The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) has launched the first database in the telecommunications industry to track worldwide 5G devices. This new 5G device tracking and reporting facility, which forms part of the GSA Analyser for Mobile Broadband Devices (GAMBoD) database, “represents an important milestone for the 5G ecosystem as it moves from service trials and prototype user equipment to commercially available services and devices”. In its first survey, 5G Device Ecosystem Report, dated March 2019, the GSA identified a total of 23 vendors that have confirmed the upcoming availability of 5G devices, with 33 different devices available, including regional variants. There were 7 publicized 5G device form factors, namely phones, hotspots, indoor CPE, outdoor CPE, modules, Snap-On dongles, adapters and USB terminals. On a per form factor basis, the report identified 12 phones (plus regional variants), 5 hotspots (plus regional variants), 8 CPE devices (indoor and outdoor),…
The Mobile World Congress – MWC Barcelona 2019 – is here. More than 100,000 mobile industry insiders, telecom specialists, professionals, analysts, reporters, and admirers of the most advanced devices have gathered to explore the wonders of the latest technology. Tech giants such as Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, and Vivo unveiled their innovations just before the show, but here we list some notable smartphones that have been presented at MWC. LG V50 ThinQ South Korea’s LG Electronics has unveiled its first 5G smartphone with a dual screen, the V50 ThinQ. The two screens are independant, enabling users to watch videos on one screen and browse the Internet on the other. Qualcomm’s cutting-edge Snapdragon 855 chipset together with a X50 5G modem will power the V50 model to support high-resolution games and data-rich applications without latency. The phone, with a 6.4-inch OLED full vision display, is equipped with a 4,000 mAh battery and…
According to a report by the US-based Pew Research Center, nine out of ten South Koreans own a smartphone, indicating the highest level of smartphone usage in the world. The study revealed that a staggering 95 percent of the population in South Korea has a smartphone, while the remaining 5 percent of the nation uses a mobile phone without access to the Internet. More than 30,133 people in 27 countries took part in the survey conducted last year. It transpired that three out of four adults used smartphones in 18 developed countries. According to the survey, Israel came in second with 88 percent, followed by the Netherlands with 87 percent, and Sweden with 86 percent. Australia, the U.S., Spain, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Argentina, Japan and Canada followed, with the ownership of smartphones ranging from 81 percent in the U.S. to 66 percent in Canada. Among the advanced…
Three telecommunication giants, Verizon, Motorola and Samsung, have shared some good news and provided updates regarding progress with the long-awaited 5G network. Verizon has announced that they have successfully accomplished the connection of a 5G-upgradeable Motorola smartphone using a Qualcomm 5G modem and Samsung’s 5G technology to their 5G network. The team performed tests that included video calling and Internet browsing by means of a 5G link. According to Bill Stone, vice president, Technology Development and Planning for Verizon, “In the past two years, we have consistently led the world in 5G, including launching the world’s first commercial 5G service last month”. Obviously upbeat about this successful test using an actual smartphone, he assured, “We will be the first to offer a 5G upgradeable smartphone on our network in 2019.” Verizon’s 28 GHz spectrum and Samsung 5G New Radio solutions were employed to complete the transmissions. The 5G-enabled…
October 1st, 2018 will be remembered as the date when the first 5G broadband network went live, with the telecommunications giant Verizon launching its 5G network in parts of Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and Sacramento. The company confirmed that it will be expanding its coverage shortly, pending the installation of new standards-compliant equipment. “The world’s first commercial 5G service is here. We’ve formed incredible partnerships with many of the world’s leading technology companies, the international technical standards bodies, public officials, developers and our own customers to drive the 5G ecosystem forward, faster than most had predicted. And now, actual customers. It’s been an incredible journey…and we’re just at the starting line,” the president of Verizon Wireless, Ronan Dunne, expressed enthusiastically. The very first user on this network, a resident of Houston, Clayton Harris, became one of the early adopters by setting up a “5G Home” service, an ultra-fast…
Google has officially announced that its next ‘Made by Google’ event will take place on October 3rd in New York City. While the company remains very secretive about the hardware that will be launched at the event, the key devices expected to be unveiled are the Google Pixel 3 and Google Pixel 3 XL smartphones. Thus far, the corporate giant has not yet made their major competitors Samsung and Apple tremble with envy nor fear with its previous versions of the Pixel phone, but the highly-leaked Pixel 3 devices might change that situation. If the rumors are true, the Pixel 3 XL device will have a controversially large notch, while both the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL should sport dual front-facing cameras, an Android 9 Pie operating system and glass backs for wireless charging. Along with the new smartphones, the Google PixelBook 2, a new version of Pixel Buds,…
The Chinese equipment manufacturer Huawei recently expressed its intention to surpass Apple in the smartphone market in 2018, and it seems that these plans are becoming a reality. According to IDC, Huawei shipped 54.2 million mobile devices units in the second quarter and moved to the second position, only to be outpaced by the ultimate leader Samsung. Looking at the total market share from Q2, Samsung maintains a strong 20.9%, while Huawei controls 15.8%, closely followed by Apple’s 12.1%. “The continued growth of Huawei is impressive, to say the least, as is its ability to move into markets where, until recently, the brand was largely unknown,” commented the program vice president with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers, Ryan Reith. Huawei’s recent push into Europe, the Middle East and India has secured its position among the top smartphone manufacturers. And while the US carriers are still instructed by the government to…
After the successful release of its flagship P20 series, the Chinese equipment manufacturer Huawei is set to overtake Apple as the second largest global smartphone vendor in 2018. As of July, Huawei had already shipped 100 million devices, and is on track to ship a total of 200 million devices by the end of the year, notably exceeding the number of 153 million of their smartphones shipped in 2017. Huawei, one of the world’s leading network equipment manufacturers, entered the smartphone race quite recently, and is aggressively competing with Samsung and Apple. However, the company has already managed to grow their smartphone business by 51 times since 2010, which is a sound proof of Huawei’s exponential expansion and its dominant position in the market. In addition to being the number three smartphone manufacturer globally, Huawei also holds the top position in China and is now focused on expanding their sales…
To compete with Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp as well as Apple’s iMessages, Google is looking for bold new ideas. They have had a number of failures in this area, having tried Talk, Hangouts and Allo! But for an American company, there’s no such thing as failure – there’s just the gaining of experience. Looking forward, Google will focus on delivering their new calling and messaging system called “Chat.” Chat aims to replace SMS, and uses the RCS protocol (Rich Communication Service) to achieve its goals. With Chat, users no longer need to download an application and keep that application updated, and the open-source nature of the RCS protocol will make this platform accessible to developers. According to The Verge media publication, more than 60 companies all over the world, including developers and operators such as Orange, Samsung and Asus have already committed to supporting Chat. For its part, Google promises…


