China Mobile hooks 15 million iPhones to 2G

China Mobile now has 15 million iPhone users on its network, despite its customers being limited to 2G connections and the handset only having been on sale since August last year. Not that the Chinese waited for the official release: more than seven million of them had already imported iPhones despite the lack of official …

[Anonymous Coward]

Battery problem

I could be wrong, but didn't Steve Jobs say the earlier iPhones didn't have 3G because it consumed more power and the batteries at that time were depleted too quickly? 3G was added when the battery performance improved.

[Lance 3]

Re: Battery problem

The original iPhony had a 3.7v 1400 mAh. The iPhoney 3G has a 3.7v 1150mAh battery. He also said the 3G chip was too big. Rather funny when other manufacturers were not having an issue. However, if the battery technology wasn't there, how come they went with a smaller battery on the iPhoney 3G? The iPhoney 3GS has a 3.7v 1219 mAh battery. The iPhoney 4 had a 3.7v 1420 mAh battery, so a little bigger than the original iPhoney. The iPhoney 4s has the largest of the bunch with a 1432 mAh battery.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Battery problem

The obvious answer is that, over time, chips get smaller (and/or integrated) and use less power.

[Mad Hacker]

Re: Battery problem

You're explanation shows you don't understand about generations of chipsets. Waiting for the next generation of 3G chipsets allowed them to use ones that are more power efficient. Similar to 4G today. Android owners get about 5 hours of 4G use today before their battery dies. The next generation 4G chipset will be smaller and more power efficient and will no doubt make it into the next iPhone.

But the real indicator that you are some sort of juvenile with personal issues is how you spelled iPhone. Did you think that was clever? I assume you spell Obama as "Nobama" because that also makes you sound so damn clever.

[Chad H.]

Someone remind me again

why it was a good idea for china.gov to decide each of the 3G operators in china had to use mutually exclusive standards...

[Chimp]

Re: Someone remind me again

As I recall, it got a bit messy, but was down to the operators themselves in the end.

I've always found mobile internet there pretty good, and well priced. Gets a bit slow out in the boonies.

[Anonymous Coward]

Wifi in China?

I don't think the wifi point is valid in China... what's the legality of wifi there again? Last I heard, iPhones in China didn't have wifi and last time I was in China it was impossibly difficulty to find wifi hotspots. Everybody uses Ethernet there.

[Soruk]

Re: Wifi in China?

When I was there, there was always a CMCC (China Mobile) hotspot, and frequently a number of others, but finding a truly open one was rare but there were a few. This was in the Jiangmen area of Guangdong. The CMCC ones seemed to be for paid subscribers only, but they accepted roaming from other services including T-Mobile's hotspot services. Not that I tried this, as all these paid services seem horrendously expensive.

[Ironfrost]

Re: Wifi in China?

No, the iPhone 3G and original versions of the 3GS didn't have WiFi, but everything since the iPhone 4 and 8GB 3GS has had it. It basically boiled down to support for the Chinese WAPI standard, which is an alternative to the usual WPA encryption/authentication system - the Chinese government wanted to have it included in 802.11, but IEEE/ISO didn't agree so they threw a hissy fit and refused to certify any non-WAPI WiFi equipment.

For a while most phones here didn't have WiFi, but now all the major manufacturers have added WAPI as an alternative authentication option (which nobody uses - I've honestly never seen a WAPI-secured access point) so they can get approved again.

[Long Fei]

Re: Wifi in China?

There's a fair bit of wifi in Beijing and Shanghai, but out in smaller towns (which means pretty much everywhere else) there are few hotspots.

Wifi is quite common in people's apartments now, though the days when they were just about all unencrypted seem to have passed.

[Andrew Woodvine]

Steve Jobs

When Jobs announced the original iPhone he said during the keynote that a 3G model would be coming, so actually no he was not adamant that 3G was unnecessary.