Poor ol’ EDGE. It’s the Rodney Dangerfield of wireless data technology thanks to the bum rap of its relatively slower download and upload speeds compared to 3G and up. A little respect might be in order as of today. Nokia Siemens just introduced the first phase of EDGE Evolution with download speeds up to 592 kbps. That’s double the current EDGE standard. EGPRS 2 is the following step which offers another doubling for EDGE; that’s almost 1.2 Mbps. Here’s the best part: according to the press release, the speed boost will be available via a software upgrade for EDGE radios in the third quarter of this year. Probably worth noting that Om Malik thinks those first generation iPhones might get upgraded. If he’s right, will there be a need for a 3G iPhone after all? All in all, good news for mobile tech, but I’m really curious what this will do to battery life since current EDGE devices use less power than faster 3G radios. Since it’s a software upgrade, perhaps we’ll get the speed boost without too much (or any) of a battery hit.(via the::unwired)