What is a 3G phone?

[lamina]

I hear about the iPhone not being a 3G phone, what is 3G and what is the iPhone missing out on by not being one?

 

[jsw]

I hear about the iPhone not being a 3G phone, what is 3G and what is the iPhone missing out on by not being one?

In essence, it's a phone that can use "third generation" networks - high speed ones. It's a vague term, but essentially means "phones and networks that have very high bandwidth when used together". There aren't any true 3G networks in the US, but that will change. Some are very fast already.

 

[dllavaneras]

I thought it had something to do with the functions and features of the phone. So if the next version of the iPhone can handle high speed networks, will it be 3G? of course, it'd have to be unlocked and in a country with 3G networks, but that's topic for another thread

 

[Compile 'em all]

Courtesy of Wikipedia

3G (or 3-G) is short for third-generation technology. It is used in the context of mobile phone standards. The services associated with 3G provide the ability to transfer simultaneously both voice data (a telephone call) and non-voice data (such as downloading information, exchanging email, and instant messaging).

Technically, 3G networks are not IEEE 802.11 networks. IEEE 802.11 networks are short range, primarily internet access networks, while 3G networks are wide area cellular telephone networks which evolved to incorporate high-speed internet access and video telephony to these networks.

On the other hand, A 3G phone is a phone that can use the 3G network to transfer both voice and data.

 

[iMeowbot]

It should be noted that in the post-keynote interviews, it has come out that Apple will likely be doing different versions of the phone for different markets. EDGE probably made for sense for Cingular, because they only offer 3G service in very limited areas right now. Applecritters even mentioned the possibility of doing a CDMA version for some markets, so a version of the phone that supports 3G for carriers that can seriously support it isn't necessarily out of the question.

 

[Chundles]

Our fastest 3G network here (Telstra's 850MHz "nextG" network) is based around HSDPA or UMTS or whatever the acronym is and you get between 550kbps and 1.1mbps download speeds depending on quality of signal etc. This year should see improvements to that speed to 3.6mbps and then to 14mbps.

Their main attraction is live TV on your phone, dual-downloads (PC only ) where you download a song and it pulls a low bit rate version to your phone and a better quality one to your computer at the same time and of course the usual video calls etc. Because it's 850MHz it gets much better coverage and is being used by Telstra to finally phase out the last of it's CDMA network in the distant parts of the country.