Apple's iPhone: The Future is Here
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 2, 2007 6:13 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
Wireless Networks: Edge, WiFi and Bluetooth
The initial previews and reviews made the iPhone's lack of 3G support out to be its Achilles' heel, but honestly after using the phone for a while, it is a problem but not the only thing worth mentioning. Fixing things like the performance issues while rendering a web page would be nice, but I've been using phones on Edge for a very long time now so I'm not as bothered by it.
I can understand the battery life concerns about going to something 3G; the iPhone is already not great on battery when you're surfing the net or handling emails, lasting around 6 hours in my tests. Moving to 3G would cut that down to even lower levels, but I see the desire for an option at least.
WiFi is an interesting alternative to Edge on the iPhone, and it's great if you're using your phone at home or work (or if you live in a place where there's municipal WiFi). Performance on WiFi isn't great however, I got around 1.5Mbps in my tests on WiFi. While that's a huge improvement over the 100Kbps I averaged on Edge, neither is what I'd consider "fast".
The issue is that the iPhone interface is just as responsive as a computer, so you inherently expect the sort of performance you'd see on a notebook and it's just impossible on a device like the iPhone. It's so fast in all other aspects that the network is truly the weakest link in the user experience, but I'm not sure if 3G alone would fix that given that performance on WiFi isn't up to par with what's necessary in my opinion.
Switching between WiFi and Edge is truly seamless as long as you've got the WiFi network pre-configured with the iPhone. Apple also makes it really easy to get rid of WiFi networks you're no longer using, just forget it:
I think overall we need a handful of upgrades to the iPhone alongside 3G; we need a faster processor, possibly more system memory, maybe even faster flash. The MLC flash in the iPhone has absolutely horrendous write speeds compared to SLC, which could be holding the iPhone back a bit. I can see Apple introducing a 3G version in about 12 months, addressing many of these issues at the same time.
Bluetooth support on the iPhone is limited to headsets alone, you can't transfer files to the device over Bluetooth and you can't browse it either; using it as a modem for your notebook is also impossible.
Of course you can't sync over WiFi or Edge, you can only copy music to/from the device over USB to avoid hurting record sales.
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rcc - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
If there is no GPS hardware built into a device, 3rd party software won't help. You have to have the hardware receiver built in.
Locutus465 - Wednesday, July 4, 2007 - link
Fortunetly by law every new phone activated as of 2005 must have built in GPS for E-911.. Just one small baby step from there repurposes that GPS for coolness... My i720 allows this.strikeback03 - Thursday, July 5, 2007 - link
Doesn't the law simply require the carrier to be able to determine the location of the phone, but not specify how? Allowing the carriers to determine by distance to cell towers instead of GPS?Locutus465 - Thursday, July 5, 2007 - link
I beleive GPS is required... At least this is what I was told by a Verizon rep that refused to activate an older phone I had.Cygni - Thursday, July 5, 2007 - link
GPS is not required by law, yet. Location support IS required, but is already present on nearly every phone made in the last 3 years.plinden - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Leo Laporte in one of his podcasts this weekend mentioned that he heard there is an SDK for the iPhone that's ready for OS X but not Windows, but Apple (ie Jobs) wants to release both versions at the same time, hence the delay.
That's just a rumor, but it's almost certain there'll be an SDK at some point, although it's extremely likely, if not certain, that developers will have to go through Apple to get their apps published to the iPhone (ie via iTunes).
Give it six months, like I'm doing. I'll likely get the 16GB version with 3G when it's available.
Locutus465 - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
There will need to be good 3rd party support for me to even consider it. There'll also need to be a good (and inexpensive) all in one chat client. And Mahjoong, that's totally a requirement.sviola - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
You should check the Nokia N95, it has the built-in GPS, altough it runs Symbian OS.Locutus465 - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Well yes, my phone has built in GPS hardware as well (as do all phone inc. iPhone). It's just missing the app + maps (unless you're sayind the nokia comes with software + maps which would be the bomb). So I would just need that part of the equation. As a matter of fact the Samsung i720 also allows you to use the phone as a plain old GPS device, so really if I wanted to I could potentially blue tooth it to a laptop for instance and go that route.Locutus465 - Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - link
Oh yeah, on the i720 to set an MP3 as your ring tone you just need to browse to it in flie explorer, tap and hold ("right click" in Windows Mobile) and select "Set as ringtone" :)Automatically copies to \Windows\Rings and sets the song as your ringtone :D