This is *incredibly* disappointing, and so frustrating, particularly when other devices, long available on CDMA networks, offer this feature.
It *is* relevant that other devices offer this feature, and have done so for so long. The HTC Thunderbolt was released shortly after the iPhone 4. That's technology that's almost 2 years old, that many people, I'm sure, have come to rely on. Of *course* that means it's relevant -- it's not even new technology!!
In my opinion, this was a huge mistake on Apple's part.
They're incorporating turn-by-turn maps with Siri support -- if I need to make a phone call on the road while using Apple's GPS, am I supposed to pull over? That's absolutely idiotic.
I commute every day on a train, and my internal modem on my laptop is 3G only -- and I can't upgrade. I frequently have to be on the phone while using my laptop's connection. I was hoping to be able to simply use my iPhone LTE Hotspot while maintaining the ability to make phone calls.
It's a feature I've been looking forward to ever since I knew the iPhone 5 would support LTE. I've been unwilling to sacrifice the quality of Verizon's network to switch to AT&T for the feature, prior to this.
I understand Apple's decision to place their focus on delivering a smaller, thinner phone. Makes perfect sense. Maybe this is my lack of understanding, however, when I say -- if there are already 2 antennas on the device, why the hell didn't they just split the CDMA and LTE antennas across what's already there?
I saw a post above that says the iPhone 5 supports SVDO -- again, if it does, why can't we use the simultaneous voice and data again??
I've pre-ordered my iPhone, and I'll deal, but I can't help but think this smacks of the Apple "we know better than you" attitude that the company seems to be adopting more and more over the years. I like Apple, and I think they've done some great things. I'll always buy the products from them that I believe are the best on the market. But I get really, really frustrated with them at times.
Very disappointed.