Faster
Everything Everywhere has revealed its launch plans for its new 4G service in the UK on Tuesday, with a new network and a new brand, known simply as EE.?The EE 4G UK service, which will launch under plenty of controversy and complaints from competing network providers Vodafone and O2, will be available to consumers from today, starting with a testing phase
4G Coverage
Those wishing to sign up to the new service will be able to get access to 4G speeds in the cities?London, Birmingham, Cardiff and Bristol, starting with engineer testing. By Christmas, 16 cities will have 4G. London will be the first European city fully covered with 4G.
EE says that by 2013, 70 per cent of the UK population will be covered with 4G, with 98 per cent coverage by the end of 2014. What's more the announcement gives EE?around a 6-month lead on Vodafone and O2 in the 4G stakes who currently have to wait until Ofcom auctions off the available spectrum to make that possible. Both O2 and Vodafone opted to wait for the official sell off before launching 4G, even though some believe both could have scrabbled together a 4G offering out of the bandwidths they already own.
In comparison, Everything Everywhere - which until now has been the hold company for T-Mobile and Orange in the UK, -re-purposed some of its existing 2G services to be able to launch the new 4G service. So, what devices will be 4G-enabled on EE in the UK? Read on...
EE 4G-enabled devices
If you're right at the end of your phone contract, then it's a very lucky time for you. Not only is there the iPhone 5 just around the corner but there's a whole host of 4G phones that you'll be able to use on EE 4G UK for the fastest mobile internet speeds around. Here are the ones to look out for.
Nokia Lumia 920
EE 4G UK is just another reason for the Nokia Lumia 920 to make some waves. If its PureView low light photography, Pure Motion HD+ anti-flicker and wobble knowhow, and Windows Phone 8 credentials weren’t enough to get the juices flowing, then the fact that you’ll be able to use it to browse at maximum UK mobile data speeds should have most knees a-tremble.
There’s also the 4.5-inch WXGA LCD screen, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage and 7GB free in SkyDrive for cloud capacity too. As with all top smartphones, you also get NFC for contactless payments and such, and even wireless charging with the Qi system. Very nice indeed. Nokia Lumia 920 hands-on
Nokia Lumia 820
What the bigger brother can do, it seems so can the not too diminutive sibling - 4G EE UK is coming to the Nokia Lumia 820 as well. The screen on the phone is a touch smaller and the technology not as as good in sunlight in the shape of the 4.3-inch WVGA OLED. Nonetheless, there’s still 1GB of RAM and the same 1.5GHz dual-core processor to keep things ticking over.
NFC is, again, present and correct and the battery is smaller at 1650mAh compared to 2000mAH on the 920. The other loss worth noting is that there’s only 8GB of internal storage and no microSD slot to back it up. The 7GB of SkyDrive does come as some relief then. No PureView branding to play with in the 820 but the camera is still an 8MP unit with dual LED flash and Zeiss optics. Nokia Lumia 820 hands-on
HTC One XL
Not as much of a braggart as the SGSIII but, for many, the unsung hero of the super phone bunch, the HTC One XL will be getting a 4G UK speeds on the EE network. On the power front is a fairly standard 1.5GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM behind it but it’s that screen that folk love.
Coming out one of the top in our sunlight test, it has a 4.7-inch 1280 x 720 LCD2 backed display which delivers really true and bright colours in all conditions, ensuring you can read what’s on your mobile wherever you are. Throw in the HTC Sense UI and 32GB of space and that’s many people’s ideas of the perfect Android phone - if only one currently stuck on Ice Cream Sandwich.
Samsung Galaxy S III LTE
The Samsung Galaxy S III already exists in 4G form in the USA under the LTE standard. The downside over there is that it’s had to drop two of the processor cores in order for that to be possible, making it just a dual-core handset. Fortunately, that’s not a sacrifice we’ll be having to make in the UK. It seems the LTE radio is happy to play nice and what you’ll get is a 1.4GHz quad-core processor, making the SGS III LTE the only one of the 4G first flush to have that much CPU potential. One could argue that it’s the most-powerful 4G handset in the UK.
The SGS III LTE comes with a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display, the impressive 1280 x 720 pixel resolution and resulting pixel density of 305ppi. Interestingly enough, it also comes with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean - another reason it stands out from this crowd. With 16GB of storage plus 50GB of Dropbox space free and a microSD slot, it looks rather hard to say no.
iPhone 5
So, there’s nothing official here but there were some heavy hints dropped at the EE 4G UK press conference and we’re willing to bet that the timing of this anouncement,just one day ahead of the iPhone 5 launch, is no accident.
If you’re not an Android phandroid and the ways of Windows Phone won’t woo you, then this is quite simply going to be the go-to mobile phone for 4G. Expect the iPhone 5 4G to take the county and the networks by storm. iPhone 5 specs and rumours
Huawei Ascend P1 LTE
Huawei has been moving up to the mobile phone peloton over the last two years and reaching the leaders just in time for the historic 4G UK launch might be just enough to win a stage all of its own. The Huawei Ascend P1 LTE is the 4G phone to look out for and this is what it does.
There’s a standard-sounding 1.5GHz dual-core CPU and 8-megapixel rear camera with front-facer to back it up. There’s even an impressive-sounding 4.3-inch qHD display. The only area to beware of is the rather limited 4GB of internal storage. Just make sure you’ve got a decent microSD card to plump it up.
Huawei E589 Mobile Wi-Fi device
While we’re taking Huawei, the Chinese company has two other ways to get you into 4G UK on EE, and without shelling out on a mobile phone. The first is a Mi-Fi device known as the Huawei E589.
It supports all the computer and mobile device OSs that you can need which means you can use it to turn your 4G mobile broadband speeds into a personal Wi-Fi signal that all your other gadgets can hook up to. With a possible five devices at once, that’s a very useful machine.
Huawei E392 mobile broadband dongle
Of course, you might not have any friends to connect to your Mi-Fi or just might not want to share your speeds and capacity. We don’t blame you. Your other option from Huawei then is a standard USB-based mobile broadband dongle - the Huawei E392 Mobile Broadband USB stick
It’s pretty straight forward: plug it into your USB-toting device and get some 4G mobile broadband. The real key is going to be how much the packages are going to cost you.
Tags:
Phones 4G Everything Everywhere Vodafone O2 Orange Nokia Apple HTC EE Nokia Lumia 920 Nokia Lumia 820 HTC One XL Samsung Galaxy S III LTE Samsung Galaxy S III iPhone 5 Huawei Ascend P1 Huawei Ascend P1 LTE Huawei E589 Huawei E392 Features
EE 4G UK: Devices, coverage, dates originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 11 Sep 2012 11:18:00 +0100