You know you have a good idea when others start copying you. I was just reading about the Motorola Napoleon Q9 on BoyGenius when I things started sounding familiar. How many Dual CDMA/GSM Verizon worldphones are there?
Turns out that the phone has a CDMA radio with EVDO Rev A! (Come on RIM) It also includes a Quadband GSM radio so it will even let you stick in an AT&T sim card as BGR tried.
It adds some interesting stuff on top of the 8830 such as a fingerprint scanner, WiFi, stereo speakers, and the previously mentioned Rev A. If this were not plagued with Windows Mobile 6.1 I would say the 8830 Worldphone is in for some competition.
Hopefully the Touchscreen Thunder Worldphone will come on the scene with Rev A at least. Check out the Napoleon Q9 to compare.
DavidB Not Registered
Posted: July 7, 2008 at 7:26 AM EST
Thought I read somewhere (BGR?) that the Thunder is supposed to have “EV-DO Rev C”. And that “no carrier supports that yet”?
Ah well, RIM has never been known for being up to date with the latest gadgetry in their devices. I guess that’s either good or bad, depending on if you’re a “glass half full” or “glass half empty” type of person…
Ronen Halevy ( View Profile) Senior admin - Posts: 5298
Posted: July 7, 2008 at 8:34 AM EST
David,
That idea is bounced around at this link
http://www.blackberryforums.com/rumor-mill/134144-thunder-dual-mode-ev-do-rev-c-gsm-hspa.html
Rev A is the current standard with BB devices supporting Rev 0 which has more latency and slower uploads. Rev B brings 75Mbps speeds and Rev C brings 280Mbps speeds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Randy R. Not Registered
Posted: July 7, 2008 at 1:58 PM EST
At this rate, Im thinking about changing to Verizon.
DavidB ( View Profile) Guru - Posts: 1751
Posted: July 8, 2008 at 12:13 PM EST
Yeah Ronen, I’ve seen the EV-DO roadmap. BUT i’ve seen no indication that either Verizon or Sprint (the biggest North America CDMA carriers) intend to go to anything beyond EV-DO Rev A? Verizon has said they are going to LTE (GSM’s version of 4G) and Sprint is entrenched in the WiMax camp. I don’t follow Canada much so not sure what Bell or Telus have planned for beyond Rev A, or what IUSACELL has planned for Mexico.
abcyesn Not Registered
Posted: December 31, 2008 at 9:30 AM EST
The Q9 Napoleon might show Motorola’s new direction when it comes to naming its handsets. There are already rumors about a Motorola Alexander, which should bring a wide touchscreen display and a killer-camera of 8 Megapixels. I wonder what’s next: a “Moto Louis XIV”, a “Moto Hammurabi”? Well, the history books are filled with names of ex-kings, so Motorola won’t run out of inspiration in case it goes this way with its naming strategy.
fans site already pop up http://www.napoleon-q9.com see more there.