Does the XPERIA X1i have UMTS 850?

[Brandon Miniman]

Ok - so there are several variants of the X1 that will be released. We have the X1i, X1a, and maybe an X1c. Each will support different bands so that it'll work in different areas.

To my utmost surprise, after receiving my X1i, I was getting HSDPA over AT&T here in the US. Last I checked, the X1i only had UMTS 900/1900/2100. Around my area, to get 3G, I need UMTS 850.

So, what's going on here? Am I getting 3G over the UMTS 1900 band? No, because I never have before with other devices I've tested that only had 1900. It turns out that the X1i has UMTS 850, which should be good news to many waiting for the X1a (which was supposed to have UMTS 850). Two bits of proof, one, see the screenshot below. It shows the UMTS 850 band. Two, I just called Sony Ericsson support and simply asked "Can you tell me which UMTS bands the X1i supports?" and to that they replied "UMTS 850/1900/2100" (oddly they didn't list 900).

There you have it, the X1i does indeed have UMTS 850. There are some rumors that the X1a will have UMTS 1700 for T-Mobile customers to get 3G. I just wish Sony Ericsson would have been more transparent about the X1 variations and which bands they support =D.

Update: There's a ton of conflicting info - both from Sony Ericsson, and the community, as to whether the X1i indeed has UMTS 850 support. We'll keep you updated when we have a firm answer either way. Jump into the comments to see the conversation thus far.

[Reggie3]

Thanks for clearing this up Brandon - or maybe muddying it up too As this goes against all the other posting I saw.

This is great news for those who wanted to be early adopters here in the US as it means they don't have to wait for the X1a

[BoyBawang]

Meaning X1 has quadband data?

Brandon, without playing favorites can you advise us which firms have the AT&T X1i (for AT&T) available for sale?

[Germanguy]

The Xperia X1i does not have the 850 Band.

Users in Canada, where they mostly have the 850 Band, have not been able to use 3G on their Xperia.

In the US, 850 and 1900 Bands overlap with more coverage by 1900 than the 850 Band. So, you will get 1900 Band reception wherever there is 850 Band but not the other way around.

http://www.cellularmap.net/att_850_1900.shtml

i called se this morning and they told me...
x1i - has 900 and 1800 3g bands
x1a - us - has 850 and 1900 bands...
what i wanna ask is.... r u sure you got the x1i???? or is the a 3rd one with all the bans your show in that picture....
http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=por...t=news&id=6165
what is going on!!!...
i want the one with all bands....!!!

[Germanguy]

Originally Posted by nysk1

i called se this morning and they told me...
x1i - has 900 and 1800 3g bands
x1a - us - has 850 and 1900 bands...
what i wanna ask is.... r u sure you got the x1i???? or is the a 3rd one with all the bans your show in that picture....
http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=por...t=news&id=6165
what is going on!!!...
i want the one with all bands....!!!

Only the X1i is out right now. The Setting shows all the Bands but that does not mean anything. The hardware for the 850 Band is not there.

[nysk1]

Originally Posted by Germanguy

Only the X1i is out right now. The Setting shows all the Bands but that does not mean anything. The hardware for the 850 Band is not there.

ok ty for clearing that out... soo i guess you can tell I never had a windows phone.... sooo your saying phones with windows show the settings even if they don’t have the hardware to support the settings for the band is this true??? cuz i want the x1 soo bad...

[Germanguy]

Originally Posted by nysk1

ok ty for clearing that out... soo i guess you can tell I never had a windows phone.... sooo your saying phones with windows show the settings even if they don’t have the hardware to support the settings for the band is this true??? cuz i want the x1 soo bad...

No. Typically the phones will only show the Bands that they support. That is why everybody thought the Xperia is supporting all those Bands. Things however cleared up after Canadian users reported that they cannot use 3G on the Xperia. The whole thing is completely messed up.

[Brandon Miniman]

Wow - lots of conflicting information out there! This is strange. I've got another call into Sony Ericsson, this time with someone higher up than the support specialist I talked to earlier today.

And yes, I've got the X1i...see attached.

