[jdwx]

I was under the impression that the Bold was BB's only true 3G speed phone.

My friend says he has been told by his support that his Sprint 8330 is also a 3G phone and just as fast as a touted 3G phone. Seems it has the 3G chipset etc.

I've been following this a year (looking between the 8900 and the 9000) and thought the Bold was the only 3G on the BB line up...

Somebody school me.

[papped]

Sprint uses EVDO which is 3g. Bold uses HSPDA, which is more like 3.5g.

Sprint has EVDO rev-A for their 3g"+", which the 8330 is not (phones like the Touch Pro are). The 8330 is EVDO rev-0

[jdwx]

So Data speeds are the same?

The Bold isn't so special after all?

[papped]

I dunno the exact statistics on EVDO rev-0 vs HSPDA, you'd have to look that up.

But the Curve has no wifi.

[papped]

AT&T is supposed to be converting 3g to a different band by the end of 2009 though, so as you can see the answer isn't really a static one...

[Username00089]

It's the same speed pretty much. The technical aspects become much deeper.

One thing that I do know is that both VZW and Sprint use EVDO. And I know that while on a voice call with AT&T 3G data can still come through. BBM messages, emails, etc. I'm not so sure about EVDO having that ability. I BBM'd someone the other day using a Storm and she had a red "x" on her name for a good while. When she replied she said she had been on the phone for about a half hour.

[jdwx]

I see...

I have been watching this for a while, and it seemed the big push on the Bold was that it is 3G and Uberfast data, and never heard of the 8330 being 3G...

I'm sorta confused at this point. Never heard anyone mention the 8330 is 3g before.

Or my 8830 either. Hmm....

[papped]

If I recall correctly EVDO rev-A can, EVDO rev-0 cannot (data + call).

[papped]

I see...

I have been watching this for a while, and it seemed the big push on the Bold was that it is 3G and Uberfast data, and never heard of the 8330 being 3G...

I'm sorta confused at this point. Never heard anyone mention the 8330 is 3g before.

Or my 8830 either. Hmm....

You're confusing CDMA and GSM, that's why. They don't even really call it "3g" most of the time when you are referring to Sprint/Verizon. It's EVDO rev-0 or rev-A

[jdwx]

Well, I know this 8330 is CDMA, and the Bold is GSM, guess I wasn't getting that 3G between the two is different...

[papped]

CDMA rolled out 3g a little sooner. Bold came along and so AT&T advertises it as a new "3g" handset. But also it's not standard 3g since it's HSPDA.

Makes sense that AT&T doesn't let you know Sprint/Verizon phones that are EVDO rev-0 are 3g without asking Sprint directly.

Also since GSM is "world friendly" and CDMA isn't really, EVDO being 3g doesn't really matter in a lot of places at all.

[jdwx]

Ugh... Been reading the GSM 3G hype and never knew.

So, the 8900 is not 3G at all right? That I have definitely read. Whacky the 8330 is, andthe newest 8900 isn't...

Thanks for all the input.

[papped]

Nope. It was probably originally for Tmobile and other carriers that could care less which is why.

[jdwx]

Gotchya, quite logical.

Now I'm wondering if the GSM 8900 would be slower than my CDMA 8830WE. Was just contemplating a jump to TMO with verizon buying Alltel

[papped]

Slower in network from a technical standpoint, probably. But network coverage is always a bigger issue.

Also the general OS/processor speed is going to be better on the 8900. If the only "data speed" you care about is browser, the browser rendering might be more of the bottleneck issue than the actual data speed (in which case I imagine the 8900 wins with the higher cpu and newer OS).

[Dirt McGirt#CB]

The networks may be Rev-A or HSDPA, but its the devices radios that make the difference. The easiest case to look at is the original iPhone vs the 3G iPhone, both run on ATT network but the 3G only utilizes the 3G bandwidth. So your 8330 only utilizes Rev-0, even though sprint does have a Rev-A (3G speed) network, but on diff bands. BB's compress data and utilize the network more effectively though, so thats why no huge differences sometimes between BB's with fast processors and BB's on faster bands.
Just my take on it.

[gptoyz]

In short:
EVDO (sprint/verizon); UMTS and HSDPA (AT&T/T-Mobile) are all 3g standards

EVDO rev 0 & UMTS would be considered 3g

while EVDO rev A and HSDPA would exceed 3g standards and would be considered 3.5g in its theoretical transfer rates

for sure the bold is more powerful than the curve 8330, in terms of having a faster processor and a faster 3g hsdpa network...however, web page rendering on the blackberry browser & the java based os are the limiting factors.

[jdwx]

Gotchya.

Yeah, the initial big argument was that I didn't think his 8330 was 3G. After owning the 8830 for years and shopping the 8900/9000s ad reading the hype for a year, I was still under the impression that the Bold 9000 was the first BB true 3G unit.

Thanks much everyone for giving me the insight now.

[avt123]

The speeds on the 8330 definitely are not as fast as the Bold. I have owned both. Also, it has been proven that ATT has the fastest 3G network in the United States, though location does matter.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[bt224]

though location does matter.

And this is a pretty important point. AT&T is great around here, but some places it's terrible.