Video speed test: 2.5G EDGE iPhone vs. mock 3G HSDPA iPhone - Page 2

It's unlikely that you'd get much above 200 kbps real-world with EDGE. And ATT doesn't even claim speeds that fast for EDGE on its site.

I don't know about ATT's 3G, but with Sprint's and Verizon's 3G, common speeds are 600 kbps to 1.4 Mbps real-world, last I checked.

If EDGE is outpacing 3G for you, something's not as it should be.


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I have measured the speed of AT&T EDGE in one area to be faster than AT&T HSDPA offered in another area. That is based on map coverage of AT&T's 3G coverage. There could have been technical issues preventing it from being faster.

Right now, when I plug in the AT&T Sierra Wireless 3G USB card I get a rough average of about 1500Kb/s and saw it as high as 1900Mb/s after doing several tests from several sources. I hope this coverage is the norm, not the exception.

On my iPhone I got SPEED: 112kbps

All time: average 130 kbit
24 hr: average 112

Nokia has had years to build market momentum and a worldwide sales channel, while Apple has had about 10 months. But I'm certain Apple will indeed dominate the segment within a few years; it has too many weapons that Nokia nor RIM can effectively counter--ie, a world-class software development culture, a world-class media store (how easy is it to rent a movie and watch it on your Nokia or Blackberry??), the potential for deep integration with desktop computers and home networks. etc.

The iPhone has indeed paved the way to world domination, and it sure didn't need 3G to get the ball rolling.

I think so too. The iPhone has pulled a good deal of its customers from the cheap to free, low function phone to the high-end smartphone sector. That is pretty impressive and I think that will be the achilles heal of Nokia's dominance in smartphone sales; pulling replacing a basic cellphone and iPod for an iPhone.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......

Please wake me when something interesting is said. Do you really, really think that Nokia is incapable of duplicating what Apple has done?

Let's recap:

1. The iPhone is a 3 year old phone (technologically), with a very nice UI. Drop the UI, you have a Motorola, i.e. POS.
2. The iPhone is more iPod than phone. Try making a VoIP call or exchange vCards, or any biz function.
3. iTunes is what is the driver here. A comparable store offered and supported by Nokia would be hard to dismiss and Nokia already has about a gazillion more customers and deeper pockets than Apple, and well, Nokia is a company of mobile telephony experts. There is nothing from a technological standpoint that Apple can do that Nokia can't.
4. Nokia is pretty good at adapting and selling products that people want, hence their market domination.

These are just a few points. I have been traveling all day and could not be bothered to list more. I am quite sure you get meaning.

This is where you and the other gentleman are mistaken (my opinion). It is my assumption that you and he have never used or even held a high end Nokia phone. Right now, the N82 simply blows the iPhone away in terms of technology. This is why the iPhone sales in Europe are flat. Europeans think the iPhone is nice but for the money, they get more bang for the buck (or Euro). Many see the iPhone as a nice iPod that has some basic telephony functions.

Tried to edit my prior post but for some reason it would not let me so sorry for creating an additional post.

Go to: http://europe.nokia.com/products and have a quick look at any E or N series phone and compare them to the iPhone in terms of specifications and functionality.

While in Germany for the past week, I was using my iPhone and my N82. Many to most thought the iPhone was nice but most felt the N82 offered more value for the money. The ability to add software at will, or to swap a battery, 3G (oh no, not that), a real GPS, expandable memory, etc... While they all loved the TS UI of the iPhone, they were content with the navigation of the N82.

There are capacitance multi-touch phones on the market with more on the horizon, but Apple is in a unique position of having a UI and underlying OS that dominates the mobile market. While the iPhone is oddly missing some basic functionality in the HW and SW, the OS is such a powerful factor that no one has come close to duplicating, only mimicking the UI on a few screens.

Don't get me wrong here. I like my iPhone and chances are I will get a 3G version as well. As you pointed out the underlying OS is the real deal maker here. It is fast, stable, and if Apple really wants to be open as they say, provides a great platform to build upon. After being in the telecom game on both sides, software development sector and operator side, I have seen all the hottest, latest and greatest. The so-called "Brand-X" killers come and go, and they never pan out or deliver the knock out blow. Nokia will lose some market share initially to Apple but Nokia is smart and innovative. I have seen their new phone (NDA so no details) but it will be nice and compete with the iPhone. Many of the same iPhone users in Europe carry two phones. This alone should speak volumes that the iPhone is lacking. Apple had better bring its A game.

I think the iPhone is pulling in mainly new blood into the smartphone market, so I suspect that Nokia's year-over-year unit sale percentage will grow at about the same rate, if not more, than it is now.

It's the by percentage comparison of smartphone unit sales among the industry that Nokia will lose share that will not be recovered. But that is to be expected. It's like Apple's increasing Mac marketshare, though PC unit sales are still gaining momentum yer-over-year.



I think I'm coming down with something as I don't feel I am communicating well today. Can you get SARS from Americanized Chinese food?

Not sure but I know I need to get my butt in bed. The sun is coming up here in Helsinki and it is only 0437. Shit.

Get well, till laters.

I dunno... both sides have their advantages. Apple's software is great, but Nokia has 40 percent of the worldwide cellphone market, which is close to half a BILLION cellphones sold every year.

I think at some point Nokia and Apple will be like Coke and Pepsi in the cellphone market, but I'd never predict that one will 'dominate' the other. And I'm a pretty huge Apple fan.



No, but it'll need 3G to roll the ball over the next major hills, which would be the Asian launch, and finally doing well in Europe.


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sapporobaby, you're judging the iPhone on version 1, a product that has been out a whole ten months. Nokia has been in the mobile phone business for how long?

No offense, but you really come off like a very clever Nokia troll. I'm thinking you work for Nokia but still talk about an iPhone in your posts so you don't seem biased. But you still come off that way.

Of course, this debate will be rendered moot very soon. When iPhone version 2 is released it is going to dominate everyone, including Nokia. Maybe Nokia can make a half-way decent iPhone knock-off so they don't lose TOO much business. You know, so you still have a job and all.

I don't agree with his conservative assessment of the worldwide adoption of a 3G iPhone with v2.0 firmware, but there is nothing trollish about his posts. He is clearly not trying to incite an aggravated response in anyone.

I don't doubt that the iPhone will have a much, much faster year-over-year growth than either RiM, Nokia or WinMobile devices, but that isn't saying much considering what we know will be coming to the iPhone with 3G, 3rd-party apps and Exchange support. Apple will break records in growth in this area, but Nokia's smartphones will still outsell the iPhone in unit sales for some time.

I'm not even convinced that Apple will outsell RiM's smartphones for at first two quarters. One thing that is certain is that even if Apple becomes the number one selling smartphone Nokia will still be there making money hand-over-fist.

I am here to educate you.

Class in session. As I have stated several times throughout this thread and forum, I work for the US State Department but am currently living in Europe on assignment. Get a passport and travel before making a blanket assessment about someone. Anyway, I have had the advantage of working in the telecoms industry on the operator and software developer side (this was mentioned in this very thread). I will include pictures next time. I have also had the pleasure of using almost every smartphone/mobile phone device type since the middle 90's when Nokia came out with the original Communicator, Ericsson with the R380, various Psion devices, and so on. I would say this makes me more than "clever" but knowledgeable and able to speak with some confidence about a subject I am quite familiar with. What's your excuse?

It seems that anytime, anyone does not tow the "Apple, Apple uber alles", party line this person is either biased, Apple haters, stupid in some cases, etc.....


@solipsism,

You are correct. Hope you are feeling better.

That's a US map, not the UK

The internet is almost always shared bandwidth. It's shared with DSL at the CO & its uplink, it's shared on cable because of the cable, it's shared on cellular because you're sharing the antenna as well as its upstream link. You don't get dedicated bandwidth unless you really pay dearly for it.

I don't know what bandwidth Starbuck's would use, but I don't think it's a whole lot.

You forgot "troll". That one often gets tossed in one's face by someone if you don't automatically agree that Apple is always right and is on the glide path to total, undisputed rule over whatever product segment they're currently entering. It's the AI forums way.

I'm a pretty huge Apple fan, having owned Macs all the way back to the SE/30, I'm currently typing this message on my gfriend's MacBook (my ancient iBook is a bit slow, but I still use it) while waiting to go the gym where I'll be using my iPod during my workout. But, if I disagree with Apple on anything, somehow I'm suspect, at least in certain ppl's minds.

It's kinda funny, when you think about it:




NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!


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Pretty much spot on. Mobile data uses timeslots and such but for the most part it is all shared. I get a dedicated speed based on the amount that I am willing to pay, but this is solely based on the network coverage. Even with HSDPA, wifi smokes most mobile data connections. Even in downtown Helsinki with is blanketed it with wifi, and connected users, wifi is still faster in most cases.

Yes, I did forget troll. Thanks for the update TBaggins. I will add this to the list.

Funny thing, as I head into my livingroom to watch some shows on my ATV, that I downloaded from iTunes, that reside on my MBP 17 inch, which happen to be on my iPod Touch and iPhone, which have access to songs on my other Macbook G4, I wonder if I am doing the right thing by trying to think different. Maybe I should become one of the "sheeple" and let "He who must not be named" do all of my thinking for me. It seems that more than most here are happy to not have a single isolated thought outside of the Third Apple Reich.

Oh well, back to the AI super hug-fest.

Excuse me, that is the AI super fanboy hugfest.

You're either a troll or a fanboy, there is no in between. I suppose it follows the "you're either with us or you're against us" mantra of the short-sided.

ROFLMA. You feeling better?

Yep, and it's irritating.

I mean, back in the '90s, when Apple was undergoing it's near-death phase, it made sense to think that way. LEGIONS of PC trolls would descend on Apple forums, spreading FUD and in general being a-holes. If you were a Mac fan, it was like being in a castle under siege... not that it wasn't fun pouring flaming oil on the PC barbarians at the gate, as I did many times.

But that was then, this is now. FUD means little, it's mostly good for a laugh. Any idiot can see that Apple is doing well and is a major contender again. So why are some still so scared? Why are the wagons still circled? Or maybe the zealots are largely new people? Who knows.

All I can say is, the Apple Purity Police can suck it. I think for myself, and I have no wish to join their clique. There's a third group beyond fanbois or trolls, its Apple fans who are behind Apple but try to view their products and strategies reasonably objectively, and buy in up to the point where it makes sense, but aren't slavish followers of the party line.

If thats upsetting to some, oh well.


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Yes. Thank you for asking.


It was like that here around the last MacWorld event. So many new posters just trolling away. I suspect it will continue to get worse as Apple increases it marketshare in the PC and cell phone arenas, but I hope the WWDC is spared. A once a year spike is more than enough.


Which is why I prefer AI to any other Apple related site and over most tech sites.

Yeah, but it'll never be as bad as the '90s were. Because the '90s forum wars were done against the backdrop of Apple possibly dying.



I dunno... the level of zealotry here is pretty durn high. But I agree that AI is not alone in that respect.


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Uhhhhh, sapporobaby, as far as I know you're a janitor, but your posts make you sound like you work for Nokia. Or you're a Nokia shareholder. Or a Nokia fanboy if there is such a thing.

Or am I misinterpreting these?

"There is nothing from a technological standpoint that Apple can do that Nokia can't"

"Do you really, really think that Nokia is incapable of duplicating what Apple has done?"

"A comparable store offered and supported by Nokia would be hard to dismiss and Nokia already has about a gazillion more customers and deeper pockets than Apple"

I could go into a long post telling you why these statements are inaccurate, but why bother?. You'll be seeing for yourself soon enough.

And I'm hardly an Apple fanboy, TBaggins. I've never had an iPhone or an iPod, and I'm typing this on my Dell. But the writing is on the wall for the iPhone. It couldn't be more obvious how things are going to play out. Get some AAPL

LOL. It's the old "the iPhone offers nothing new but a UI" defense! I thought that was retired long ago....

