3GS battery life problems? Calibrate your battery first.

[firewood]

My 3GS showed a greatly improved battery life after a couple full calibration cycles.

If the battery calibration is off, the phone might be telling you that it has a full charge when it only has a 75% charge, and that it's empty when the battery still has 25% left.

Charge it an hour or two past full and it will now know what full the full level really is. Let it run down past the 10% warning till it shuts off (can't hurt the phone or the battery because of the new battery protection circuitry) and it will learn how low empty really is.

The real actual battery life won't change, but you will be able to use your phone for twice as long, because the battery meter and warnings will be calibrated more correctly.

With Li-Ion devices, I might do this about once or twice a year (the battery doesn't age fast enough for once a month to make any difference.)

ymmv.

 

[geoffreak]

Good idea. I'll be doing this to my 3GS today.

 

[chakraj]

Ya, I did this and my battery is now acting normally, it was very bad before. I was going to return it it only lasted 7hrs. with out even talking to much. Now it is lasting almost 2 days

 

[joro]

Good post, I have been doing a similar cycling process and my battery life is ten-fold more accurate and does seem to be lasting longer.

 

[Stiss]

Apple actually recommend you to do this with MacBooks.

Check there website.

 

[jmpage2]

This is definitely a good idea with Lithium Ion batteries!

Just remember that this is something to do once or twice a year. Running the Lion battery down all the time will actually hurt the battery performance in the long run.