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9 hours 34 minutes later...

Eso

Eso

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Aug 14, 2008
2,067
1,023
I've been suspecting that my 3GS battery is sub par. The threads I kept reading about defective batteries, however, were about the battery draining almost completely overnight without any usage. Plus, I noticed that 3G drains the battery faster (coming from a 2G) so I thought maybe it was all in my head. Even after a few discharge cycles, however, I always averaged 5 hours of usage. I thought that was alright, but I was concerned because most of my usage was either WiFi browsing or just using apps that mostly don't use data (no games). I really expected to be getting closer to 8 hours of that type of use.

Last night I ran a little experiment. I charged my iPhone to 100% and as soon as I took it off the charger, I plugged in the headphones and started playing the iPod overnight until I found it dead in the morning. With the usage literally 100% iPod with the screen locked, here are my results (after plugging it in and waiting for it to turn on):

IMG_0074.png

Settings are:
3G on (full bars)
WiFi associated with a network
50% volume
50% brightness (screen was off anyways)
Location services on

Well, my suspicions have been confirmed. It is rated for 30 hours of iPod usage, and I barely got more usage than is rated for continuous WiFi browsing! Terrible.

What is the best way to approach the genius bar? I'm sure they will tell me to restore as as new iPhone, but that isn't really an option for me as I have quite a bit of information in 3rd party app backups (as well as call history, text messages, etc.) that I can not sync to my desktop and I don't want to lose it.
 
Eso said:
Well, my suspicions have been confirmed. It is rated for 30 hours of iPod usage, and I barely got more usage than is rated for continuous WiFi browsing! Terrible.
Click to expand...

Aren't the 30 hour ratings for iPod usage, etc, best case estimates -- that is, wouldn't it be 30 hours in airplane mode and not 30 hours with 3G, BT, and Wifi on? Not saying your battery life isn't subpar, but....
 
But you had 3g and wifi on. I could be wrong, but I don't think it matters if you are actually using them or not; having them on will drain your battery.
 
mkrishnan said:
Aren't the 30 hour ratings for iPod usage, etc, best case estimates -- that is, wouldn't it be 30 hours in airplane mode and not 30 hours with 3G, BT, and Wifi on? Not saying your battery life isn't subpar, but....
Click to expand...

Not exactly. Quoted from the apple battery test

"Audio Playback
Testing conducted by Apple in May 2009 using preproduction iPhone 3GS units and software. The playlist consisted of 358 unique audio tracks, a combination of content imported from CDs using iTunes (128-Kbps AAC encoding) and content purchased from the iTunes Store (256-Kbps AAC encoding). All settings were default except: Call Forwarding was turned on; Wi-Fi was associated with a network; the Wi-Fi feature Ask to Join Networks and Auto-Brightness were turned off. Battery life depends on the cellular network, location, signal strength, feature configuration, usage, and many other factors. Battery tests are conducted using specific iPhone units; actual results may vary.

Testing conducted by Apple in May and June 2008 using preproduction iPhone 3G units and software. The playlist consisted of 358 unique audio tracks, a combination of content imported from CDs using iTunes (128-Kbps AAC encoding) and content purchased from the iTunes Store (128-Kbps AAC encoding). All settings were default except: Call Forwarding was turned on; the Wi-Fi feature Ask to Join Networks was turned off. Wi-Fi was enabled but not associated with a network. Battery life depends on the cellular network, location, signal strength, feature configuration, usage, and many other factors. Battery tests are conducted using specific iPhone units; actual results may vary."
 
Why in the world would you ever run any battery test in Airplane mode?

I learned long ago that it disconnects from WiFi when the screen is locked so it is safe to leave WiFi on all the time. It's only a factor when you have the screen on but aren't using any data over WiFi, however I've found that the difference is negligible.

3G does drain a bit more than edge, but it's rated at 300 hours of standby time anyways, no reason to turn it off. Plus, it'd be really nice to be using 3G as it is a 3GS and I am paying $10 more per month for it.
 
The General said:
So they can advertise much better battery.
Click to expand...

Reading comprehension 4tw.

"Audio Playback
Testing conducted by Apple in May 2009 using preproduction iPhone 3GS units and software. The playlist consisted of 358 unique audio tracks, a combination of content imported from CDs using iTunes (128-Kbps AAC encoding) and content purchased from the iTunes Store (256-Kbps AAC encoding). All settings were default except: Call Forwarding was turned on; Wi-Fi was associated with a network; the Wi-Fi feature Ask to Join Networks and Auto-Brightness were turned off. Battery life depends on the cellular network, location, signal strength, feature configuration, usage, and many other factors. Battery tests are conducted using specific iPhone units; actual results may vary.

