Category: lte-a

Globe fires up 130 cell sites using 2600MHz spectrum

Kevin Bruce Francisco

As a move to support growing demand for bandwidth in more parts of the archipelago, Globe Telecom announces putting up 130 sites with the 2600MHz spectrum in Visayas and Mindanao.

globe logo

Globe says that this additional allocation is the fruit of the recent joint purchase of San Miguel Corporation’s telecom assets and is actually just an initial rollout since they’re still planning to fire up more sites in the 2600MHz band.

With this high-frequency band, the company will be able to provide additional capacity for broadband data and is different from the lower 700MHz which gives better signal penetration in addition to stronger indoor coverage.

Joel Agustin, Globe Senior Vice President for Program Governance, Network Technical Group, also added that they are still pushing for utilizing the company’s spectrum allocation to continue rolling out the Carrier Aggregation technology as they recognize it to be a vital aspect of LTE-Advanced.

With these established cell sites taking advantage of high frequencies, Globe is looking forward to giving faster Internet access to its subscribers whether they’re in Luzon, Visayas, or Mindanao.

{Globe}

 

The post Globe fires up 130 cell sites using 2600MHz spectrum appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines News & Tech Reviews.

Globe fires up 130 cell sites using 2600MHz spectrum

Kevin Bruce Francisco

As a move to support growing demand for bandwidth in more parts of the archipelago, Globe Telecom announces putting up 130 sites with the 2600MHz spectrum in Visayas and Mindanao.

globe logo

Globe says that this additional allocation is the fruit of the recent joint purchase of San Miguel Corporation’s telecom assets and is actually just an initial rollout since they’re still planning to fire up more sites in the 2600MHz band.

With this high-frequency band, the company will be able to provide additional capacity for broadband data and is different from the lower 700MHz which gives better signal penetration in addition to stronger indoor coverage.

Joel Agustin, Globe Senior Vice President for Program Governance, Network Technical Group, also added that they are still pushing for utilizing the company’s spectrum allocation to continue rolling out the Carrier Aggregation technology as they recognize it to be a vital aspect of LTE-Advanced.

With these established cell sites taking advantage of high frequencies, Globe is looking forward to giving faster Internet access to its subscribers whether they’re in Luzon, Visayas, or Mindanao.

{Globe}

 

The post Globe fires up 130 cell sites using 2600MHz spectrum appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines News & Tech Reviews.

5 Best Smartphones Available in PH with LTE-Advanced

Kevin Bruce Francisco

We’ve given you a rundown of 32 smartphones in the Philippines with LTE-A capability and from those, we handpicked the 5 cheapest handsets you can buy right now.  This simple guide shows you our 5 best phones from the same list based on their specifications and regardless of their price. Let’s get started.

Apple iPhone 6S Plus

iphone6s-plus-rosegold

Apple iPhone 6s Plus specs:
5.5-inch Full HD IPS display, 401ppi
3D Touch
64-bit Apple A9 chip
Embedded M9 motion coprocessor
2GB RAM
16GB, 64GB, 128GB internal storage
12MP iSight BSI camera w/ 1.22µ pixels, dual-tone flash, OIS
4K video recording at 30fps
5MP BSI front camera w/ Retina Flash
LTE-A
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, MIMO
Bluetooth 4.2
GPS, GLONASS
VoLTE
NFC
Touch ID
iOS9
2,915mAh battery
158.2 x 77.9 x 7.3 mm
192g
Price: Php37,990 (16GB), Php43,990 (64GB), Php49,990 (128GB)

Huawei Nexus 6P

nexus 6p_11

Huawei Nexus 6P specs:
5.7-inch WQHD AMOLED Display, 2560 x 1440 @ 515ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 4
Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 v2.1 octa-core 64-bit processor
3GB RAM
64GB internal storage
12.3-megapixel rear camera with dual-LED flash
4K video recording
8-megapixel front camera
4G/LTE
WiFi 802.11ac
Bluetooth 4.1
GPS w/ A-GPS, GLONASS
Dual Front-facing speakers
MicroUSB Type-C port
Nexus Imprint
3,450mAh Li-Po battery
Android 6.0 Marshmallow
159.4 x 77.8 x 7.3mm (dimensions)
178 grams (weight)
Price: Php29,990

