What are the benefits of a 3G phone over 2.5G?

Slice

Just out of curiousity - How many here have a 3G mobile phone?

Are they any advantages that you actually find useful?

As far as I can see the only benefit is faster access to online services.

Apart from that they tend to be larger and I've also been told that 3G handsets register with the network more often and for longer durations (that interference you hear when it's sat next to a radio) thus increasing the chances that an incoming call will go straight to voicemail...

Urban Weigl

Apart from much faster download speeds, 3G phones deliver superior audio quality and clarity.

As far as creating more interference when sat next to a radio, that is not true. In fact, unlike a GSM phone, a 3G phone will not interfere with with radios at all in my experience, unless it's connected to a 2G network obviously.

Regarding size, that used to be the case, but it isn't anymore.

Slice

No, what I meant was that you can tell when a phone is registering with a network because you'll hear the interference if it's next to say a radio. With 2G phones this usually only takes a couple of seconds and should an incoming call come through while it was happening it will divert straight to voicemail, however with 3G phones they register with the network more regularly and for longer (I think about 30 seconds)

Urban Weigl

With a 3G phone you can't hear that.

Paulj

you can do lots of cool stuff:
browse the web, read boards.ie for example
send & receive gmail
look through google maps
watch youtube
watch the rte news
use the phone as a modem for your laptop

i guess these things work on 2.5g also but slower. All these work fairly well for me on 3network billpay with SE k610i (except youtube, but i think thats the phone's fault).

3g phones dont interfere with the radio like that also.

ardmacha

If you are presently on Vodafone or O2 and use data services now and again is there any reason not to move to 3G, battery life? phone cost?

Slice

What I mean is that for anyone who uses a phone as a phone is there any benefit to 3G? Does it really offer better call quality? I would use the wap services from time to time but only to check cinema times and the odd download

rc28

Slice wrote:

What I mean is that for anyone who uses a phone as a phone is there any benefit to 3G? Does it really offer better call quality?

I have a 3g phone for a year and a half now and I have never noticed any improvement in call quality between a 2.5g and 3g phone. Besides, that was only supposed to work if the person you were calling had a 3g phone and you were both in 3g coverage. The video calling thing is a ridiculous gimmick and you will never use it- it's laggy and you look like a muppet holding a phone in front of your face! The only good thing about 3g ,for me, is the faster download speeds but even 2.5g was ok for basic web pages (especially if you disable the loading of images). Also, 3g eats up battery much quicker than 2.5g. Overall if you are someone who doesn't use the web on your phone much then there is no real advantage for switching to 3g at the moment, other than the fact that 3g phones usually are better specced(good camera etc)

fbradyirl

Once all the networks have HSDPA on their 3G RAN and more HSDPA devices come out, we will see 3G really take off. Personally, I will be waiting for a 3G HSDPA iPhone to come out cause then we will be able to watch youtube videos, listen to tunes in Safari on SeeqPod, check my gmail, check out directions on google maps & surf the web, all with decent speeds.

Slice

I suppose it was a bit stupid of me to post this question on a tech thread - after all it would mostly be tech enthusiasts who reply. I have some mates who have 3G phones and use it mostly as a phone - they all have bigger phones than me...

god's toy

Seeing as we are on 3.5G now with some providers (EG Voda) the same question(s) should be asked about why move to it...

CelloPoint

fbradyirl wrote:

Once all the networks have HSDPA on their 3G RAN and more HSDPA devices come out, we will see 3G really take off. Personally, I will be waiting for a 3G HSDPA iPhone to come out cause then we will be able to watch youtube videos, listen to tunes in Safari on SeeqPod, check my gmail, check out directions on google maps & surf the web, all with decent speeds.

Your wait is over:

http://www.handtec.co.uk/product/529/htc-p3600/eb3b49c5fe5e71646bbe7b3f42b42eb9

I got one of these bad boys - it's class. It's got GPS, 3G, Bluetooth, WiFi, InfraRed, etc. I bought an 8GB miniSD card for it. And it's also got a 2M pixel camera (rear and front for when your video calling on skype).

