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No 3G iPhone was “pretty good doggone decision” FACT or FICTION?

Posted July 18, 2007 5:00 AM by Gregory Ng
Categories: News 


In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Steve Jobs, although conceding AT&T Network isn’t “fast”, he defended Apple’s decision to not make the iphone compatible with AT&T’s 3G network. Jobs cited the power consumption and thin form factor as the deal breakers for a 3G iPhone.

When we looked at 3G, the chipsets are not quite mature, in the sense that they’re not low-enough power for what we were looking for. They were not integrated enough, so they took up too much physical space. We cared a lot about battery life and we cared a lot about physical size. Down the road, I’m sure some of those tradeoffs will become more favorable towards 3G but as of now we think we made a pretty good doggone decision.

So that’s Steve Jobs and Apple’s point of view. But does this argument hold water? To this I say, Thank You Anand Lal Shimpi. Anand Lal Shimpi is the author of a great post on AnandTech called, “No 3G on the iPhone, but why? A Battery Life Analysis”.

This article analyzes both the power consumption of the iPhone versus the 3G Blackjack and the differences in motherboard size of the two. You will see that Jobs argument on the size increase is True. But what will the power consumption as it pertains to battery life come up as?  Read the full report here.

[Via AnandTech]

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Comments

  1. That was a really well written review they did.  They were extremely detailed and did a great job showing the results and explaining them.  Sure EDGE is a little slower, but with the addition of WiFi, it seems Apple made the correct choice.  I would rather have a slower connection and the extra hours of talk time and web browsing.  I also agree that it will be at least a year before a 3G iPhone exists because the technology is still too new.  In the coming months and years 3G will expand and the chips needed for it will become smaller and that is when iPhone will be 3G.

    Posted by Chris on July 18, 2007 5:49 PM

  2. As a retired and avid RV’er, EDGE was the way to go.  I’m often around wifi hotspots and get fast web, in RV parks, and truck stops.  But for instance, at “Old Faithful” in Yellowstone, there is EDGE coverage, but no 3G.  3G tends to be only available in 100+ large metropolitian areas and along some interstate routes.  My interest tends toward National and State parks, state highways, small towns, and remote and underpopulated scenic areas. 

    So EDGE is preferable and much superior for me.  The ability to actually “use” the web is more important than speed when wireless wifi or EDGE are not available.  Of course, for intensive web browsing, I can always use my laptop.

    Posted by hardman on July 20, 2007 11:16 PM

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