NVIDIA Adds LTE to Tegra Note 7
by Anand Lal Shimpi on February 21, 2014 9:00 AM EST
As Brian, Josh, Ian and myself prepare to head to Barcelona for this year's MWC, NVIDIA makes its first announcement before the show: the Tegra Note 7 will now be available in an LTE version.
The Tegra Note 7 LTE keeps the same 7-inch Tegra 4 based platform as the original Tegra Note 7 while adding NVIDIA's own i500 LTE modem. The addition of the i500 brings the Note 7's MSRP up by $100 to $299. The WiFi-only version will continue to be available at $199.
| NVIDIA Tegra Note Family | |||||
| NVIDIA Tegra Note 7 | NVIDIA Tegra Note 7 LTE | ||||
| Dimensions | 199 x 119 x 9.6 mm | 199 x 119 x 9.6 mm | |||
| Chassis | Plastic + Rubber back | Plastic + Rubber back | |||
| Display | 7-inch 1280x800 IPS | 7-inch 1280x800 IPS | |||
| Weight | 320 g | 366 g | |||
| Processor | 1.8 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 4 (4 x Cortex A15) | 1.8 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 4 (4 x Cortex A15) | |||
| Memory | 1 GB DDR3L - 1600 MHz | 1 GB DDR3L - 1600 MHz | |||
| Storage | 16 GB + microSD | 16 GB + microSD | |||
| Battery | 15.17 Whr | 15.17 Whr | |||
| WiFi/Connectivity | 802.11b/g/n, BT 4.0, GPS/GLONASS | LTE, 802.11b/g/n, BT 4.0, GPS/GLONASS | |||
| Camera |
5 MP Rear Facing w/AF VGA Front Facing |
5 MP Rear Facing w/AF VGA Front Facing |
|||
| Pricing | $199 | $299 | |||
NVIDIA expects the Note 7 LTE to be available through its usual partners worldwide (EVGA in the US) beginning in Q2 of this year.
A list of supported LTE and HSPA+ bands are in the table below. NVIDIA will also offer a 3G-only version for areas without LTE:
There are presently three Tegra Note 7 LTE SKUs listed in bold above (LTE-US, LTE-EU and 3G). The go to market SKU list hasn't been finalized yet so we could see more. Although NVIDIA only lists voice as a feature on the 3G SKU, there's nothing preventing the other two LTE SKUs from also supporting voice.
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bj_murphy - Friday, February 21, 2014 - link
Certainly a much better price than any LTE enabled iPads :) Does this version of the Tegra Note have a "real" stylus, with pressure sensitivity and all that sort of stuff? Can it be used effectively for handwriting notes or drawings?Roland00Address - Friday, February 21, 2014 - link
The stylus is just a normal capacitive stylus without pressure sensitivity. Yet the stylus is much more accurate due to the software nvidia uses.ddriver - Friday, February 21, 2014 - link
There is still some pressure sensitivity even if the stylus is not pressure sensitive, but it is not very good. A lot of sites have praised the tegra note stylus, but not one has shown it being capable of actual decent handwriting. But hey, it is a 200$ device, what do people expect, it ain't no galaxy note.mickulty - Friday, February 21, 2014 - link
I own one, and would have to say it's about on par with a (resistive) ipaq from the mid 2000's when it comes to handwriting. The input lag is noticeable and distracting though - it certainly can't hope to replace paper for note-taking.skumdogg - Monday, February 24, 2014 - link
It does have pressure sensitivity. It works a treat for all kinds of stuff!killerroach - Friday, February 21, 2014 - link
I think the price premium for LTE on this is somewhat just out of convention for tablets in this price range - LTE is a $100 option on the Kindle Fire HDX, for instance (it's an $80 option on the Nexus 7, but you're required to get the 32GB version if you want LTE, so the actual added cost depends on whether you wanted the 16 or 32GB version).Taracta - Friday, February 21, 2014 - link
Does the "+voice" means this LTE, 3G version is an actual phone instead of just being a tablet with celluar data?DanNeely - Friday, February 21, 2014 - link
I'd guess that nVidia just decided it wasn't worth creating two 3g only chips: one with data and voice for phones, and a second with data only for tablets and other devices. For LTE they did make separate phone/everything else baseband chips, and that the voice listing on the 3g model only reflects them listing everything the baseband can do not actual tablet features.teiglin - Friday, February 21, 2014 - link
It's pretty disappointing to see such limited band support given what current Qualcomm devices are offering--particularly, being a T-Mobile US customer, the lack of band 4 UMTS on the US-LTE model. I'm curious about where the limitation lies--is it a limitation of the i500, or some other front-end radio component that they cheaped out on?tviceman - Friday, February 21, 2014 - link
I'm guessing they haven't validated support for all those bands yet. Their modem is much more software driven than Qualcomm's, so much of the different bands may still have yet to gain the necessary firmware functionality.