Time for another “I hate…” post.
I hate it when marketing departments screws with technology terms and twists them. The latest example is .. can you guess… that’s right, Apple! Read this if you’re interested in the technical aspect of it – or let me summarize. We all know what 3G is on cellphones today. It’s pretty fast. So the next thing is ofcourse 4G which is really really fast. But there have been a technical debate about what defines each. Most people agrees that the technology called “LTE” is what really is 4G. Actually as far as I knew there wasn’t anyone saying anything else. Well in the latest iOS update Apple and AT&T decided to redefine it and include HSPA+ as 4G. HSPA+ has been available for years through the 3G network. And yes, in perfect conditions HSPA+ can come up to the same transfer speed as LTE. But that don’t make it 4G because it still uses the overcrowded 3G range. LTE is a new technology that uses new infrastructure which is what I, and every other sane tech nerd, call a new technology – when you need to change the infrastructure!
I mean, did Intel ever overlock a Pentium 3 CPU to ~2 Ghz and call it Pentium 4? Ofcourse they didn’t since Pentium 4 is a completely different architecture!
But I guess the marketing departments at Apple and AT&T decided that doesn’t matter and just went for calling HSPA+ 4G and BAM! overnight Apple has the most 4G capable devices in the world (but not a single one publicly available that actually uses the 4G network). Good work And it also makes it easier for them to sell the new iPad in europe as a “4G” device even though it can’t handle European LTE!
Now the big question is how will they sell the iPhone 5.. I mean they can’t brag about “it has 4G!” since the iPhone 4S already, by their definitions, has 4G!
Let these technical things be for technical people and let marketing do ads. I mean if technical geeks where to make ads it’d probably be something like this –
stoff
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