Quick i-mobile question - tri-band 3G?

[bobl]

Find myself in need of an unscheduled trip to the UK and I don't have a suitable phone (only 850/2100 3G and I believe I'll need 900 in the UK).

I've been going through i-mobile's horribly dysfunctional web site and I think the only two (IQ model) that can do 3G on 850/900/2100, are the IQ5.5 and 6.2?

Or, anyone know different? From what I can see even the newest models have an 'n' and an 'nA' version for 850/2100 OR 900/2100...

[FiftyTwo]

My 5.3 claims 850/900/2100

Was on special offer in Tesco for 5k

[bobl]

Yes I spotted that one after I posted... So it's 5.3, 5.5 or 6.2... any advance on 6.2?

I thought about getting the cheapest one and making it a 'disposable' (I'm waiting for the Galaxy S5 to come out) but maybe I'll get the 6.2 it has a much better screen that the 5 series...

[FiftyTwo]

The 5.3 is best of the bunch.

50% larger battery then the others and works fairly well

[bobl]

The 5.3 is best of the bunch.

50% larger battery then the others and works fairly well

It is? dam_n... I'd kinda decided on the 6.2 now I have to go do battle with that horrible website again to look closer at the specs...

Edit: It loaded quick for a change...

5.3 is 850x480 resolution - practically prehistoric vs 1280x720 on the 6.2 (same 5" screen)

I don't understand the battery specs though, you're right the 5.3 has a 3Ah battery vs 2Ah on the 6.2, yet the claimed standby time is roughly the same (250 hours) and the talk time claims to be 13 hours on the 5.3 vs 15 hours on the 6.2...

Edited February 11, 2014 by bobl

[FiftyTwo]

5.3 lasts ages if you don't play games.

Runs GPS tracking 3x as long as my Tab 7" or Tab 10".

Screen looks as good as you can get

[sumrit]

You don't have a problem using your phone in the UK. ALL the UK's networks use 2100 MHz for their 3G service. They use either 900 or 1800 for their voice and 2G service though so maybe that's where you're confusing things.

http://www.signalboostuk.com/networkinfo.asp

I used my IQXA (850/2100) in the UK last year and it worked fine. Used a '3' sim card with unlimited data and all I had to do was put the sim in. It set itself up automatically. A friend and his wife have just got two I-Style i-mobile phones and use GiffGaff sim cards. Again they work fine although I do believe they had to set the phones up manually. That could have been him not allowing enough time for them to auto set up though. Still worked fine though.

As for all I-mobile models, there's two or three models that do all three frequencies (850, 900 and 2100). But where there's two versions of one model, a standard and an 'A' version, you'l find the standard one does 850 and 2100 while the 'A' version does 900 and 2100.

eg: IQX = 850/2100 ............ IQXA = 900/2100

IQ 6.3 = 850/2100 ......... IQ6.3A = 900/2100

http://product.i-mobilephone.com/

Edited February 11, 2014 by sumrit

[bobl]

You don't have a problem using your phone in the UK. ALL the UK's networks use 2100 MHz for their 3G service. They use either 900 or 1800 for their voice and 2G service though so maybe that's where you're confusing things.

http://www.signalboostuk.com/networkinfo.asp

I used my IQXA (850/2100) in the UK last year and it worked fine. Used a '3' sim card with unlimited data and all I had to do was put the sim in. It set itself up automatically. A friend and his wife have just got two I-Style i-mobile phones and use GiffGaff sim cards. Again they work fine although I do believe they had to set the phones up manually. That could have been him not allowing enough time for them to auto set up though. Still worked fine though.

As for all I-mobile models, there's two or three models that do all three frequencies (850, 900 and 2100). But where there's two versions of one model, a standard and an 'A' version, you'l find the standard one does 850 and 2100 while the 'A' version does 900 and 2100.

eg: IQX = 850/2100 ............ IQXA = 900/2100

IQ 6.3 = 850/2100 ......... IQ6.3A = 900/2100

http://product.i-mobilephone.com/

Ummm... Your "XA" worked fine in the UK *because it's the correct phone for UK/Europe* - but you'd have had trouble using it in the Americas.

Similarly, the "X" model would work fine in the Americas but not so great in UK/Europe.

You're correct that all the UK networks use 2100 for 3G, but you're wrong to assume that they ONLY use 2100 for 3G. The 2100 frequency was developed to alleviate congestion in densely populated areas - the coverage of a 2100 cell is much smaller than that of a 900 cell so they can spread many cells in a densely populated area to share the load. In low density urban and rural areas they'll likely still be using 900 for 3G - which is where you're going to run into problems if you go to the UK with an 3G850/2100 phone.

Hence, looking for an 850/900/2100...

Now all moot, since I already bought one. Went for the IQ6.2 and I have to say, it's an excellent device for it's price...

[sumrit]

Did you bother to even look at the first link I provided???

It clearly says ALL UK network providers use ONLY 2100 for their 3G internet. 900 is for their 2G internet connection and comes via their 'voice' connection.

YOU specifically asked about 3G internet.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ X2 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Edited February 15, 2014 by sumrit

[bobl]

Did you bother to even look at the first link I provided???

It clearly says ALL UK network providers use ONLY 2100 for their 3G internet.

Oh, well if a website says so, it must be true...

Maybe they meant to clearly say "ALL UK network providers use ONLY 2100 for their 3G internet." Except for O2. And Vodafone.