[BryanHarig]

If they really wanted to I am sure they could have launched one months ago. I dont think RIM (or the majority of RIMs customers) care as much about 3g as a few people here do.

3g will come soon, but RIM isnt going to rush it out the door or shorten the normal lifecycle of their latest Curve and Pearl 2 varients in order to get it out there sooner.

[pwc realtor]

There is one thing that noe on has mentioned yet.

AT&Ts 3g coverage is still relatively limited. I live in a fairly built-up suburb and we still do not have 3g coverage.

I also agree that most BB users will not notice the speed difference. The only thinig i can see as advantage is the simultaneous voice and data capability.

[jibi]

At a recent conference with Jim Balsillie as the speaker, he mentioned that the current GSM carrier infrastructures could only handle so much data before caving to the demands of 3G technology. Current UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA networks are VERY limited in allowed bandwidth from all 3G-capable carriers (in North America). Needless to say, there is a lot of truth in the fact that there is a high demand for a technology that will not necessarily have the infrastructure in place to support it at full capacity and full capability. If AT&T or the like would offer full speeds to everyone, I'd be very surprised.

As for the benefits, 3G can really come in handy when you're streaming video over the network, or downloading raw attachments from messages (OS 4.3), or remote upgrading device OS (OS 4.3+BES 4.1.5), or a lot of other possibilities that are being added. There are also a lot of internal application development items at a lot of companies that could benefit from 3G technology and speed. RIM can see the necessity and benefits, but I think they're also looking at it from the aspect that they have a very popular device and platform and could end up having a negative experience when it is implemented.

Regardless, we'll see it sooner than later.

[trbloomer]

People are probably right that many of the business people using the BB don't want or need 3G, cameras, streaming video etc.

But really that misses the point. Not having features will not increase sales to any group, with the possible exception of the camera.

As pointed out battery life would be a major problem/liability but turning off the 3G solves that. Business is not the growth area for BB that consumers are now or soon will be. And holding back on tech for unknown reasons (unknown by the public) is not a great way to expand your market share.

And the product update angle seems a canard, they refreshed the 8800 in months.

Anyway

Happy solstice to everyone

Todd

[davidlw]

I use 3G where my office is because of reception. Where I am located, 2G breaks up and I have to go outside to get phone calls without breaking up. Of course I like the 3G for web also.

[NEPatriot4life]

I hope ATT will offer 3G in 2008 for Blackberry curve or new 9000 series

[tobyw]

This is an interesting discussion. I have a bit of a different perspective being in the UK. I am currently on T-Mo UK, who have no Edge coverage at all. Therefore I'm stuck with slow GPRS all the time. As a result I don't do much web browsing on my Pearl. Having said that, it doesn't make an different for e-mail.

In the UK we have good 3G coverage but not much Edge. O2 have rolled out some Edge coverage for the iPhone. I do seem to recall that Orange had some Edge at one stage, but my father has an Orange Pearl and that always seems to be on GPRS too. I don't know whether this situation is repeated in other European counties. So, looking globally, we seem to have a more pressing need for a 3G BB.

One thing that piqued my interest is that reception may be better for a 3G BB. I currently get very spotty reception at home, which is insufficient to make a call, so better coverage would be great if a 3G BB is released. Until then, I'm happy with my Pearl.

I would be even happier with the Pearl if RIM made a few improvements to BIS though. I think this is key to continue penetrating the prosumer marketplace. In particular, I'm thinking of HTML e-mail, better reconciliation and the ability to file messages in folders which I still miss having with Chatter on my Treo 650.

[greggebhardt]

Originally Posted by BryanHarig

Every 3g smartphone I have used has had the option to disable 3g and fall back to EDGE. I would be supprised if the 3g blackberries dont offer that option.

I would thing the device would be on EDGE all the time except when you need the extra speed. Keeping a phone on 3G while waiting for a phone call of a email notification is a waste of resources. I think it will all be automatic.

I am betting the RIM gets it right when they do a 3G phone. The 9xxx will blow the iPhone off the map!

