‘Faster over fuller’ is the expression Jenn uses to describe how consumers want their browsing experience and I tend to agree. Personally I want Firefox 3+add-ons for my browser as it’s long my most important piece of software but I’m not most consumers. A consumer MID doesn’t need to be 100% FIE for most people but it does need to be close.

The browser on the Archos 5 is, relative to existing consumer and smartphone-based browsers, a big step forward in the eyes of most people that have tested it so it’s nice to confirm it with some stats. Jenn has lined-up the Archos 5, the iPhone 3G and the Nokia N810 in a browser speed test and overall, you’re seeing page load times 1.5 times faster than an iPhone 3G  and about 1.8 times faster than a Nokia N810. But is it fast enough? MIDs and low-end UMPCs are likely to beat these times and return more accurate results but does the difference really matter?

What we’re seeing here is proof of, not just a fast new Archos device, but how the ARM Cortex core could improve the Internet experience. In this case, the ARM core is sitting on the Ti OMAP platform but Ti aren’t the only people using it. Intel really do need to watch their backs in this territory now because they’re not fighting against relatively small companies like AMD and VIA here, they’re fighting against the huge ARM ecosystem and they certainly know a thing or two about mobile hardware and software.

Read about the 3-way test at Pocketables.

This tickled me. A post on Friendfeed a short while ago…

“As the iPhone begins to resemble and be used like a computer, we will have to contend with challenges like crashing and battery life.” [Steve Rubel]

He’s right. Many people still assume that smartphones have excellent battery life compared to UMPCs. The reality is slightly less exciting if you use both devices for mobile Internet activities on a regular basis.

Apart from having a little giggle, the comment also reminded me to check up on the reported iPhone 3G battery life and compare it with my figures. I came up with an interesting article from AnandTech who have completed a browsing test which resulted in a dead iPhone in just over three hours. That’s much less than the 5-hrs quoted by Apple. It’s not even the most power-hungry test you could do on an iPhone. Try doing some Voip, live tracking or even IM with some music playing in the background and you’ll have a dead iPhone in under 2 hrs. Well, you would if the Iphone would let you run 3rd party background tasks!

3G radios, GPUs, displays are all going to take a lot of power whether they’re on a ultra mobile PC or a smartphone. Add 3rd-party software into the mix and you find that if you want the FIE on a regular basis, there’s no substitute for a fat battery!  As I mentioned in a previous article, 10wh is about your minimum battery size for any serious mobile Internet device in 2008 and 2009. The battery in the iPhone is only 5wh (possibly only 4wh according to this article.) 

In perspective, the iPhone 3G is still an impressively efficient device. 1.5W maximum power drain makes it one of the most energy efficient MIDs around and it’s still leading the way in the consumer-oriented market. In 2007 we were seeing best-of-breed UMPCs taking 9W to do similar 3G browsing tasks. Later in 2008, the differential will shrink to just 2 or 3watts and in 2010, the differential will be close to zero but in all cases, you still need that big battery if you need the FIE for long periods between charges. For now, the multi-device strategy still seems to be the best for you pro-mobile users.

[If you spot any other iPhone 3G battery life tests that were done under ‘MID’ conditions. Please drop me a comment. I’m interested. Thanks.]

Energy efficiency is, without a doubt, the most important design factor for any pocketable Ultra Mobile device. On Friday this week, there are two very important launch events taking place that will highlight the advances made in energy efficient computing over the last year. The two devices will also show how us close Intel and ARM partners really are in the race to provide handheld, Internet-focused computers. MIDs.

On one side of the fence, in PC land, Sharp and Willcom will release a pocketable slider-keyboard mobility-focused device. The Sharp Willcom D4 will be running Windows Vista on the Intel Silverthorne/Poulsbo platform also known as Menlow and is likely to be one of the most energy-efficient 3G-enabled PC’s so far.

