iPhone Download Benchmark, and Browser Updated

[sanford]

Cool! But I want to see what its like on the AT&T Network.

The AT&T EDGE network gets consistent downstream transfer rates of about 48kbps -- a little slower than a good dial-up connection. For Wi-Fi on a mobile device, those transfer rates are about par, if perhaps a little above. But Web access over the EDGE network is bringing back the World Wide Wait. Even browsing will be an egregious pain unless you target sites specifically designed for devices with low-speed wireless connections.

This is why it looks like the iPhone itself is a great device, but the service integration is going to be awful. Even e-mail with attachments will be a pain. This would be okay if you weren't talking two-year contracts of voice with an all-you-can-eat data plan -- you certainly don't won't to be paying a metered rate checking your e-mail or looking up something on the Web.

You'll pay $500 for the device with the storage capacity of an iPod nano. At least $80 a month for your carrier service. A great Web browser that's only useful in range of Wi-Fi access point.

The thing has a great interface and does something interesting things with non-linear voice mail access, etc. But if you're expecting a total mobile communications device at anywhere near the convenience you have with your desktop, you'll be out of luck. Of course all this very attractive interface technology can later surface in a new iPod, but all it's going to do is change the iPod interface, not add functionality to the iPod. I'm not even sure it's a viable iPod interface. We're used to smudged up mobile phone screens but we hate them with our iPods and similar devices. Unfortunately, adding Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth to the iPods is going to smack battery life.

I still think Apple will certainly at first sell a ton of these, but I'm going to be at a loss as to exactly why. Beyond fashion. T-Mobiles Sidekick product sells very well and is very popular to own, but it's a *cell* phone with *keyboard*. Wooh. Again, I repeat this AT&T's glory, as they'll entrap a bunch of Mac and iPod customers with the iPhone into their over-priced, lackluster voice and data service. For Apple, the benefit will all be in PR for another successful gadget.

 

[sanford]

Can I ask a perhaps dumb question? This Edge vs. 3g business.... Is this something that is hardwired into the phone or is it something that is upgradeable without buying a new phone? (sorry for the newbieish question but I'm incredible 'cell phone stupid'.)

That's not a dumb question. Some phones can operate on multiple networks, both voice and data. So for some phones it would just be a matter of selecting a carrier supporting 3G instead of the standard that AT&T calls EDGE. Unfortunately, the iPhone is an EDGE device. It cannot use a 3G network. It could probably use the the same network technology that is EDGE -- that's just AT&T's marketing name -- on a different carrier, but it's like connecting to an 802.11g-only Wi-Fi network with 802.11b-only device. It just won't work. The hardware doesn't support 3G. You'd have to buy a 3G iPhone in the future.

 

[iPoodOverZune]

Yeah, I've noticed that. I was actually in a Cingular store trying to do some speed tests. I basically loaded up www.cnn.com on my Treo 650 (with EDGE) and a Treo 750w (with Windows Mobile, and 3G). I was expecting/assuming that the 750 would blow the Treo 650 away (because of EDGE vs. HSPDA), but frankly it seemed to take a long time to load it too..... still beat my Treo 650, but not by as much as I expected. I experienced similar results with a 3G Cingular 8525...

... But yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing how it works on the iPhone. I really wouldn't be surprised if it is smoother and doesn't get bottlenecked like my current Treo does.

Well, nothing fanboyish here, but little that I know of apple and SJ is that the latter would "scrap" a project even at the final stages than put a "crap" on the market. If they are selling "internet" feature so much, then at least they must have made sure that the speed is adequate to the average user. Otherwise why raise the expectations first and then degrade one's product (esp when its their first phone product on market which can make or break future reputation of product). If it is to be believed, then SJ has said that we like to build stuff that we ourselves want to use. If SJ could not get website downloaded using ATT network when on the road, why the hell even promote that feature. Not that they can cheat and get away with it for long! I am sure he would have either scrapped it or put a 3G instead to make it usable. My belief is that (as this user points out problems with treo/bb) they must have optimized the software to remove any glitches/bottlenecks either downloading from network, or rendering the pages, etc. so EDGE may just work okay for most purposes.

 

[hayesk]

That's not too bad of a speed. We aren't at the technology level of transferring at T1 yet. Give a year or two

A T1 transfers at approximately 1500kbps. So, actually it is probably at that technology level.

 

[iMichael72]

OK, you got me on that one! I just have (blind) faith that Apple wouldn't talk up it's full browser capabilities, if it were going to be painfully slow.

