3 On Your Side: 3G Versus 4G
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Is your smart phone smarter than your friends' phones? Well if "smart" to you means faster, it all depends on whether you have 3G or 4G. The G stands for generation and as 3-On Your Side's Jim Donovan reports, 4G is the newest generation of phones.
On the right is a typical smart phone, one that's 3G. On the left is a new 4G phone. Both are downloading the same clip of video.
Chris Nicoll, an analyst at the Yankee Group says, "The 4G loaded probably at least a third faster. I've got a high def picture here on a beautiful 4.3 inch screen on 4G. Then on 3G, I've got a standard def picture and it's a little grainy, it's much smaller."
4G is all about speed, lots of it. According to Nicoll, "What 4G represents is a better wireless experience."
Video chatting is something we'll all take for granted soon. It's standard on a 4G phone. Downloading popular shows? Whether it's to a 4 inch or a 50 inch screen, it is just the start of 4G's capability. Best Buy's Jennifer Rivers says, "You can hook up between 5-8 devices right from your cell phone, so you can hook up a lap top on it, a PlayStation 3 up to it, if you are taking a family trip somewhere, and hop on the internet using your phone's internet."
Nicoll believes that 4G reflects how we use cell phones today and that the wireless companies are responding. He says, "No longer about voice communication and data, and just browsing the web doesn't generate much revenue, but if I can push services, if I can push content bundles, if I can hook up your entertainment to your business applications, that represents an increase in commerce that operators want to tap into."
While 4G users will get more, they'll pay more too. With speeds generally 10 times faster, 4G customer can expect to pay anywhere from 15-25 percent more for service.
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Reported by Jim Donovan, CBS3
