Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 is the world's first 5G modem

[HEXUS]

Firm also updates its mid-range processors; Snapdragon 653, 626, and 427 on the way.

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[infraction]

I bet UK companies will still charge the same per GB as 3G/4G as well as continuing to block/limit tethering.

[LSG501]

"The mmWave spectrum isn't great for wall penetration"....so what was the thinking of this move for 5G, I already have issues getting a decent 3G signal inside my house (providers are useless here).

It's all very well making things go faster but if you can't actually receive said signal then all the speed in the world isn't going to make a single bit of difference...

Mind you considering the likely cost of future mobile data connections the fact that in a lot of cases you're still limited to a small amount of data makes higher speeds even more pointless compared with getting more coverage....

[jimborae]

Hmm so no 5G specs have been finalised by 3GPP and yet Qualcon managed to make a 5G modem.....hmmm interesting and can't be conforming to any standards me thinks.

[aidanjt]

"The mmWave spectrum isn't great for wall penetration"....so what was the thinking of this move for 5G

Well the idea is you get fast internet when you're out and about, if you're indoors you'll likely have wifi, otherwise the phone can fall back to ye olde 4G/3G.

Mind you considering the likely cost of future mobile data connections the fact that in a lot of cases you're still limited to a small amount of data makes higher speeds even more pointless compared with getting more coverage....

That's the real problem, right there. Mobile data costs are still absurd.

[peterb]

I bet UK companies will still charge the same per GB as 3G/4G as well as continuing to block/limit tethering.

It isn't difficult to find a carrier that supports tethering - all the mainstream providers permit it on their own networks, it's mainly the resellers who dont have their own networks that limit it.

[jimborae]

Also, more importantly to the conversation here, is that there is absolutely no indication yet MNO's that 5G will be used for mobile phone comms. All the stuff I've seen is pointing towards using 5G for IOT devices & not mobile phones, that's not to say mobile devices cant use it when it's available but that they maybe better served by other technologies like LTE and LTE-A etc.

[Dashers]

Connection speed is one thing, useful throughput is another.

I spend an awful lot of time seeing dial-up level of throughput when 4G is already supposed to be delivering us 150mbps+.

Just the same as cheapo broadband providers, it's all very well having a decent connection speed, but if there isn't capacity in the network then it's going to be terrible. Unfortunately with mobile coverage in the UK the choices are very slim.

I've never heard of anybody actually blocking tethering? I think there were some iphones sold by operators that had the feature disabled, but not actually something that could be stopped. I remember having a contract that didn't allow tethering, but it worked perfectly well for me in reality.