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One thing I noticed about e-mails is that even though I have it set to get emails every hour, it seems that it's alerting me to them like 5 minutes after I get them. That could be draining the battery. I recently just got to 21 hours 55 minutes standby and 4 hours 41 minutes of usage before hitting 20%. That seems a lot better to me than what I was getting. The 4 hours 41 minutes usage was a mix of music, web browsing on 3G, like a 3 minute video on YouTube on 3G and text messaging. I think like two 5 minute phone calls in there too.
 
I was having problems the first few days, due mostly to me using it may more than i would normally. Today i have been using my phone more simaliarly to how i would use it everyday. The battery has been much better today. It seems like the battery is getting better the more i use it.

I did make a few changes though. I turn notifactions off and location services off....everything else is on and i am running as normal.

Tomorrow i am going turn location services back on to see if there is any difference.

usage 2hours
standby 4 hours, 22 mins
84% battery.....
 
I was having the same problem mine was so bad I would be using the phone and watching the percentage drop about a percentage point every 2-3 minutes. I decided I would bring the phone back so what the hell I would blow it out and set it up as a new phone and then sync everything instead of doing a restore when I originally set the phone up on launch day.Well let me tell you I went from about 3hrs on a charge with everything turned off to 14 hours with everything turned on and I still have 62% remaining!! I think restoring from my 3g backup probably screwed it up, I don't know how many out there did not set up as a new phone and did a restore but this solved my problem big time ! I hope this helps some of you out there.

Love my iPhone 3G S⃣
 
hehehe....turning on auto brightness and adding a second push email account seems to have upped my consumption levels a bit.

This charge cycle I just hit the 20% mark with 4h 16m of usage (phone, web, email, games) and 1d 11h of standby. I think I got close to 2 days standby and similar usage when I had it off. Still, can't complain if I can go almost 2 full days between charges!
 
Right now I am at 2 hours usage, 12.5 hours standby and im running at 60% power. I have push on for email, contacts, calendars, and apps. I have location services on also and screen brightness around 25% or so. I find this to be very good as I will be around 50% when I hit the sack for the night.

All in all, great battery life.

Try running your battery to 0% until it shuts off. Let it remain off for about an hour then charge it to full over night.
 
Try running your battery to 0% until it shuts off. Let it remain off for about an hour then charge it to full over night.
That's a good idea, for recalibrating the battery meter circuitry (so that it properly reads 0-100%). There's no need to wait, though. The battery itself doesn't need to be deep discharged, and constant deep discharges aren't good for the battery (but occasional ones are necessary for recalibration).

Reference:

 
I did restore mine from a 2G backup but I doubt that has much to do with it. I have Location Services switched on for mine, but as far as I know it only uses power when you're in Google Maps or the Compass. Anyone know about this?

Tommorow i'm going to go 2G except when I want to browse to see what that's like. Going to push the battery to see what it's good for then go back to my usual plug-in
each night routine.
 
I did restore mine from a 2G backup but I doubt that has much to do with it. I have Location Services switched on for mine, but as far as I know it only uses power when you're in Google Maps or the Compass. Anyone know about this?

Tommorow i'm going to go 2G except when I want to browse to see what that's like. Going to push the battery to see what it's good for then go back to my usual plug-in
each night routine.

Im currently doing a "2g data day" test to see what effect that has on battery life.

At the moment, I am now at 80% on the day
with 2:15 usage
08:45 standby
WIFI on all day
2g on all day
mobileme push off
yahoo email push ON
gmail accounts x3 on FETCH 30 minutes
no gps,
no location services

We'll see.
 
I'm definitely noticing how 3G drains a battery more than EDGE does. I unplugged it at about 1 p.m. It's almost 9 p.m., and I'm down to 31 percent. This is about the second full battery cycle, so it should get better. I used to charge mine pretty much every night, so that's not a big deal. Considering I was doing a bit of Web browsing and listening to MLB audio, it's not a total shock.
 
Im currently doing a "2g data day" test to see what effect that has on battery life.

At the moment, I am now at 80% on the day
with 2:15 usage
08:45 standby
WIFI on all day
2g on all day
mobileme push off
yahoo email push ON
gmail accounts x3 on FETCH 30 minutes
no gps,
no location services

We'll see.

That's impressive I think! Much more in line with my old phone. It's 3G that's the issue I think, as well as the new battery. Probably might be some software tweaks in the future that will help things a bit.

