4G the difference...

[comk4ver]

I have a question regarding how far we've come in regards to 4G and battery life.
When did 4G come about and how was the first 4G smartphone battery life?

Were there big differences between the phones battery life on 4G?
What generation are we in now for smartphones with 4G? Have there been improvements to battery life since the first generation?

 

[dezymond]

I believe 4g first can out in 2010? Check when the TB released and that's pretty close.

Battery life has come far since then but it won't really improve as long as we use lithium ion batteries, imo. 4g is still a real battery sucker but it has improved. Add onto the fact that android handles it better too.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[comk4ver]

Yes after some research Verizon opened 4G on December 5, 2010.
I can't find the first 4G smartphone that was offered by Verizon but the second 4G smartphone was the thunderbolt. The thunderbolt was released on March 17th 2011.
Edit: the thunderbolt was Verizon's first LTE phone but not the first ever LTE that distinction belongs to Metro PCS and the Samsung craft.

I was just trying to see if battery life has improved and by how much. But it's barely been the second year and I am sure 3g technology took longer than three years to perfect.
But, seeing how we might start LTE-A, I am not sure we'll get a chance to get there.

 

[bsweetness]

Yes after some research Verizon opened 4G on December 5, 2010.
I can't find the first 4G smartphone that was offered by Verizon but the second 4G smartphone was the thunderbolt.

I was just trying to see if battery life has improved and by how much. But it's barely been the second year and I am sure 3g technology took longer than three years to perfect.
But, seeing how we might start LTE-A, I am not sure we'll get a chance to get there.

The Thunderbolt was the first LTE smartphone offered by Verizon. There was a big marketing push for it. Verizon released a LTE MiFi unit before the Thunderbolt, but the Thunderbolt was the first LTE smartphone on Verizon.

And battery life has improved immensely since the Thunderbolt. The Thunderbolt was a battery hog that would drain incredibly fast. But through the development of more efficient processors and radios, battery life on recent LTE phones is just as good - if not better than - battery life on any 3G-only Android phones.

 

[jntdroid]

March '11 was when the Tbolt was released if I remember right. Talk about different times... LTE was an alpha product then, beta on a good day.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

 

[comk4ver]

Well, I was trying to see where my now end of life Nexus was within the 4G generation phones.
Seeing as to how it was released in December 15th in 2011. This would be part of the learning curve phones.
So in theory next year would be the year to buy a greatly improved battery 4G phone. But seeing it'll take another two years before Verizon attempts another Nexus/pure Google phone as seen with the og droid. *sigh*

 

[jntdroid]

Most of the new phones with the S4 chipset (and better now) are very efficient with their battery consumption and LTE usage.

The Gnex, while inherently great, did not handle LTE well at all. Heck, even Google decided not to include LTE in the Nexus 4.

However, I also think Verizon's LTE network is just now at a point of semi-maturity and stability. I think that anywhere between 30% to maybe as high as 50% of battery / network issues back then were just that - network issues.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

 

[bsweetness]

Well, I was trying to see where my now end of life Nexus was within the 4G generation phones.
Seeing as to how it was released in December 15th in 2011. This would be part of the learning curve phones.
So in theory next year would be the year to buy a greatly improved battery 4G phone. But seeing it'll take another two years before Verizon attempts another Nexus/pure Google phone as seen with the og droid. *sigh*

Well, I'm going to disagree with that theory.

There are LTE phones now that get phenomenal battery life. Could it be better? Sure, everything always has room for improvement. But I have a feeling you'd be incredible surprised by several recent devices, especially compared to devices like the Thunderbolt and the Galaxy Nexus.