As it so happens, my old 4G LTE smart phone (a GS5) is showing its age. It still works, and it seems to keep a full charge, but it appears to have "puffed out..." (i.e. an inflated battery.. maybe it corroded or not, I don't know). You can definitely see the expansion, even inside its Otter box casing. Still, it is 100% functional and, as stated, keeps a full charge. But, for how long, I'm not sure.
Thus, the dilemma of buying a new smart phone. But the greater dilemma being, do I stay with 4G LTE or do I wait for 5G to emerge, it being very close to release. My experience in IT and general technology tells me to "stick with 4G LTE" and not be on the "bleeding edge" of new technologies. I know what the new 5G technologies are supposed to do in re: capacity, speed, etc., but I also know that it's dependent on getting newer and more local towers installed (the tower range is shorter), and I'm not sure of the costs for data service on a 5G network. Frankly, I don't use the Internet that much on my 4G LTE phone (or tablet) due to the costs. But if that's where the future technology is going......
So, are any of you keen to move to 5G or are you likely to keep status quo for a while? Should I wait for the 5G phones to come out (I think Samsung's first model would be the GS10+), or should I just go for a GS9 or something like that?
5G - Worth the wait?
The company I slave for is in that business, so I will give you my opinion...
It will be a long time before 5G is nationwide, depending on which carrier you subscribe. So depending where you live and travel to, you may not see it for a long time. The phones will fall back to 4G/3G. The densest metropolitan areas will get 5G first.
There will not be a lot of phones initially that have 5G support.
5G is much hyped and depending on where you are located relative to the tower, may or may not provide you the promised hype. Some carriers are hyping supped up 4G as 5G. Some of the high speed 5G millimeter wave features are very short distance and you have to be really close to the antenna to get the high bit rate.
My recommendation - replace your phone when you need to. You can get some really great deals on some excellent phones if you don't want to spend almost $1k on the latest and greatest. You can upgrade again to 5G once it becomes available in your area.
It will be a long time before 5G is nationwide, depending on which carrier you subscribe. So depending where you live and travel to, you may not see it for a long time. The phones will fall back to 4G/3G. The densest metropolitan areas will get 5G first.
There will not be a lot of phones initially that have 5G support.
5G is much hyped and depending on where you are located relative to the tower, may or may not provide you the promised hype. Some carriers are hyping supped up 4G as 5G. Some of the high speed 5G millimeter wave features are very short distance and you have to be really close to the antenna to get the high bit rate.
My recommendation - replace your phone when you need to. You can get some really great deals on some excellent phones if you don't want to spend almost $1k on the latest and greatest. You can upgrade again to 5G once it becomes available in your area.
Ah that's one thing about our Flame, doesn't play any favorites! Flame hates everybody!
If I do go for an immediate 4G LTE phone (probably a GS9), it would be a long time before I upgrade again, perhaps 4+ years after 5G does come to full fruition. So, I would be missing out on those features for that time. And, when it's time for me to upgrade again, I'd bet they'e be on to 6G.... It's a never ending cycle.
Now that i think about it, I'm leaning more towards sticking with 4G LTE for now. I don't know that I need all the advancements that come with 5G at this point, as I really don't use a lot of the data features on my smart phone.... I don't want to pay for all those exorbitant data rates.
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Slartibartfast
- Posts: 335
- Joined: Wed Jul 18, 2018 4:24 pm
- Location: Naples
4G LTE is plenty fast enough for me !
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools !
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NorincoKid
- Posts: 787
- Joined: Wed Jul 18, 2018 4:40 pm
- Location: Spring Hill, Hernando County
I'm still using a iPhone 4s....
I never fully understood the hype about mobile network speed, it seems like these days I'm on wifi of some kind more often than not. I rarely use data
I probably should get a newer phone but this one still works so I keep it. Some people get new phones every year, never understood it.
Is wait until 5G or whatever is well established for awhile before jumping in.
I never fully understood the hype about mobile network speed, it seems like these days I'm on wifi of some kind more often than not. I rarely use data
I probably should get a newer phone but this one still works so I keep it. Some people get new phones every year, never understood it.
Is wait until 5G or whatever is well established for awhile before jumping in.
I'm technically challenged,phone and a connection for the 'puter an I'm good,LOL.
Do any of you know what a rotary phone is ? Damn I'm gettin' old,hahahahahahahaha
Do any of you know what a rotary phone is ? Damn I'm gettin' old,hahahahahahahaha
Three can keep a secret.......if two are Dead !
Do any of you know what a rotary phone is ? Damn I'm gettin' old,hahahahahahahaha
Does anybody remember party lines? I'm really old!!!
Does anybody remember party lines? I'm really old!!!
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lakelandman
- Posts: 1289
- Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2018 1:12 am
- Location: Lakeland
Yeah to me it's the same as Verizon FiOS high speed internet but like most have posted cites always get it first and most of the time it's not in your area for awhile or even years to come.
Everybody's got a plan until they get hit.
Actually, I remember where the phone would have different rings, depending on which house the call was intended. Later they were able to isolate the ring to the right house, but the nosy neighbor could listen in on your conversations and vise-versa!
Oh come on - you are not that old. Before the rotary phones, we would giggle the receiver and ask the switch board operator to connect us. Back in the day, that was the only job women could have in the phone company!
And I recall when we first moved to Florida, the wife would have to call her parents out-of-state a hundred times a week. We had Sprint back in the day. The operator would get on the phone and ask "what number are you dialing from?" Sprint had no idea who to bill the call to.
Ah that's one thing about our Flame, doesn't play any favorites! Flame hates everybody!
