So jobs said that the iphone gets 10hr talk time on 2G and 5hrs on 3G using voice. My question is does this switch automatically? Or how is it decided what network you are making a calls on? Is 3G calling that much better? I think the 10hr talk time is impressive... 5 seems too short even if the reception is amazing...
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2G vs 3G voice?
- Thread starter mtfield
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I'm assuming that if you have 3G enabled and you're in a 3G area, you'll use 3G voice. Apparently the sound quality of 3G lines is much, much improved over 2G, but I'm sure if you turn off 3G in the preferences you won't have to worry about it.
I hear 3G voice is significantly better than 2G. If you can live with 2G, I guess you probably can switch it on an off at your leisure.
I think so. If they're on EDGE, then they're feeding an already lower quality voice. At leat your 3G voice will get the full low quality EDGE (it's like exporting a youtube video in HD...won't help you).
Whichever end has the lesser quality, that's the best you will get. Similarly, if you were to download a file from a server connected via a dial-up connection, you can have all the fiber optic lines you want but you won't get faster than 56k.
I'd love to hear about 3G to 3G calling once the phones come out. You'd think at some point call quality could start to get near 128kbps (what most MP3s are), especially if you get charged $75/month.
From my experiments, 3G call quality is marginally better than 2G - but in reality it really depends on your area. AT&T forces most users to an AMR-HR (half rate) codec on GSM which sounds pretty bad depending on the phone and reception conditions. 3G currently runs on full rate, but once 3G spectrum starts to run out, they might switch that over to half rate also, pretty much putting everyone back down to GSM quality.
Don't forget that many areas don't even have 3G coverage, and most of those that do run on 1900mhz which is generally accepted to have not as good reception as 850mhz which AT&T uses for a lot of its 2G coverage.
Some phones (most motorolas for example) can be hacked to force the phone to a full rate codec all the time. This pretty much gives you the best possible call quality (as good as 3G in my testing), but with the excellent coverage, reception , and talk time/battery life of 2G. Its pretty much the best you can get ATM.
Don't forget that many areas don't even have 3G coverage, and most of those that do run on 1900mhz which is generally accepted to have not as good reception as 850mhz which AT&T uses for a lot of its 2G coverage.
Some phones (most motorolas for example) can be hacked to force the phone to a full rate codec all the time. This pretty much gives you the best possible call quality (as good as 3G in my testing), but with the excellent coverage, reception , and talk time/battery life of 2G. Its pretty much the best you can get ATM.