The 5G "big cake" has been hanging in front of us for a long time. In April of this year, South Korea and the United States operators announced the official commercial 5G, and now the three major communication operators in China have begun to deploy the 5G experimental network intensively. In the face of media coverage, we can't help but raise a question, 5G. How is the experience?

Before the official release of the 5G license, we don't have to worry about this problem being answered. In fact, domesticMobile phoneVendors and operators are deploying 5G far more than we have seen. As mobile phone manufacturers began to deliver 5G test machines to operators at the end of April, we were able to get the first batch of 5G mobile phones in China at the first time, to showcase the charm of next generation technology.

The first 5G phones, choose more

Before the official commercialization of 5G, we need to solve a problem first, that is, to enrich the 5G equipment, otherwise it will fall into the "inorganic availability" of the two countries that have already been "commercial 5G". A Samsung Galaxy S10 5G version, a magical version of the MOTO Z3 equipped with 5G modules, is the only choice that can be found in 5G commercial countries.

In fact, thanks to the number of domestic mobile phone manufacturers and the rush to grab 5G mobile phones some time ago, we will be able to use 5G mobile phones more than the already commercial areas.

On April 23, China Unicom officially announced the first batch of 6 mobile phone terminals with 5G functions, including Huawei, OPPO, and ZTE. These 5G mobile phone terminals are expected to become the first models to be launched after 5G commercial use, which means that in terms of choice, domestic 5G devices are dominant in quantity.

5G mobile phone to get started, how to distinguish

What is the actual experience of 5G mobile phones? Get started and give you the answer right away.

In China Unicom's 5G mobile phone experience hall, we saw the first batch of 5G-enabled mobile phones in China: they are Huawei Mate20 X 5G version, OPPO Reno 5G version, ZTE AXON 10 Pro 5G version, Nubian Mini 5G version. And MIX3 5G version.

The first batch of 5G mobile phones are based on the existing 4G models, and there is not much change in appearance and cash models. Some models have a "5G" logo developed by the 3GPP on the back of the fuselage, which is distinguished from the appearance of the current model. Due to the higher requirements of the 5G signal, these mobile phones use a double-sided glass body, which means that the metal body may not be visible on the 5G mobile phone.

In terms of details, the difference in appearance between 5G mobile phones and 4G mobile phones is also reflected in the increase of the breakpoint of the mid-frame antenna. On the basis of the 4G model 4 antenna, the 5G model needs to achieve 8 antennas, so as to balance 4G/5G, WLAN and Bluetooth. Communication, so in the middle frame of the 5G phone, we see more breakpoints than 4G phones.

Of course, these 5G mobile phones do not represent the final form of 5G commercial mass production. In particular, the software part is quite versatile and belongs to the development stage. Therefore, we have experienced the high degree of completion in several models. Huawei MATE20 X 5G version, and ZTE AXON 10 Pro 5G version.

Huawei MATE 20 X 5G version of the operating experience and 4G version is no different, but from the upper left corner of the signal display can be seen, this model has been connected to the 5G network, while the HD icon also means that this phone supports Unicom VoLTE Call, 5G undertakes high-speed data transmission, and 4G is responsible for VoLTE HD calls, which is believed to provide a more powerful communication experience than existing mobile phones.

In terms of configuration, Huawei MATE 20 X 5G version is equipped with Kirin 980 processor, equipped with Balong 5000 5G baseband, and supports NSA and SA networking. The operating speed and overall performance are the same as the existing Huawei MATE20 X 4G version, providing 8GB+256GB storage combination, the battery display is 4200mAh, and the 5000mAh is less than the 4G version.

In addition, Huawei MATE 20 X 5G version also supports 40W super fast charge, built-in graphene film + VC liquid cooling technology.

The Huawei MATE20 X 5G version we started with the test version of the EMUI system, so the actual experience and data may be different from the production version, the system does not currently have a built-in application specifically for 5G.

In the mobile network settings interface, we found that the Huawei MATE 20 X 5G version of the network mode adds 5G network options, but this option only supports the card 1 network, so we can roughly infer thatThe first batch of 5G dual-card mobile phones to be launched in the future will adopt the form of card 1 supporting 5G/4G/3G/2G and card 2 supporting 4G/3G/2G.Similar to the 4G models released earlier.

For the speed that most users care about, we tested the network speed data of Huawei MATE 20 X 5G version through the Speedtest speed measurement application. Due to the experience area network problem, the field speed is about 200Mpbs (25 MB/s), which is not too high.

However, we can still see through the test record that the 5G network speed in the field test is basically maintained between 800Mpbs (100 MB/s) and 700Mpbs (87.5 MB/s). Although it does not reach the GPG-level network speed of 5G theory, But compared to the current 4G network has been fully upgraded!

Test network speedFailure to reach Gpbs-level network speed may be related to current device I/O performance bottlenecksIn the future, 5G mobile phones will need higher speed memory and flash memory to cope with huge data throughput.

