Waiting For A Nexus One Worldphone

Waiting For A Nexus One Worldphone

So Google finally announced its 3G phone for HSPDA back on Jan 5, 2010. Unfortunately, for those of us in the US, the GSM camp does not have a wide enough of 3G data coverage that folks over in Asia and Europe enjoy. I was pretty excited when Google said they would release a version of Nexus One that works on the Verizon network in the Spring of 2010. After all, my contract with Sprint doesn’t expire until May.

Since the GSM Nexus One packs the Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250, which according to Qualcomm’s specs only works on the GSM network, I am guessing that the CDMA version would be screaming with Qualcomm’s QSD8650.  According to specs from Qualcomm, the QSD8650 is compatible with both GSM/HSDPA and CDMA/EV-DO, making it a true 3G worldphone (unless you still need iDEN, which I think only Japan and Korea might still be deploying, and Sprint is phasing it out after acquiring it from Nextel).  This would be a very nice phone unlocked, allowing a world traveler to utilize local networks at cheaper rates.

According to a press release from Qualcomm in summer 2009 (will dig up the press release later…), they have managed to clocked QSD8650 at 1.3 GHz, a third faster than QSD8250’s 1GHz.  Since both chipsets are fabricated using the 45nm process, power-saving from lower voltage should be out of the question.  It would be interesting to see how, if at all, Qualcomm can still manage to maintain a comparable running time without sticking a bigger and heavier battery on the back of the phone.

In a way, I am glad that my contract with Sprint isn’t up yet, so I don’t have to rely purely on my (limited) restraint to compulsively buy a GSM-only Nexus One now.

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