[nysk1]

Sooo whats final… I have att… you guys advise me to get the x1a… if I want the att 3g to work all over us… and if I get the x1i it will only work in some parts of the us…. What do I do lol…

So, some of you are saying SE put an item in the menu of something that is not there, Prototype maybe, but in a final product???

That seems to be highly unlikely or very big slip up on SE's part.

I am leaning more to the 1st possibility.

Ash

Ok,

For someone who has been at the fore of the X1i 850 3G debate (hop on over to the X1 forum at XDA DEV for more info, and my posts...) I must say I find it very unlikely the X1i has 850 UMTS, although I hoped so badly it would... ; )

On the X1i box it clearly states 900/1900/2100 UMTS support...

Regarding the 850 UMTS band option: Many HTC phones have this option although they have no U.S. 3G hardware support (think euro Touch Pro) The euro Touch Pro has an 850/1900 UMTS option, but it is confirmed it doesn't work... Just a software option that is standard,,,

Hoped for a loooong time the X1i would also have 850 UMTS as there were conflicting reports up until the release when it was confirmed...

So far U.S. users have reported that it works fine on AT&T's 1900 UMTS band, and I've heard no reports (except Brandon's, of course ; ) of U.S. users getting 850 3G....

But, being a gadget freak, I couldn't hold out for the X1a, and ordered the X1i, and said "Screw it" If I get shoddy 3G here in Chicago, so be it. I can always get the X1a later (although I really, really depend on 3G) So, basically I have my fingers crossed. My X1i will arrive on Tue., election day... I might have just bought an $800 PDA.

And, just a side note: SE has been AWFUL about posting concrete specs on the X1. They have been very, very vague about bands/hardware/release dates, etc, etc.

Good luck, keep us posted. Lord knows I would love it if the X1i had 850 UMTS support, especially since 900 UMTS is almost non-existant overseas.

Dbond

Originally Posted by Unregistered

So, some of you are saying SE put an item in the menu of something that is not there, Prototype maybe, but in a final product???

That seems to be highly unlikely or very big slip up on SE's part.

I am leaning more to the 1st possibility.

Ash

Not really a slip-up on SE's part, more that it's just a stock WWE ROM. My UK Touch Pro has options for UMTS 850+1900 (depsite having only 900/2100 in the hardware); it's not HTC's mistake, that's just how MS configures its WWE by default.

If you want a big slip-up, BengalBoy received his X1 (a I think), a final production model (not prototype, but "early preview"), and it even has options for UMTS 1700 (!) even though Sony hasn't announced any UMTS IV (Tmo US 3G 1700mhz) or UMTS IX (Japan 3G 1700mhz) support.

[Brandon Miniman]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Ok,

For someone who has been at the fore of the X1i 850 3G debate (hop on over to the X1 forum at XDA DEV for more info, and my posts...) I must say I find it very unlikely the X1i has 850 UMTS, although I hoped so badly it would... ; )

On the X1i box it clearly states 900/1900/2100 UMTS support...

Regarding the 850 UMTS band option: Many HTC phones have this option although they have no U.S. 3G hardware support (think euro Touch Pro) The euro Touch Pro has an 850/1900 UMTS option, but it is confirmed it doesn't work... Just a software option that is standard,,,

Hoped for a loooong time the X1i would also have 850 UMTS as there were conflicting reports up until the release when it was confirmed...

So far U.S. users have reported that it works fine on AT&T's 1900 UMTS band, and I've heard no reports (except Brandon's, of course ; ) of U.S. users getting 850 3G....

But, being a gadget freak, I couldn't hold out for the X1a, and ordered the X1i, and said "Screw it" If I get shoddy 3G here in Chicago, so be it. I can always get the X1a later (although I really, really depend on 3G) So, basically I have my fingers crossed. My X1i will arrive on Tue., election day... I might have just bought an $800 PDA.

And, just a side note: SE has been AWFUL about posting concrete specs on the X1. They have been very, very vague about bands/hardware/release dates, etc, etc.

Good luck, keep us posted. Lord knows I would love it if the X1i had 850 UMTS support, especially since 900 UMTS is almost non-existant overseas.

Dbond

I think this may be right. I think that the 850 showing up in the software is just that...software, and doesn't actually reflect the bands built into the hardware, which is kind of silly. The Bengal boy unit with UMTS 1700 reinforces this.

