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!st.. 3-G Looks snappy... but US coverage is spotty...

May 02, 08 - 09:46 am Comment from: PowerPhone

GH
That would make it "snotty"

There was a video like this ages ago that showed iPhone EDGE vs 3G on a Nokia N95 and the iPhone won considerably, so I think the iPhone must be able to process much more efficiently than most other 3G mobiles at the moment, meaning true 3G on the iPhone could be lightning quick compared to 'current' 3G speeds

May 02, 08 - 09:50 am Comment from: ElderNorm

Just my thought, but in the USA, you are going to have to sell both phones. Coverage is the thing. a phone is worthless if it does not have the coverage that I need.

If I live in a big city and get great 3gen coverage, great. If I fly around the country and need coverage everywhere, well, that is what I need.

Just the facts, lady.

May 02, 08 - 09:54 am Comment from: FatMac

2x faster! That's more than snappy, that's snoopy.

AT&T;is going to have to pump up their 3G coverage...plain and simple. The demand is already there...we look like dweebs to the rest of the planet. While we're slurping that last bit of money from the straw of our strawberry milkshake, the rest of the world has milked a hundred cows and made a hundred strawberry pies.

Subsidize $200 to boost the demand, and AT&T;will have enough reasons to boot up the 3G capital investment for good national coverage.

May 02, 08 - 10:00 am Comment from: Argelius

Cool video.

But LOVE the music -- anyone know what it is?

ATT has already started offering free WiFi so I expect them to use that as an alternative....

I'm looking forward to 3G

May 02, 08 - 10:20 am Comment from: Gregg Thurman

You guys should get out more. ATT has been expanding its 3G network for over a year, and it is now available in most of the US.

Add to that, the probability that someone needing 3G, then traveling to areas that don't have it (now or in the near future), AND doesn't have wireless availability (which is faster than 3G), is very slight.

ATT and 3G is a non-issue.

From one of Apple's iPhone pages, there's a link you can follow to see if AT&T;offers coverage (voice, data, etc.) in your area. You can also use this feature to get a "big picture" view of AT&T;'s coverage.

It's been a couple months since I used that tool, but I remember that 3G coverage wasn't very plentiful outside of major metro areas. So if you live in moderately large towns outside of metro area coverage, 3G may not really be a factor for you.

Argelius,

I think YOU need to get out more. While they are expanding, I think if you look at a map, you will see the VAST OVERWHELMING majority of the USA is NOT covered by AT&T;3G service. Not by a LONG shot.

http://www.xti9.com/att/att3gsupersmall.gif

Oops. That comment was meant for Gregg Thurman, not Argelius. Sorry.

First off, this is a great video with a fantastic sound track and everything; very professionally done. I get tired of seeing a lonely guy, at 2:00 a.m., giving a demonstration from his bedroom at his Mom's house.

However, web sites and network speeds are kind of relative. I've seen a demonstration of the iPhone on WiFi that was slower than Edge. It's all dependent on many factors; how strong the signal is, how many other people are using the same network, etc.

Not that I'm putting down 3G. I welcome faster, new, and improved connection capabilities with the newer iPhones.

@ Reikiwes

I think YOU!!! need to go out more, that picture is from three months ago. And at&t;began ramping their 3g coverage up... well 3 months ago.


http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/

@ Reikiwes

I think YOU!!! need to go out more, that picture is from three months ago. And at&t;heavily began ramping their 3g coverage up... well 3 months ago.


http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/

The iPhone with HSDPA would probably load it in 10 seconds.

And let's remember, guys, that mostly all 3G phones have EDGE as a backup for when you can't get a 3G signal.

The song behind the vid is a demo song that shipped with Apple's Jam Pack Remix Tools. Of course, using any of the Jam Pack content, including demo songs, is 100% license free, use for anything, even a feature film. Go Apple!

ps- when do I get a newer, more modern Remix Tools!??? While I'm surprised at how current the software instruments and even some of the loops sound, some of it is pretty ancient in dance culture history.. 2-Step!?

Sqe, following your link leads me to believe that vast areas, including entire states, are still not covered by 3G.

http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/popUp_3g.jsp

3G speeds are great, when you can get coverage. 3G coverage in my are is terrible. In fact, I can find more free wi-fi spots than 3G coverage.

May 02, 08 - 12:03 pm Comment from: theloniousMac

Too bad they didn't choose macdailynews.com for test.

This is nice and all but does this mean the battery will drain 2x faster?

May 02, 08 - 01:16 pm Comment from: Mac-nugget

Just like anything you connect to any network, you are dependent on traffic. EDGE on my iPhone can be tolerably slow to painfully useless. It depends where I am, and the time of day.

>Mac-nugget wrote: EDGE on my iPhone can be tolerably slow to painfully useless. It depends where I am, and the time of day.

Agreed.

I'd add that speed decreases while in a moving vehicle. Maybe the movement between towers has something to do with it, I don't know. Being indoors dramatically reduces speed as well.

Sqe, here's the trick.

Go to the coverage viewer. Click on data. Zoom in one level from the nation. Look for the dark blue areas.

Get outside any major metropolitan area and it's non-existant. And you don't have to get that far outside one, either.

That said, I'm one of those waiting for 3G because I have coverage in my area.

May 02, 08 - 03:09 pm Comment from: freefromdesign

No 3g coverage. Half of my state doesn't even have cell coverage, let alone 3g, from my viewpoint ATT has other things to work on than 3g

no offence gringos, but releasing a 3G iPhone has a lot more to do with Apple expanding into Europe, Asia and Australia - where 3G is now the norm - than it does with the US market.

"AT&T;is going to have to pump up their 3G coverage...plain and simple."

You're right. Today it only covers all major cities and half the US population. They had better get working on all the minor cities and the other half of the population quickly.

"mostly all 3G phones have EDGE as a backup for when you can't get a 3G signal."

All GSM 3G phones have Edge backup when you can't get a 3G signal. For Apple Fanboys, 3G has problems because they cannot use it with an iPhone so have to pretend it sucks. For the rest of us, it works well and is much much faster. Only 2xSpeed up on HSPDA? I wonder what that guy was doing to slow it down? Running it through an Mac or something?

You have to try Iphoneiquity (http://www.thesmespace.com/smeutils/iphoneiquity) - it compresses any website, formats it for the Iphone and gives a unique URL to save. you can also strip out images if you want. It is very fast and I have and Edge bookmark folder for sites I want to access that are"heavy" under Edge.

no offense but the majority of people are not walking around with 3G equipped phones in australia.
85% of people would not even have heard of it.

England and indeed Continental Europe is no doubt better, but because the devices people use 3G on are so craptacular (particularly in web page rendering) in performance, it really is a bit of a myth that America is so far behind in real world speed (if you use an iPhone).

The iPhone will move to a basically untenable lead when the 3G version is released.

No other device will have its combination of UI/speed/exchange support/coolness factor/music/video capabilities.