iPhone leads 3G handsets in battery life
updated 07:35 pm EDT, Mon July 14, 2008
iPhone leads 3G batteries
While Apple CEO Steve Jobs' concerns about 3G's impact on the iPhone's battery life were valid, the iPhone 3G still maintains a longer-running battery life than other popular competing mobile devices, including the new Samsung Instinct. PC World investigated several 3G smartphone handsets, showing that the iPhone 3G bests the Instinct, the HTC Touch Dual, and the LG EnV with 5h 38m, the only three others which featured over five hours of talk time.
The test also shared results from the AT&T Tilt, Pantech Duo, Motorola Q9 Global, and Palm Centro, which showed battery life between four and five hours, while the Palm Treo 750 tailed the lot at just under four hours.
The reason for the power drain is that the more complex 3G data networks tend to use more battery life than their 2G counterparts, due to voice calls using the mobile data network for enhanced call quality.
Fortunately, the iPhone allows users to disable 3G connectivity to prolong battery life at the expense of network speed and call quality.
