The 850 Mhz capability of the radio is disabled. Article quote: If you're in a major metropolitan area, you probably won't need the 850 MHz band, but if you travel to secondary areas regularly, you will find the extra coverage of the 850 MHz band to be valuable. Looking into the future, it is probable we'll see increased use of 850 MHz to expand GSM's overall coverage into more of the country. And then, looking further into the future, it is possible we'll see 1900 MHz coverage duplicating the 850 MHz coverage. Bottom line : If you travel out of the main cities, you'll definitely benefit from a phone that supports both 850 MHz and 1900 MHz.
http://www.thetravelinsider.info/roadwarriorcontent/quadbandphones.htm I don't know many North Americans who do not travel outside of main cities. 850Mhz What this means for future versions depends on if they make the changes to support 850Mhz. The lack of 850Mhz support Antigua, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvadore, Grenada, Guam, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Northern Mariana Islands, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States, Venzuela. Also, regarding the comment that some carriers only operate 1900, keep in mind that you ROAM onto partner networks. Even if your provider only uses 1900, there are good odds that you actually can and possibly do use 850 outside of major cities. If you have T-Mobile that doesn't mean you don't use other networks. You probably don't even know you are using them ... Mikko wrote: > Does anyone know if the Siemens M56 was a dual or single band phone? > If the band-spec is contained in the Neo, I would not be worried about it. M56 is 850/1900. Worry about lack of 850. -- Doug _______________________________________________ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community