“Without a doubt, current 3G implementations do require more space and consume more power than simply outfitting a phone with support for EDGE. Using the Samsung Blackjack as an example, turning on 3G reduces battery life by around 25% under web/email use. The biggest impact of all is, surprisingly enough, talk time; with 3G enabled, the Blackjack’s talk time is cut in half, with absolutely no benefit realized from the higher bandwidth standard,” Anand Lal Shimpi reports for AnandTech.
“At the same time, Apple’s choice to include 802.11b/g support in the iPhone makes a lot of sense. Battery life actually increases with Wi-Fi over EDGE whenever the data connection is being used, not to mention that performance goes up tremendously as well,” Lal Shimpi reports.
“Apple had to make a number of tradeoffs with the iPhone, and without a doubt its power hungry screen was not worth sacrificing, even for better network performance. The iPhone’s biggest selling point is its UI, and Apple seems to have made the right tradeoff by embracing Wi-Fi for the first generation – as frustrating as it may be for users,” Lal Shimpi reports.
“The long term solution however isn’t simply to rely on Wi-Fi hotspots for faster net access, as 3G deployments become even more widespread and technology improves you can expect to see lower power and more tightly integrated 3G chipsets available. We’d venture a guess that a 3G iPhone is at least 12 months out, but until then keep an eye out for 802.11 hotspots – you’ll get a better usage experience and better battery life on your iPhone,” Lal Shimpi reports.
Full article, with tests comparing physical size and power consumption between 3G and EDGE, as well as Wi-Fi and EDGE,, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “gzero” for the heads up.]
“But if I were to pick a “turn-it-on-manually-battery-waster” feature, it would not be 3G, it would be GPS.”
Actually, I’d love to see AT&T’s TDOA(?) used in place of a GPS for Google maps. While the accuracy of TDOA is not as good as a GPS, it would at least be able to tell that I’m in New York instead of Los Angeles and give me appropriate traffic information without me having to tell the stupid phone that I’m somewhere else.
This is the thing that always annoys me when I travel with laptops.
Edge is slow in Chicago where I live, but it’s not unusable by any means.
Edge, in a small town I went to over the weekend called Harbert, Michigan, was dog-ass slow. Terrible. F.
Has AT&T already pushed Edge as far as it will go? Can they tweak it a bit more?
I belive that there is a country in Europe, that happens to have the second highest number of phones per capita in the world (or something in that ballpark) that has GSM and NO EDGE (none of the 3 mobile providers has EDGE) this is a country where many of the phones are sold without a contract and those that are locked to a certain network can now be legally unlocked.
In this country a Nokia N95 can cost over $1000 and there are quite a few going around. So I think that the cost of the iPhone would no be a problem.
But then how is the iPhone going to be an internet device in that country without 3G? So I think that Apple will have to have 3G (that I think is highly overrated) for the introduction of the iPhone in Europe.
Unless of course they are thinking of Europe has UK, France and Germany. Come to think of it, that wouldn’t be the first time.
MW: physical. As in, there is a physical need for the iPhone to have 3G in most of Europe.
Europe is not getting 3g the first time around.
When I have a need to do any heavy browsing on my iPhone, I am in a wifi spot almost 80% of the time. The rest of the time, EDGE is good enough.
I think Apple was smart not to jump on the “latest and greatest” too fast as I don’t think the HSDPA chipset is quite ready for prime time yet.
Edge is good enough? Since when does Apple deliver products that are “good enough.”
iPhone is brilliant, but the EDGE network is antiquated and extremely slow, IT IS NOT “good enough” for a $600 device.
As far as Wi-Fi, yes, it’s great, but I’ve yet to find a usable hotspot while in my car (parked of course.)
Tre’s above post said is best, that Wi-Fi may be in the home or office, but we have computers in those situations. What we really need is iPhone to deliver a fast connection when we are on the go, on the road, at the beach, at a restaurant, at the doctors office, at the supermarket etc. etc…
“Surprise surprise – Apple knew what they were doing!”
They knew exactly what they were doing, launching a phone with last decade’s cellular technology knowing fanboys would find a way to justify it as being a good thing.
all very nice and pretty… but that’s in the US which is far from advanced in mobile networks. In Europe 3g coverage is much better than in the US. Speaking from the country with the most mobiles per capita, I can guarantee that there is much more 3g coverage than there is wifi. Sure, they’ll sell a bunch, but I’d venture to say they’d sell 30% more with 3g. All 3 networks here have widespread 3g.
“In Europe 3g coverage is much better than in the US”
In the US AT&T’s 3G network reaches most major cities, I’d guess the majority of iPhone customers are in a 3g coverage area.
And even for those who travel in and out of 3g coverage, at least you’ll have 3G speeds where it exists.
There is no logical reason that the iPhone isn’t 3G other than this phone has been in development for a long time for a cellphone, and Apple just couldnt get it done and meet the launch schedule.
To tout WiFi as an alternative is a joke. This is a Mobile phone, , intended to be used on the move and where ever you are, not only within 100ft of WiFi hotspots.
@SJR you are correct. HAd a Q with verizon service. Windows mobile explorer was so pokey and you were luck if a page rendered correctly so that it was even usable.
EDGE is slow. True.
My battery life is fine, but 25-50% less battery life would be vexing.
Fortunately, nearly everywhere I go there is a WiFi network. On the occassions that I have used the web via EDGE, it was slow, but fast enough that I was not looking for an alternative means. Even in rural Florida, EDGE was fine for mapping my way the fuck out of dodge.