The long-awaited 5G rollout in India is just around the corner, making that 5G phone purchase even more relevant, especially with the buying season also arriving soon. With Flipkart offering unbeatable prices on exchange along with some amazing affordability options like No Cost EMI and Flipkart Pay Later, you certainly want to zero in on that 5G phone much in advance to not miss those crazy deals and offers. So, what should you look for when buying one? And how does 5G differ from the current 4G network? Let’s find out!
First things first, the timeline. 5G rollout is expected to begin by Mid-October, The rollout will reportedly start in 13 cities – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune. A wider 5G coverage across more cities is expected by 2023.
5G VS 4G
The 4G networks were designed keeping in mind maximum smartphone use cases whereas 5G takes it to the next level by offering increased bandwidth and higher data speeds. This means that 5G networks can handle more concurrent connections than 4G supporting up to 1 million devices for every square kilometre. It’s also got multitudes of use cases and can connect to a variety of devices outside of smartphones. In addition to streaming high-quality videos on the go and faster download speeds with 5G, a big push is also on how it will transform the gaming industry with cloud gaming and XR (Extended Reality) experiences. So, some of the notable advantages of 5G on phones will be:
Smoother video Calling experience – Video calling has emerged as a primary use case since the democratization of data and digital services in India. New 5G networks will have lower latency than 4G LTE. This means your internet connection will be more reliable and this will in turn result in a smoother video calling experience.
Faster Downloads – Smartphones like iPhone 13, OPPO Reno8 Pro, Nothing Phone (1), and Motorola Edge 30 Pro among many others support all popular 5G Bands in India and will let you experience faster download speeds
Smoother gaming experience – Low latency and faster speeds will not only enhance cloud gaming but will also enable demanding use cases like virtual reality and augmented reality gaming.
Internet of Things – The number of smart devices like Smart TVs, Smart Speakers, Smart Fans and more in our homes has increased manifolds. 5G standard has been designed to handle such modern needs and can handle 10x more IoT devices as compared to 4G LTE.
What is the noise about 5G bands all about?
5G phones will use certain radio frequency bands and hence phones that support a maximum of those bands will be the most 5G-ready phones from a support point of view. Let’s have a look at those 5G bands first. The 5G bands supported in India can be classified into three classes based on their radio frequencies — low-band, mid-band, and high-band mm Wave.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) offered a range of frequency bands for auction starting from 600 MHz and going all the way up to 72 GHz. The higher the frequency of the band, the faster the connection as it can transmit more data, however higher the frequency band, the lower the range of the band as the higher frequency bands cannot penetrate through obstacles like walls and structures. Lower frequency bands on the other hand support slower data speeds in comparison to higher frequency bands, but they have much better reach (penetration performance through walls and structures), and hence they are useful in low network areas. Hence, a combination of high-frequency, mid-frequency and low-frequency bands will together ensure a stable and reliable 5G connection.
Let’s understand the bands better with frequency grouping from India’s 5G roll-out perspective. Here are the bands that India’s major telecom operators have licensed from the recent auction.
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Low frequency bands: n28 (700 MHz), n5 (800 MHz), n8 (900 MHz)
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Mid frequency bands: n3 (1800 MHz), n1 (2100MHz), n78 (3300 – 3800MHz), n41 (2500MHz), n77 (3300 – 4200MHz)
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High frequency bands: n258 (24.25 – 27.5 GHz)
So, what does this mean to the buyer? Well, when looking for a 5G phone, check for band support, the higher the bands supported the better the 5G coverage across different scenarios. Support for a higher number of low frequency and mid frequency bands will specifically ensure better 5G coverage.
Will you need a new 5G SIM?
No, you won’t need a new 5G SIM card, at least initially. Since the 5G services being launched in India are expected to be based on NSA standards, they will utilize existing 4G LTE networks to offer high-speed internet connectivity.
What is 5Gi?
5Gi is India’s own 5G standard that uses lower frequencies to extend the range of base stations and aims to improve 5G coverage in rural and remote areas. 5Gi is also more cost-efficient as it has more to do with software changes, and telecom operators don’t have to spend much on equipment upgrades. 5Gi technology standard will enable telecom companies to provide their 5G services across India without the need for installing base stations every few kilometres.
List of Phones which support major 5G bands in India that you can buy from Flipkart
If you want your next 5G phone to support all or most of the popular 5G bands in India, Flipkart has a number of great options that you can consider. These include:
Popular 5G phones priced under Rs. 15,000
● POCO M4 5G
● POCO M4 Pro 5G
Popular 5G phones priced under Rs. 20,000
● Motorola G62 5G
● Realme 9 5G
● POCO X4 Pro 5G
● OPPO K10 5G
● Samsung Galaxy F23 5G
Popular 5G phones priced under Rs. 25,000
● Realme 9 Pro+ 5G
● Moto G82 5G
● Vivo T1 Pro 5G
Popular 5G phones priced under Rs. 30,000
● Xiaomi 11i 5G
● POCO F4 5G
● OPPO Reno8 5G
Popular 5G phones priced above Rs 30,000
● OPPO Reno7 Pro 5G
● OPPO Reno8 Pro
● Nothing Phone (1)
● Google Pixel 6a
● iPhone 13
To browse for more phones, visit the Flipkart mobile Phones Store.
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