There's no real way to test what over which band I'm getting HSDPA, which is the hard part about this. It's possible that the UMTS 1900 band has been added in my area recently - though just a few months I could only get 3G via UMTS 850.

I agree that SE has been horrible with being honest about the specs. They're trying to market this thing just right - and want to have full control over the variants and which geographical area gets what.

Sigh, I was hoping for it so bad. I guess I'll wait for the US (AT&T?)version.... Let's hope it's soon!

Ash

Brandon,

Actually, there is a way you can find out what UMTS you are getting...

You have to find a way to download fieldtrial.exe onto the X1i and run it...

It's a program that comes stock with most HTC phones, and is hidden in the Windows folder...

You can google the program for more info, and, since HTC makes the X1i, there is even a chance it's on it...

I tried downloading a zipped extract onto my I-Mate 9502 running WM 6.1, but, couldn't get it to work. It loaded fine, but, I couldn't figure out how to actually start the test, which includes the info on the UMTS band you are getting...

A short side note:

I do find it unusual that you were only getting 850 UMTS awhile ago, and now can get it over 1900 UMTS. Usually, it's the other way around, from what I've read.

New 3G markets AT&T rolls out usually offer 850 UMTS only, and no 1900 support. Smaller, newer markets have 850 support. I jumped on the X1i only b/c large cities that were early adopters of AT&T 3G have 1900 UMTS support (Think NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Miami, San Francisco, etc)

Like I've said, I've also read some areas that USED to be 1900 UMTS, but have since changed over to 850 UMTS to save voice bandwidth, not the other way around as would be in your case. Never heard of a "merge" of bands either, but, it could be a possibility...

Anyways, will be curious to see how this turns out... ; )

Dbond

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Brandon,

Actually, there is a way you can find out what UMTS you are getting...

You have to find a way to download fieldtrial.exe onto the X1i and run it...

It's a program that comes stock with most HTC phones, and is hidden in the Windows folder...

You can google the program for more info, and, since HTC makes the X1i, there is even a chance it's on it...

I tried downloading a zipped extract onto my I-Mate 9502 running WM 6.1, but, couldn't get it to work. It loaded fine, but, I couldn't figure out how to actually start the test, which includes the info on the UMTS band you are getting...

A short side note:

I do find it unusual that you were only getting 850 UMTS awhile ago, and now can get it over 1900 UMTS. Usually, it's the other way around, from what I've read.

New 3G markets AT&T rolls out usually offer 850 UMTS only, and no 1900 support. Smaller, newer markets have 850 support. I jumped on the X1i only b/c large cities that were early adopters of AT&T 3G have 1900 UMTS support (Think NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Miami, San Francisco, etc)

Like I've said, I've also read some areas that USED to be 1900 UMTS, but have since changed over to 850 UMTS to save voice bandwidth, not the other way around as would be in your case. Never heard of a "merge" of bands either, but, it could be a possibility...

Anyways, will be curious to see how this turns out... ; )

Dbond

This PDF might help, it shows how to do this FieldTrial on many different phones, maybe you can try with one of the phones in your hand that is also in the list. iPhone maybe?
http://www.mycellularsolutions.com/f...des_6-4-08.pdf
Fingers crossed

Ash

You dont need to download fieldtest.exe all you need to do is go through file explorer to the windows folder and click on the MENU tab select SHOW ALL FILES and then scroll down to the file called fieldtest.exe. Click on that and look down till you see what band you are able to get 3G from for example right now my HTC 8925 is showing that it is on and EDGE network showing 3: 850... this will show the exact band that your Xperia X1i is aquiring 3G data from.

Hope that help yall.

[Brandon Miniman]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You dont need to download fieldtest.exe all you need to do is go through file explorer to the windows folder and click on the MENU tab select SHOW ALL FILES and then scroll down to the file called fieldtest.exe. Click on that and look down till you see what band you are able to get 3G from for example right now my HTC 8925 is showing that it is on and EDGE network showing 3: 850... this will show the exact band that your Xperia X1i is aquiring 3G data from.

Hope that help yall.

I'm running fieldtest now - but where it says "Band" it's listed as Unknown. Any ideas?