CTIA 2005
Lack of Quad-Band GSM phones
I realize that very few people actually seek out quad-band phones, but if you're making the phone capable for three frequencies, why not four?
Perhaps the rest of the manufacturers know something that Motorola will not admit - that squeezing 4 radios in these compact phones affects RF performance.
Anyway I will continue to only purchase quad-band, as the last thing I want to do is get stuck wishing I had GSM 900 in Gabon or GSM 1800 in Trinidad. And you pretty much need 850/1900 here in the states. Oh well.
It would also seem to me that quad-band phones are definitely niche products, and that is why you mainly see them in higher end phones, like you said, price point. Besides Motorola however, it just amazes me that none of the other majors (Nokia, Samsung, SE, etc.) a...
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It's not so much extra components or software - that's the easy part.
For most manufacturers, it's all about antenna design. With a typical tri-band antenna, it's essentially just three pieces of connected metal. Each of the three pieces is a different "length", so it is "tuned" to that band, and that's how one piece of stamped metal can tune to three different bands at once.
But with quad-band, 900 is just too close to 850. If you try to tune it with two elements, they're too close in "length", and it doesn't work well. If you try it with one common element, it won't work well at the upper end of 900 or the lower end of 850.
So basically, it's hard to design an antenna that works well at both 8...
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Why the industry uses such inconsistent terminology like that is a question for the ages. 🙄
This forum is closed.