On the other side of the fence, in smartphone land, Apple will release a smaller, 3G-capable mobility-focused device running a highly optimised desktop operating system. The iPhone 3G will be running ARM-based processors and is likely to be one of the most energy-efficient 3G smartphones so far.

The Willcom D4 is said to have (independent tests) a 3G-active time (Internet activity) of around 1.5 hours and it runs a 7wh battery.

The iPhone 3G is said to have (Apple figures) a 3G-active time (Internet activity) of around 5 hours and it is likely to run (my estimates) a battery of about 5.5wh.

3G-active Internet time is a worst-case measure of device efficiency so, based on these early figures, it looks like the Menlow-based device will use about 4.5W and an iPhone will use about 1W.  More after the pic…

Read the full story

I have no doubt at all that this idea will raise the eyebrows of many an iPhone 3G owner. PimpMyultra mobile PC blogger Valto has put together a presentation of a concept he calls the eXtendr. In the presentation you’ll see a slider keyboard but it you read the article you’ll see that it’s not just a keyboard idea. The concept could be used to carry speakers and batteries a bit like the original iPaq jacket and, more recently, the Digifriends MID. Because this is the iPhone though, it somehow seems to have more impact. Good work Valto!

Full news item at Pimp My UMPC

As expected, the iPhone is very expensive indeed. [See the update below. The source linked to the wrong PDF!] Prices do seem more reasonable now that we’ve got the correct info!

Not only that but the data plans are restricted right down to the point where on the entry-level plan, you get no data at all! How’s that for the phone that’s supposed to open up the world of the Internet to your pocket?

T-Mobile in Germany have released the pricing plan and small-print for the iPhone 3G which starts at 29 Euro per month for just 50 minutes of inclusive calls. No Internet included, oh wait, one of their flyer pages mentions 100MB of data at EDGE speeds only!  Add the 249 170 Euro cost of the iPhone on top along with a 30 Euro connection charge and you’re not exactly getting the best smartphone deal on the block!

Update: A further check on the data reveals that Digital Living highlighted the wrong tariff. Joel spotted that the PDF was 3 months old. The NEW PDF shows a slightly better offer. If you order the iPhone before end of August you get 500MB of HSDPA included and 50 minutes of calls for 29 Euro. It’s still more expensive than most offers but considering the 8G version is only 170 Euro, it’s a reasonable deal.

For those not familiar with the pricing in Germany, let me tell you that for 10 Euros LESS per month I get 60 minutes of all-german-networks free calls and HSDPA flat-rate included (HTTP only, 3.6mbps)

If you want a flat-rate (5GB) 3G data package with the iPhone, they expect you to pay for 1000 minutes of voice calls too and hand over 89 Euros per month. Also note that the intermediate M and L offerings will cut your bandwidth down to 64kbps if you go over either 200MB 300MB or 1GB (respectively) of data usage. Pathetic!

+ = BEST!

One could take the jailbreak route of course but apart from it being difficult to do with the new activation rules, expensive and  time-consuming, it comes with a huge amount of risk. It’s not something I’m even interested in trying. No. I’ll stick with my solution of smartphones with good photo and video capabilities and combine it with a Gigabyte M528 for some real mobile Internet action. I’m even thinking of adding an Acer Aspire One to the kitlist and going for the full-on, no-compromise, high quality, three-device mobile strategy!

T-Mobile Tariff details here (PDF) News via Digital Living

Kornel, Ben and I have summarised our thoughts on the iPhone 3G. I think we all agree it’s a MID but the contract pricing seems to be the sticking-point.

Kornel

This is the iPhone many were waiting for. Here’s what I’m excited about: improved speaker, 3g speeds and…the GPS. I haven’t yet seen an implementation of GPS in a phone that I would like. But this is Apple. Location awareness, Geotagging – all that built in and user friendly. No wonder the GPS makers are scared. Great price and I don’t expect to see contracts as expensive as in America in other countries. And then there’s always the unlock route. Closest thing to a MID you can get right now, considering they are not out.  Just sold my N95 8GB – bring on the iPhone!

