZGet A MacPremium
join:2004-01-04
Phoenix, AZ
kudos:1 | Re: yay Never seen the Nokia phones with built in radios? | |
| | | | | BF69Premium
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN | Re: yay said by PhoenixAZ:Never seen the Nokia phones with built in radios? I've never seen a Nokia phone so no. | |
| | | | | | |
| | It's never good enough Such as with all electronics.....
No cell phone in the future will be "good enough," after this chip gets deployed without being "N," capable.
All the phone fans will be irrate at their carriers for not carrying phones with this chip. Bloggers will call phones capable of only "G," as epic failures and such...
Extreme phone nerds will even switch carriers if theirs don't carry like phones blaming lack of "N," support.
LOL | |
| Mr Matt
join:2008-01-29
Eustis, FL
kudos:1 |  Why bother Verizon will disable the feature unless one pays.
 I am sure that Verizon programmers are developing firmware to disable the feature, unless the subscriber pays a monthly fee to have the feature activated. | |
| Reviews:
 ·Verizon FiOS
| walled garden handsets.. Once you put wifi into handsets... companies make them VERY expensive ($300-600) and/or put walled firmware gardens around what you can do with the wifi.. Not even the iphone really allows multi carrier voip service..
So, when will we get really OPEN devices? Probably never! Wwhat your left with is maybe a pda, netbook, pmp, or dedicated handset that does multi carrier wifi voip...
Popping over to a spot where you can make a flat-rate call for 1/4th the price of their $99 unlimited plans is not in the cell phone companies' best interest.
Broadcom might as well wipe their ass with the chips if that's all is going to be done with them.. I'd rather NOT have the cell phone service and use ONLY VOIP, or better yet, have a company such as cablevision blanket the area with wifi so that you are never far away from a wifi spot. Wifi access surpasses payphones in terms of the number of places you can access the internet... so why not have this as a viable option... Cell phone carriers don't want you to have it, that's why.. consumers may stop spending on lucrative cell phone plans and they'd get hit twice-- once by cable stealing POTS marketshare.. and second, with VOIP taking cell phone customers away..
A complete conversion to voip is somewhat premature.. but in reality it makes the 3g /CDMA fcc spectrum not as valueable as it once was.. if 2.4 / 5ghz spectrum is nearly as available (free) & able to allow customers to see a competitive alternative to a billing regime similar to or worse than POTS! | |
| | | Bold, battery and the Wifi If you upgrade your OS on the Bold, the wifi battery drain problem pretty much dissipates, at least to the kind of battery life that used to be available on the earlier, less fullsome Blackberry models. And everything is smoother and faster on Wifi! 3G is way better than EDGE, but WiFi is better still. I have an 802.11g router that works fine with the Bold, but I can also connect to my new 802.11n router, although it isn't performing as well as I'd like. But then I haven't figured out how to get past the old 802.11g speed limitations on my pc either, although with some tweaking, it matches that performance (it's a dualband and is backwards compatible). On my current OS, I'm still only showing a/b/g support. Maybe the next release will have a/b/g/n? | |
|
| |
|
|
