Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

3G and improving battery life

E

eye.surgeon

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 12, 2007
409
28
California
Interesting article here showing that the new Nokia N95 moved from EDGE to 3G with minimal loss of battery life. Here's a quote:

The new version of the N95 was able to keep browsing over a 3G network for 6 hours 12 minutes. Under exactly the same conditions, the old N95 (using an EDGE connection) was able to keep on browsin' for 7 hours 15 minutes.

Is there anyone here that wouldn't give up one measly hour of battery life in order to be 5X more productive online?
 
Now compare the 3G coverage to the EDGE coverage in the United States. If it's not available, you can't use it. Making you 0% productive.
 
overcast said:
Now compare the 3G coverage to the EDGE coverage in the United States. If it's not available, you can't use it. Making you 0% productive.
Click to expand...

Highlighting that they should have a different version for the European market because 3G is everywhere over here.
 
I can't speak for the Nokia N95 but I own a Samsung Blackjack. I can tell you from personal experience that 3G drastically drains the battery on it.
 
eye.surgeon said:
The new version of the N95 was able to keep browsing over a 3G network for 6 hours 12 minutes. Under exactly the same conditions, the old N95 (using an EDGE connection) was able to keep on browsin' for 7 hours 15 minutes.
Click to expand...
According to this:

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

what 3G really kills is talk time. At the London iPhone launch, that's exactly what Steve Jobs said too.
 
My 3g phone is pretty small, I'll give it that, no idea whether it would "fit" into an iPhone..

But, yeh, the battery life sucks. It lasts a day before I need to charge it up, if I'm using it a lot, it lasts less than a day.
The problem in the UK specifically is that where 3g coverage is still a bit patchy, here and there, it has to swap between 2 and 3g a hell of a lot, and that literally rapes battery life.

the iPhone should leave 3g alone until its matured, but I'm sure by then loads of people will say we need a 3millionG superwifi toaster iPhone because nothing is EVER good enough.
 
eye.surgeon said:
Interesting article here showing that the new Nokia N95 moved from EDGE to 3G with minimal loss of battery life. Here's a quote:

The new version of the N95 was able to keep browsing over a 3G network for 6 hours 12 minutes. Under exactly the same conditions, the old N95 (using an EDGE connection) was able to keep on browsin' for 7 hours 15 minutes.

Is there anyone here that wouldn't give up one measly hour of battery life in order to be 5X more productive online?
Click to expand...

and the battery is probably bigger now. no thanks.
 
Well these are all good points. I'm just pointing out that the technology is evolving rapidly and we should see a workable 3G iphone in the not-too-distant future.
 
The NA N95 with 3G has a larger battery than the older edge model. So it is bigger and heavier and still has less battery life.
 
Noeld said:
The NA N95 with 3G has a larger battery than the older edge model. So it is bigger and heavier and still has less battery life.
Click to expand...
The article doesn't say the battery is bigger or heavier. It says it has more power and lasts longer. I'm not sure if the physical dimensions of the battery are different but it's the same phone so I suspect not.
 
The article also says:

The N95-3 has a 1200mAh battery, which is significantly bigger than the 950mAh battery in the older, non-3G N95. So the 3G battery is definitely affecting the battery life, but the bigger battery is doing a lot to compensate for that.
Click to expand...

So you get slightly less browsing time, but that's only because a beefier battery was included.

EDIT- I now get your last point- it doesn't necessarily say the battery is physically bigger, just more powerful.

But if Apple had the option to put in a more powerful battery, I am guessing they would have, even without the 3G. If so, Apple wouldn't be able to keep battery life up in the same way as the N95-3.
 
Well given the revelation of a bigger battery we can do a little bit of extrapolation assuming the mAh and browse time.

The non 3G phone went for 7 hours and 15 minutes on a 950 mAh battery or got 0.458 minutes of browsing /mAh.

With this information the phone could have seen close to 9 hours and 9 min of browsing time on the higher capacity battery.

or roughly a 50% increase in battery life for non-3G phones.

that is more than a minimal impact...
 
overcast said:
Now compare the 3G coverage to the EDGE coverage in the United States. If it's not available, you can't use it. Making you 0% productive.
Click to expand...

That's a common misconception. Of course you can use it.

If you're not in 3G coverage, it reverts to EDGE. (a situation for the US rural areas)

If you're not in EDGE, it (probably) reverts to GPRS. (a situation especially in the UK)
 
eye.surgeon said:
Interesting article here showing that the new Nokia N95 moved from EDGE to 3G with minimal loss of battery life. Here's a quote:

The new version of the N95 was able to keep browsing over a 3G network for 6 hours 12 minutes. Under exactly the same conditions, the old N95 (using an EDGE connection) was able to keep on browsin' for 7 hours 15 minutes.

Is there anyone here that wouldn't give up one measly hour of battery life in order to be 5X more productive online?
Click to expand...

But that's an N95, not an iPhone? They have completely different internals and software - hardly comparable. Just because that might be true of the N95 doesn't necessarily mean it would be the same on an iPhone.

-Leemo
 
Isnt it the old N95 already have 3G? while the new one comes with 8GB and larger screen.
 
Leemo said:
But that's an N95, not an iPhone? They have completely different internals and software - hardly comparable. Just because that might be true of the N95 doesn't necessarily mean it would be the same on an iPhone.

-Leemo
Click to expand...
I would hardly say the internals are completely different. There are only a few sources of these 3G radios and the other components vary from phone to phone but are all similar. It's a very fair comparison. As much as you would like to think that the iphone has magic fairies inside that are dramatically different from every other phone, the fact is all the phone manufacturers choose from a handful of suppliers for parts.
 
IT HAS A HIGHER CAPACITY BATTERY BY ALMOST 25% It still suffers from over 15% loss of airtime. It is safe to assume in an iPhone we would see over 33% reduction in batterylife.

This article proves the OPPOSITE of what you are trying to prove!

read. think. post.
 
Take it easy fanboys. I'm merely pointing out that the issue of 3G and battery life is being resolved due to improvements in battery performance. I'm not insulting your mother.
 
i'd rather have a kick in the face than an N95, even if it does have 3G.

several of my colleagues have them and can't wait until their contracts are over, and they can move on.. and they all want iphones :rolleyes:
 
eye.surgeon said:
Take it easy fanboys. I'm merely pointing out that the issue of 3G and battery life is being resolved due to improvements in battery performance. I'm not insulting your mother.
Click to expand...

Mistake number 1: you dared to point out the iPhone isn't perfect.

For shame...
 
My Treo 750 gets DOUBLE (yes, double) the battery life when in EDGE/GPRS-only mode. That's all the "proof" I need.

Keep in mind, COVERAGE is key, and AT&T's 3G coverage is spotty at best. And I live in NYC, one of the first areas to even get 3G coverage. The 750 was constantly switching between G and 3G...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back