Really, Sapporobaby, if you want to be taken seriously, you can't peddle this sort of drivel. There are tons of technological innovations in the iPhone. I don't recall seeing many Motorola phones with 3.5" screens, WiFI, directional and light sensors, precise touch-screens, and gigs of RAM all in a tiny form factor with pretty damn good battery life. But still, who cares how the iPhone delivers a superior smartphone experience--ie, whether it's hardware or software? The fact is, it DOES deliver a superior experience.

By the way, it's laughable that you think Nokia could build a Media Store eco-system that's anything close to iTunes. Nokia is in no better position to offer a "comparable" alternative to the iTunes Store than Microsoft, or any number of other competitors that have tried over the years, and failed. Even if Nokia could catch up with all of the store technology that Apple has developed (which is a BIG 'if'...you clearly underestimate what it takes), they'd still have to convince millions of customers to switch from what they already know. How will Nokia do that? By asking nicely? Good luck to them, it's not going to happen!

Also, I highly doubt the mainstream smartphone market (ie, consumers) cares about VoIP calls or exchanging vCards very much. And in less than 2 months, business users will have a lot less to complain about...

You're way to enamored of Nokia. For starters, Apple is a bigger and richer company. It has a significantly bigger market valuation (look it up!) and almost twice as much cash in the bank! And if Nokia can do anything Apple can do, why did it take Apple to effectively re-invent the smartphone category, and suddenly aim smartphones at everybody, and not just a small business niche? Why is Nokia now playing catch-up, trying to copy the iPhone's magic? (see: http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/30/t...ne-commercial/)

Nokia's market domination is owed to much cheaper phones, not smartphones. There's not much future in making cheap, primitive phones, but there's a HUGE future in making phones like the iPhone (and integrating them with other digital devices like your computer and TV). We'll see how dominating Nokia looks in a few years....

Meh. I think what Sapporo is saying is that no matter what Apple does in cellphones, Nokia can always play Microsoft to Apple's, well, Apple... i.e. imitate whatever Apple does a couple of year later with a 'good enough' copy, and use their sheer size and market position to ram it on through. Nokia will be a $100 billion/year revenue company soon, after all, and phones are their core business, while they're just one of Apple's three core businesses.

It's hard to predict with any certainty how successful that strategy will be, but it's fair to say that Nokia is going to be a major challenge for Apple. They are an extremely large and well-entrenched company with a lot of resources. Just because they're behind on software right now doesn't mean they're roadkill, as much as I, an Apple fan, would love to believe it.




I'm not saying you're an Apple fanboi... heck, I'm actually the Apple fanboi, but I'm one who tries to see things in a balanced way, which gets me in trouble from time to time.



Way ahead of you, ace. I've owned APPL for years now.


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Crap, so much stuff to do. This forum is such a time sink.

Okay ppl, argue, but play nice. I'll try to get back here sometime next week.



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It's interesting that you draw a parallel between Microsoft and Nokia. Nokia may indeed follow Microsoft's playbook (ie, be the imitator and rely on sheer size to create a market) but Microsoft's strategy isn't looking so foolproof these days. I shudder to think how much $$$ Microsoft has thrown away trying to make the Zune and its media store into an iPod competitor, and it hasn't even made a dent. Also, the iPhone is easily outselling Windows Mobile phones, despite the fact that Windows Mobile has been in the market for years. And clearly, more and more people are switching away from Windows to Macs because of the Mac's innovative features and design.

The point is: the Microsoft strategy is by no means effective in all cases, and if that's Nokia's path, then the company is taking a terrible risk.

P.S. Microsoft *has* found success when it does innovate, and not simply follow someone else's lead. Case in point: the Xbox 360. By being early to market with a genre-defining product (the first next-gen console from the big 3), and by developing a kick-ass online service that's years ahead of the competition.

In other words, being an early innovator is a great thing, and I'm betting Apple can out-innovate Nokia, RIM or anyone else in the smartphone space....

So it seems to me that the challenge Nokia faces going forward is the changing definition of "cell phone."

It looks like the market is going to segment into free, disposable "just a phone" items, and mobile computing devices such as the iPhone. Not "smart phones", a category that appears to have been a way-station on this road, but "mobile computers that have telephony among their applications."

