EDGE has me on EDGE.

[ccwilli3]

The sheer number of users in NYC in manhattan would bring the network down a few steps. The available bandwidth of a single sector is proportional to the number of users on that sector. As people get added and are talking/texting/surfing, the available bandwidth for each user is cut.

When you get a really fast transfer, you were probably one of the few on that sector at the time... If you are moving around, unfortunately in the GSM world, those are hard handoffs from sector to sector (and tower to tower at times) so the connection is kinda paused and restarted on the new sector. If you are only on that sector for a short duration and move to another, then you are dealing with another pause and restart...

 

[Sobe]

honestly in a place like manhattan, there is no excuse for not having wall to wall wifi.

 

[spencecb]

honestly in a place like manhattan, there is no excuse for not having wall to wall wifi.

Agreed. I'm waiting for Chicago to go wifi. I wonder if it will be the cell networks that figure this our before it is implemented by the city or a private company. I would assume that the cell networks would want to do this so they could still charge for data transfer. I would be willing to still pay a monthly fee if it meant I always had access to wifi speeds.

 

[mcdj]

I'm happy to announce I finally broke 200kbps. 227 to be exact. And I was able to achieve similar speeds in back to back tests. This was outdoors, on 23rd St. and 1st Ave. in Manhattan, if anyone's curious. Heading back down to 18th and 1st, I promptly dropped back down to ~50kbps.

Obviously my immediate neighborhood is a weak EDGE zone. But it's comforting to know I can at least reach Kansas style speeds and that my phone doesn't appear to be EDGE defective.

Now if I could only cut/copy/paste, use my own ringtones, see call durations, stream music via A2DP, see email alerts on the lock screen, delete all emails at once, etc...

 

[ortuno2k]

Nicely written.
I don't own an iPhone but did try out one of my co-workers for a little. It was SLOW, even loading CNN - I ran out of patience. I hope they do go on to 3G with the next generation of iPhone.

 

[aristobrat]

I hope they do go on to 3G with the next generation of iPhone.

Same, as the two choices seem to me "a fast connection with a mobile web browser that looks like poop", or "a slow connection with a mobile web browser that looks fairly decent". You're damned either way...

 

[meagain]

I take back all my negative Edge comments. Our first trial was in an Apple store the day after launch and it was a nightmare. We just went to a local AT&T and it worked great. We're so getting one. Stupid me forgot to do the speed test. Will probably go back Monday.

 

[D1G1T4L]

Adding a great link someone had posted in in another thread as I think it also fits in this one.

http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3036

 

[blankleader]

Here in Little Rock, Edge works absolutely great, even on the road.

I was really concerned that it would be slow so as to be non-functional for me and therefore make me take the phone back. Turns out it's a complete non-issue for me. I sometimes forget I'm even on the Edge network when I get in the car and leave home and it switches over from Wifi. It's that fast here.

It's all about location, and I'm lucky, I guess.

 

[aristobrat]

Adding a great link someone had posted in in another thread as I think it also fits in this one.

http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3036

Interesting article!

Final Words

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.

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.

 

[kdarling]

Adding a great link someone had posted in in another thread as I think it also fits in this one.

http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3036

Thanks. Interesting, but reached some bizarre conclusions by comparing 3G to WiFi.

They decided the Blackjack had 20% less battery life with 3G. Of course, it's FIVE TIMES FASTER at downloading.

I'd take a 20% drop in battery life for 1Mbps access any day of the week.

 

[kdarling]

Same, as the two choices seem to me "a fast connection with a mobile web browser that looks like poop", or "a slow connection with a mobile web browser that looks fairly decent". You're damned either way...

Fortunately not true. Take any 3G with the Nextel or Picsel browsers. Or the latest Opera minibrowser. All give full screen views that can be scrolled and zoomed.

Even better, take the new Toshiba G900 phone with 3G and 800x480 (!!!) screen. Not much scrolling needed on that puppy.

The phone:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7714532406385585972

The screen. About 1/2 through they open the keyboard and it goes into landscape, then they bring up Internet Explorer:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9126761681092468010

The good thing about the iPhone is that lots of technology that's been fairly dormant on other phones, is now being released.