Because the speed is very objective, the traffic required for speed measurement at 5G network conditions far exceeds the current level of about 200MB. Take the following 809Mpbs and the upstream speed of 53.9Mpbs as an example.The traffic used during speed measurement is as high as 1268.1MBAccording to the existing 4G package standard, it is necessary to be deactivated by the operator to measure dozens of mobile phone data networks. Therefore, what kind of tariff standard will be adopted in the 5G era is also a topic of great concern.

In addition to Huawei's 5G models, the rest of the models use the Qualcomm Xiaolong 855+X50 baseband 5G solution. ZTE AXON 10 Pro 5G version is one of them. It can be seen from the field test of speed measurement application that the test speed of ZTE AXON 10 Pro 5G version is 336.3Mpbs (42 MB/s).

The ZTE AXON 10 Pro 5G version comes with a 6+128GB storage combination and also supports 5G+4G VoLTE standby.

The on-site speed measurement of the OPPO Reno 5G is also maintained at the level of the 4G network. According to the answers we got from the Unicom network engineers on site,The reason for the difference in network speed is because the systems of different models are still in the debugging phase, so there will be different speeds under the same network.Among the five models tested in the field, the highest speed in the 5G mode is about 380Mpbs, and the lowest is only 14Mpbs.

In addition, China Unicom's 5G experience hall also showed some 5G applications such as IoT devices and VR scenario experience, but there are no more 5G terminals except for mobile phones. Currently, it is based on 5G concept display and 5G mobile phone experience.

The staff present at the scene revealed that the main supplier of China Unicom's 5G test network equipment is Huawei.China MobileThe news pointed out that it mainly uses Nokia and Ericsson equipment. In addition,According to the high credibility information obtained by the editor on the spot, the domestic 5G network trial commercial will be opened at the end of this year.

5G mobile phone, is it worth the early adopters?

After the initial experience of the first batch of 5G, I think that the initial 5G mobile phone is not suitable for the average user, for the following reasons.

The initial 5G terminal is not cost effective

Although the choice of domestic 5G mobile phones is far more than overseas, the first batch of 5G mobile phones are mostly based on the hardware and concept of the 4G era, so there is not much difference with the mobile phones we can buy in the market. What can be done by 5G mobile phones at present? It can be said that 4G mobile phones can be implemented in addition to the network speed. To achieve the "full blood version" 5G experience, we must wait until the hardware level is further improved to adapt to 5G high data throughput. High power consumption and high heat generation. The initial 5G mobile phone may have a high price, and it is not very competitive in the face of 4G mobile phones.

Carrier network coverage issues

According to the initial deployment of China Unicom's 5G network, it will be continuously covered in the urban areas of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Xiong'an. Therefore, users who are early adopters of 5G may experience 5G functions only in a few urban centers. In the absence of a 5G network, the mobile phone network speed will fall back to 4G level, and the available range is small.

5G applications are not yet mature

In the initial stage, 5G network speed, delay may not reach a fairly high level. Take the case of our test as an example, the initial 5G network speed may be around 300Mpbs, ideally it may reach 900Mpbs, Gbps level There is still a distance between the speed of the network. This situation is somewhat similar to the initial stage of 4G networks. In the early days of 4G networks, graphics and texts were still the main form of communication for social applications. When 4G networks were truly mature, applications such as live broadcast and short video began to appear, and the golden age of 5G applications began. Maybe you have to wait a few more years.

Finally, the actual problem, the tariff. Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei's consumer business, said that the charging model of the 5G era should be rethought: "If the single channel is based on unlimited traffic and everyone is equal, it will be like the current highway. There is no priority channel to cause a big traffic jam. It will be a disaster." Grading charges based on delay and speed may be different from the 4G era in the 5G era.

At present, 4G networks can basically meet the application requirements. When true 5G applications are not yet available, ordinary users using 5G networks will be built at higher costs. Before operators introduce 5G tiered charges, 5G tariffs may treat ordinary users and professional users (industrial, commercial, etc.) equally, and the price of “early adopters” may become very high.

If you want to experience the use of mature 5G mobile phones, starting this year may not be the best choice. The 5G network and applications are gradually maturing, and it is expected to wait until the end of 2020, whether it is the comprehensive performance of 5G terminals or operations. The 5G network coverage and speed of the business will be significantly improved, and the tariff price will be more close to the people.

Conclusion

The speed measurement did not have 1G traffic at a time, which is definitely not an exaggeration in the 5G era. After getting started with 5G mobile phones, we have deeply felt the charm of 5G as a next-generation technology. Higher data throughput and lower latency will undoubtedly bring more imagination.

However, the current 5G mobile phone still belongs to the category of "engineering machine" that we often say. What kind of form will the 5G mobile phone that is really facing the market show up?