We've tested Sprint 5G speeds all day long so you do not have to.

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LG-V50-double screen 40

The V50 ThinQ is LG's first 5G phone and Sprint.

Lynn La / CNET

After a difficult start, Verizon, the largest wireless service provider in the United States, showed the blazing speeds that the 5G is capable of. It's now Sprint's turn. In an effort to prove its suitability for 5G, the country's fourth-largest network operator opened its network Thursday in the Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Kansas City areas. In the coming weeks, Sprint plans to launch its service in parts of Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix and Washington, DC The company says the coverage of about 2,180 square kilometers, covering 11.5 million of people, actually the largest 5G network in the countryside.

Before the launch of May 31 LG V50 – a $ 1,155 5G phone distinguished by its second screen attachment this will not be available in the US – Sprint has invited CNET to try the phone and its 5G coverage in Dallas. We submitted the LG V50 to numerous tests in several locations to determine what customers could expect from the service and whether or not they were considering buying again.

Sprint is the latest company to have clung to the excitement of 5G. In perfect conditions, the 5G will allow us to download movies on our phones in seconds or broadcast AR / VR games without lag. Beyond the phones, he could revolutionize entire industries, autonomous cars to remote medical procedures. However, the 5G is still in progress and it will still take years to reach these speed levels (as evidenced by Thursday's tests), coverage or reliability. But like other mobile operators, Sprint wants to lead the way by offering its customers a new generation experience.


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Testing the Sprint 5G on the LG V50


11:22

The download on the 5G was (mostly) a child's game

We determined the time it would take to download PUBG Mobile, a 1.86 GB file. The V50 took only 3 minutes and 31 seconds to download and install the game, while the G8 on 4G LTE had only installed 73 MB (3% of the file) of the game during that same period.

Then we migrated to large media files. We downloaded the first episode of Blue Planet 2 on Netflix in high quality, as well as the entire season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel of Prime Video. The 50-minute episode of Blue Planet took 49 seconds to fully download on the V50. The G8 on the 4G LTE had not even been a quarter of the episode download during the same period.

As for the eight episodes of Ms. Maisel's first season, it only took four minutes and five seconds. This would give you ample time, for example, to quickly download a full season of a show when you board a plane after realizing at the last minute that you have not recorded any entertainment offline. Unfortunately, the G8 was still far from having finished downloading the pilot episode by the time the V50 finished downloading the season.

However, there was one case where 5G was slower than expected. When downloading Wine Country, a one-hour, 43-minute Netflix movie, the phone dropped after reaching 90% in minutes. After relaunching the test twice, LTE 5G and 4G connections were incredibly slow. In the end, downloading the film on 5G took three minutes and 45 seconds (the G8 on LTE did not progress all the time). This is the perfect time for the acquisition of LTE technology, but the sensation was freezing in 5G (we were spoiled!). Sprint later told us that the site had undergone "significant load tests" that may have caused problems on the site. We think the result was disappointing because we did a speed test a few minutes later and timed our fastest results to date (more details below).


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2:50

Speed ​​Tests: Sprint vs. Verizon

We used the Speedtest.net app to compare the LG V50 to 4G LTE 5G speeds on another LG premium phone, the LG G8. The average download speed was 109 megabits per second (Mbps) over six trials, compared to 3.74 Mb on the G8. Download rates were made by Sprint's 4G LTE network. Since 80% of its network traffic is on the downlink, Sprint has favored fast download speeds only on 5G. However, 5G will handle the uplinks "in the coming weeks," Sprint said.

At another location in downtown Dallas, we did another series of speed tests. This time, the speed was 434 Mbps, the fastest all day. It's impressive, but not as fast as what we saw on Verizon's 5G network earlier this month, which exceeded 1 gigabyte per second. Note, however, that Verizon's millimeter-wave network is faster but has a shorter range, while Sprint's 5G is based on 2.5 GHz mid-band radio waves, which offer a good mix of speed and accuracy. blanket.

An important thing that we kept in mind during our tests was the fact that almost nobody was in 5G. As one of the few people who can test Sprint's network on its inaugural day, it's understandable that we're doing the same, because we were not part of a handful of cars on the highway. As more and more people buy and go to 5G phones, network speeds will surely be affected.


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8:44

5G on the go, in a bus and a car

Unlike Verizon's 5G network, you do not need to be near a node to get high speed data from Sprint. To get an idea of ​​the coherence of the network while traveling, we took a shuttle bus to take a small route around Dallas. We watched the data transmission speed of a V50 on screens hanging over our seats. On the left of the screen, we observed the download rate, which we found at 700 Mbps during the trip.