Use it for sat-nav and music in my car, Skype, email, internet and generally organising my life. It runs Windows Mobile so I can write my own c# applications - currently trying to log my GPS coord every ten seconds so anyone can see where I am/contact me in real-time.

With iPhone, you can't write your own apps and the flexibility in connectivity is poor.

Slice

Slice wrote:

Apart from that they tend to be larger and I've also been told that 3G handsets register with the network more often and for longer durations (that interference you hear when it's sat next to a radio) thus increasing the chances that an incoming call will go straight to voicemail...

I've never heard of this but what I have heard of is occasional problems with the handover from 2.5G to 3G, where if you're on a call while the phone switches between GSM and UMTS the call can sometimes be dropped. It's only ever happened to me once though.

I'll try to keep my answer simple, if you don't really use data services then there's probably no real benefit to 3G for you, except maybe for the elimination of the speaker buzzing. Some poorly made GSM phones can actually exhibit the buzzing through the speaker of the phone itself but good ones shouldn't. I've yet to notice any real improvement in audio quality.

FergalBoards.ie

This thread inspired some conversation and argument in my social circle and I took the plunge.

I live in an urban area with hideous Voda congestion, to the extent where I try to use Meteor where at all possible downtown. That was in my 2G existence.

I bought a Palm Treo750V, which ultimately didn't suit me for various reasons.

Immediately noticeable was that it was much easier to get a signal and make a call on Voda. More bandwidth/smaller cell area on 3G I guess.

Voice quality was out of this world better, whether this was because of the 2G congestion or the bandwidth boost of 3G, I'm not sure.

Anytime I hopped from 3G to 2G though things got very ropey, sometimes crashing the phone. Speaking to others, this happens with Samsungs at least as well.

Basically for voice quality and a better opportunity to get a signal in urban areas, 3G is worth it, even just for voice traffic.

Terrontress

rc28 wrote:

The video calling thing is a ridiculous gimmick and you will never use it- it's laggy and you look like a muppet holding a phone in front of your face!

It does have its uses.

A friend from work's wife and kid have to go to England regularly to see her ill father. Both my friend and his wife are on 3. He loves the video call to be able to see his 8 month old child.

It is not an every day thing but it is good craic.

mkennedy

CelloPoint wrote:

Your wait is over:

http://www.handtec.co.uk/product/529/htc-p3600/eb3b49c5fe5e71646bbe7b3f42b42eb9

I got one of these bad boys - it's class. It's got GPS, 3G, Bluetooth, WiFi, InfraRed, etc. I bought an 8GB miniSD card for it. And it's also got a 2M pixel camera (rear and front for when your video calling on skype).

Use it for sat-nav and music in my car, Skype, email, internet and generally organising my life. It runs Windows Mobile so I can write my own c# applications - currently trying to log my GPS coord every ten seconds so anyone can see where I am/contact me in real-time.

With iPhone, you can't write your own apps and the flexibility in connectivity is poor.

Cellopoint, i got the same device.
Lovely device..I use it for everything you mentioned except skype.

But please tell me:
1) where you got the 8gb mini-sd card
2) and did you have to upgrade to wm6 to get it working with 8gb mini-sd(hc).

You should know that mini-sd cards above 2gb have a habit of dying after a few weeks with the htc p3600 (unless the rom is updated afaik).

Currently i only have 2gb storage myself so this is the only feature of the device that i want to improve. I need atleast 4gb for music and maps etc.

Slice

Voice quality was out of this world better, whether this was because of the 2G congestion or the bandwidth boost of 3G, I'm not sure.

Are you sure this wasn't to do with the type of handset you were using previously? I use to have a Samsung E370 on Meteor as did two of my friends. We all noticed significantly pooper call quality that we attributed to the network coverage but it was actually the handset we were using. Since I've upgraded to a Sony Ericsson there has been a noticable improvement in call quality as is the case with the other two who recently upgraded also.