No 3G on the iPhone, but why? A Battery Life Analysis
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 13, 2007 3:53 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
The Real Shocker: Impact of 3G on Talk Time
The impact of WCDMA vs. EDGE on talk time battery life is important, because while simply talking you get absolutely no benefit from faster download rates while power consumption increases. There is one side benefit from being on a 3G connection vs. EDGE - you can receive phone calls while maintaining a data transfer, which simply isn't possible on either of these two devices over EDGE.
The Samsung Blackjack, by default, will attempt to connect to a WCDMA network first. If no UMTS networks are available, only then will it default to EDGE, and likewise if no EDGE networks are available then it will fall back to regular GSM. You can change the behavior of the Blackjack, especially when it comes to how to prioritize the various networks, but ideally the user would never have to bother with any of that.
The iPhone doesn't really have an option here, the voice connection took place over AT&T's EDGE network.
The most shocking results come from the Blackjack and the impact of leaving 3G enabled on talk time: battery life is cut in half. The 52% reduction in talk time takes the Blackjack from lasting almost 9 hours to slightly over 4 hours. If the iPhone would be impacted similarly, a 3G version of the current phone would result in less than 3 hours of talk time.
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Tegeril - Friday, July 13, 2007 - link
No, because EDGE is disabled for data during voice calls and Wifi remains on.mino - Tuesday, July 17, 2007 - link
Well, explain that to me how was I talking with a friend and browsing DT at the same time with my nokia now ?Even the good old GPRS allows for simultanious data/voice scenario, that is actually one of the points of the packet-based technologies.
If you have standard 4+2 GPRS/EDGE timeslots available you just have the bandwith during call reduced to 3+1 scenario as voice requires 1+1 slots for its operation.
The other thing is if you have phone bad enough that manufacturer disabled/did not implement this functionality...
Even my P800 form 2003 coud do that FYI..
DavenJ - Friday, July 13, 2007 - link
No he's right it should say EDGE. Phone calls can only come over the EDGE network and not through Wifi. This is a measure of talk time which would mean a phone call. It would be nice, however, do have VoIP through Wifi for those cases where your either roaming or in a dead spot.michael2k - Saturday, July 14, 2007 - link
It's not a typo, you misunderstand the test.It's talk time with a broadband connection turned on. You can, theoretically, turn wifi off during talk to extend the iPhone life, but for a comparison between 3G and WiFi battery life they were talking with, respectively, 3G and WiFi on.
VooDooAddict - Friday, July 13, 2007 - link
WiFi for voice would be very nice. They could even charge me the same minute fees/bucket. There are plenty of homes with very good wifi coverage but crappy wireless cell coverage... works almost like a signal booster.Ataraxia - Friday, July 13, 2007 - link
I'm pretty sure you guys are all wrong.The iPHone has just enough features so people will go out and buy it in rabid frenzy, while the next iteration (in probably 6 months) containing 3G, Thinner/Lighter, etc will push people like ME to buy it (The educated consumer, who really does know how backwards the innards of an iPhone actually is), plus everyone who bought the first generation will dump theirs for the much faster data transfers and buy a second gen iPhone.
It's all about business and the $$
BigLan - Friday, July 13, 2007 - link
I wonder if the iphone youtube results are so good because the device buffers the video. It could be that you only download the file once, then play it back from cache. Could you maybe repeat the test with different clips every time to see if this is the case?Also, are you saying that youtube clips on iphone/wifi look better than on a desktop?
DaveLessnau - Friday, July 13, 2007 - link
If Apple simply went with a user-replaceable battery, most of this problem (not the space issue) would go away. I'm not in the market for a cell phone, but that one point (the battery) drops the iPhone out of the competition for me.Shintai - Friday, July 13, 2007 - link
Why would anyone, atleast outside the US mobile network, get an iPhone? Its 3-4 years behind atleast.Take a cheaper nokia n95. You get gps, video calls (DVD quality, 30fps), TV, msn, 5Mpixel cam, MMS, 3Mbit internet, longer battery life and so on. On a 3.5G network for less than an iPhone.
The iPhone is like buying a 800Mhz P3 in a fancy design today. Inferiour products for extreme prices. The last sucker aint born yet.
sxr7171 - Monday, July 16, 2007 - link
N95 is not cheaper buddy. I dropped $750 on mine.