[Q] Does the quad-core HTC One X support AWS bands?

Yes, HTC One X will support Tmobile's AWS band

Hi, as we do know the T-Mobile HTC One X will debut in early April, for a yet to be released date, though T-Mobile didn't provide exact release date. As you mentioned that HTC' site doesn't give any clue whether it will support AWS band or not. We can say that it will be updated soon for sure, as well as T-Mobile reveals a release date. We suspect that HTC didn't show T-Mobile AWS band as the device is only available for pre-order from various retailers, so it will update it soon as well as T-Mobile reports.

I'd really like to know the answer to this question also. To add to the confusion, HTC's site for the AT&T version of the One X (Called the One XL) does show that it will support AWS: www.htc.com/us/products/htconex-att#tech-specs

It doesn't make a lot of sense to me why the AT&T specific version would support AWS for T-Mobile (never seen that before in an AT&T specific phone). In the past it was usually the international version that supported AWS. I don't see any of the various phone/gadget blogs mentioning this about the AT&T version either.

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techsnapr said:

Hi, as we do know the T-Mobile HTC One X will debut in early April, for a yet to be released date, though T-Mobile didn't provide exact release date. As you mentioned that HTC' site doesn't give any clue whether it will support AWS band or not. We can say that it will be updated soon for sure, as well as T-Mobile reveals a release date. We suspect that HTC didn't show T-Mobile AWS band as the device is only available for pre-order from various retailers, so it will update it soon as well as T-Mobile reports.

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I don't understand what you're talking about here. There's no T-Mobile HTC One X. T-Mobile is getting the One S (the lesser midrange handset). That's what was announced at MWC this week, to appear in the spring.

For what it's worth, here's a rumor that T-Mobile will get the HTC One X in the summer (with the Tegra 3 quad-core cpu and stock Android even).

www.androidandme.com/2012/02/smartp...e-to-get-stock-android-4-0-and-quad-core-cpu/

I'm wondering myself does Tegra 3 Quad core support AWS band and if so does it support HSPA +42 or HSPA +21? Also is it the One X Terga coming to Tmobile Usa or One XL Snapdragron coming to Tmobile USA? Like another poster said the HTC website shows the AWS band for One XL under AT&T but no AWS band for One X under international version.

Sent from my HTC Incredible S using xda premium

Come to think about it somebody posted the build prop file for the HTC Endeavor aka HTC One X and it did not list compatibility with AWS band.

Sent from my HTC Incredible S using xda premium

This is a bit of speculation on my part, but it could be that AT&T ordered the HTC One X to be compatible with T-Mobile's AWS since they predicted that the merge was going to go through. Lets not forget that AT&T and T-Mobile do have new roaming agreements after the merger fell through.

nickmgray said:

This is a bit of speculation on my part, but it could be that AT&T ordered the HTC One X to be compatible with T-Mobile's AWS since they predicted that the merge was going to go through. Lets not forget that AT&T and T-Mobile do have new roaming agreements after the merger fell through.

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That makes a lot of sense. Seems plausible.

Don't know if it means anything, but GSMArena now lists the AT&T One X as having AWS (I assume they probably just pulled it from the HTC site and I do find that GSMArena's stats can be a little unreliable):

www.gsmarena.com/htc_one_x_at&t-4614.php

I'd hate to have to have an AT&T branded phone to get AWS though. I like the unbranded phones.

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Hmm. There's also this story, from yesterday (and spreading rapidly), that quad-core variant of the One X has cleared the FCC, headed to an unknown carrier:

www.pocketnow.com/android/quad-core-htc-one-x-gets-fcc-certified

And this rumor from a week ago that T-Mobile will get a stock Android version of the One X:

www.androidandme.com/2012/02/smartp...e-to-get-stock-android-4-0-and-quad-core-cpu/

From what I read this morning, international version of the One X will be with AT&T. Therefore, the chance of One X being available on T-Mobile dropped, but its not for sure until CTIA in May. Hopefully they'll announce something.

Other than that, T-Mobile customer may be able to use international version of the One X on T-Mobile someday. Since T-Mobile may or may not be refarming their 1900 GSM spectrum. If they do refarm it to 1900 UMTS, then I'll be one happy T-Mobile customer.

gwuhua1984 said:

From what I read this morning, international version of the One X will be with AT&T.

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Where are you getting this? It's well known the AT&T is not getting the international version, but rather a different version with a Qualcomm dual-core processor, to accomodate AT&T's LTE network. Even HTC's own website list's a separate AT&T version of the One X, from the international version.

Also, if you look earlier in this thread, the AT&T version in the specs on HTC's website support's T-Mobile's AWS frequencies. So there may be more than one avenue to get a One X that works on T-Mobile.

gwuhua1984 said:

Therefore, the chance of One X being available on T-Mobile dropped, but its not for sure until CTIA in May.

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Again, where are you reading this? Can you provide a link to the information?

cb474 said:

Where are you getting this? It's well known the AT&T is not getting the international version, but rather a different version with a Qualcomm dual-core processor, to accomodate AT&T's LTE network. Even HTC's own website list's a separate AT&T version of the One X, from the international version.

Also, if you look earlier in this thread, the AT&T version in the specs on HTC's website support's T-Mobile's AWS frequencies. So there may be more than one avenue to get a One X that works on T-Mobile.


Again, where are you reading this? Can you provide a link to the information?

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First, I've worded it wrong regarding the international version. I meant to say that the international version is compatible with AT&T. Won't be offered on AT&T, but the UMTS bands has 1900/2100 on it so it could be used on AT&T.

