Results 1 to 16 of 16

Thread: iPhone internet browsing over GPRS...

  1. #1
    Almost in control. autopilot's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Region 2
    Posts
    4,071
    Thanks
    51
    Thanked
    12 times in 11 posts

    iPhone internet browsing over GPRS...

    I think holding me back from buying an iPhone is how much i will miss Opera Mini. I browse the net on my Nokia a lot and most of the time i'm out of 3G signal, yet pages load quickly. As Opera Mini is not available for iPhone, and probably never will be, so i'm worried that browsing with Safari over GPRS is going to be a frustrating and painful experience.

    What are people's thoughts here? How do you find it? Is there anything that can be done to improve things?

  2. #2
    Does he need a reason? Funkstar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Aberdeen
    Posts
    19,874
    Thanks
    630
    Thanked
    965 times in 816 posts
    • Funkstar's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte EG45M-DS2H
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core2Quad Q9550 (2.83GHz)
      • Memory:
      • 8GB OCZ PC2-6400C5 800MHz Quad Channel
      • Storage:
      • 650GB Western Digital Caviar Blue
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 512MB ATI Radeon HD4550
      • PSU:
      • Antec 350W 80+ Efficient PSU
      • Case:
      • Antec NSK1480 Slim Mini Desktop Case
      • Operating System:
      • Vista Ultimate 64bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell 2407 + 2408 monitors
      • Internet:
      • Zen 8mb

    Re: iPhone internet browsing over GPRS...

    I suspect it will be like when I was using my Kaiser and Touch Diamond 2 for internet access in my old flat and only connecting with GPRS.

    It wasn't pleasant. It worked, but wasn't great. Opera on my laptop was often reporting less than 1KByte/sec downloads. This is on T-Mobile though.

    Adverts on forums were interesting.

  3. #3
    Registered+
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    25
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts

    Re: iPhone internet browsing over GPRS...

    iPhone 3Gs is much much much better than the early version.


    For me, my next mobile will be new iPhone.

  4. #4
    Senior Member burble's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Olney
    Posts
    1,138
    Thanks
    8
    Thanked
    90 times in 89 posts

    Re: iPhone internet browsing over GPRS...

    Quote Originally Posted by o0julius0o View Post
    iPhone 3Gs is much much much better than the early version.
    True, but the 3G coverage from O2 is pretty woeful and even when you have a 3G signal the throughput isn't fantastic.

    The iPhone is a great phone that's marred greatly by O2.

  5. #5
    Almost in control. autopilot's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Region 2
    Posts
    4,071
    Thanks
    51
    Thanked
    12 times in 11 posts

    Re: iPhone internet browsing over GPRS...

    Quote Originally Posted by burble View Post
    True, but the 3G coverage from O2 is pretty woeful and even when you have a 3G signal the throughput isn't fantastic.

    The iPhone is a great phone that's marred greatly by O2.
    Yep, it is. I was in France a few weeks back and i was flabbergasted by their 3G coverage - in the middle of nowhere, miles from any large village (let alone a town) and i has rock solid 3G signal.

    I dont know what other networks are like though in the UK, as i only get O2 where i live (4 miles from a large town, yet not a sniff of 3G).

    Apple don't help either. I'm pretty set on an iPhone, but in the back of my mind i cant stop thinking about the Hero running Opera Mini. Opera Mini is an absolute marvel, if only Apple could take their heads out of their ****hole and let people provide alternative browsers. The Apple fanboys rave about Safari, which i am sure is great with 3g or wifi, but i have very limited access to both where i wish to browse the net most often.

  6. #6
    Senior Member burble's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Olney
    Posts
    1,138
    Thanks
    8
    Thanked
    90 times in 89 posts

    Re: iPhone internet browsing over GPRS...

    Safari is OK, it's nothing special and not a patch on Opera Mini.

  7. #7
    Studmuffin Flibb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Kent
    Posts
    4,904
    Thanks
    31
    Thanked
    324 times in 277 posts
    • Flibb's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3
      • CPU:
      • AMD FX-6300
      • Memory:
      • 16GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3 PC3-12800
      • Storage:
      • Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250G
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 3GB MSI Radeon HD 7950 Twin Frozr
      • PSU:
      • FSP
      • Operating System:
      • Win7 64bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • Deffl TFT thing

    Re: iPhone internet browsing over GPRS...

    I use a touch diamond 2 on t-mob, default browser is opera, although I fiddle and have 4 browsers installed to play with. 3G / HSDPA is very good around here, a lot of other people struggle for any phone connection here, let alone 3G.

  8. #8
    ALT0153™ Rob_B's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Posts
    6,088
    Thanks
    345
    Thanked
    700 times in 484 posts

    Re: iPhone internet browsing over GPRS...

    Regarding the 3GS it will render faster but obviously not make up for a slow GPRS connection.

    If you jailbreak the phone you can install adblock & also add an option to safari to not load images (not a perfect solution I realise) which would help.

    As Opera can be had as a java app could you use that with a jailbroken iPhone (?!)
    Last edited by Rob_B; 14-09-2009 at 06:27 PM.

