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gadgetman · 01-29-2006, 10:31 PM

Today I compared the speed of downloading web pages on a BB8700 with EDGE and a Treo 700w with EVDO. I made sure that they started the hunt for the websites at the same moment. I made sure that the 700 was receiving EVDO.

I tried about eight websites. All of them downloaded faster on the 8700. Sometimes the 8700 was as much as ten seconds faster. This may surprise some people. It certainly surprised me after all that I have read about EVDO.

I'm sure someone will respond with a technical explanation for this. Maybe RIM compresses webpages or something like that. Whatever the reason, based on my test, the 8700 downloads websites faster than the 700w.

(I was pretty underwhelmed with the 700 although there are some nice features.)

coreyg510 · 01-29-2006, 10:34 PM

I had a bb 7290 and then decided to use a treo 650. When I heard that Palm was putting windows on their devices I came right back to the BB using the 8700. I have never been a big fan of the windows platform. IMO it limits the capability of the treos.

athreya · 01-29-2006, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gadgetman

Today I compared the speed of downloading web pages on a BB8700 with EDGE and a Treo 700w with EVDO. I made sure that they started the hunt for the websites at the same moment. I made sure that the 700 was receiving EVDO.

I tried about eight websites. All of them downloaded faster on the 8700. Sometimes the 8700 was as much as ten seconds faster. This may surprise some people. It certainly surprised me after all that I have read about EVDO.

I'm sure someone will respond with a technical explanation for this. Maybe RIM compresses webpages or something like that. Whatever the reason, based on my test, the 8700 downloads websites faster than the 700w.

(I was pretty underwhelmed with the 700 although there were some nice features.)

the way to test it is through a bandwidth website not otherwise..you are perhaps the first person in the whole world who feels EDGE is FASTER than EVDO...it doesnt seem technically possible. Can you do this and let us know?

2) Does Cingular allow DUN or tethering?

gadgetman · 01-29-2006, 10:55 PM

I know EVDO is faster than EDGE, but there is more to downloading websites than just the speed of the connection. Maybe someone else can perform a similar test and let us know.

dwlace01 · 01-29-2006, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gadgetman

I know EVDO is faster than EDGE, but there is more to downloading websites than just the speed of the connection. Maybe someone else can perform a similar test and let us know.

IMO the test that you did tells me what i need to know. What is the point of having this ultra fast evdo connection and not being able to use it. If for whatever reason the treo 700 runs taht slow, blame it on the connection speed or whatever but if its slower its slower...period.

on a side note, i have hardly ever heard anything good about a windows based device. they have a long way to go to get that going in the right direciton and where the 700 might be a step in the right direction, i think they still have miles to go.

coreyg510 · 01-29-2006, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwlace01

IMO the test that you did tells me what i need to know. What is the point of having this ultra fast evdo connection and not being able to use it. If for whatever reason the treo 700 runs taht slow, blame it on the connection speed or whatever but if its slower its slower...period.

on a side note, i have hardly ever heard anything good about a windows based device. they have a long way to go to get that going in the right direciton and where the 700 might be a step in the right direction, i think they still have miles to go.

Well put.

gadgetman · 01-29-2006, 11:47 PM

I am keeping an open mind about the 700. Some features are quite good. The autocompleting of words is just great. I really like that. I think the screen is not that much different than the 8700 - not better or worse. It has a camera, which I want, but the images on the screen are quite disappointing - not that much better than the 600 as far as I could tell. It has streaming audio and video which is neat.

The 700 froze on me twice while I was trying it in the store - it just got stuck in Internet Explorer. I had to go to settings, storage, close programs, or something like that, just to close the Internet Explorer program after it got stuck. It's too "busy" for its own good.

The BB has a clean simple interface.

The 700 is not for me but it ain't terrible and it does have a cuteness factor. Athreya should get a 700w, because he's craving for it.

ceebz · 01-30-2006, 12:28 AM

Test a 7130e against the 8700. I have, and the 7130e is sometimes 3 times faster.

gadgetman · 01-30-2006, 01:19 AM

Both the 700 and 8700 use 312MHz processors. I have been checking on the Internet since I started this thread and it seems that RIM uses a compressing proxy server and downloads compressed versions of the web pages. Presumably, that's why the 8700 downloads web pages faster than the 700, and the 7130e downloads faster than the 8700.

athreya · 01-30-2006, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gadgetman

I am keeping an open mind about the 700. Some features are quite good. The autocompleting of words is just great. I really like that. I think the screen is not that much different than the 8700 - not better or worse. It has a camera, which I want, but the images on the screen are quite disappointing - not that much better than the 600 as far as I could tell. It has streaming audio and video which is neat.

The 700 froze on me twice while I was trying it in the store - it just got stuck in Internet Explorer. I had to go to settings, storage, close programs, or something like that, just to close the Internet Explorer program after it got stuck. It's too "busy" for its own good.

