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Apple Genius "explained" to me the 3GS battery situation

TMar said:
What gets me about it is that there is no reason what so ever to have such settings stored in a backup. If it true tho that would mean that not only is the new CPU's faster but also more efficient.
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We already know it is, that's how it's faster, it uses a tiny bit more power and pumps out quite a bit more ops. Thus more efficient.

Personally I think the CPU has nothing to do with the battery drain. I also think the suggestion in this thread is a load of b*llsh*t. My theory is that it's the radio that is sucking down all the power, most likely a poorly designed gain increase factor.

My basis for this is that at home I have poor signal strength, and at work I have good signal strength.

I use the device equally at home and work, if anything, moreso at work. However I get far better battery performance at work. I will go a full 8 hours and use less than 20% of my battery. At home, in 8 hours, I will do NOTHING with the device (i.e. I will be asleep) and it will use as much as 40% in the same time period!

It's screenlocked this whole time, so wifi is not on. The only logical conclusion is that the radio, which now has a much higher gain due to low signal strength, is causing the problems. The original 3G doesn't suffer nearly as noticeably under the same conditions.

Take it for what you will but I don't believe the backup includes any kind of power settings, I think you're just being duped by a lazy "genius."
 
zacheryjensen said:
We already know it is, that's how it's faster, it uses a tiny bit more power and pumps out quite a bit more ops. Thus more efficient.

Personally I think the CPU has nothing to do with the battery drain. I also think the suggestion in this thread is a load of b*llsh*t. My theory is that it's the radio that is sucking down all the power, most likely a poorly designed gain increase factor.

My basis for this is that at home I have poor signal strength, and at work I have good signal strength.

I use the device equally at home and work, if anything, moreso at work. However I get far better battery performance at work. I will go a full 8 hours and use less than 20% of my battery. At home, in 8 hours, I will do NOTHING with the device (i.e. I will be asleep) and it will use as much as 40% in the same time period!

It's screenlocked this whole time, so wifi is not on. The only logical conclusion is that the radio, which now has a much higher gain due to low signal strength, is causing the problems. The original 3G doesn't suffer nearly as noticeably under the same conditions.

Take it for what you will but I don't believe the backup includes any kind of power settings, I think you're just being duped by a lazy "genius."
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I agree my battery life is significantly better when in an area of good reception. I recently holidayed to an area where my phone had full bars the whole time, got nearly 2 days standby. At home I'll be lucky to get 1 day.. It was much better.. I think alot of these battery variations are due to signal strength.
 
wazza12345 said:
I agree my battery life is significantly better when in an area of good reception. I recently holidayed to an area where my phone had full bars the whole time, got nearly 2 days standby. At home I'll be lucky to get 1 day.. It was much better.. I think alot of these battery variations are due to signal strength.
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Radio transmitter in "uses more battery when it's having to put out a higher-power signal" shocker.
 
alFR said:
Radio transmitter in "uses more battery when it's having to put out a higher-power signal" shocker.
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Appreciate the sarcasm, but it does go a way to explaining the variation we see in people's battery life, and it's not something that's often discussed. "What's the signal power been like where you have had your phone?" Conversation usually revolves around settings on the phone, rather than external factors..
 
Can I get an opinion on this batter life since I restored the phone as a new one?

Usage: 2 hours 35 min. (wifi off, BT on, 3G on, push notification on, push email off, fetch 1 hour, brightness at 30% and auto)

Standby: 10 hours 37 min

54% left
 
gforce216 said:
Can I get an opinion on this batter life since I restored the phone as a new one?

Usage: 2 hours 35 min. (wifi off, BT on, 3G on, push notification on, push email off, fetch 1 hour, brightness at 30% and auto)

Standby: 10 hours 37 min

54% left
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seems pretty much the same as what I have at the moment:
usage: 2hrs 20min
standby: 14hrs 14mins

wifi off, BT off, 3G on, push notification off, push email off, manual fetch 1 hour, brightness at 40%, auto brightness, location services on & crap reception at work :)

usage has been bit of ipod, browsing safari, few other little apps..
i wouldn't be too concerned
 
gforce216 said:
Can I get an opinion on this batter life since I restored the phone as a new one?

Usage: 2 hours 35 min. (wifi off, BT on, 3G on, push notification on, push email off, fetch 1 hour, brightness at 30% and auto)

Standby: 10 hours 37 min

54% left
Click to expand...

You'd have way better numbers with Bluetooth off when you don't use it. I get a decent 60% battery life and I just recorded a 3hr meeting and answered push emails during the meeting and had WiFi and BT off. Just something to consider. Obviously number would be better if I wasn't recording audio for that long.
 
this is all about settings if you really want to conserve battery life. Turn stuff on when you need it and off when ya don't. Let's see some folks have location services on all the time. If you're not using it ask yourself why? That's a huge drain. Bluetooth? Same deal. Screen brightness, yeah you may need that but the other big battery drainers like WiFi, just use them when you need them. Trust me. The battery should last a day unless you're watching a movie and have push notifications on for tweets and email and have your bluetooth headset on and enabled. What do you think your battery life will be then?