LG G5

LG G5 Philippines

LG G5 specs:
5.3-inch Quad HD IPS Quantum Display @ 2560×1440, 554ppi
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Processor
Adreno 530 GPU
4GB LPDDR4 RAM
32GB UFS ROM
microSD up to 2Terabytes
4G/LTE Cat. 12 up to 600Mbps
WiFi 802.11b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth 4.2
NFC
16MP rear camera (8MP wide angle)
8MP front-facing camera
2,800mAh Li-Ion battery (removable)
Android 6.0 Marshmallow
149.4 x 73.9 x 7.7mm (dimensions)
159g (weight)
USB Type-C
Silver, Titan, Gold, Pink
Price: Php34,990

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge 2

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge specs:
5.5-inch Super AMOLED Quad-HD display @ 2560 x 1440 resolution, 534ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 4
Samsung Exynos 8890 64-bit octa-core CPU 2.6GHz
Mali T-880 GPU
4GB RAM
32GB/64GB internal storage
up to 200GB via microSD (uses SIM 2 slot)
12MP Dual Pixel rear camera dual-tone, dual LED flash, f/1.7 aperture
5 megapixel front-facing camera with f/1.7 aperture
Dual SIM (hybrid), dual LTE
WiFi 802.11ac
Bluetooth 4.1
NFC
Fast Wireless Charging,Fingerprint Scanner, and Heart-Rate Sensor
IP68 rating
Android 6.0 Marshmallow with TouchWiz
3,600mAh Li-Ion non-removable battery
Black and Gold
Price: 39,990

Xiaomi Mi 5

Xiaomi-Mi-5-Black

Xiaomi Mi 5 specs:
5.15-inch full HD display @ 1920 x 1080 pixels, 428ppi
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor
Adreno 530 GPU
3GB / 4GB LPDDR4 RAM
32GB, 64GB / 128GB UFS 2.0 internal storage
4G+ LTE Cat. 12, up to 600Mbps
VoLTE support
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth 4.2
NFC
IR Blaster
GPS w/ A-GPS, GLONASS
Fingerprint sensor
USB Type-C
16-megapixel Sony IMX298 PDAF rear camera w/ dual-LED flash, 4-axis OIS
4-megapixel front camera
3000mAh battery w/ Quick Charge 3.0
Android 6.0 Marshmallow w/ MIUI 7
144.54 x 69.20 x 7.24 mm
129 g
Black, White, Gold
Price: Php15,000

 

The post 5 Best Smartphones Available in PH with LTE-Advanced appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines News & Tech Reviews.

Cheapest Smartphones in PH supporting LTE-A

Kevin Bruce Francisco

After giving you all the 31 smartphones available in the Philippines that support LTE-Advanced, we narrow down the list by handpicking the 5 cheapest handsets among the bunch. Of course, the following devices are purchasable here in the country. Let’s get to them!

Samsung Galaxy A8 – Php24,990

samsung galaxy a8_1

Samsung Galaxy A8 (SM-A800F) specs:
5.7-inch FHD Super AMOLED display, 386ppi
1.8GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core 64-bit CPU
2GB RAM
32GB internal storage
up to 128GB via microSD
16MP rear camera w/ LED flash
5MP front camera
4G LTE Cat.6, 3G
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n
NFC
Bluetooth 4.1, ANT+
GPS, A-GPS
Fingerprint scanner
3,050mAh battery
Android 5.1.1 Lollipop w/ TouchWiz UI
158 x 76.8 x 5.9mm
151g
Black, White, Gold

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) – Php19,990

galaxy a5 2016_1

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) specs:
5.2-inch FHD (1920×1080) Super AMOLED display
1.6GHz Octa Core
2GB RAM
16GB internal storage
up to 128GB via microSD
13MP rear camera, f/1.9 aperture, OIS, LED flash
5MP front camera, f/1.9
Dual-SIM option
LTE Cat.6
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.1
ANT+
USB 2.0
NFC
Fingerprint scanner
Android 5.1 Lollipop
2,900mAh battery w/ Fast Charging
144.8 x 71.0 x 7.3mm
155g

