Don't blame the network, blame the phone for dropped calls.
That's the advice from
Broadband-Testing,
a European test lab that tested six of Europe's most popular
high-end/smart phone models for their ability to stay connected
under different conditions.
People are buying sometimes very expensive mobile subscriptions
on features and faith alone, said Steve Broadhead, the lab's
director. "We want to inform users so they can press the handset
vendors and operators to improve the performance of phones before
they go to market," he said.
The researcher tested two phones from RIM and one each from
Apple, Samsung, Nokia and Sony Ericsson. "The results clearly show
that all mobile phones are indeed not created equal when it comes
to making a successful voice call," said Broadhead.
"Although consumers tend to blame the network for failed or
dropped calls, the results clearly highlight the contribution that
the handset can make," he said.
The phones were tested on a mobile device test system from
Spirent Communications to simulate scenarios that users face daily.
Testing was carried out under network conditions found at the edge
of a cell, as well as during handovers between cells or between 2G
and 3G networks. The tests modelled handset performance at rest as
well as moving at pedestrian and at vehicular speeds.
The results showed that no one handset offered optimal
performance in all conditions, he said. "Ironically, some proved to
be less than effective when the user is actually mobile. For
example, the Blackberry Storm really struggled when having to
handover between 3G and 2G cells."
The results also show the difference a firmware upgrade can
make. The Apple iPhone 3G was tested with both its original 2.0
firmware and the 2.2 upgrade. "The upgrade turned a smart phone
that was almost unusable as a phone into one of the best performers
in the test," Broadhead said.
Dean Bubley, director of
Disruptive
Analysis, a mobile analyst, said handset performance testing
was increasingly important. "As mobile operators migrate towards
the very high speed 4G/LTE (Long Term Evolution) network, and with
increasing focus on smart phones as laptop/netbook replacements,
the performance capabilities of all aspects of the handset,
including voice, become more crucial," he said.
He said current certification and type approval did not test a
handset's true performance. "Based on the results we've seen from
these tests, we believe it is necessary and valuable to measure
handset performance objectively."
Source: Broadband-Testing