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  • solipsism - Thursday, March 8, 2012 - link

    With the WiFi battery life only 1 hour more than the 4G battery life I assumed that it had to be the 9615 to get that 3rd gen LTE efficiency.
  • Paulman - Thursday, March 8, 2012 - link

    Brian just wrote that it is in fact Qualcomm's MDM9600, though, not the MDM9615, and he says it's a 45nm part. I'm guessing the increased battery size of a tablet means that using a 45nm LTE modem is still ok?
  • dcollins - Thursday, March 8, 2012 - link

    Hence his title and the use of the past tense.
  • dagamer34 - Thursday, March 8, 2012 - link

    I think the larger battery is more of an indication that the screen and A5X SoC are having a larger impact on battery life compared to LTE, seeing how they almost doubled the size of the battery even in WiFi models, but the rated time remained the same.

    Also, because it's possible to more aggressively power down the 4G chipset on a tablet than a phone, battery life isn't impacted as much as you might think.
  • PeteH - Thursday, March 8, 2012 - link

    I wonder if the SoC really has that much impact on battery life compared to the display (at least under the "normal use" scenario, graphically intensive gaming might be different). Just think how much brighter the backlight must be due to the increased pixel density.
  • Kristian Vättö - Thursday, March 8, 2012 - link

    WiFi can be disabled when running on 4G so that would help with the battery life. It's also good to keep in mind that these are advertising numbers, real world results may vary.
  • Brian Klug - Thursday, March 8, 2012 - link

    Keep in mind that their battery is indeed gigantic (42.5 Whr for the 3rd gen versus 25 Whr for the 2nd gen). Arguably that's more telling about the challenges of getting the same light transmittance through so much more gating, ITO, etc.

    -Brian
  • iwod - Thursday, March 8, 2012 - link

    They keep saying 3G "World Mode" , unless the world does not include China, China Mobile uses TDS-CDMA.
  • solipsism - Thursday, March 8, 2012 - link

    But China Mobile, albiet China's largest carrier, isn't the only carrier in China so it's still accurate. They aren't saying it's an "All cellular connectivity chip" just that it can be used all over the world, which should not be mistaken with used in every part of the world.

    Plus, China Mobile uses standard GSM so it will connect to their 2G network. I don't recall anyone but you suggesting that world more only refers to 3G and is defined by connecting to all carriers. It doesn't even T-Mobile's AWS.
  • reuthermonkey1 - Thursday, March 8, 2012 - link

    Support for AWS 42mbps DC-HSPA+. The only network in North America with a 42mbps HSPA+ network is T-Mobile.

    Yet, guess what.

    Still no T-Mobile AWS HSPA+ support on any apple products.
  • GTDued - Thursday, March 8, 2012 - link

    That's because T-Mobile won't guarantee billions of dollars to Apple to have the privilege of selling the iPhone and iPad.
  • tpurves - Thursday, March 8, 2012 - link

    Sigh. America is the only country in North America is it? Canada has several carriers with 42mbps HSPA+ and also AWS spectrum, 3 of whom (Rogers, Bell, Telus) sell the iPad and iPhone already.

    I don't know what HSPA or spectrum flavors that Mexican carriers are using.
  • 8steve8 - Thursday, March 8, 2012 - link

    another tablet with a 40-45nm a9ish SoC, what a shame... screen looks nice though.

    that asus transformer pad infinity LTE with the 28nm SoC looks nice on paper, too bad the gpu on the first gen krait is fairly weak, where is samsung (or anyone) with their 32/28nm A15 hi-res tablet?
  • kyuu - Thursday, March 8, 2012 - link

    Fairly weak? With it's high clock speed the Krait's GPU is still a damn good performer. Obviously the Pro variant with the Adreno 320 will be even better, but the non-Pro's GPU is still far from weak, I'd say.
  • 8steve8 - Thursday, March 8, 2012 - link

    yeah the pro should be good, gpu wise but it's a ways off

    but yes this current krait's GPU is far less impressive then its CPU performance.

    looks like this a5x will be the opposite. unimpressive CPU, with a possibly great GPU... at 45nm i'll pass.
  • dubthedankest - Thursday, March 8, 2012 - link

    Hey Brian,

    I was hoping you could advise on whether you expect the VZW iPad to be SIM locked to other US carriers or if one could insert an AT&T SIM into the VZW model to take advantage of AT&T 3G speeds when VZW 4G isn't available but then swap the VZW SIM back in when within VZW 4G coverage.

    Thanks a ton.
  • secretmanofagent - Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - link

    I seem to remember reading that it was specific to each carrier during the announcement, even for LTE.
  • bnowrooz - Friday, March 9, 2012 - link


    Sorry, not trying to be whatever, curious but why are you looking at the MSM? Are you looking for something specific? The 96xx series has some compelling features but I don't see any comments on them? :)

    I made a few comments in my posts: sonlte.com , specifically:

    http://www.sonlte.com/2012/03/08/more-digging-on-t...

    If you have any questions about the QCOM product line, I can try to help answer them. It's a little difficult doing the NDA/no NDA dance but I will try my best.

    Thanks!

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