From time to time, the throughput was going to 4G speeds when the device started a new cycle during the tests, but Sprint claimed that when users benefited from a transfer, they discerned no difference in service. On the right, our route was drawn in real time. The road was traced in green to indicate 5G and when our coverage went to 4G LTE, it was supposed to blacken. During our 25 minute ride, we did not see the change, which means that the 5G connection has remained constant.

A few hours later in the afternoon, we took a 20-minute drive to a city north of Dallas, Addison, to downtown Dallas. We sailed about 60 miles at the hour and all the way through, we saw the icon switch between 5G and 4G LTE. During the speed tests, download rates reached 10 Mbps and 168 Mbps. Thus, although Sprint's network is extensive, it does not have global coverage in all its markets.

Speed ​​tests throughout the day. Note that the two-digit results were taken during transit.

Lynn La / CNET

LG V50 Impressions and Battery Life

The LG V50 contains a 4000 mAh battery and Sprint said you should expect a 5G battery life similar to other high-end 4G LTE phones. We started to seriously test our phone at 13:00. with the battery at 82%. In the afternoon at 4:39 pm When we finished the last of our tests, the phone was at 32%. Finally, after about three hours of standby, the phone had 19% of its reserves at 20 hours.

Because it's way longer than a day's work, I think the battery life is pretty solid. We submitted the phone to many tests, downloaded tons of things and the screen was set from 50% to 80% brightness all the time. Although she needed juice at the end of the night, the battery did not become a concern at any time of the day.

In general, the V50 is a solid phone to debut with a 5G phone. I only had one day there, but its big 6.4 inch OLED screen was sharp and vibrant, and the fact that it was water resistant m & # 39; provided extra peace of mind while I was running around town. This is also one of the latest high end phones with headphone jack. The phone is wide, so it was difficult to maneuver with one hand and the back was very frayed at the end of the day – perhaps because I was laying it on stone surfaces.

5G landscape in the United States and final reflections

Our test event in Dallas is similar to both hosted by Verizon in April and may when he introduces its 5G network in Chicago and Minneapolis to varying degrees of success.

While Sprint is now aware of the 5G, the roadmap aspect is unclear if T-Mobile ends its $ 26.5 billion merger this the FCC approved last week. On its own, T-Mobile plans to launch 5G services in 30 US cities as soon as devices are available (which is soon). If they merge, their combined 4G LTE and 5G hedges will increase considerably, but the Justice Department would like the two companies to create another mobile operator maintain the status quo of four players.

Overall, the speeds were incredibly fast. In some places, we reached an average of 100 Mbps and other times we exceeded 400 Mbps. We were particularly impressed by the speed with which the LG V50 downloaded a full season of a show of less than five minutes.

However, compared to Verizon, we have never exceeded 1 gigabit per second. The S10 5G has also been able to download PUB-G about a minute faster than us. But Sprint's 5G approach is not necessarily about achieving maximum performance or reaching the highest speeds. Instead, he wants to offer an excellent and reliable experience to the average user, and that is largely what we got.

What we liked the most was that we did not need to be near a nod or a tower to get the 5G. We simply drove to a designated area and we were constantly connected to the network. There were some exceptions – like when we were in the car or we downloaded Wine Country – but overall, the event went well.

Personally, I would not go out and buy a 5G phone now. The technology remains very expensive for consumers: the LG V50 costs $ 1,152 and the Galaxy S10 5G that arrives at Sprint end of June costs about $ 1,300. In addition, Sprint Unlimited Premium Package Access to 5G costs between $ 80 and $ 90 a month. Meanwhile, 5G is only available in a few cities for each carrier. This will change as the year progresses, so I would wait until at least the end of this year or 2020.

Still, it is promising. The 4G LTE has allowed the flourishing of many industries, such as streaming video and carpool services. Although we do not know exactly what kind of niche companies will be on the horizon with 5G (and that there is no guarantee that all emerging companies will have a positive impact), we are delighted to have a another overview of the capabilities of 5G.

The story originally published on May 30 at 7:30 pm Pacific Time.

Update, 8:57 PT: Adds clarification to the fact that 5G networks are being activated. 9:33: Adds the first results of the speed tests. 11:33: Adds a test tweet comparing 5G to 4G LTE. 15h27 PT: Add the test section "On the Go".

Updated May 31 at 3:00 am Pacific Time: Adds additional test information and the "Final Thinking" and "Battery" sections. 11:10 PT: Adds convenient impressions on the availability of LG V50 and Galaxy S10 5G on Sprint.

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