Testing conducted by Apple in May and June 2008 using preproduction iPhone 3G units and software. The playlist consisted of 358 unique audio tracks, a combination of content imported from CDs using iTunes (128-Kbps AAC encoding) and content purchased from the iTunes Store (128-Kbps AAC encoding). All settings were default except: Call Forwarding was turned on; the Wi-Fi feature Ask to Join Networks was turned off. Wi-Fi was enabled but not associated with a network. Battery life depends on the cellular network, location, signal strength, feature configuration, usage, and many other factors. Battery tests are conducted using specific iPhone units; actual results may vary."
Click to expand...
 
mkrishnan said:
Okay, point taken. I guess I would still question how close those numbers are to real life, though. Does anyone actually get 30 hours under those conditions?

In any event, I'm sure you can go in and ask the Genius to replace it. I'm less sure the replacement will be much better.
Click to expand...

The problems with the battery tests done by Apple is that they don't say how many phones they used for the test. You need a certain number to get a statistically significant result. If they just used one phone (exaggerating), then their results are meaningless.

Is 3G on by default? Can't remember.
 
Variation is to be expected, of course. If I had gotten about 25 hours that would be within 15% of the rated life, which I would say is within an acceptable margin. But at just over 9 hours it's 32% of the rating - surely that's a bit outside the curve...
 
Location Services is what is killing your battery, turn it off and turn it on only when you need it, without Location Services on I can get 2 days of normal use between charges, with it on depending on my travels I can get 8-9 hours before a charge is needed.
 
iphone.aggie said:
The problems with the battery tests done by Apple is that they don't say how many phones they used for the test. You need a certain number to get a statistically significant result. If they just used one phone (exaggerating), then their results are meaningless.

Is 3G on by default? Can't remember.
Click to expand...

Yes, 3G is on by default.
 
cyclingplatypus said:
Location Services is what is killing your battery, turn it off and turn it on only when you need it, without Location Services on I can get 2 days of normal use between charges, with it on depending on my travels I can get 8-9 hours before a charge is needed.
Click to expand...

Listening to music with the screen locked doesn't use location services at all.
 
Did you restart your phone before doing the test? When you open up apps, parts of them remain running in your memory, especially if you leave pages opened up in Safari. My guess is that you have lots of apps on your phone and this benchmark test refers to having no apps. There are lots of variables that you happend to neglect. Safari is the biggest thing. If I leave a full web page opened in Safari and leave my phone on standby, I get about 25-35% less battery then I do if I close everything out.
 
Unless your iPhone is running out of battery before the day is over with what you'd consider to be your 'normal' usage, leave it the hell alone.

I have sympathy for folk who have dodgy batteries/iPhone's that are dying part way through their day. But if mine makes it to bed time then that's fine, and being the sort of person I am I think that should be fine for everybody else, too ;)

The thing is under warranty for a year, if things get really bad then it can be replaced at a later date.
 
If you leave WiFi and Location Services ON all the time, you will NEVER get 9+ hours on a charge. Those services should be turned on as needed or pay the price.
 
STEVESKI07 said:
Did you restart your phone before doing the test? When you open up apps, parts of them remain running in your memory, especially if you leave pages opened up in Safari. My guess is that you have lots of apps on your phone and this benchmark test refers to having no apps. There are lots of variables that you happend to neglect. Safari is the biggest thing. If I leave a full web page opened in Safari and leave my phone on standby, I get about 25-35% less battery then I do if I close everything out.
Click to expand...

Okay now you're just making things up. App store apps close completely, Safari may stay open, but just have a page loaded in the background takes no CPU whatsoever. All it would do is use a few more MB of RAM. That wouldn't reduce your battery life by 25-35%.
 
cyclingplatypus said:
Location Services is what is killing your battery, turn it off and turn it on only when you need it, without Location Services on I can get 2 days of normal use between charges, with it on depending on my travels I can get 8-9 hours before a charge is needed.
Click to expand...

2 days?!?!?!? What is "normal usage" for you? I barely get 1 day.
 
digitalfx said:
If you leave WiFi and Location Services ON all the time, you will NEVER get 9+ hours on a charge. Those services should be turned on as needed or pay the price.
Click to expand...

I thought the appeal of Apple was that you didn't have to micro manage their devices?
 
STEVESKI07 said:
Did you restart your phone before doing the test? When you open up apps, parts of them remain running in your memory, especially if you leave pages opened up in Safari. My guess is that you have lots of apps on your phone and this benchmark test refers to having no apps. There are lots of variables that you happend to neglect. Safari is the biggest thing. If I leave a full web page opened in Safari and leave my phone on standby, I get about 25-35% less battery then I do if I close everything out.
Click to expand...

Totally bogus.
 
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