Gigabyte M528. HSDPA is included in that price!

Contact us
Subscribe via: RSS EMAIL

Categorized | umpc

Posted on 21 August 2008 by Chippy

I feel like I should apologise to you all. Over the course of about 4 months I’ve published about 4 different prices for the M528. Of course, I’m just relaying reseller prices as I get them and at each stage I’ve tried to confirm but there’s been a little more uncertainty than I would have liked to have seen. The latest to-and-fro has been with Expansys who wrote to me today, also apologizing, and explaining that their price DOES INCLUDE HSDPA. This has been a critical element for many consumers and the last disappointing news that it didn’t come with HSDPA caused many to cancel their orders. I guess you can re-order now. Or have the new devices shown at IDF this week caused you to put a hold on your purchase?

Gigabyte M528 information.

17 Comments For This Post

zak says:
August 21st, 2008 at 8:35 pm
phew, crisis averted.

[Reply (threaded)]
cat says:
August 21st, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Chippy,

Thanks for the great job covering the IDF in San Franciso. The new units are interesting but I’m getting jaded, having seen so many devices shown in the past that never made it to market (at least in Europe or the US). In a way, I wish OEM vendors would be limited to showing items that they will be bring to broad consumer markets within the year the respective IDF is held. I wouldn’t hold off purchasing a unit just because something interesting was shown at IDF because anything shown at IDF, if it ever gets market, may be more than a year away from being sold anywhere.

[Reply (threaded)]
jacke says:
August 21st, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Do anyone know what keyboard versions it is coming in:
English, German….???

[Reply (threaded)]
Marc says:
August 21st, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Hurrah! great news.

[Reply (threaded)]
zorro says:
August 21st, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Greta, but when available and why not HSUPA?

[Reply (threaded)]
chippy says:
August 21st, 2008 at 10:20 pm

Maybe it is HSUPA. Not sure. Maybe the module is firmware upgradeable.

[Reply (threaded)]
gylman says:
August 21st, 2008 at 10:37 pm
When will be M528 available in North America from Expansys? I was all set to buy this, had it in my shopping card, and was adding a couple of other small items to it, and poof! It was gone.

The Viliv unit you showed, however, looks even nicer, maybe, for use as a MID+. When will we have a crack at that one in North America? If the Viliv is not too far in the future, and price is not crazy, I’d considerable. It looks much more pocketable than the M528, no?

[Reply (threaded)]
focus says:
August 21st, 2008 at 11:14 pm
I think there where too many canceled orders so they reconsider!Hsdpa,i understand,is on an module on M528 so they can sell with or withouth depending on “the market”to say gentle this!

[Reply (threaded)]
ecsk2 says:
August 21st, 2008 at 11:38 pm
So now what we’re all having THIRD thoughts, since we had SECOND THOUGHTS when it was said not to be included

[Reply (threaded)]
Itamar says:
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:45 am
Once this becomes available in United States, which cellular carriers will be able to run the 3G HSDPA that is included with the device? Does anybody know?

[Reply (threaded)]
zak says:
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:26 am
i just noticed that they dont offer gps with that price.

[Reply (threaded)]
ecsk2 says:
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:31 am
Iltamar,

That would be AT&T in the USA afaik that’s the only one I believe there are some smaller carriers on the east coast I’m not familiar with too much, but I also bleieve that AT&T have or about to buy up some of these?

[Reply (threaded)]
jasonG Reply:
August 22nd, 2008 at 8:10 am
Would this just have 3g frequencies that would allow any sim card to be used on its data network???

[Reply (threaded)]
ecsk2 Reply:
August 22nd, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Not trying to split hairs here but there are also NON GSM 3G networks such as EVDO needless to say (I hope :)) it wouldn’t work on those (unless/until such a radio card was in it). Now when it comes to GSM frequencies on the international level it’s a little of a jungle honestly.

OUTSIDE North America you typically have 900/1800 Mhz, then in NA you have 850/1900 MHZ (typically NOT overlapping each other as the 900/1800 though!) ok now GRPS/EGPRS goes hand in hand with these frequencies.

So if you have a GSM product that is 3 (or 4) band that is (850)/900/1800/1900 and supports GPRS/EGPRS you are good to go (hardware wise that is, obviously you still have the roaming and having the service active of course to deal with.

*BUT* when it comes to GSM 3G on an international level it is NOT this “simple” so the “original” GSM 3G frequencies (outside North America) are:
1885–2025 MHz for the mobile-to-base (uplink)
2110–2200 MHz for the base-to-mobile (downlink)

Now while the frequency “band” as such on AT&T in the USA is within the same range of the NON-NA GSM 3G it is NOT used in the same uplink/downlink separate band fashion:
1710–1755 MHz and 2110–2155 MHz

The 1710-1755 is referring to the Tmo USA 3G network which has launched at this time in a few cities, and it’s next into impossible to find any hardware supporting it.

So MY GUESS would be that the M528 will support the same bands as the iPhone 3G that would be more or less any GSM 3G network in the world outside NA, and in NA AT&T only.

