[stephenyu]

I am a new user. Can anybody tell me the difference between 2G and 3G? Where I can find more information about 3G? How do we know which mobile has 2G or 3G?

[nj15]

Stephen Yu,

Info about 2G : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2G

Info about 3G : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G

3.5G is next! HSDPA!

CheeriOS!

[doechr]

Stephen, it depends what you want to do.
If you really need high data speeds, or you want to roam in Japan, then get 3G (the spec pages on this website will tell you which phones have it).
But 3G is not totally reliable yet and can cause problems such as overheating and short battery life. I know many people with 3G phones who switch it off and forget about it.
For most practical purposes, 2G with GPRS is quite adequate.

Message Edited by doechr on 28-Mar-200708:18 AM

[phil_deforce]

HSDPA is already here (depending on where you are in the world). The Nokia RAN software that supports it has been available since last summer and this year it has been further improved. The next SW release will introduce HSUPA (U = uplink)

[nj15]

WiMax will be introduced late 2008 or early 2009.It is referred as 4G.

2G - GPRS
2.5G - EDGE
3G - WCDMA
3.5 - HSDPA/HSUPA
4G - WiMax

(Will nokia replace bluetooth with WiBree?)Wicked!


Cheerios!

[petrib]

There's no world-wide/instry-wide agreement as to what "4G" really is. Some want to think of WiMax as 4G, but it is not supported by all (operators, network component manufacturers, device manufacturers, chipset manufacturers, media, analysts, specialists, standardization bodies, regulators, governments, ...).

[nj15]

[korngear]

Hmmmm...Tho' 4G sounds great.
I have yet no 3G in my country.I heard we can be able to send sms wid longer dan 160 charaters,is it true?
Guess it would be a great advantage from 3G compared to 2G.

[doechr]

You can anyway.

[wicker_man]

---

28-Mar-200702:41 PM
korngear wrote:
Hmmmm...Tho' 4G sounds great.
I have yet no 3G in my country.I heard we can be able to send sms wid longer dan 160 charaters,is it true?
Guess it would be a great advantage from 3G compared to 2G.

---

That sounds like MMS when you enter just text. I think you can get thousands of characters into a MMS. And you don't need 3G for that.

You can also send text messages longer than 160 chars with any basic phone, but your operator will bill you for multiple sms's.

Two biggest advantages of 3G for me:
1) Faster download for websites. You need a proper phone that has a real browser and not just a wap browser. And you need to be careful with data usage - it's easy to rack up hundreds of Euros to your phone bill if you just rely on the prices your operator sets for data traffic by default. So choose the best data billing plan.

2) Video calls!
OK, I've only done this like five times but it is really nice. None of my friends have a phone that supports video calls - my mom would get one but she lives in the countryside and there is no 3G.

[korngear]

Thanks man.It is great to have the answer of my question and to know the user experienced benefits of 3G.
Now,I would like to know:
If this drains battery so fast?
What is the impact of HSDPA or 3.5 G on the 3G reigns?
Is it just the data transfer or what else?

[embedded_system]

Browsing tip:

A nice combination is 2G phone and Opera browser:
This browser is not downloading the original website, but a sleeker version (it is receiving compressed data from an Opera Proxy).

Very nice. Check it out!

Download via WAP from mini.opera.com