These devices are going to sink or swim on their integration with the larger computing and media environment and, as more and more functionality gets shoe-horned into a constricted display and control space, their UI.

Apple is in an incredibly good position in regards to media and desktop integration. What would it take for Nokia to match Apple's ecosystem? Doesn't it seem obvious that the mobile computing device as extension of your larger digital world becomes increasingly important from now on? Doesn't being the guys with the well regarded desktop OS, of which your phone OS is a subset, and the vast iTunes ecosystem seem like a huge advantage, in that case?

The latter point, shoe-horning more and more "real computer" experience into such a small form factor, is why it seems to me to be wrong-headed to dismiss the iPhone as "old tech with a pretty face." The UI is, for most users, the device. Clunky navigation and confusing menu structures are one thing if I just want to do a few things, or if the phone is primarily intended for enthusiasts. It's quite another if the idea is to offer a lot of different functionality to the "just a phone" crowd.

I look at it this way: Nokia has done a good job growing simple phone functionality into more sophisticated devices. Apple has done a good job shrinking a desktop OS to fit on a handheld device.

As hand held devices get more and more powerful, which is the better starting point?

This is probably the best summation of this entire thread.

Point: Nokia has the stones to do pretty much whatever it wants in any given market. The non-passport holding crowd simply see Nokia as a phone manufacture. They make all components required in a cell network. Phones are just one part, just as Mac OS on the iPhone is another part.
Point: Nokia simply has more numbers than Apple in terms of phones.
Point: The US market is the only market that remotely considers the iPhone a "smartphone". Other than playing videos, music, various other media, its telephone functions are crap. Pure and simple. Crap.
Point: Nokia has a long way to go to be remotely close to iTunes but they, just like Apple, have started slowly and are gauging the way the consumer winds are blowing and they will go in that direction.
Point: IN a side by side comparison in terms of features, the iPhone loses when compared to a real smartphone. Stack an iPhone up against a N95, N82, E90, E61i and see where the iPhone comes in. If terms of media functionality, the iPhone will probably get 8 out of 10 votes. However if you only want a device that has the barebones in telephony, the iPhone is your device.

At the end of the day, it is unfair to compare the iPhone to smartphone as it is not in the same class of devices. Nokia can use the same argument presented here: just wait and see what we will do next. This is the number one battle cry from the Apple-teenie crews here when biz features or the lack of biz features are mentioned. Apple is playing catch up just as Nokia. The only difference is, Nokia has a proven record and hundreds of millions of customers to back up their claims. Apple is the new kid on the block. As I have said several times before, Apple would be smart to hire some European phone designers from SE, or Nokia to help them understand the Enterprise market.

These are called facts. Next time I will try to include some pics for you. So are you saying:

1. Nokia can not match Apple technology wise?
2. Are you saying that Apple has cornered the market on innovation and all other companies should just pack it in?

Your dismissal of anything that does not come from Apple and falling back to the Apple, "wait and see" party line is pretty much par for the course for a Apple-zealot, or did I misrepresent you here?

I guess it was valid then and still now considering that European sales make it clear the iPhone is not the revolutionary product that some think nor is it ready for a much more sophisticated market.


We are talking about Nokia phones. Nokia. Minus the touch screens (for the moment) I have pretty much all of that in my Nokia N82. Google. It works.


That's right. iTunes sprung up overnight. Soooo glad you pointed this out. Yes. Apple didn't take a few years, and mucho dollars to invest into making iTunes what it is today. Right. Thanks for the info. By the way, you might have heard of this other little company that is offering better quality music (bit rates). What's the name? Uhhhh..... Hmmmm.... Ah, yes. Amazon. That's right. Amazon is offering DRM free music at higher bit rates and lower prices. Let's all ignore this because it is not an Apple offering.


Get passport. Travel. See the world. Do know that Mexico and Canada do not count as abroad. If a biz dude can sit in Jakarta with SE (just to shake things up) and make a VoIP call to his family, or office, he did what? Say it with me now. He saved money. Isn't this what VoIP is all about? It is quite clear you have zero point zero understanding how this works. Should you be taken serious regarding this?


