Internet first, voice second
I have notice a huge flaw with my phone. Supposedly, the best thing about 3G is that you can be on the internet and have a phone call at the same time. Unlike 2.5G GPRS which is like a V.92 dial-up in terms of low bandwidth and (lack of) connection permenancy - you can't receive calls when you're actively on the internet.
On my SEM K800i I find that even with 3G good reception, I get awful call quality, because it can't handle a switch-circuit voice call and data at the same time. It keeps dropping a lot of downstream switched-circuit voice data - and I can't hear a damn thing. This means I have had to stop using push email (which maintains a permenant internet connection to the email server). I have no idea whether this limitation is due to the phone itself or UMTS technology. Has anyone else experienced this problem?
07 Feb 2008 14:54
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Tags: 3G Mobiles Phones Technology
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Comments (3)
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But really is it worth it, I mean with all that push email you get over 3G, would you really have enough battery life left to make phone calls?
I means what’s more important, a call or being notified of a new facebook app that requests your immediate attention to be added.
07 Feb 2008, 16:27
On 3G it actually uses less power than 5min check intervals. GPRS sucks because it blocks phone calls from coming in.
Currently my battery is ravaged quicker by java apps, bluetooth and constant PC internet access anyway.
Thank goodness I don’t get facebook notifications!
07 Feb 2008, 17:45
I noticed the dropouts were happening despite no internet connection.
In a desperate attempt, I reflashed my phone’s firmware and it seems to have improved (fingers crossed). But just resizing a picture whilst on a phone call seemed to cause dropouts again. I’m now thinking it is/was a slow CPU / insufficient memory problem…
11 Feb 2008, 17:47
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