iPhone 3G vs Other Smartphones

AppleInsider has posted a detailed report examining how Apple's iPhone 3G compares to other smartphones in the marketplace, as well as how it stacks up against the original iPhone.

Last year, Steve Jobs noted that the original iPhone lacked 3G and GPS due to battery life issues. Critics fumed that Jobs' explanation was just marketing speak, pointing out that tons of 3G phones were already on sale. However, the reality is that both features do have a huge impact on battery life, even after a year of advances in the underlying technologies. Another factor was the short reach of AT&T's 3G UMTS network a year ago versus the 3G EVDO service offered by Sprint and Verizon Wireless in the US, or the more established 3G service in Europe or Japan. Apple had to first launch the iPhone successfully in the US, and doing so with poor battery performance in cities where AT&T's 3G was available would have been a bigger black mark than the relatively slow EDGE.
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