This year's 5G mobile phones must have these features!

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This article is reprinted from the WeChat public account "Wireless Deep Sea", written by Fei Caicai. Please contact the Wireless Deep Sea public account to reprint this article.

Recently, China Mobile and China Unicom both released updated versions of the 5G mobile phone white paper, which roughly outlined the capabilities of 5G mobile phones, which is equivalent to putting forward clear requirements for mobile phone manufacturers.

What functions should 5G mobile phones have in 2021? Below, I will introduce them to you based on these two white papers.

5G Switch

The 5G network has been built, and everyone is welcome to join the network and enjoy it. At this critical juncture when the three major operators are working hard to promote 5G packages and increase 5G usage, how can users be allowed to turn off 5G on their phones?

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Therefore, 5G needs to be turned on by default. The requirements of China Mobile and China Unicom are the same. However, China Unicom requires that the mobile phone does not have an independent 5G switch, while China Mobile requires that the 5G switch be supported. If it is turned off, you can still use 4G.

5G Mode

5G is divided into two modes: non-standalone networking (NSA) and standalone networking (SA). China's major operators all started with NSA, then went through NSA+SA dual-mode, and finally evolved to SA single-mode.

Therefore, China Mobile and China Unicom both require that mobile phones must support both NSA (Option 3x) and SA (Option 2), and that the SA switch must not be set. Mobile phones should turn on SA by default, or turn SA on or off accurately according to network conditions.

Although domestic 5G networks basically support SA, foreign 5G is still mainly NSA. Therefore, supporting NSA and SA dual modes is also very necessary for international roaming.

5G LOGO display

In SA mode, the 5G LOGO is always displayed. In NSA mode, if the phone is in a 4G anchor cell, 5G will be displayed directly in idle state; when surfing the Internet, 5G will be displayed only when the phone is connected to a 5G base station, and the 5G LOGO will not be displayed when it is only connected to a 4G base station.

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This may cause a problem. When the user is idle and not surfing the Internet, it seems that the phone is using 5G and is very happy. However, when surfing the Internet, the phone may display 4G, making the user feel like they are being cheated by "fake 5G".

Therefore, China Mobile and China Unicom both require mobile phones to set a timer. When the mobile phone starts to access from 4G idle state, or when 5G is disconnected, or when the network is switched, a 30-second 5G logo timer will be started. Before the timer expires, the mobile phone will still display the 5G LOGO. This is done to ensure the stability of the 5G LOGO display and prevent the display of 5G and 4G under NSA, so that users can feel more comfortable psychologically.

5G Voice

VoLTE is turned on by default and there is no switch to enable users to choose.

In other words, 4G, as the basic coverage, must bear the responsibility of voice services. In NSA, 5G cannot make calls; in SA, when 5G does not support VoNR, calls also need to rely on VoLTE.

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In addition, the mobile phone must be able to upgrade to support VoNR, and if it already supports it, it must be turned on by default. It is not enough to just support VoNR, it must also support ultra-high-definition voice codec EVS (mobile requirement).

5G frequency bands

Mobile requires mobile phones to support n41 and n78, and mobile phones above 3,000 yuan must also support n79. It is recommended to support n28 frequency band.

Why is this requirement required? You will understand after looking at the picture below.

n41 is 2.6GHz, which is the main 5G frequency band of China Mobile, so it must be supported; n78 is 3.5GHz, which is the main 5G frequency band of China Telecom and China Unicom, so it must be supported; and n79 is the 4.9GHz frequency band of China Mobile, so it must be supported as well.

As for n28, which is 700M, this is a frequency band jointly built and shared by China Mobile and radio and television. Since the network construction has just begun, China Mobile did not make any mandatory requirements in the white paper, only suggestions.

However, China Mobile has made a supplement to its terminal strategy, clarifying that from March 1 this year, terminals priced at 4,000 yuan and above must support 700MHz; from October 1, all new terminals must support 700MHz and VoNR.

The following table shows the frequency bands that China Unicom requires 5G mobile phones to support.

It can be seen that for its two 5G main frequency bands: n78 (3.5GHz) and n1 (2.1GHz), as well as China Mobile's main frequency band n41, support is mandatory.

As for n3, n5, n8, and n28, they are all recommended or strongly recommended. And if 700M is supported, then 850M and 900M should also be supported, because they are not far away and can be used in the future.

5G Capabilities

The following two tables are China Unicom’s functional requirements for 5G mobile phones in SA and NSA respectively.

The content is quite complicated, and I can summarize it as follows:

For the n78 band, all mobile phones must support 4-antenna reception, that is, 4x4 MIMO for downlink, so that the download speed is faster. Expensive mobile phones (over 4,000 yuan) need to support 2-antenna transmission, and cheaper single-antenna transmission is also OK. This mainly affects the upload speed of the mobile phone. For FDD bands such as 700M, it is necessary to support single-antenna transmission and 2-antenna reception (downlink 2x2 MIMO), and it is of course better to support 2-antenna transmission and 4-antenna reception (downlink 4x4 MIMO, uplink 2x2 MIMO).

The mobile phone transmission power needs to reach 26dBm (0.4 watts).

China Mobile's requirements are similar, except that the core frequency band is changed to n41. In addition, China Mobile defines high-end mobile phones as those priced above 3,000 yuan. Mobile phones in this range must support 2 antennas for transmission and 4 antennas for reception (4x4 MIMO for downlink and 2x2 MIMO for uplink).

5G Peak Rate

The above capabilities are designed to achieve peak rates. The following table shows the peak rates that mobile phones are required to achieve in different frequency bands.

It can be seen that on China Mobile's main frequency band n41, the downlink peak rate is 1.7Gbps. However, the peak rate can only be achieved when all resources are used by you alone and the signal quality is very good.

China Unicom has a similar requirement, requiring a peak downlink rate of 1.5Gbps in the n78 frequency band and 920Mbps in the n1 frequency band with a 40M carrier bandwidth.

With the above two tables, do you feel the power of 5G network? This does not include the rate bonus brought by carrier aggregation and dual connection. Please note that in addition to the number of users and signal quality mentioned above affecting the network speed, your 5G package may also have some restrictions on the maximum speed, so you need to ask clearly when applying for it.

Other Features

Both China Mobile and China Unicom require mobile phones to support 5G messaging and video ringtones.

The so-called 5G message is an upgraded version of SMS. It can natively support text, pictures, videos, audio, location and other information without installing an APP. It is authenticated and managed by the operator, which is convenient and safe.

Video ringback tone allows you to upload a personalized video. All the people who call you can see this video before the call is connected. It is fun to see the person before hearing the voice. Well, here are the basic functions of 5G mobile phones. You can only know the actual experience after using it. This year, with the deepening of 5G network construction, the coverage will get better and better. It is time to change to a 5G mobile phone.

That’s all for this issue. I hope it will be helpful to you.