HTC One X

I think I might have missed the AWS spectrums for the XL. Personally I don't think I would put too much hope into it, because the XL for AT&T is meant to focus on LTE. If you look on the T-Mobile Reinvigorated Challenger Strategy Presentation, AT&T's AWS also ties into their LTE.

T-Mobile's refarming their GSM 1900mhz, hopefully to UMTS 1900mhz. If that's the case, T-Mobile users will still have a chance to use One X or One XL on T-Mobile.

T-Mobile USA Reinvigorated Challenger Strategy Presentation


There's also rumors that One X will be coming to Sprint and to T-Mobile as the G4X. The time the possibility of announcement is probably in May.

Rumor

So I'm trying to hold out till May to see if I could see an announcement. If not, I think I might be getting the international version of One X, then wait patiently and hoping T-Mobile will hurry up and refarm the 1900 spectrum. There's also words that the refarming has already been going on, with more iPhone users noticing that they could get 3G speed.

Thanks for the further explanation and links. I could be wrong, but it still seems to me like the AT&T One XL might work on T-Mobile. If you look at the specs on HTC's website, you can see that it has AWS not just for LTE, but also for WCDMA (i.e. UMTS).

www.htc.com/us/products/htconex-att#tech-specs

I don't see why that wouldn't work with T-Mobile. As nickmgray points out above, it's plausible that AT&T specified the bands for the One XL, before they knew that the T-Mobile merger was going to fall through. Hence at the time, they may have wanted a phone that would work with T-Mobile's network.

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gwuhua1984 said:

There's also rumors that One X will be coming to Sprint and to T-Mobile as the G4X. The time the possibility of announcement is probably in May.

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Yes, I linked to the original source of that rumor above.

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I'm not holding my breath on the spectrum refarming being a solution for the One X. Unfortunately I can't remember where I first read about it, but my understanding is that it will take a couple years. At that point there will certainly be more compelling phones than the One X.

Also, if you look at the charts in the link you provide to the T-Mobile Strategy Presentation, you can see that even after the refarming, it appears T-Mobile will still be using AWS for HSPA+, as well as for LTE. So it seems that a phone that does not have the AWS bands could suffer significant coverage issues. T-Mobile's goal in the document seems to be to make the network better for in-bound international roaming and more compatible with devices from other carriers. But a phone without AWS for a U.S. resident would still be limited.

It would be nice though if international and AT&T phones were fully compatible with T-Mobile's network. That would give T-Mobile a nice advantage with handset options; and a good way to tempt away AT&T customers (who could then keep the phones they already have). But, again, it seems like this is something for the future and not a way to count on using the One X with T-Mobile.

I'm hoping HTC will just make an international version with the AWS bands, as is the case with the Sensation. Or it would be great if they put a pentaband radio in the international version, like Nokia has been doing for a while. Or maybe the Tegra-3 One X for T-Mobile rumor will turn out to be true.

I actually like the size of the One S better. But it's not worth it to me without the 720p resolution and 16 Gb of memory (without a microsd expansion slot).

Just looked at the FCC's documents on AT&T's One X.

The document doesn't mention testing any of T-Mobile's bands. Don't know if they didn't test it, or the phone don't have it.

AT&T One X FCC

SAR Report 1 is the network frenquency band testing document.

Here's more on T-Mobile's 4G expansion, LTE deployment, and 1900 spectrum refarming.

T-Mobile Blog: T-Mobile Expands 4G Network to New Cities

gwuhua1984 said:

Just looked at the FCC's documents on AT&T's One X.

The document doesn't mention testing any of T-Mobile's bands. Don't know if they didn't test it, or the phone don't have it.

AT&T One X FCC

SAR Report 1 is the network frenquency band testing document.

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Thanks for the link. I'm not sure what to make of that. For example, they only list GSM 850 and 1900 frequencies. It would be really unusual for a phone these days like this not to be quad-band GSM. So it seems like the FCC report is probably not listing all the bands the phone can operate on, only those that it will use with the AT&T network. I'm not sure this really answers the question about AWS in the AT&T One XL.

What about the One X with the tegra-3 processor that went through the FCC? Do you know where the report for that is? I can't really see how to search the FCC website.

gwuhua1984 said:

Here's more on T-Mobile's 4G expansion, LTE deployment, and 1900 spectrum refarming.

T-Mobile Blog: T-Mobile Expands 4G Network to New Cities

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Thanks for the link. Again, this doesn't really indicate that T-Mobile is completely refarming HSPA+ to 1900 Mhz. It just says, "A nice side benefit of the refarming effort is that our 4G network will be compatible with a broader range of devices, including the iPhone." The fact that more different devices will technically work on the network, does not mean that they will get the same coverage as devices that work on both 1900 Mhz and AWS. As the other document you linked to indicates, after the refarming HSPA+ will be on both 1900 Mhz and AWS, so it may mean that if you want the best coverage on T-Mobile's network, you need a phone covering both frequencies. Time will tell I guess, but it doesn't seem clear yet.

And, as I said, this is so far down the road to completion (they're starting now, but it will take a couple years to complete) that I don't see it as being a good solution for using a One X that lacks the AWS bands on the T-Mobile network.

Took a while, but I found the international version of the One X on FCC.

One X FCC

Looking at the model number and matching with other site, it looks like it's the one. The only problem is, it doesn't show any frequency testings. I also looked up the One S and found 3 model numbers, seems like only the one coming to US is the one with the frequency testings.

gwuhua1984 said:

Took a while, but I found the international version of the One X on FCC.

One X FCC

Looking at the model number and matching with other site, it looks like it's the one. The only problem is, it doesn't show any frequency testings. I also looked up the One S and found 3 model numbers, seems like only the one coming to US is the one with the frequency testings.

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Thanks for finding that. I guess we're just stuck waiting to see what's what when the devices actually get released.