Shadow 2: 3G or No 3G?
It all starts with page 4 of the Antenna Specification which shows the 1700 mhz band.
I’ve been poring through the FCC documents and the results are inconclusive as to whether or not the Shadow 2 has 3G. An inside source tells me that it does NOT have 3G but the documents show that it is clearly capable of 3G. Check out the conlusion at the end of the article. Any Electrical Engineers out there your input is welcomed.
Page 246 of the 3rd part of the uploaded User Manual from T-Mobile also clearly shows the 1700 mhz band.
Page 8 of the SAR Test Rpt for EX3DV4 SN3552s shows testing in the 1700 mhz band.
Pages 7 and 9 of the AR Test Rpt for D1900V2 SN5d056 show the test range from 1600 to 2100 mhz
The dates on the FCC documents show April of 2008. What I am assuming happened was the Shadow 2 was spec’d to be capable of the new 3G network but the ROM wasn’t written for it as T-Mobile might have been behind on the roll out (they were). With the rumor date release in August looming and the 3G network rolling out T-Mobile might have pushed HTC and Google to release the G1 as it was closer to 3G capability than the Shadow 2. So we have the G1 shining on the market, releasing the Shadow 2 in the…shadow…of the G1 would have been a bad marketing move so the date was pushed past the holidays for the Shadow 2.
The antenna in the Shadow 2 is clearly capable of using the 1700 mhz band. Rumors and inside sources say it doesn’t have 3G. But most of the testing documentation shows that the 1700 mhz band was directly tested. It is likely it will come out without 3G, however it is plausible that a firmware/ROM update could be released to enable the 1700 mhz band in Windows Mobile. If that doesn’t happen it is possible that the hackers in the community can come up with a hacked firmware/ROM that enables the 3G capabilities.
Conclusion: It will eventually have 3G.
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9 Comments to Shadow 2: 3G or No 3G?
…now just add GPS; a 3.5mm headphone jack; a non-antiquated processor; and a high-rez touchscreen, and just maybe we have a relevant device worth extending our contracts for 2 years 
MarioDecember 3, 2008
I like it, but if the price will be less than $200, I’m not buying it.
I don’t buy cheap stuff. 
badbob001December 4, 2008
By your reasoning, the original Shadow can have 3G as well. Unfortunately, this is not the case. From the page 200 of the original Shadow manual:
GSM/GPRS/EDGE Quad-band module
GSM 850: 824 ~ 849, 869 ~ 894 MHz
GSM 900: 880 ~ 915, 925 ~ 960 MHz
GSM 1800: 1710 ~ 1785, 1805 ~ 1880 MHz
GSM 1900: 1850 ~ 1910, 1930 ~ 1990 MHz
derrickDecember 4, 2008
i’m sure everyone has the g1 and samsung behold instead of wanting to get this garbage of a phone, and yes i have a right to say that about the shadow 2 because i owned the shadow 1 which was good when i first got it, but it was time for a change/upgrade 
If s2 is as been reported who would buy it . . . any new purchase requires 3g now not eventually . . . my next phone will be the I phone . . . see ya tmobile . . .
derrickDecember 5, 2008
the iphone is no better, only for web
BetitoDecember 8, 2008
I would say compare the data here from other 3G handsets (G1 and Behold) and see if the data matches. I can not believe that a simple ROM update can “unlock” an AWS band. I have never heard of any phone that has been sold at 2.5G and given a software update to 3G. Most likely the “testing” at the 1700 MHz band was simply to get to the 1800 MHz band.
spos5December 8, 2008
Already moved to the AT&T Fuze (blows away the G1), got it FREE from Wal-Mart. Sorry TMO. Why are you guys still hanging on?
badbob001December 15, 2008
Perhaps this will clears things up or confuse things even more.
GSM (voice)
900 send: 890-915 rec: 935-960
1800 send: 1710-1785 rec: 1805-1880
850 send: 824-849 rec: 869-894
1900 send: 1850-1910 rec: 1930-1990
* tmo u.s. is mostly 1900 but can sometimes use 850.
* the above represents gsm quadband.
3G UMTS (data)
850 send: 824-849 rec: 869-894 (at&t)
1900 send: 1850-1910 rec: 1930-1990 (at&t)
1700 send: 1710-1770 rec: 2110-2170 (tmo u.s.)
2100 send: 1920-1980 rec: 2110-2170 (tmo europe)
* tmo u.s. can’t just use umts 2100 because of a conflict in the 1900 band (I think with satellite providers) and so had to split sending on 1700 and receiving on 2100. note that umts 1700 and 2100 share the same receive band.
This info is only as accurate as google/wikipedia.
December 3, 2008