Have you tried downloading full versions of webpages over EDGE? I used to have a Cingular 8125, and EDGE would work okay with pages optimized for mobiles, but on regular pages it would take forever.

 

[Modrak]

969	0.608s (1024k)		myvzw.com	Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Kevin) Version/3.0 Mobile/1A543a Safari/419.3

That's what the site has shown now...MYVZW - My Verizon Wireless ?
Pardon, LOL ?





(bookmarks blurred out, sorry

 

[sanford]

OK, you got me on that one! I just have (blind) faith that Apple wouldn't talk up it's full browser capabilities, if it were going to be painfully slow.

You know it's funny but I just did some research on the Web about people's early opinions of the iPhone. Anecdotally, it's very popular. People love the interface and design. It gets a lot of "wow" response. But, hilariously, about 7 of 10 people don't want the phone part. They don't want to switch carriers. Some can't: they're already in a contract. They don't want the mediocre EDGE data transfer speeds for the cost of a full data plan. They don't want a two-year contract. They don't want an AT&T phone. What they want is an iPhone without the phone network support, with the storage capacity of a 30GB video iPod.

You know this makes a lot of sense, too. For a long time, Steve Jobs has been famous for saying that Apple wants to make and control "the whole widget". This is the first product for which they've given upa huge chunk of the widget. It goes against their whole business model, forcing one of their products and its customers to rely entirely on a third party company and their policies. I'm fairly convinced they'd sell ten times the iPods with iPhone features than they will sell iPhones.

 

[Zadillo]

You know it's funny but I just did some research on the Web about people's early opinions of the iPhone. Anecdotally, it's very popular. People love the interface and design. It gets a lot of "wow" response. But, hilariously, about 7 of 10 people don't want the phone part. They don't want to switch carriers. Some can't: they're already in a contract. They don't want the mediocre EDGE data transfer speeds for the cost of a full data plan. They don't want a two-year contract. They don't want an AT&T phone. What they want is an iPhone without the phone network support, with the storage capacity of a 30GB video iPod.

You know this makes a lot of sense, too. For a long time, Steve Jobs has been famous for saying that Apple wants to make and control "the whole widget". This is the first product for which they've given upa huge chunk of the widget. It goes against their whole business model, forcing one of their products and its customers to rely entirely on a third party company and their policies. I'm fairly convinced they'd sell ten times the iPods with iPhone features than they will sell iPhones.

I am almost positive that Apple will inevitably release the next generation iPod as essentially what you described; something with the iPhone form factor and features, but without the phone part (but perhaps still with bluetooth and wifi to use the same internet functionality).

 

[fairnymph]

Um, yes.

BT Wireless Mouse
1GB SD Memory Card
Firewire 800 Port
Dashboard w/ Gas Prices Widget
MSOFFICE20044OSX

I love your sig.

 

[stockscalper]

AT&T has been spending a lot of dollars beefing up its EDGE network lately. Hopefully that means transfer rates will improve over what they have been. Even if the iphone had 3G capabilities so much of the country doesn't yet have 3G so you would still be using EDGE most of the time whenever you accessed the web or email outside of wi fi range.

I disagree about the utility of the iphone's capabilities without the phone. It's exactly what I'm looking for. With it I'll replace three boxes, a Blackberry, a Palm and my cell phone. I'll not even need to bring my laptop with me on most business trips because I'll be able to connect to the web with the iphone through Wi Fi spots (offices I visit, hotels, coffee shops, etc). Plus I'll be able to get my email, keep my contacts and calendar all on one device that also allows me to not miss any calls. Plus it's also an ipod and can show movies and play games - all in one device! I can't wait to get my hands on one!

 

[path2k7]

T-Mobiles Sidekick product sells very well and is very popular to own, but it's a *cell* phone with *keyboard*. Wooh.

You're really showing your ignorance in how the Sidekick works. Try a Sidekick 3 for more than 2 minutes at a T-Mobile kiosk and you'll understand how wrong you are. The sidekick has an amazing UI and is easy to use, it has the 3 major instant messaging applications (AIM, MSN, Yahoo - each with great clients), an okay web browser, a great email client, and really niche add-on applications such as a Terminal client that are for total geeks.

Do your research before calling something like that a "cell phone with a keyboard", give me a break.

 

[path2k7]

That's not too bad of a speed. We aren't at the technology level of transferring at T1 yet. Give a year or two

Yes we are, it's called EVDO, and it's on Verizon and Sprint.

 

[Verita]

Hello From The Future, Humans. The iPhone 12 Has Been Benchmarked Faster than a 17 Inch iPad Pro. You Heard it Here First.