Dial 0 for Opinion: 3G Sucks

Tech geeks, like us, always fawn over the newer and, ostensibly, better technologies that rapidly inundate us. The truth of the matter is, however, that newer doesn't necessarily mean better, and nothing is a better indication of this truism than 3G (third generation) cell phone technologies. Geeks love 3G technology because if there's anything that gets a geek's heart pounding it's the idea of fast data connections. 3G technologies on cell phones allow users to connect to the internet on their device at broadband speeds, and some newer implementations like AT&T's HSDPA network, offer speeds up to 3.6 Mbps, faster than most DSL connections. You can see the scorn piled on devices that lack this newer and "better" technology by looking at the heap of criticism the iPhone received for not supporting 3G. Well I've got something to say to all my fellow geeks that unabashedly worship at the alter of the new: 3G sucks.

Why does 3G suck? For one simple reason, battery life. The impact of 3G connectivity on battery life is huge. We see this as we look at data compiled from the dozens of reviews we've done so far. Phones with 3G have an average talk time of 4.15 hours. By contrast phones that lack 3G were able to manage a much more impressive 6.3 hours of talk time. That means that 3G costs you an average of 34% of your battery life. To look at a more controlled example when the Nokia N95 (review) with U.S. 3G support came out we ran some battery tests on the device with 3G on and off (article). The results bear out our premise as the phone was able to last 9 hours 14 minutes with 3G turned off in contrast to 6 hours and 12 minutes with 3G on. This means The N95 had almost 50% more battery life when 3G was disabled.

The ironic thing is that it's the very geeks who swoon at the idea of 3G and lambast any device that lacks it who suffer the most from it. Take me as an example. When I carried the Treo 750 (review) I turned 3G off. If you look at our battery tests you can see why as the Treo 750 lasts a mediocre four hours with 3G for talk time, and web browsing was an even more pathetic three hours. This on a device that has a fairly robust 1200 mAh battery. The simple fact is that with 3G on I wasn't able to get through a day because I ask a lot of my device. I browse the web, listen to music, watch video and make calls, like many geeks do. In fact I was inspired to write this article after listening to a few cell phone podcasts where the hosts lamented the impact that 3G had on battery life. Looking back on the pathetic cries of woe that went up when the original Nokia N95 first went on sale and geek after geek overseas (where it's 3G worked) wasn't able to get through a single day on the thing and you can see that the technology just isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Now, are there exceptions to the rule? Sure, the Blackjack II (review) was able to last for a reasonable 6.2 hours of talk time and 4.2 hours of web browsing time, not bad. But then consider that the top performer amongst our non-3G phones, the T-Mobile Wing (review), was able to last for 14.25 hours of talk time and 9.9 hours of web browsing and you can see that there's just no comparison. The best battery life you're going to get on a 3G device is going to be a little better than average, while a solid 2G device is going to last until the energizer bunny drops of exhaustion. So geeks, I implore you, next time you're about to write or say that a device sucks because it lacks 3G, remember, it's really 3G that sucks.