[joeldm]

The problem with this is that even RIM estimates its battery life at just 4.3 hours for their EV-DO model:
http://na.blackberry...il.jsp?navId=H0,C221,P883#tabtabspecifications

. . . the 8330. And Mobile Tech's review put "real" battery life at less than that:
http://www.mobiletec...-Curve-8330.htm

Add to that, the fact that you can't surf and talk at the same time on an EV-DO phone and the even shorter battery life if you use its multimedia features (see review), if they had included it, it would have fallen far down in the pack. Other reviewers rate the batter life as longer, but if you read them closely they're talking about "talk time," not talk and surf and email and mulitmedia. This is where the iPhone really pulls away.

The Blackberrys have their place and for the right consumer it's a fine platform, but they are a generation behind in technology and, apparently, battery life.

JoeL

[pfhat]

Fair enough I can respect that, but what about the pearl, and more importantly the blackberry 8830 which does both GSM and CDMA. The battery life for GSM mode is supposed to be much larger for that model than the CDMA mode.

[streetwiser]

A Dutch start up , called 3GJUICE produces the the strongest iPhone 3G battery extender avalaible, 1770 mAh. The owner, Henk van Ess, is a well known internet guru in The Netherlands. He became so angry with the battery life of his iPhone last Friday, that he shopped around in Linkedin to find a manufacturer who could produce the strongest possible battery in the smallest possible case (6 cm). The former record of 1200 mAh was from a RichardSolo, the 3G JUICE has 50% more power and gives the iPhone 1770 mAh. Apple has already certified it, because the 30 pin connector is from the certified vendor Apple uses.




It has a cap so it can slide into your pocket. With 3 or 4 3G JUICE's you can talk for 24 hrs (better get a life if you want to do that). Gizmodo in The Netherlands thinks that Dutch dude will be a millionaire :).

[ToyotaTundra]

speedracer, get your information straight. The Blackberry 8800 series does run on 3G

[joeldm]

I read half dozen reviews and only in talk mode, CDMA, does the BB surpass the iPhone. When using EV-DO it gets MUCH shorter battery life.

BTW, the guy who said the 8800 was 3G? Not true, it's GSM, but not 3G.

JoeL

[pfhat]

The 8830 is both GSM/CDMA enabled. In CDMA mode it uses a subset of CDMA2000 known as EV-DO....."CDMA2000 is considered a 2.5G technology in 1xRTT and a 3G technology in EVDO."

So in conclusion, it's 3g, although NOT the same as HSPDA....oooh scary world, other technologies too confusing!

[joeldm]

As I pointed out (reading skills alert) it IS 3G. EV-DO is considered 3g, but for the purposes of comparing one to the other, when the 3G is in use talk time drops off precipitously. And you can't talk and surf at the same time. So when talking, yes, as stated, the 8830 gets better battery life than the iPhone, but when used as a mobile browser or for other digital data content, the battery life is considerably lower than the iPhone.

Your complaint was that the BB 3Gs weren't in the comparison and as pointed out there is no AT&T 3G BB, while the Verizone/Sprint flavor uses CDMA/EV-DO which does not allow simultaneous surfing and talking like the iPhone does. If used as an iPhone is used (I guess by talking a bit, then hanging up and surfing a bit, then . . . you get the picture) then the battery life is less, even based on Blackberry's own specs. Worse when reviewers got their hands on it.

This can't be that hard to figure out.

JoeL

[pfhat]

The original article http://www.pcworld.c...ticle/148348/3giphonesmediocrebatterylifestillbeats_rivals.html has been updated to include blackberry 3G models (and marked as EV-DO) to prevent confusion as to which network they use.



Thank you PCWorld!!!!

[bpabbott]

I'll add that my 1st gen iPhone's battery use to last me two days. Now with the 2.0 software it only manages about 6 hours. If I disable some features then I'm able to squeeze out a full day.

Point being that the new phone's battery life isn't so different than the old version.

[bpabbott]

"You would be wrong...I have an LG Voyager from Verizon, and can indeed make & receive voice calls while connected to the 3G network."

Yes. Because you are making the call over the 3G network. However, during that call no data is being transfered.

To check, try browsing the web while talking on your phone.

[bpabbott]

Q: How exactly is an EV-DO blackberry not 3G???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDMA2000

EV-DO is 2.5G technology ... although it is sometimes called a hybrid of 2.5/3G.

If memory serves one significant limitation is that data and voice cannot be used concurrently. To verify, try updating/loading a web page while talking on the phone.

[turwaith]

People need to realize that when you constantly use your phone that of course your battery won't last as long. That's what makes the iPhone so different, you WANT to use your phone all day long and when you do that your battery dies a lot faster. I have a 2G iPhone and when I updated to the 2.0 software I found that I used my phone a lot more because of the many applications, but when I do that my battery drains a LOT faster. When I don't constantly play games and check the internet then I have a great battery life. If you want to use your phone heavily like many people do, then realize that you're going to need to charge it more often.

[regisb50]

It is a sin that you cannot replace the battery in an iPhone. This is WRONG in so many ways. The lithium batteries have a calendar lifetime regardless of their use. So the battery is a ticking timebomb that causes the device to require service within 4 years on average. This is a fundamentally corrupt policy. I like Apple, but their need to make battery replacement a service in iPods and IPhones leaves an intelligent person wondering if they have any true morals.

The feature issue is that when I am on business travel with with tight schedules, I need to pull out the expended batttery in my phone and insert a fresh one to last until I can get time to charge the phone. Also, the extra batteries are insurance for the time when the charger is mistakenly plugged into a switched outled and you wake up with a nearly dead battery. The spares have saved me many times.

I need a phone I can trust to be powered-up. That is why I must consider the iPhone a toy.