Think of it this way, when you cook do you have every ingredient and tool out including appliances in front of you? Or do you pull items out as you use them...etc..

Oh, I have an email - gotta go :)
 
zacheryjensen said:
Personally I think the CPU has nothing to do with the battery drain. I also think the suggestion in this thread is a load of b*llsh*t. My theory is that it's the radio that is sucking down all the power, most likely a poorly designed gain increase factor.

My basis for this is that at home I have poor signal strength, and at work I have good signal strength.

I use the device equally at home and work, if anything, moreso at work. However I get far better battery performance at work. I will go a full 8 hours and use less than 20% of my battery. At home, in 8 hours, I will do NOTHING with the device (i.e. I will be asleep) and it will use as much as 40% in the same time period!

It's screenlocked this whole time, so wifi is not on. The only logical conclusion is that the radio, which now has a much higher gain due to low signal strength, is causing the problems. The original 3G doesn't suffer nearly as noticeably under the same conditions.
Click to expand...

Yeah, only every phone in the world uses more power when it constantly searching for a signal. This isn't anything new.
 
Uhh no improvement in my battery life by doing reset all settings and now I have to restore from backup when I get home because it made me lose my mms+tethering...
 
Quick question kinda off topic though

are application settings/high scores/game saves saved in the backup files or in the application that is synced into iTunes itself?
 
I wish I hadn't seen this thread!
Now I'm paranoid. My iPhone was charged last nite, had 100%. Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi turned off.
I'm at 66% right now.
Really haven't done much. A few phone calls. No ipod use or internet use.
 
sinsin07 said:
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?
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lol

that is what i always say. it's just like the idiots who work for geek squad..give me a break.

if you really know anything, you'd be able to get a job with corporate IT..like the rest of us. hahaa
 
gforce216 said:
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.
Click to expand...

I did some battery tests HERE that prove that what they told you isn't always true. It's probably hit and miss.
 
zacheryjensen said:
My theory is that it's the radio that is sucking down all the power, most likely a poorly designed gain increase factor.
Click to expand...

I have found similar after some testing. I tested a 3GS, 3G, and first-gen iPhone - all with same apps, settings, etc.

-With the phones in airplane mode, all radios off, and using a mix of graphically intense and basic games, apps, etc. the 3GS had best battery usage/standby performance; the first-gen iPhone second best; the 3G, worst.

-With the phones in airplane mode but wifi on, the first-gen iPhone performed best, 3GS second, 3G worst. This included a mix of web browsing, e-mail, and app usage.

-With the cellular radios on, the first-gen lasted longest (no 3g obviously), 3G second, 3GS worst. This included a mix of web browsing, e-mail, and app usage.

Now, I realize that this is NOT scientific, but it does go along with my anecdotal experience that the 3GS has great battery life when playing games, etc, and lower battery life as compared to the two prior generation iPhones when doing anything involving the radios. It seems to me that the radios are drawing power at higher rates than both the 3G and the first-gen iPhones.

I should note that these all had fully-charged, calibrated batteries, and my signal strength here is consistently full for 3G (including some impressive data downstream rates of 2100-2200kbps thanks to some recent AT&T upgrades), and between 2-3 bars for EDGE (applies to the first-gen iPhone only).

All phones had push off, notifications off, location services off, brightness 50% - auto on. For the cell radio test, WiFi was off.

In the end, my 3GS is great and would prefer it not be swapped out. But, then again, getting 3.5-4 hours of usage with no calls isn't acceptable either.

Edit: Clarifying that all devices were set up as new phones. No restore of prior firmware.
 
Do you think it's possible that the 3GS is searching for the 7.2mbps 3G service constantly instead of just the regular 3.6mbps service. I'm not sure how that would work, but I'm just theorizing. Don't they run on separate bands? So maybe the 3GS is looking for the other service thus draining more battery. I think 3.1 is gonna fix the battery issue, whatever it may be.
 
sinsin07 said:
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?
Click to expand...

Does the Apple store really sell me Apples? I like them golden delicious apples.



Chill out. Geniuses are just tech support people, give them a break. They're local representatives of AppleCare. They're not certified in iPods and iPhones, but are trained to help with the different issues. Then they're actually trained and certified in one of the few official locations, like Cupertino or Atlanta.
 
pelicanflip said:
Does the Apple store really sell me Apples? I like them golden delicious apples.



Chill out. Geniuses are just tech support people, give them a break. They're local representatives of AppleCare. They're not certified in iPods and iPhones, but are trained to help with the different issues. Then they're actually trained and certified in one of the few official locations, like Cupertino or Atlanta.
Click to expand...

Your so right. Went in to Apple store the other day and happend by the "Genius" bar. I saw a couple of Geniuses working on a customer phone. They were intent on a looking at a Mac screen and scrolling through. Guess what the Geniuses were reading? MacRumors. Yep, they were using MacRumors to fix an iphone. They even jumped on another Mac and when the the browser loaded, MacRumors was the home page!!! When they caught me looking, one of the Geniuses came running up to the counter waving his arms shouting "Pay no attention to that man at the screen":D

Hey my 100 post, do I get Demi status :D or a least a cookie:p
 
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