Replies to post #6589 on Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

[sbono13]

GPRS battery life

I'm deciding between the Handspring Treo600 from either Sprint or the GSM version, so the data capabilities of 1X vs. GPRS are of particular interest to me at the moment. Here are some pros and cons that I've been able to dig up.

* The GSM model of the Treo600 has 70% longer battery life after real life usage.

http://www.forbes.com/2003/10/13/cz_sm_1013tentech.html


The Treo's nonremovable battery is surprisingly long-lived--particularly in the GSM model. In my tests it managed a whopping 384 minutes of talk time--nearly 6 1/2 hours. The Sprint version lasted only 224 minutes--about 3 3/4 hours. An external add-on battery is promised as a $60 option for big talkers.

* Certain GPRS devices are able to alert users of an incoming call even during data transmission; 1X devices forward such calls immediately to voicemail.

* And 1X's higher max/avg speeds do not seem to translate to a faster web surfing experience in this apples-to-oranges comparison:

http://www.sprintusers.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26679

Using an Ericsson P800 and my new Treo 600, I loaded the same page from both browsers at the same time... GPRS loaded faster than Vision every time.


This appears to be consistent with my own experiences, in which WAP pages load about twice as fast on my sony ericsoon t68i on AT&T than on my Sanyo 5300 3G phone on Sprint.