MacDailyNews has reported today that the upcoming Verizon-bound iPhone 4 will have LTE 4G support, a feature not seen on any other current model.
Additionally the site says the phone will hit the Verizon network before the New Year, right after Christmas.
Citing reliable sources, MDN says AT&T requested Apple hold off on breaking the American exclusivity pact until after Christmas so the carrier could make as many iPhone 4 and 3GS sales as possible.
Furthermore, the site says the LTE iPhone has already shipped to Verizon warehouses and has been in the hands of training managers since last week.
As a special marketing campaign, Verizon will market the device as “the only LTE iPhone.”
Because Verizon has just begun their LTE rollout, the iPhone will backwards compatibility with 3G CDMA.
For now, take this as rumor, but we will keep you updated.
Result for: backwards compatibility
TeliaSonera has announced the launch of the world’s first 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) network in Sweden and Norway, using Samsung’s commercial 4G LTE dongles.
4G offers speeds of up to 100Mbps, ten times faster than current 3G services from TeliaSonera.
“We are very excited to be part of the world’s first LTE commercial service from TeliaSonera. It is a truly historic step forward in the mobile industry,” added JK Shin, executive vice president and head of the Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. “As an industry leader and innovator, Samsung will continue to offer the most advanced mobile technology to satisfy consumers’ unmet needs.”
“We are very proud to be the first operator in the world to offer our customers 4G services. Thanks to the successful cooperation with Samsung we can offer 4G to our customers in Sweden and Norway earlier than originally planned,” notes Kenneth Karlberg, President and Head of Mobility Services, TeliaSonera.
The dongle can be connected to any portable device (notebook, netbook, tablet) via USB and should have backwards compatibility with 3G, HSPA, and EDGE services.
There are currently no phones that can handle the 4G but 2010 should see a change to that.
Result for: backwards compatibility
According to an interview with Arstechnica, Sony’s Director of hardware marketing John Koller has made it clear that PlayStation 3 backwards compatibility will not be coming back to the console, ever.
The original PS3 models supported PS2 games, using certain hardware, and European consoles supported the games via software emulation. Later versions, such as the 40GB model in North America, removed BWC.
Says Koller: “It’s not coming back, so let me put that on the table…It’s not as big as a purchase intent driver as you may be hearing,” he says. “We’ve got such a substantial lineup of titles on the PS3; most people are buying the PS3 for PS3 games. They’ve buying it for PS3 games and Blu-ray movies.”
“That won’t be returning,” he concludes.