Ben

The new $199 price point is extremely attractive for a phone with those capabilities, and don’t forget you are getting a top notch DAP as well. As an all in one mobile entertainment device/phone the price is extremely attractive. 2.0 firmware offers some nice updates, I’m not sure about the App Store yet. Jailbreaking an iPhone adds an incredible amount of functionality through third party apps, I’m just hoping the App Store doesn’t put Apple in conflict with the Jailbreaking community. I’m also waiting to see what kind of prices developers plan to charge. The iPhone interface has always been a joy to use and is what makes it much better than the competition in my opinion, Apple is following the right course by continuing to improve it through lots of feedback. GPS is nice but I’m hoping we won’t need to buy an application to get true GPS style driving directions. I’m somewhat surprised we didn’t see the latest BT version and wireless N. I also would have liked to see an improved camera. 3G will make the iPhone 3G a must-have for some people, but others aren’t looking forward to the ridiculous prices of 3G.

Chippy

TCO $70 per month for 2 years. No video. No camera improvements. No screen resolution/size variations (still have to zoom in and out to read/navigate), can I send an Image via Bluetooth? Can I tether? The iPhone won’t satisfy the pro-mobile user and will be too expensive for many customers. With exiting new software and hardware platforms on the horizon, I’d hate to be locked into an expensive 2-year contract with this device right now!

As you have most likely heard, Apple today announced the iPhone 3G at their annual WWDC event. The phone’s most obvious new feature is the HSDPA 3G cellular data connection that now enables the phone to have faster cellular internet connectivity. This replaces the old iPhone’s EDGE technology which was on the dial-up end of the internet speed spectrum. HSDPA in the iPhone 3G is closer to wi-fi speeds as demonstrated by Apple. The phone itself has changed very little cosmetically. We’re talking about millimeters in size differences, and a plastic back on the iPhone 3G instead of easily scratched aluminum. The iPhone 3G will be available with a black or white back.

Probably the second most significant hardware change is the addition of GPS. Apple says that the iPhone 3G will use a combination of GPS, wi-fi and cell towers to pin-point the position of the user. The iPhone EDGE used Locate Me, a function that provided a rough estimate of the users position based on cell tower information. With the addition of GPS the system is accurate enough to locate the street the user is on and give driving directions, something that couldn’t be done due to the inaccuracy of the Locate Me technology of the iPhone EDGE.

Another one of the anticipated upgrades is to the iPhone’s operating system. The iPhone 2.0 firmware will be released when the iPhone 3G comes out on July 11th. At the same time, Apple will make the update free to iPhone EDGE users, and available to iPod Touch users for $9.95. The 2.0 software will bring some increased functionality to the current feature set including things such as mass email management and contact searching. Additionally, 2.0 will bring the App Store onto the home screen of iPhone/iPod Touch users, and will allow them to download applications wirelessly to their device. The store will offer a combination of free and purchasable applications. Developers who charge for their apps keep 70% of the cost; for those who will be releasing free apps, Apple has said there will be no charges to the developer. Along for the ride in the 2.0 firmware is a lot of support for enterprise users including VPN connectivity, Exchange support, and more.

This time around Apple has worked with AT&T to subsidize the iPhone to a more attractive price point. The iPhone EDGE was released as an 8GB model for $599 USD, while an iPhone 3G will only run you $199, with the 16GB version following at $299 (of course this is all with a contract from AT&T). In addition to reduced pricing, Apple has stated its goal to release the iPhone 3G in 70 countries this year.

Check the technical specifications on Apple’s website for the dirty details of the new phone.

We’ll have some thoughts from the UMPCPortal team in a later post. Is it a MID? Is it good value? Does it improve the Internet Experience? What about video and cam capabilities? Bluetooth profiles improved?