BlackBerry Bold to Rival iPhone in 3G Reception Issues
by John Paczkowski
Posted on August 25, 2008 at 6:13 AM PT
If misery loves company, then Apple (AAPL) may have a friend in RIM (RIMM). A Citigroup analyst who has tested the company’s forthcoming BlackBerry Bold claims that the device is troubled by 3G reception woes similar to those plaguing Apple’s new handset. A noteworthy data point, since Bold will initially run on AT&T’s (T) wireless network, just as the iPhone does. “We had a few occasional 3G signal-dropping troubles at some locations especially on high-rise building streets and on our 34th floor (EDGE picked up immediately but at slower Internet speeds),” Citigroup analyst Jim Suva wrote in a recent research note to clients. “[This] may be why AT&T has yet to launch the product.”
Interesting to hear that the Bold shares the iPhone’s erratic 3G connection because the device doesn’t share the same Infineon Technologies (IFX) chip believed to be the source of the iPhone’s troubles. Which means the only real point of commonality between the two phones is AT&T’s 3G network, which may still be a bit too immature for either of them.
Comments
With all due respect, this story morphed as it was repeated in the blogosphere. I have a copy of the Citigroup analyst’s report and he did not say that the device reception issues are similar to the iphone problems. There are plenty of complaints about the iphone dropping calls and having poor reception problems, but that is not the case with Bold and that is not what the Citi analyst said. He said that the signal occasionally switched from 3G to 2G, especially in high-rises. But that is normal for all 3G phones, especially in big city high-rises where you are more exposed to multiple base stations and the phone switches back and forth between base stations. So, maybe AT&T is simply managing congestion in big cities and pushing people to 2G when needed, but I wouldn’t use the Citigroup analyt’s report as a basis for believing that Infineon or Apple aren’t the source of their own problems.
Posted by Bill Carlin at August 25th, 2008 at 8:31 amSwedish researchers and others are now coming to the conclusion that the iPhone 3G problems are indeed with At&T and not the iPhone.
http://arstechnica.com/journal.....-3g-issues
http://www.gp.se/gp/jsp/Crossl.....p;a=440573
Posted by Eric Welch at August 25th, 2008 at 9:01 amI have to agree with the Swedish researchers and others when they say that It is AT&T’s fault and and not the IPhones problem with 3G.
Other that the fact that Steve Jobs could call his own shots with AT&T and tell them what was going to happen with the way the phones were marketed I simply do not understand why he chose AT&T- who has the most dropped calls than Verizon or the other companies. Had he gone with one of the others Apple would have twice as many IPhones on the market.
People seem to understand more and more about technology so they just naturally take it for granted that when something is not working properly they look for other alternatives.
Posted by James Skinner at August 25th, 2008 at 12:44 pm