Verizon’s Touch Pro may not be neutered after all
Pure speculation here, no concrete confirmation, just a case of putting two and two together. Now that we have gotten the disclaimer out of the way, let’s see what we have uncovered about the much anticipated and much debated Verizon Wireless Touch Pro by HTC. A document leaked by Phone Arena in August shows that the Sprint Touch Pro will ship with the Qualcomm 7501A processor clocked at 528MHz, while the Verizon variant will have the slower Qualcomm 7500 processor clocked at 400MHz. This single document has set off a whirlwind of discussion about whether the Verizon Touch Pro has been neutered. Of course Verizon is well known for neutering its phones which makes the specs on this sheet somewhat believable. A few folks over at Howard Forums claim to have knowledge of the XV6850 and insist that the Verizon version does have the 528 MHz processor. They have not provided any concrete evidence presumably because they are under an NDA. While we wait for more sturdy reports or for Verizon to finally announce the phone, we have been busy doing our own sleuthing and may have unwittingly substantiated their claims. You see, there is another post over at PPC Geeks from a technician who works in a repair/order/design facility for HTC. According to PPC Geeks, he is a reliable source. He says, and we quote:
I hear the Verizon Touch Pro will be crippled…true?
Yes, will it be crippled SADLY yes, it will have a lower CPU and memory, but from the test model I honestly did not see a difference unless you use some serious programs. UPDATE: Verizon phone does show a 7501a chipset so its looking like it will be crippled
Did you see the light bulb turn on? He says the Verizon phone has the 7501a chipset, the SAME chipset the Sprint version supposedly has and it’s the chipset that clocks in at 528MHz. We know that most of this rests on both sources being accurate but it does offer just the faintest glimmer of hope for you Verizon customers out there. Stay tuned as our ninjas are hard at work trying to get to the bottom of this.
Read (Leaked Sprint Document)
Read (PPC Geeks Forum Thread)
Tags: 400Mhz, 528Mhz, Processor, Sprint, touch pro, verizon wireless, XV6850
They shouldn’t have been doing that in the 1st place but given thier history maybe this isn’t true. On another note, engadgetmobile is saying the Omnia, Touch Pro and some other winmo by Sammy next month
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I guess we will just have to wait and see. If its crippled, verizon is up to it’s same old tricks. If it’s not, I guess some people were right.
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Let’s hope that VZW leaves the processor, memory, GPS and WiFi alone this time. It would be about time for that to happen.
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Unless Sprint was spying on Verizon there is no way they would have had that information in August
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oh and verizon hasnt ever “crippled any of their smartphones. GPS wasnt enable on any of the carriers HTC phones until a few months ago, so that argument is null.
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Verizon does cripple GPS on their smartphones, but that makes sense (from VZ’s standpoint, not from the consumer’s) because they want you to get VZNav… I don’t see how they would benefit from giving less RAM or a slower processor.
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Verizon benefits by having to pay HTC less and release an “updated” phone (crippled I might add) to the unsuspecting general public.
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@Jkuhn
VZW had a chance to unlock the GPS when they pushed out the WM 6.1 update a few months ago and they DID NOT do it. VZW kept it locked down. Sprint on the other hand unlocked the GPS. Sprint unlocked, Verizon locked. Please explain to me, how that is not an example of vzw crippling their smartphones?
I wont even get into the locked GPS on the XV6900, BB Pearl, BB Curve, the Moto Q, and the i760.
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^^^btw, it is the XV6800, the Mogul that I am talking about above
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As I Do not have the need to play World of Warcraft on my Phone, i dont really care if it has crippled processing power. I just like having decent coverage, and fast data, so verizon still has my vote over sprint.
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Is it possible for vendors to downclock the hardware? I remember Intel Xscale processors (ARM compatible) had different multiplers and bus settings to generate different clock speeds on the same chip. It’s how Dell got sold it’s original Axim at different speeds, and some people sold overclocking programs as well.
I’m not familiar with Qualcomm’s capabilities, so does anyone know if the numbers can be messed with on their chips? If so, I think it could be possible for Verizon to cripple the chip despite it having the same chip as Sprint’s.
Super
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First, VZW has locked down the GPS on their smartphones for almost two years (Blackberry 8830). The 6800 and 6900 users were able to unlock their GPS capabilities with LBS DLL files, QPST updates to gpsOne, and people building roms. I only wish that this type of support existed for their Blackberry users. They can keep their overpriced service for all I care. Their billing is horrible. Working on one year to the day that their billing system keeps trying to charge me for ETFs for phones turned back in after 10 days. $525 each month. Test drivers beware…
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@jKuhn
By the way, I owned a 6800 with Sprint and we got GPS and EVDO Rev.A last year not a few months ago from Sprint.
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What do you expect? It’s Verizon. But I can honestly so that this may not be a problem for some. Can you really tell the difference between 400Mhz and 500Mhz without having to initiate a application that actually demands more speed. I honestly couldn’t tell the difference between the HTC Tytn 2, and the Touch Diamond until I began multitasking. Then I noticed I could run a few more programs in the background and doing h things like listening to music while browsing the web didn’t slow down much. But even still there wasn’t much difference. I guess we will know when it releases.
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The only glimmer of reasonableness, that VZW just might slow down the CPU, is to extend battery life. One thing which tops the list of problems from VZW’s own testing, and from early users of the phone at competitors, is the pretty poor battery life. Many people can’t make it thru a work-day without stopping for a re-charge.
As Ron said, most people will not notice the slightly slower CPU, but many will notice the longer battery time.
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It’s not the processor I’m concerned about. The original report shows that VZW’s Pro has half the memory (128mb) of the Sprint version (256mb)
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I have the Verizon Touch Pro in my hand. I received it Wednesday Nov. 26th. I’ve tweaked the hell out of it and it’s working great now (and still locked) - except for GPS still locked.
CPU: Qualcomm 7500A
Speed: 528mhz
RAM Size: 192 MB
OS Program Memory: 78.71 MB
Program Memory*: 113.29 MB
Used: 87.61 MB
Free: 25.67 MB
Flash Size: 512 MB
OS Memory: 170.53 MB
Storage Memory: 341.47 MB
Used: 69.85 MB
Free: 271.63 MB
Data Bus: 32 bits
Storage Size: 341.47 MB
Display res: 480×640
Colors: 65536
Bluetooth Version: 2.0/2.0+EDR
*Installed 11 programs before these numbers, if that makes any difference to anyone - I didn’t record factory state, sorry.
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If I got to HTC and order the Touch pro out of their store it comes to $199 after rebate instead of $349 at the verizon website. Also it specifically lists in the features for the HTC Touch Pro (Verizon): “Integrated GPS…” is it possible that the one purchased from HTC would be $150 less and less cripled?
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The Verizon Touch Pro has ““Integrated GPS…” hardware too. It just doesn’t have the software to run it. At least right now.
Verizon has already announced that there will be an update for their Touch Pro that will add the software required for the existing GPS hardware to work for any application.
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On Nov 28, 2008 @ 4:19 pm, Travis wrote he installed 11 programs to tweek up his HTC Touch Pro. I would like to know what the programs were so I can install them since I think the Touch Pro processes noticeably slooow. Great phone otherwise. Thanks, Pelusios7
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