I've had my 32gb 3GS for 2 weeks now and the battery life was weaker than my 3G. It wasn't too noticeable but I could tell it wasn't showing better performance or performance equal to that of my 3G. I took it to the Apple Store today and a Genius told me that they have diagnosed the problem from backups from previous iPhone models. She said that the power settings for the 2G iPhone and 3G iPhone were designed for the type of hardware that the phone ran on. Now that the 3GS has a stronger processor and graphics card, the power settings are different. I was told to restore my iPhone as a New Phone. I did this and so far the battery seems to be stronger. I've only had it running for today so far but I notice that the battery meter is much more accurate and the battery % isn't ticking down as quickly as before. Now I don't know how much truth to this Genius' story there is, but I'll take it for now. At least until 3.1 comes out.
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Apple Genius "explained" to me the 3GS battery situation
- Thread starter gforce216
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Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
I lost my text messages and saved settings. That's all. I saved my photos earlier so I kept them. Everything else I still have. I have 91% left with 36 min of usage and 50 min standby. I've been testing constantly and I'm using safari to post this so judge the battery life yourself.
You can restore from a backup, the Genius was only half right.
After you restore, go to settings-general-reset- reset all settings. Your call logs and data remain, you just have to set up your preferences again, thats all.
After you restore, go to settings-general-reset- reset all settings. Your call logs and data remain, you just have to set up your preferences again, thats all.
You can't tell anything from that short of time, but actually that's not too good for the time you've tested. I don't see how restoring new should help battery life. It would be nice if some of the more knowledgeable people on this site would weigh in on that. I'm wondering what TheSpaz thinks, for one. He's just one person that pops to mind.
Yes, you could, but supposedly some on here think it has to be new to work. I say BS, but I'm open to an explanation.
Please...let's not summon him into this thread.
Besides, he's probably too busy critiquing some minor graphical glitches in the iPhone's OS. Let's not bother him.
I restored from backup, had terrible battery life and other random issues and lags. I did the reset and problem solved. Have you seen anyone say that this HASN'T worked? Not sure what other proof you need.
Yes, for me. I restored as a new phone several times and battery life was still poor. Got a replacement, and it's a little better. Certainly not better than my 3G was.
Alright so let me get a judgement on my battery now from some folks.
Usage 55 min (3G on, location on,bluetooth on, wifi off, push off, fetch 1 hour, push notifications for 3 apps, brightness at about 30%, auto brightness on)
Standby: 1 hour 16 min
86% left
Thoughts?
Usage 55 min (3G on, location on,bluetooth on, wifi off, push off, fetch 1 hour, push notifications for 3 apps, brightness at about 30%, auto brightness on)
Standby: 1 hour 16 min
86% left
Thoughts?
I totally see the "proof" from some. It would be nice to just have an explanation.
And "he who should not be named" was just an example of a person to ask.
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
what about app info, call log, favorites, re set-up email accounts, contact pictures and ringtones, etc etc??
I'm a little confused.
I owned a 3G from that launch.
This past weekend, I added my wife to a family plan, gave her my 3G and I got the new 3GS.
When I got home, I connected the 3GS, it saw it was a new device and asked if I want to restore from backup.
I went ahead and did that.
Was that the right procedure?
Should I restore to factory and sync like it is a new phone?
Battery life isn't too bad but not the improvement I expected.
I owned a 3G from that launch.
This past weekend, I added my wife to a family plan, gave her my 3G and I got the new 3GS.
When I got home, I connected the 3GS, it saw it was a new device and asked if I want to restore from backup.
I went ahead and did that.
Was that the right procedure?
Should I restore to factory and sync like it is a new phone?
Battery life isn't too bad but not the improvement I expected.
I've learned that certain apps contribute to battery life as well.
When I first got my 3GS, I didn't put anything on it; just used the apps that come on the phone. I had awesome battery life. Then I installed apps and it was still good, then push apps came along and somewhere along the lines my battery life became crappy. I took all the apps off and reset all my settings and all was well again. I put most of my apps back and since have had good battery life.
When I first got my 3GS, I didn't put anything on it; just used the apps that come on the phone. I had awesome battery life. Then I installed apps and it was still good, then push apps came along and somewhere along the lines my battery life became crappy. I took all the apps off and reset all my settings and all was well again. I put most of my apps back and since have had good battery life.
What was the point of posting the screenshot?
Your battery is fully charged and you have zero usage and zero standby times.
Oh CRAP! I just realized that I plugged the damn thing in; oh well, my battery sure charges fast.....
And I've got FULL bars....
Why the hell would some graphic designer be considered knowledgeable on a software issue? How embarrassing for you to think TheTroll might know anything about it.
I've seen you inquire about this before in another thread. There will probably never be an answer as to just what exactly about backups from previous phone are causing it. Perhaps the genius knew what she was talking about, perhaps it just a super cool story bro. Either way, there is definitely an issue. I was one of those that fell somewhere between feeling like the battery was improved and those that lost all their charge overnight. While the usage time I could get was workable, battery life was worse than my 2G even when 3G was turned off. Luckily, since I do have both phones, I restored my original as a backup of my 3GS, and restored the 3GS as a new phone. The battery life has most definitely improved.
For example, with my previous settings the most I ever got out of it was 5 hours 36 minutes and 29 hours of standby with 85% of my usage being using WiFi. That's not that bad. It's equal to or worse what I was consistently getting from my 2G, however, which has an inferior battery and battery life rating.
After restoring as a new phone, however, I'm currently sitting at 80% battery life with 1 hour 11 mintues usage and 21 hours 51 minutes of standby. Extrapolated out over 100% battery life that's 5 hours 55 mintues of usage and 109 hours, 15 minutes standby. That's much better performance and inline with the battery life rating attributed to the 3GS. This is without push (notifications, email, or otherwise) and with 3G turned off while on standby.
Sorry, that is just plain B#@% S#%@ The term "Genius" is a misnomer. Think about it, if the were real geniuses, would they be working at an Apple store?