 

[badtzmaru]

Can you be a little more specific? Are you only surfing via EDGE in these places, with wifi off? Any speed test results to report?

Enough replies like this and I'm gonna start to think my phone is a dud.

The thread was about EDGE so yes i was browsing via EDGE.

i had no problems at momofuku in east village, equinox in soho, grand central in midtown

 

[D1G1T4L]

Thanks. Interesting, but reached some bizarre conclusions by comparing 3G to WiFi.

They decided the Blackjack had 20% less battery life with 3G. Of course, it's FIVE TIMES FASTER at downloading.

I'd take a 20% drop in battery life for 1Mbps access any day of the week.

But would you take half the talk time even if you were not using 3G?

 

[BigPrince]

to OP: Get over it.

 

[[G5]Hydra]

Fortunately not true. Take any 3G with the Nextel or Picsel browsers. Or the latest Opera minibrowser. All give full screen views that can be scrolled and zoomed.

Even better, take the new Toshiba G900 phone with 3G and 800x480 (!!!) screen. Not much scrolling needed on that puppy.

The phone:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7714532406385585972

The screen. About 1/2 through they open the keyboard and it goes into landscape, then they bring up Internet Explorer:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9126761681092468010

The good thing about the iPhone is that lots of technology that's been fairly dormant on other phones, is now being released.

The OS, or should I say POS, on that phone is exactly why there is all the hype over the iPhone. It has a nice big screen and yet when the thing goes into a folder of simple icons it seems to stutter redrawing them. In the menus you have lists of tiny text, if you want to try to hit those tiny lines of text you have to whip out a stylus and and a magnifying glass to read them. Oh joy! 800x480 IS nice but not if they are using it the same as if it was on a 320x200 phone. Three times the resolution and only TWICE as hard to read. The biggest interface problem with Windows Mobile is they often don't do enough to fit what is on the screen to the device being used.

-Jerry C.

 

[kdarling]

But would you take half the talk time even if you were not using 3G?

Good point. Therefore a switch on the side (like some phones have for WiFi) to disable/enable 3G would be cool.

 

[D1G1T4L]

Good point. Therefore a switch on the side (like some phones have for WiFi) to disable/enable 3G would be cool.

That would be nice. I would LOVE 3G speeds but coming from a Q that would die before the day would end and my treo that I had to order an extended battery for a days worth I do like the battery life I'm getting on my iPhone.

I just hope they figure out how to manage battery and size of the 3G chips for the next rev.

Also is the Qualcomm ban still in effect?

 

[kdarling]

The OS, or should I say POS, on that phone is exactly why there is all the hype over the iPhone. It has a nice big screen and yet when the thing goes into a folder of simple icons it seems to stutter redrawing them. In the menus you have lists of tiny text, if you want to try to hit those tiny lines of text you have to whip out a stylus and and a magnifying glass to read them.

Apple took the easy way out with the iPhone by just having a touchscreen. Other phones' programmers have to support more user choice, with real keyboards, navigation keys, joysticks, etc. If I only had to support touchscreen entry at work instead of also allowing the user to use arrow and/or number keys, my life would be much simpler

I usually use arrow keys and not a stylus, but yes you've a very good point about the tiny menus. Rumors say WM 7 will change some of that. In the meantime, third parties can change the home screens, menus, themes, etc. Just found these today:

http://www.v2r.ag/products/pocket-pc/v2r-activeui.html

http://www.whoneedsaniphone.com/blog.asp

Oh joy! 800x480 IS nice but not if they are using it the same as if it was on a 320x200 phone.

One could argue nearly the same about iPhone having 320x480 in the same space as my handheld's 240x320 screen. Then again, other PDAs have 480x640 in the same space or less.

Other new phones out this fall will be 800x480 as well. It's just the coming thing. Just imagine if the iPhones' entire face was touch instead of just 2/3.

 

[kdarling]

Also is the Qualcomm ban still in effect?

Yes sir. Broadcom offered to license their power-saving technology to Qualcomm for $6 a chip, but was turned down.

Instead, Q and ATT, Verizon, Sprint, et al, are lobbying for a Presidential veto of the ban.

I wonder if this is what's slowing down new phones from Verizon? They were supposed to have some cool ones out around now.