The BB has a clean simple interface.

The 700 is not for me but it ain't terrible and it does have a cuteness factor. Athreya should get a 700w, because he's craving for it.

Gadgetman,i agree i probably am craving for an upgrade from my current 7290 and 7105 to something else..whether it is the 700w or the 8700 is the question..you forget the 700 does Skype, which to my mind is a killer App! Sadly im told Google talk is only configured for chat and not voice on the 8700.

Wish you could check that for us and tell us how they work...

Lastly you have been silent on DUN which is an advantage of the 700w as well.

CingularMK · 01-30-2006, 07:24 AM

Blackberries have always been behind on the Network speeds. When EDGE was brought around on-top of GPRS, It took until 2 months ago for the 8700 to utilize it. Im a definate BB fan, Once a BB is on the market with the UMTS network for cingular, its game over for every other competitor. UMTS/HSDPA runs (and I've seen it) 1.02mb/s connection speed on a device, and 1.21mb/s on an Aircard. UMTS is the fastest availible data network (Averaging 500-900kbps) And will be rolled out nation-wide (hopefully) by the end of this year. Hopefully a UMTS Blackberry will be soon to follow.

gadgetman · 01-30-2006, 09:55 AM

Athreya: I think the Treo 700w would work much better for you than an 8700. Why are you even thinking about an 8700? You clearly want the bells and whistles on a 700w.

athreya · 01-30-2006, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gadgetman

Athreya: I think the Treo 700w would work much better for you than an 8700. Why are you even thinking about an 8700? You clearly want the bells and whistles on a 700w.

if that were true i wouldnt have three blackberries vs. one treo today!

i want broadband, skype / google talk, push email, and a GOOD keyboard. ability to email and hear voice notes and the ability to project a PPT through a projector are the other frequently used apps.

treo's keyboard looks way too cramped to me. Display and push email are weak or else i may have tried it out

athreya · 01-30-2006, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CingularMK

Blackberries have always been behind on the Network speeds. When EDGE was brought around on-top of GPRS, It took until 2 months ago for the 8700 to utilize it. Im a definate BB fan, Once a BB is on the market with the UMTS network for cingular, its game over for every other competitor. UMTS/HSDPA runs (and I've seen it) 1.02mb/s connection speed on a device, and 1.21mb/s on an Aircard. UMTS is the fastest availible data network (Averaging 500-900kbps) And will be rolled out nation-wide (hopefully) by the end of this year. Hopefully a UMTS Blackberry will be soon to follow.

couldnt agree more. But im not sure UMTS will be rolled out this year. Do you have an authentic source?

mobilehavoc · 01-30-2006, 01:38 PM

From what I have read, EVDO has higher latencies than EDGE which could explain the results.

If you actually did a bandwidth test that takes into account the latencies and actually tests the throughput, I'm sure EVDO would win.

Still as stated in the end, it's all about real-world tests...if the 8700 on EDGE is faster, then go with it...nothing wrong with it at all

gadgetman · 01-30-2006, 02:15 PM

EVDO undoubtedly wins when it comes to streaming - which of course the 8700 can't do.

phatboy · 01-30-2006, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ceebz

Test a 7130e against the 8700. I have, and the 7130e is sometimes 3 times faster.

I agree...I have both as well and the EDVO is much faster.

The only fare test would be the 8700 vs the 7130e...I can can already tell you which one of mine is faster...

athreya · 01-30-2006, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phatboy

I agree...I have both as well and the EDVO is much faster.

The only fare test would be the 8700 vs the 7130e...I can can already tell you which one of mine is faster...

can you do VOIP and tell us the quality, latency etc? That would be a big help!

gadgetman · 01-30-2006, 09:26 PM

I see that I am not the only one who has found that the 8700c downloads web pages faster than the Treo 700w. On another thread in this forum, there is this entry by birdiebo:

"I had the opportunity to compare my daughter's Treo 700 with my new 8700, and it seemed to me that web-browsing was faster and easier on the 8700."

So that confirms it. The 8700c browser is faster.

http://www.blackberryforums.com/showthread.php?t=25051

athreya · 01-30-2006, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gadgetman

I see that I am not the only one who has found that the 8700c downloads web pages faster than the Treo 700w. On another thread in this forum, there is this entry by birdiebo:

"I had the opportunity to compare my daughter's Treo 700 with my new 8700, and it seemed to me that web-browsing was faster and easier on the 8700."

So that confirms it. The 8700c browser is faster.

one swallow or for that matter two, dont make a summer. EVDO is eons faster than EDGE. BB compresses web pages giving you a illusion of speed

http://www.blackberryforums.com/showthread.php?t=25051

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The Great Race: EDGE 8700 vs. EVDO 700w