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Battery life on my 3GS - is it just me?

ravenvii

ravenvii

macrumors 604
Original poster
Mar 17, 2004
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Melenkurion Skyweir
I'd take it into the Apple Store to ask for a replacement, but I don't want to seem like a whiner, so I want to make sure it's not normal (in other words, a problematic battery).

I used my iPhone 3GS while on a trip to NYC last week. It was on the battery for 10 hours, but was on standby almost the whole time (I only took it out to look at the map for a minute, and to take a couple of photos, that's it). When I came back home that night, I noticed the battery is close to the red zone.

The battery almost depleted by about 10 hours of standby? My original iPhone could stay in standby for 3 days before depleting the battery. Isn't the new iPhone batteries supposed to be better?

I just wanted to check if this is normal, or I should take it into the Apple Store and ask for a replacement?
 
My 3GS battery has shown significant improvement over my 3G. Recently I had a marithon day at work, the phone usage screen showed 17 hours of standby and 6 hours of use! A significant amount of that was spent talking on edge and web browsing over 3g network.
 
That's NOT normal. Get it replaced. My battery life was kinda ****** at first, but after about 3 charge cycles the life greatly improved. Maybe charge and discharge yours a few times and see what happens.
 
If you recovered from 2G/3G, then I would suggest doing a restore as well. This really helped me...also I turn 3G off when I don't need the internet. No need to have it drain the battery.
 
I took mine to the app store and they replaced it. My new unit is 1000x better than my first 3GS.

Yes, there are relatively widespread issues with the 3GS battery life in certain units. Yes, the Apple store will replace your unit. And yes, it made a drastic difference for me.
 
10 hours?
Perhaps you're just noticing the reduction in battery life from push notification?
 
hierobryan said:
That's NOT normal. Get it replaced. My battery life was kinda ****** at first, but after about 3 charge cycles the life greatly improved. Maybe charge and discharge yours a few times and see what happens.
Click to expand...

Yeah. Before you go in to the Apple store, make sure you charge and discharge it a few times. Don't force it. Use it normally. If you are still getting really crappy times, then I would go in. I would say about a week of normal use. It could just be that while you were traveling, it couldn't pick up a signal and was wasting away battery. Or you had some sort of memory leak. I would restart the phone every once in awhile. Don't rush in to the Apple store if you don't need to :p
 
10 hours?
Perhaps you're just noticing the reduction in battery life from push notification?
 
Did you take the subway? Constantly looking for a connection when there is none may be a factor also.
 
I was having fast battery discharge times with my 3 gs until
Saturday, a week after first getting it. Well l charged it up and now it's dramatically better than my old 3g which my wife uses.

Don't know what happened but perhaps it is:eek: breaking in a new battery or calibrating it properly.

Now I am 13 hours since taking it off the charger and I have been using itl day - a few emails, surfing the web, phone calls and the iPod- and have 77% charge. This time last week I would be 40-50% And not that happy.

Now pleased as punch.
 
ravenvii said:
I'd take it into the Apple Store to ask for a replacement, but I don't want to seem like a whiner, so I want to make sure it's not normal (in other words, a problematic battery).

I used my iPhone 3GS while on a trip to NYC last week. It was on the battery for 10 hours, but was on standby almost the whole time (I only took it out to look at the map for a minute, and to take a couple of photos, that's it). When I came back home that night, I noticed the battery is close to the red zone.

The battery almost depleted by about 10 hours of standby? My original iPhone could stay in standby for 3 days before depleting the battery. Isn't the new iPhone batteries supposed to be better?

I just wanted to check if this is normal, or I should take it into the Apple Store and ask for a replacement?
Click to expand...

I have had two 3GS phones now - the first exchanged due to the "nicotine yellow" colouring and currently have a second one that will be going back for a refund later in the week. The second one also has the nicotine problem (same batch, similar serial number to the last) *AND* has serious battery problems too! I noticed this straight after getting it home from the store that it needed recharging .. then after 20 minutes light play (basic setting up and wifi connection with maybe 5 minutes of browsing time) to then put the phone to one side and pick it back up later in the evening found it to be dead again (recharge time!) .. I also noticed during the 20 minutes of use that it was getting 'noticeably warm' to the touch!

If you have any hint of a problem you better get it sorted whilst you can - because you will definately be having major issues down the line otherwise.
 
hierobryan said:
That's NOT normal. Get it replaced. My battery life was kinda ****** at first, but after about 3 charge cycles the life greatly improved. Maybe charge and discharge yours a few times and see what happens.
Click to expand...

Completely discharging your battery before giving it a full charge will absolutely help battery life. Not saying you have to do that every time, but a couple times a month will help.
 
I did a full charge cycle last night and I'm at 90% already after only using it for 38 minutes. Is that normal? I loaded 2 web pages, played 10 minutes of music and text'd a few times. Seems like my battery should be draining slower than that. I'm not in a weak coverage area either.
 
I have 1.5 hours of usage and 3.75 hours of standby and I'm at 71%.

I used Loopt once, Pro RSS a few times, Facebook twice, SMSed a half dozen times, and browsed on Safari for about 10 minutes.

Does this sound normal? I cycled my iPhone twice since I got it when it came out and I also restored from my 3G babckup.

I'm wondering if I should restore as a new iPhone. Has anyone seen a big difference in battery life when restoring as a new phone?

I'm thinking about cycling it once or twice more just to see if there is a difference. Thanks for any responses to my questions!

Edit: I also have 3G enabled, push notifications, find my iPhone, bluetooth disabled, wifi enabled.
 
WOW just by closing all safari pages when i was at 80%, i lasted for 6 hours and 25 minutes. Now im testing how much i can get from closing safari pages, starting from 100% battery
 
nope

It can't be just you, if there are already at least 30 threads of this nature. It will get better, and yes there are some techniquest to make it better.

Seems push is not optimized YET, I'll give it a bit of time.
Seems 3g in poor coverage areas, could create more battery drain, switch to 2g if necessary.
keep location services off when not needed.
 
This is my first Iphone (3gS)..and coming from a G1 wich made love to the charger constantly..I'm wondering if this is good battery life.. took my phone off the charger today @ 700am right now its almost 1pm.and im @ 44%..with 3 hours and 29 minutes of usage and 6 hrs 4 mins standby time....I use it for music on the train..made a 3 minute phone call..I played about 20 minutes of a game..and ive been listening music..all day here at work..Im going to power cycle the phone this evening..So can somebody tell me if this is good or bad..Btw the push is set for every 30 min.Screen brigthness is @ 70% im on 3G and location services is turned on
 
sparrow

how many cycles? I think that makes a big diff.

LBS takes a lot of power, as does screen. at 70% brightness, I think you wont get a day. I keep mine at 50% or 40% depending.
 
enigmaverse said:
also if you are using exchange disable it. Mine battery life was crap (<5 hours). I disabled exchange and my battery only burned 20% today (mostly standby)
Click to expand...

That has got to be the worst advice.....If someone is using exchange why would they disable it?
 
taran420 said:
WOW just by closing all safari pages when i was at 80%, i lasted for 6 hours and 25 minutes. Now im testing how much i can get from closing safari pages, starting from 100% battery
Click to expand...

Wow..i've heard about this..that's awesome! But Why the hell do we have to close Safari pages for improved battery life?
 
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