“While all mobiles have to pass radio conformance testing that only covers the minimum of capabilities, in exhaustive testing on six of the leading smart phones Broadband Testing discovered huge differences in the ability to connect to the voice network as well as maintain connections during a call – with Apple’s iPhone being an unexpected star of the show,” Ray reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Sheesh, no preconceived bias there, huh?
Ray continues, “The company tested two phones from RIM, the Bold and Storm, Apple’s iPhone, a Nokia E71, a Samsung SGH-F48 and a Sony Ericsson C905. The tests involved trying to maintain a 3G call while walking, as well as travelling in a car at 120kph and handing off to 2G networks in both scenarios for when 3G lets one down. Most notable from the results is the huge increase in call quality between the iPhone running version 2.0 and 2.2 of mobile OSX. While version 2 would drop around 35 per cent of calls made while strolling along, that figure drops below ten per cent with version 2.2.”
MacDailyNews Take: Gee, thanks, what about iPhone OS 3.0, since that’s what we’re all using? Alas, no mention of it by Ray; perhaps because, as he reports, “Broadband Testing will sell the details of the tests on the six handsets in its first report on the subject.”
Ray continues, reporting that RIM’s BlackBerry Storm was found to be “incapable of handing off from 3G to 2G networks at speed and struggling even when walking.”
More in the full article here.
I remember when the first gen iPhone just hit the scene, and was given one of these batteries of tests.
At the time, it only performed okay, in comparison to the others in the test.
It’s nice to see that Apple has made their phones significantly better since then.
Is this called Multitasking?
Having had a slew of cell phones since they were available in the ’80’s, I can’t say how great the iPhone has been strictly as a cell phone, i.e., for making phone calls.
It’s other features, just makes ownership of such so much more enjoyable.
I have contacted Broadband Testing for more information on their services. As a developer, I certainly would be most interested in examining the data. As a research consultant, I also respect the value and the need to protect and recover the cost of conducting the testing.
Or, MDN, it could be that “exhaustive testing” actually takes time and they didn’t have time to test OS 3.0 before compiling their report. It has only been out for less than 2 months.
What the heck is “per cent”
MDN – Cut them some slack! iPhone OS 3.0 has been out for what, a month? Test like this take to time to conduct and write up. iPhone OS 3.0 probably wasn’t available when the test were done. As it is, it looks like 2.2 came out in the middle of their testing, and in the name of thoroughness upgraded and retested.
Still, MDN’s take is spot on. It doesn’t matter if they didn’t have time to test 3.0- the fact remains that the majority of iPhones now use it- rendering this report instantly obsolete.
If your interest is only BB or other smartphones, fine. But buying this report for iPhone info would be foolish.
I see nothing in the report that MDN could really object to, unless they were going for the “everyone is out to get us!” victimhood mentality.
So they say the iPhone is the unexpected winner in their press release, that’s hardly an indication of pre-concieved bias before they started testing, it could just mean the other phones did far worse than they expected
Sheesh, it’s starting to be you can’t even write an article that *praises* something Apple without MDN jumping down their throats for an insignificant wording choice!
They should have worded the report to indicate 3.0 was out though
Ever since owning my iphone 3G I’ve never had a dropped call. Had many on my S.Ericsson T606 before that. Same network, same areas. Some calls have been spotty but that always happens while talking with another cell user and never a landline, so it seems to indicate it’s not my iPhone causing the trouble.
@Blargh
When someone states that you’re the “unexpected” star they are as clearly announcing a preconceived bias as is possible. It may mean little in terms of the integrity of the testing, but you don’t understand plain english if you see no bias announced in their PR. It is not surprising. Everyone pundit and their brother has been peddling the notion that the iPhone is a horrible phone, constantly dropping calls.
Calling them an “unexpected star” indicates a preconceived idea of how the phones would perform in the test. It doesn’t indicate a bias against Apple or iPhones.
If the Detroit Lions win their division in the NFL this year, I’d call it “unexpected” and I’m a (long suffering) fan. No bias, just an expectation for how the Lions season will go.
Kind of off-topic, but I’m always impressed with my iPhone’s ability to switch from wi-fi to 3G on the fly when I’m using Pandora. I’ll start out the door to walk the dog, and Pandora will be playing through my Airport wi-fi, then switch over without a hitch once I’m out of range. Very cool tech, in my opinion.
Here in the Twin Cities, the 3G is pretty good, and I rarely ever drop calls. In fact, I think I’ve lost just one.
It is unexpected, because the voice quality as phone is not the top point of the iPhone.
As someone who receives calls from friends with iPhones, I can confirm that voice quality is still pretty bad. But that’s true of most GSM phones.