I still don't buy the battery life argument for 3G
I hope this chip actually delivers; my last phone had EVDO and the thing wouldn't last 12 hours without a charge even if I barely used it. It actually made me thankful for iPhone's EDGE!
You just happened to have a ***** phone. There are many 3G phones (maybe not as slim as an iphone though) that get 5+ hours of talktime and at least 5+ days of standby. On another note, I believe EVDO is used for voice/standby/waiting for a call where as with the GSM track a 3G phone can use standard GSM for voice/standby/waiting for a call and only use UMTS/HSPA for data services, thus being even more efficient than EVDO.
Although you may use a phone like an iPhone alot more because of the iPod functions and the great browser, and it does indeed have a large screen, I still think Jobs is hyping the battery life of 3G phones. I would much rather have a 3G iPhone with less battery life than an EDGE iPhone, and obviously a user removable/second battery would be even better.
It also seems as if Apple has the engineering expertise (or their partners) to really squeeze the battery life out of devices, whether it's in the electronics or the batteries themselves. I would have to think Apple would be using the best possible batteries, and their components for the iPhone would be some of the most power efficient available. That's why I still find it strange that Apple launched an EDGE iPhone (other than AT&T's crappy network). Jobs has said twice now that 3G phone battery life needs to get "back up to 5+ hours".
While the size of the iPhone may indeed mean a smaller battery cell, I don't know (haven't looked at what the iSupply tear down guys found for battery size).
Here are some tested battery life values for popular 3G phones:
AT&T 8525 UMTS/HSDPA
talk time (tested):
6 hours
standby (tested):
8.3 days
HTC Mogul PPC-6800 EVDO
talk time (tested):
6.5 hours
standby (tested):
7.0 days
Nokia N95 UMTS/HSDPA
talk time (tested):
8.5 hours
standby (tested):
8.0 days
vx9900 enV EVDO
talk time (tested):
4.75 hours
standby (spec):
19.0 days
Motorola Slvr L7 EVDO
talk time (tested)
5.0 hours
standby (tested)
11.5 days