 

[D1G1T4L]

Yes sir. Broadcom offered to license their power-saving technology to Qualcomm for $6 a chip, but was turned down.

Instead, Q and ATT, Verizon, Sprint, et al, are lobbying for a Presidential veto of the ban.

I wonder if this is what's slowing down new phones from Verizon? They were supposed to have some cool ones out around now.

Sadly that is going to hurt the advancement of the technology

 

[aristobrat]

Fortunately not true. Take any 3G with the Nextel or Picsel browsers. Or the latest Opera minibrowser. All give full screen views that can be scrolled and zoomed.

Which phones come with these browsers installed? Other than Windows Mobile, the occasional Treo running Palm OS, and a gazillion BlackBerry devices, I haven't had too much experience with other phones.

Even better, take the new Toshiba G900 phone with 3G and 800x480 (!!!) screen. Not much scrolling needed on that puppy.

Outstanding device. No US carrier offers it, which means you need to buy it via Expansys for around US$850, and it now looks like owners are able to get the battery to last a whole 18 hours if they only use it for 1 hour of PDA work and limit it to 2-3 calls.
http://www.mobileplanet.com/ft.aspx?k=94422

What's the point of 3G and super-duper hi-res screens if you have to be so freaking cautious about how you spend your time on the device?

 

[uNext]

I got 989kbps on wi-fi
253.5kbps on edge

 

[[G5]Hydra]

Apple took the easy way out with the iPhone by just having a touchscreen. Other phones' programmers have to support more user choice, with real keyboards, navigation keys, joysticks, etc. \

No, they basically invented an entirely new user interface made for a hand-held device instead of using the same principles they use in desktop interfaces and hope they work. Why don't you use a mouse on a handheld? Well because it is not practical and would be a horrible user experience. And people can just pick up any old smart phone and just know how it works just like they can do with the iPhone? No. Lazy is using what you have been given and implement it w/o regard to how the user is going to use it. Innovation is figuring out how to best use what you have or make something new that works better.

I usually use arrow keys and not a stylus, but yes you've a very good point about the tiny menus. Rumors say WM 7 will change some of that. In the meantime, third parties can change the home screens, menus, themes, etc.

That is the problem there in a nutshell. Don't you think the largest software house on the planet should try to make things work better on their own OS instead of hoping 3rd parties can make things work? Who do you think would have a better chance of making it work. The Zune is the perfect example. The Zune actually has a nice OS that looks and works pretty well. It's no iPod but it is probably the best music player out there next to the iPod all because they realized that the only way to do things right was to do it themselves.

One could argue nearly the same about iPhone having 320x480 in the same space as my handheld's 240x320 screen. Then again, other PDAs have 480x640 in the same space or less.

What handheld is that? The iPhone has a 3.5 inch screen with brightness off the chart compared to any others. The thing about the iPhone is that Apple designed every part of the OS and apps to work on that screen. Most other hardware makers try to make winmobile work as well as they can on what they have which doesn't always work.

Other new phones out this fall will be 800x480 as well. It's just the coming thing. Just imagine if the iPhones' entire face was touch instead of just 2/3.

There are not many Phones out there with 3.5 inch screens. 800x480 means nothing, it could be 15 inches or 1.5 inches, it is all about dpi really. The trick is not adding a bigger screen btw, it is cramming it all in a package people want and having enough juice to get it through the day. The iPhone is really thin for such a bug screened device. Palm Pilots and other PDA's have had huge screens for years why don't you see many phones with huge screens?

-Jerry C.

 

[drchipinski]

EDGE is a joke around Cleveland here, when it actually has a decent connection (rare) it can load up a page at a somewhat tolerable speed, however most of the time even that is not the case, the connection keeps dropping up and down and safari just stalls most of the time on EDGE and eventually a cannot connection to server message pops up. After the past few days of using edge, I'd classify it as unusable. I like a lot of things about this phone (like the wi-fi), but the fact is I'm paying $20 extra a month for this useless unusable data service like this, seems pretty ridiculous.

I totally agree. I love the iphone, but HATE and I mean HATE ATT. I have dropped more calls in the last 10 days than I did with my previous carrier in the past 5 years.

ATT is a joke.