[PPCMD]

3G is great but until AT&T has more areas covered what's the point? If you roll along and then drop off of 3G then what you have Edge. Cart before the horse.

[rudegar]

Originally Posted by tobyw

This is an interesting discussion. I have a bit of a different perspective being in the UK. I am currently on T-Mo UK, who have no Edge coverage at all. Therefore I'm stuck with slow GPRS all the time. As a result I don't do much web browsing on my Pearl. Having said that, it doesn't make an different for e-mail.

In the UK we have good 3G coverage but not much Edge. O2 have rolled out some Edge coverage for the iPhone. I do seem to recall that Orange had some Edge at one stage, but my father has an Orange Pearl and that always seems to be on GPRS too. I don't know whether this situation is repeated in other European counties. So, looking globally, we seem to have a more pressing need for a 3G BB.

One thing that piqued my interest is that reception may be better for a 3G BB. I currently get very spotty reception at home, which is insufficient to make a call, so better coverage would be great if a 3G BB is released. Until then, I'm happy with my Pearl.

I would be even happier with the Pearl if RIM made a few improvements to BIS though. I think this is key to continue penetrating the prosumer marketplace. In particular, I'm thinking of HTML e-mail, better reconciliation and the ability to file messages in folders which I still miss having with Chatter on my Treo 650.

Interesting persepctive. Us "Paxamericans" may not have realized that RIM has a reason to bring out 3G because of the European market. Though the U.S. market is neither built-out or market-ready, perhaps Euro is sufficiently built-out AND market-ready. Hmmm

[TonyTone]

STUPID QUESTION ::

is there way that 3g can be finally offered through firmware updates?

[PPCMD]

Unfortunately no, it all in the radio that is installed.

[Bigbmc26]

Originally Posted by PPCMD

3G is great but until AT&T has more areas covered what's the point? If you roll along and then drop off of 3G then what you have Edge. Cart before the horse.

The point is, the current smartphone market is 3G. RIM is a serious player and are dragging their feet. HTC, Motorola, even slow as nails Palm have released UMTS/HSDPA products into the market for at&t's 3G network. It doesn't matter how big the network is, what matters is can I get HSDPA when it's available, period!

[fwellers]

Originally Posted by Bigbmc26

The point is, the current smartphone market is 3G. RIM is a serious player and are dragging their feet. HTC, Motorola, even slow as nails Palm have released UMTS/HSDPA products into the market for at&t's 3G network. It doesn't matter how big the network is, what matters is can I get HSDPA when it's available, period!

My surfing experience, especially with the bb browser is very satisfactory. I am not looking forward to needing a thicker device, or suffering with less battery power because of going to 3g.

[dstrauss]

Originally Posted by Bigbmc26

The point is, the current smartphone market is 3G. RIM is a serious player and are dragging their feet. HTC, Motorola, even slow as nails Palm have released UMTS/HSDPA products into the market for at&t's 3G network. It doesn't matter how big the network is, what matters is can I get HSDPA when it's available, period!

As a former Blackjack owner (now Curve convert), AT&T has to SERIOUSLY improve the signal/radio/whatever efficiency of HSDPA networks. Even without any browsing, voice only signal drain was at least 2X over teh EDGE network in solid areas such as San Antonio and Houston. I fully understand why Apple did not support 3G with the first iPhone - it would need to be twice as thick for the same battery performance.

[liquidreign]

I hope they use the new 3G chipset from broadcom it is said to have solved the battery draining issues. I have read that this is going to be in the next version of the iPhone and the reason the current iPhone didn't come with 3G was because of battery issues.

[jibi]

They're using the Marvell/Intel XScale Tavor chipset. This chipset has not yet been included in any mobile device, cell phone, or UMPC.

[liquidreign]

Here are a couple of articles about the new 3G Chipset

Broadcom touts new "3G phone on a chip," could show up in 3G iPhone

3G: Broadcom's Latest 3G Chip Has Longer Life, Cheaper Costs, iPhone Potential