  9. #9
    Registered+ Zathras's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Canary Wharf/Richmond
    Posts
    1,454
    Thanks
    13
    Thanked
    7 times in 4 posts

    Re: iPhone internet browsing over GPRS...

    I use a 2G iPhone via GPRS (T-mobile) and often find it opens smaller pages as quick as, if not faster than my girlfriend's 3G Nokia E63 on Three. I had Opera Mini on my old WM phone and personally I much prefer Safari.

  10. #10
    Almost in control. autopilot's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Region 2
    Posts
    4,071
    Thanks
    51
    Thanked
    12 times in 11 posts

    Re: iPhone internet browsing over GPRS...

    Quote Originally Posted by Rob_B View Post
    If you jailbreak the phone you can install adblock & add an option to safari to not load images (not a perfect solution I realise) which would help.
    Unless adblock somehow works server side, which i cant see how it does, its not going to reduce the amount of data sent over my connection though is it? I cant see how it would really help.

  11. #11
    ALT0153™ Rob_B's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Posts
    6,088
    Thanks
    345
    Thanked
    700 times in 484 posts

    Re: iPhone internet browsing over GPRS...

    Umm..I imagine it works the same as the real adblock for normal browsers, if the image is on www.insertnameofadserver.com or the list of 'blocked' sites then it doesn't load/request the image reducing the amount of data

  12. Received thanks from:

    autopilot (14-09-2009)

  13. #12
    Does he need a reason? Funkstar's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Aberdeen
    Posts
    19,874
    Thanks
    630
    Thanked
    965 times in 816 posts
    • Funkstar's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte EG45M-DS2H
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core2Quad Q9550 (2.83GHz)
      • Memory:
      • 8GB OCZ PC2-6400C5 800MHz Quad Channel
      • Storage:
      • 650GB Western Digital Caviar Blue
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 512MB ATI Radeon HD4550
      • PSU:
      • Antec 350W 80+ Efficient PSU
      • Case:
      • Antec NSK1480 Slim Mini Desktop Case
      • Operating System:
      • Vista Ultimate 64bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell 2407 + 2408 monitors
      • Internet:
      • Zen 8mb

    Re: iPhone internet browsing over GPRS...

    Quote Originally Posted by autopilot View Post
    Unless adblock somehow works server side, which i cant see how it does, its not going to reduce the amount of data sent over my connection though is it? I cant see how it would really help.
    Yes it is actually, thats the point of it.

    Adblock stops ads from being downloaded, not just displayed.

  14. Received thanks from:

    autopilot (14-09-2009)

  15. #13
    Almost in control. autopilot's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Region 2
    Posts
    4,071
    Thanks
    51
    Thanked
    12 times in 11 posts

    Re: iPhone internet browsing over GPRS...

    Quote Originally Posted by Rob_B View Post
    Umm..I imagine it works the same as the real adblock for normal browsers, if the image is on www.insertnameofadserver.com or the list of 'blocked' sites then it doesn't load/request the image reducing the amount of data
    Excellent, i will take a look, thanks

  16. #14
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    7
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts

    Re: iPhone internet browsing over GPRS...

    I also like the Opera Mini but Safari's REALLY good too even if you use EDGE, 3G or WiFi.

  17. #15
    Almost in control. autopilot's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Region 2
    Posts
    4,071
    Thanks
    51
    Thanked
    12 times in 11 posts

    Re: iPhone internet browsing over GPRS...

    Have had the iPhone for a couple of weeks now and I have to say it's not as bad over GPRS as I thought, especially with mainly text based forums once cached. Also some of the benifits of Opera mini are offset by the fact that mini has to reload the page everytime you do anything that normally does not require a complete page reload, like toggling a check box, forum quick edits etc. On the whole, I'm absolutly amazed how good web browsing on the iPhone is.

  18. #16
    Theoretical Element Spud1's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    North West
    Posts
    7,494
    Thanks
    335
    Thanked
    313 times in 249 posts
    • Spud1's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte Aorus Master
      • CPU:
      • 9900k
      • Memory:
      • 16GB GSkill Trident Z
      • Storage:
      • Lots.
      • Graphics card(s):
      • RTX3090
      • PSU:
      • 750w
      • Case:
      • BeQuiet Dark Base Pro rev.2
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • Asus PG35VQ
      • Internet:
      • 910/100mb Fibre

    Re: iPhone internet browsing over GPRS...

    glad you are getting on with it.

    I was going to post in support of safari lol..when I had my 2g iPhone I used it quite a lot for web browsing over edge/gprs and it was pretty good tbh on most sites. The browser itself is easier to use and dare i say better than opera mini, but just slower. What would be ideal is a combination of the two - the UI and rendering from Safari with the caching and speed optimisations of opera mini.

  19. Received thanks from:

    autopilot (09-10-2009)

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Possible to use my free my 3G Internet from my iphone on my laptop ?
    By jamieuk23 in forum Networking and Broadband
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 09-07-2009, 08:10 PM
  2. Quad Core PC For Internet Browsing?
    By amjedm in forum PC Hardware and Components
    Replies: 21
    Last Post: 19-07-2008, 01:53 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •