Wozniak thinks Apple is lying about 3G battery life
At the recent Australian Communication Industry Association conference, Steve Wozniak made a number of interesting comments about current Apple products, such as the Apple TV, MacBook Air, and the iPhone. While many of his comments are typical “I wish it did this”, or “It’s a little overpriced”, one comment on the iPhone stuck out as interesting to me. Apple has long claimed the decision to support EDGE over 3G is due solely to battery life issues. Woz, however, isn’t buying it.
“I don’t understand why it would be a battery issue. I get as much life on my 3G phones as I do on my non-3G phones. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe I’m not paying close enough attention. But I don’t think that’s it though.â€
I admit to not knowing enough about the technology one way or the other, but I have read this same claim over and over on forums, and now Woz, who I respect as having at least a better than average grasp of the general technology is echoing that feeling. It also makes sense that battery life isn’t the culprit, as (allegedly) we’re getting a 3G iPhone in the next 4 months or so, and there have been no major breakthroughs in 3G chip battery conservation in that time.
Woz in the hot seat
I should probably apologize to Woz (and not just for the photo – it’s the only Woz shot we had on file), as in that same article he mentions that Steve Jobs will often read something Woz has said about Apple and “He calls me and he says he doesn’t like something that I was reputed to have said. But he gets it out of context. A reporter’s seized on a comment and strung along with that.”
Guilty.
But at least I’m not alone. The Macworld article I took that quote from is titled “MacBook Air won’t be a hit: Steve Wozniak“. Maybe don’t answer that iPhone today, Woz.
🙂
Well, you do apologise, but I still have to say it: WHAT IS THAT PICTURE ABOUT??
Actually I think Woz is lying about 3G battery life or because it’s Woz then chances are he’s done something to his phone to get better battery life.
I have a 3G phone and it drains battery just sitting in standby mode. Go to use it and you can almost see the battery life drain. Also don’t forget people would be playing music, e-mailing, and other things the iPhone was designed for and so throw 3G into the mix and the battery will drain quickly.
Well, it’s not only the 3G chipset, it’s also the screen. I know for a fact that a 3G phone operating on a 3G network gets anywhere from 25% to 75% (my mosty recent phone averaged 50%) standby and even less talk times than it would get operating on a conventional network. Add to this the screen consumption, which in the case of the iphone is very high, and the lack of network support, and yes, it’s completely pointless; and I live in Europe.
Broadcom (I think) has released a new chip (about 6 weeks ago) that requires much less power and manages gprs and edge as well (before, they were separate chips), and I believe that a new lower consumption screen is coming out. Presto: 3G iPhone.