[sc93]

I read alot about 3G draining battery life.
But how drastic of a drain are we talking about?

Im interested in 3G but also love what the Javelin has, besides 3G.
I was trying to decide on waiting on the Javelin or trying out the G1 from T-Mobile-the open resource aspect sounds inviting.

[lacroixn]

I read somewhere that 3g alone works fine, its when the phone (example the Bold ) is set to 3g/2g it causes a huge power drain.

[Ben850]

Wirelessly posted (T-Mobile 8120)

What is "2g/3g" ? Is that so it will automatically connect to 2g if 3g fails?

[lacroixn]

Yes its supposed to be a seamless transition if you move from an area with no 3g coverage. But some Bold users have complained that this reduces battery life. And those that have full 3g coverage and leave their's on 3g have no battery life issues.

Anyway thats what I've been reading. My unlocked Bold (my birthday gift to myself!) will unfortunately have no 3g, sad to say.

[mike_187]

with javelins fast processor, edge will seem like 3g
everyone has to realize our biggest bottle neck was the processor up until now

[Ben850]

Wirelessly posted (T-Mobile 8120)

You're right cause tethering my phone to my friends laptop offered internet that was quite faster than what I get with EDGE on my phones browser

[david_uk]

Originally Posted by lacroixn

I read somewhere that 3g alone works fine, its when the phone (example the Bold ) is set to 3g/2g it causes a huge power drain.

To answer the OP's battery question my Bold, doing similar tasks (v4.6.0.167) and set to 3G/2G/WiFi, lasted about one third of the time of my 8310.

Very few locations have sufficiently dense 3G coverage to make it practical to turn off 2G. And it's the difficulty that all handset manufacturers and networks have in implementing seamless 3G/2G handover that causes lost calls and decreased battery life.

I don't know to what extent Jav's higher processor speed will in practice mean faster network performance - it certainly won't affect bandwidth - but even if Jav is slower than Bold, solid performance on GPRS/EDGE should make it a hit with RIM's core market.