Industry News

What is 4G? History of 4G and 4G Phones

Posted on February 9, 2011

Right about the time that we all familiarized ourselves with 3G technologies for smart phones, along came 4G and 4 G phones to supersede it. So what's the big deal about 4G, anyway? Let's have a quick overview:

  • 1G, circa way-back-when. 1G (or first-generation) was when cell phone technology was still analog, with poor reception, no encryption, big batteries and poor range. Of all these drawbacks, lack of encryption was the worst; your signal could be listened in on or, worse yet, your number could be hacked.
  • 2G, circa 1991. The first generation of digital phones took less bandwidth and less power to operate (meaning smaller batteries and phones), and also saw the advent of text messages and email over mobile phones. The improvement in bandwidth, of course, meant that phone carriers could put more conversations into the same amount of signal.
  • 3G, circa 2001. 3G's further improvements in bandwidth meant that it was now possible to use voice and data transmission simultaneously, as well as much better upload/download capacity for images, videos, and surfing the internet. For a few years, 3G meant Nextel-style walkie-talkie phones and other fairly clunky devices, until the iPhone changed the playing field in 2007.

So that leaves 4G. What's the big deal about it?

4G will mean that all data and voice will be exchanged on all-Internet Protocol, which should explode bandwidth. That will translate to huge improvements in multimedia (TV, video streaming, gaming, internet access). The shakeout is currently under way, as the LTE (Long Term Evolution) and Mobile WiMAX (Worldwide Interopability for Microwave Access) systems are both being fielded for transmitting traffic, and both have their adherents.

There are a ton of 4G phones in the market already like the HTC EVO 4G, Epic 4G, and Samsung Epic. The mobile world is even talking about the HTC EVO 4G as an "iPhone killer."

It's still too early in the game to say definitively how this battle will turn out, but whichever way it goes…the cell phone world won't be the same once 4G becomes commonplace and affordable, and phones will become obsolete and outmoded even more quickly than they are now. Has your company already made the 3G vs 4G decision? Are you using 4G phones in your company for employees yet?