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Original Entry

3G on the New iPhone

On a recent road trip to New York state this past weekend, Karrie and I got to experience 3G speeds on our iPhones while traveling through Massachussetts.

While our new phones are capable of third-generation (3G) cellular data speeds, Maine does not yet have this technology up and running (although AT&T plans to have 3G service for the Greater Portland area by Thanksgiving).  Having now traveled through a 3G-enable area, I can tell you what it is like.

Bear in mind that I was only able to experience 3G for a limited time; nonetheless, I can say with confidence that it is MUCH faster.  Two examples in particular stick out in my mind: using Maps and using VNC.

I had Google Maps tracking our progress on the way down.  As you travel along, the map moves under your current location and new areas of the map appear at the edge of the screen.  The iPhone downloads map tiles from Google’s server to fill in these new areas.  There is an icon at the top of the screen that rotates around to indicate when the iPhone is downloading data.  On Edge (AT&T’s current cellular technology in Maine), this icon indicates data download nearly constantly while traveling down the highway; on 3G, I only saw this icon in brief glimpses as each tile was pulled down.  This increased speed was also evident when pulling up the Maps application for the first time; Edge takes several seconds to deliver enough tiles to fill the initial screen, but 3G did so in about a second and a half.

On the way home, Karrie drove the bulk of the distance and I took this opportunity to work on some of my final assignments for my college class that was ending that day.  I did this by logging into my computer at home through virtual network computing (VNC), which allows me to see and manipulate my desktop from my phone.  Over Edge, it usually takes several seconds to see the Start menu pull up after I click the Start button; over 3G this time was reduced to under two seconds (much like Maps).  Usability is usually a bit hindered over Edge, but over 3G it was nearly as fluid as using VNC over Wi-Fi (such as from my living room).

I didn’t pull up any web pages during the trip, so I can’t make any solid claims about that.  Needless to say, I’m sure it would be fast and I’m quite anxious for 3G to arrive here in the next month.

Posted by: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) in Reviews and Products on October 21, 2008 at 10:13 AM