Huawei Honor 6 Plus – Php17,490

huawei-honor-6-plus

Huawei Honor 6 Plus specs:
5.5-inch Full-HD IPS display, 1920×1080 pixels @ 401ppi
1.8Ghz HiSilicon Kirin 925 octa-core processor
Mali-T628 MP4 GPU
3GB RAM
Expandable 32GB internal storage
Supports up to 128GB via microSD card
4G LTE Cat.6 300Mbps/50Mbps
Dual-SIM, Dual-LTE
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0 LE, A2DP EDR
NFC
GPS w/ A-GPS, GLONASS
FM Radio
Dual-8MP rear camera with LED flash
8-megapixel front-facing camera
Li-Ion 3,600mAh battery
Android 4.4.4 Kitkat (Emotion UI 3.0)
Dimension: 150.5 x 75.7 x 7.5 mm
Weight: 165g

LG G Flex 2 – Php16,500

LG-G-Flex-2

LG G Flex 2 specs:
5.5-inch P-OLED display @ 1920×1080 pixels
Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 2.0GHz 64bit octa-core processor
Quad-core ARM Cortex A57 2.0GHz and quad-core ARM Cortex A53 1.5GHz
Adreno 430 Graphics
2GB or 3GB LPDDR4 1600MHz RAM
16GB or 32GB internal storage
Up to 128GB via microSD card
LTE Cat.6 , HSPA+
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, dual-band, DLNA
Bluetooth 4.1
NFC
GPS with aGPS support, GLONASS
Stereo FM tuner
3,000mAh Li-Polymer battery
Android 5.0.1 Lollipop

Huawei Honor 6 – Php13,990

huawei-honor-6

Huawei Honor 6 specs:
5-inch IPS LCD full HD display @ 1920 x 1080 resolution, 441ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Kirin 920 octa-core processor (4 x ARM Cortex A15 1.7GHz and 4 x A7 1.3GHz cores)
Mali-T624 GPU
3GB RAM
16GB internal storage
up to 64GB via microSD card
HSPA+, LTE Cat. 6 300Mbps
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, dual-Band
13MP rear camera with Sony IMX214 sensor and f/2.0 aperture
Dual-LED flash
5MP front camera
IR Blaster
GPS with aGPS support
Android 4.4.2 KitKat with Emotion UI 2.3
Li-Ion 3100mAh battery
139.8 x 68.8 x 7.5mm
135 grams

Have something more to add? Feel free to do so in the comments section below.

The post Cheapest Smartphones in PH supporting LTE-A appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines News & Tech Reviews.

Is 5G technology really here?

Kevin Bruce Francisco Leave a comment

Smart Communications recently announced its new LTE-A ‘5G’ service which got a lot of people talking. Instead of it being good news, many took it in a negative way saying that it’s all just a marketing hype. But what exactly is 5G? Is it really here?

Smart5G

5G describes the upcoming generation of wireless networking. It is not a set of standard specifications that determine if the technology qualifies to be called 5G or not. As of now it is just used to describe the next-gen connectivity since there’s still no solid definition or formal agreement between companies of what it really is. Though this may be the case, 5G is expected to be 100 times faster and 1,000 times the capacity of LTE, faster streaming, and most importantly has the capability to cover wider range.

It is also important to note that experts see this technology being operational on 2020 at the earliest. This is due to the amount of time and money still needed to successfully finish the project.

One of the few handsets today with support for LTE-A is the Singapore-launched Samsung Galaxy S5 4G+ and there are no news of its local availability yet. Because of this, a lot of Filipinos still can’t make use of this new technology here in the country. The announcement of this service in the Philippines also reached overseas and attracted attention from an international site calling it a “bogus 5G technology.”

In Smart’s defense, one of the entries on their website’s FAQs section asks this:

“I heard that LTE-A is not 5G – is this true?”

To which Smart answers:

“LTE-Advanced is the next stage of development of LTE that offers significantly higher data speeds. It has been referred to, in some markets like the United States, as 5G. This means faster Internet downloading and video streaming, among other capabilities.”

What we’re seeing here is that the term 5G, as of now, still has a wide scope of definition making it easy to use loosely.

For us, having LTE-A or “5G” is still good news. The thing is, if there will still be Fair Usage Policy (and we’re pretty sure data capping will still be implemented) for its subscribers, having faster-than-average connection won’t do much good as it cannot be maximized – it’s just like being handed a key to a nice house that you can only live in for once a month.

Besides, many subscribers have yet to even taste the actual speed of LTE/4G in the country because of the limited coverage so the talk for 5G could only add salt to injury.

What do you think of Smart’s 5G technology? We put up a poll below just in case you want to share your thoughts on the subject. Do you believe Smart’s claim about their 5G connectivity?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
{Sources: 1, 2}

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