NOTE this from Wiki:
“There are almost no 3G phones or modems available supporting all 3G frequencies (UMTS850/900/1700/1900/2100MHz).”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Mobile_Telecommunications_System

[Reply (threaded)]
ecsk2 Reply:
August 24th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
I do not know where my reply disappeared to anyhow maybe it is only a good thing that I get to retype (rephrase myself perhaps in a easier to read fashion :))

So first off when we talk about 3G let’s not forget that there are also NON GSM 3G systems out there so saying 3G does *not* mean GSM automatically though I believe for the majority of us on this site it is what we think of when we hear/say 3G ?

Secondly when it comes to GSM on an international level there are essentially FOUR frequencies (in order) 850//900/1800/1900Mhz, they pair together as 850/1900 and 900/1800 where the later is the most common in the world, and the oldest, with 900/1800 typically they overlap each other and the main reason for the two is to increase channels. On the 850/1900 (North American) band they don’t always (if ever on purpose?) overlap each other but one (1900Mhz) was the “original” GSM NA band and the later was a frequency freed from the old AMPS system later on. Hence to be able to a GSM device both in North America and elsewhere it needs to have TECHNICALLY AT LEAST 2 bands, I believe the Ericsson i888 with 900 & 1900 Mhz would be (one of) the first worldphones, since 1800 has since become a standard freq to be paired with 900, today you would need in real life today have AT LEAST THREE bands either 850/900/1800 or 900/1800/1900 out of which both exist on either current or recent models. The 850 and 1900 band tend to be regionally divided somewhat related to the history of 850 Mhz.

Having said that then lets move on to data and GPRS/EGPRS which basically just goes hand in hand with GSM frequencies so whatever frequencies your device or and service provider uses that is the frequencies you would use for GPRS/EGPRS later also called EDGE.

*NOW* Here is where the jungle starts, the “original” 3G frequencies were: 1885–2025 MHz for the uplink and 2110–2200 MHz for the downlink, this is typically called the 2100 Mhz band now while AT&T USA does use the 2100 band also they do *NOT* divide it up in the same way for down and uplinks so although ON PAPER you might think a 3G device for 2100 Mhz would work, it is NOT compatible with both North America and the rest of the world unless it specifically indicates that it is a world or dual band 3G device! The reason for this is that if you look at the UPLINK frequency of the original 3G you will notice that the 1900Mhz band is within that, and North America is already using the 1900 Mhz. Also to add to the confusion North America is NOT using the same 3G frequencies between AT&T and TMo USA! The later is in the process of as we speak rolling out the 2100/1700 (yes you guessed it they have UP/Down divided again :)) typically called the 1700 Mhz band. Confused? Sorry try this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Mobile_Telecommunications_System

P.S. Please note that although I say NORTH America there are a good number of places in Central and South America that also use the North American bands, BUT unlike North America in many of these places they ALSO have the “regular” 900/1800 Mhz bands.

[Reply (threaded)]
kyuss says:
August 22nd, 2008 at 8:31 am
i also noticed that mobilx changed the pricing…they are now listing the m528 for the same price as expansys..

@zak
the expansys descrition says: “The M528 also has a built-in GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver.”

but anyway - these speculations suck…it’s getting boring…

[Reply (threaded)]
focus says:
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:30 am
Do you actually believe that those big retailers like EXPANSYS don`t know what are the tehnical caracteristics of the product that they will sell?!

[Reply (threaded)]
ecsk2 Reply:
August 22nd, 2008 at 6:28 pm
You yourself answered your own question in a way

“…hose big retailers…” the bigger the worse some of these companies (regardless of service or product) know what all the details. Just compare it to relatively small OQO but how many company CEOs will you be seeing taking the time to post things like this on some (3rd party) online forum:
http://www.oqotalk.com/index.php/topic,2904.0.html
http://www.oqotalk.com/index.php/topic,2922.15.html

[Reply (threaded)]
José Melo says:
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Steve,

You don’t have and you don’t need to apologise nobody.
I think we are all greatful for all the passion you put in your work and the way you give us the right information as faster as you can and as soon as you can.
In this kind of business, sometimes, it’s very dificult to give us the right information about all the things, I think everybody understands that!
So, keep going!
It’s always a pleasure hearing something from you.
Good work.

[Reply (threaded)]
david says:
August 22nd, 2008 at 8:13 pm
on again, fooagain, this is driving me crazy

[Reply (threaded)]
Max says:
November 17th, 2008 at 3:40 am
Can it be that your server is infected with a virus - I get an Virus warning when I open your site with Firefox - Just for your Info.

[Reply (threaded)]

1 Trackbacks For This Post

Gigabyte M528 MID: 3G HSDPA is standard, backtracks Expansys - SlashGear says:
August 21st, 2008 at 11:51 pm
[...] as Expansys do an abrupt about-turn and confirm that yes, the Mobile Internet Device does in fact include a 3G HSDPA modem. Previously the reseller had suggested that the MID, which is up for preorder on both its US and [...]