I am enamored with what works. For music/media, the iPhone is king. As a "REAL" smartphone, the iPhone falls short. Would you like to know why? Go look it up. By the way, your link is a bit dated. Do you really think Nokia hasn't done anything since then? Really?


This is almost too easy. Go to (I will help you here): www.nokia.co.uk and look up their phones. Europe, Asia, the Mid East get the good phones. The more mature or as someone put it, sophisticated models. Nokia could not sell another phone in the US and still be profitable with their E and N series phones.

Honestly, get that passport and look around a bit.

Indeed. Well said, addabox.


What telephony features do you see it needing?


I assume this is what you mean by missing telephony features... and yeah, they'd do well to incorporate them, and do it intelligently.

However, I think you missed addabox's main point, even as you called it out as a good synopsis: which company has a better platform for quickly adding every more powerful features? The phone OS++, or the stripped down desktop OS? My money is on the latter. It's simply a better starting point as handhelds rise to meet the capabilities of desktops of just a few years ago.

*Can* Nokia meet Apple technology-wise? Sure. So *can* MS. Still waiting for proof on that last one though...

I think the Nokia/MS analogy is a decent one, but not perfect. We'll see how it goes.

Hi kickaha,

Your post was equally as well stated. The thing is, I never said the iPhone was crap. It is far from it. It is however not the revolutionary device (my opinion) that many here (some of them blind followers) think. It is an evolutionary device. It was the logical next step. It builds a stable bridge from the desktop to a mobile device, and it does it well. Nokia products, are designed to be an extension of your office in your pocket. They perform this function quite well also. The iPhone and the Nokia devices are simply not comparable in my view as they serve different functions. I would not like to listen to music or watch a movie on my N82 even though I can, but I do like the VoIP, Skype, Fring, plethora of applications that I can use to make my working experience pretty decent. The same can be said of the iPhone. Movies, music, audio books, browsing, the iPhone wins clearly. But can I send biz cards, do vCard, vCal (not sure if they added this to be honest in 1.1.4), VoIP calls, decent quality pics, MMS (do not use often but when I need it, I really need it). How about saving docs for later emailing? These are the basics features in a so-called smartphone and the iPhone lacks them. Without even going down the 3G road again, this is also missing. To ignore this and continue the "iPhone = smartphone) is a lack of understanding. This shows in the European sales. Clearly they have a better understanding of what biz needs (well European needs) are as opposed to the US biz market.

Aww, crap... sucked in for one more post.


Very true, the Zune has largely been a failure. But, who was the well-entrenched incumbent in the mp3 player market at the time the Zune was introduced? Apple.

Does Apple have that same position in the cellphone market? No. Nokia does.

Therefore, I'm not sure one can say that the 'MS-strategy' works equally well/badly in cellphones as it does in mp3 players, as Apple's starting position in each market is dramatically different... mighty incumbent in players, 'new-kid-on-the-block' trying to be taken seriously in phones and smartphones.

Thus, a Nokia 'good enough' imitative strategy may work. Not saying it will, not saying it won't.



I agree, being the pacesetter is extremely helpful, and Apple has a software and design culture that the other cellphone makers do not.

But again, Microsoft didn't have those advantages, and still won the desktop wars. I realize that the Apple of the 2000s isn't the Apple of the 80s and early-mid 90s, but still, I do worry.

What I imagine happening is Apple and Nokia, over time, becoming more like one another. Apple will get bigger, offer more features, and offer more models serving a wider variety of audiences, maybe even models tailored specifically to Euro and Asian markets, while Nokia will place a higher priority on, and improve in, software and UI (though not to Apple's level).

In the end, they'll be the co-juggernauts of the mobile space, beating each others' brains in every quarter like it was World War 3.

I don't really see either killing the other off in cellphones, but this is just an educated guess... no one can predict with absolute certainty what's going to unfold, unless they're a fool.


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I do a whole bunch of stuff from criminal to civil. I am more than happy to lend a hand if I can be helpful.

We really could use some insight on patent law around here whenever a new patent from Apple or lawsuit pertaining to an Apple product comes out.