I'm definitely noticing how 3G drains a battery more than EDGE does. I unplugged it at about 1 p.m. It's almost 9 p.m., and I'm down to 31 percent. This is about the second full battery cycle, so it should get better. I used to charge mine pretty much every night, so that's not a big deal. Considering I was doing a bit of Web browsing and listening to MLB audio, it's not a total shock.

Yeah, that's similar to what I did. Usually plugged it in at night, unplugged it in the morning and I was good to go. I'm guessing of course (based on the 3GS percentage corresponding with battery graphic) but I usually had around 75-80% left when I went to plug in.
 
3gs sucks a big time:
Usage 2 hours, 41 min
Standby 14 hours,14 min

moderate browsing 1 hour, random usage about 1 hour

unplugged at 6:30am, till 9:30pm 30% left

my 3G does way better job:
moderate Stanza use, wifi browsing for 2 days 10% left
 
I beat my phone to death. With music playing over an hour str8 at the gym, some text/emails, gaming, etc (you get the idea), and the lowest I've seen is 37%.

I take my phone off the charger in the morning around 8/9. By dinnertime at home, it's still at 60%.

I've never seen the 20% red warning area yet and this phone is 1000x better than the 3G on battery life.
 
I've never seen the 20% red warning area yet and this phone is 1000x better than the 3G on battery life.
I think signal strength also significantly affects battery life.

At work, I have 0-2 bars, and my battery is down to 30-40% by the end of the work day. By the time I go to bed, it's close to 20% (ooh, just checked -- I'm now down to 19% with a couple hours to go). I'm still trying to drain the battery, to recalibrate the battery meter, and so I don't know how accurate this is.
 
There is something definitely wrong with the 3Gs battery life - at least for me. I had a 3G for a year. Battery would consistently last at least a full day. I would take it off the charger in the morn and by the time I went to bed at night around 1 or 2, it would be in the red - usually between 10% and 20%. That worked fine for me as it would at least last an entire day. Upgraded to the 3Gs on Saturday and it has not even lasted a half day since I've owned it. I did a restore from my 3G backup so none of the settings should have changed but here is what I'm running:

1) Brightness at around 15%,
2) Bluetooth on,
3) Location services off,
4) 3G on,
5) Fetch data every 15 minutes.

Exact same settings I used for the last year with my old 3G. I have run it all the way down and then charged all the way back up 3 or 4 times now but the battery still sucks. As a perfect example, I took the phone off the charger tonight at 11:00 and have not used it at all other than to update 2 apps. Getting ready to turn in and the battery meter says 90%. In 2 hours of standby, 10% of the battery was used! The other day, I charged it all the way up before I went to bed, took it off the charger, obviously didn't use anything over night and woke up to 50% charge. How is this even possible? Don't think any apps are still running (i.e. not closed down properly). Do I just have a defective unit? Does 3.0 burn through battery faster? I think I'm going to have to return this as half day battery life just won't cut it. This blows.
 
if your battery life is not longer than your 3g then you need to get your phone replaced! i love my 3gs it's so much faster and the battery life is awesome the only thing i noticed was a small scratch in the middle of the screen i will contact apple tomorrow to see if i can get the phone replaced for a new one :cool:

Why would you say something like that? If you use 3g talk and 3g data you will be getting almost exactly what you had before with the iphone 3g. Battery is only really better if you use wifi or 2g.
 
no questions

I think signal strength also significantly affects battery life.

At work, I have 0-2 bars, and my battery is down to 30-40% by the end of the work day. By the time I go to bed, it's close to 20% (ooh, just checked -- I'm now down to 19% with a couple hours to go). I'm still trying to drain the battery, to recalibrate the battery meter, and so I don't know how accurate this is.

no question that poor signal connection has a NEGATIVE impact of battery life, the tickle to the tower takes longer, and the phone is trying harder to maintain signal.
 
todays update on 2g test

Here is todays 2g test update - STILL GOING!

I've run some test daily, every day focussing on a different service or setting being on/off on the device.

First day, turned off mobileme push. That DID help
Second day, turned off yahoo push. That DIDN'T help
Third day, turn off 3g, and leave it on 2g. That CONTINUES to help, since I am now on the FOURTH day, and it is STILL 50%

For this third day test, I turned on WIFI in the home and office, so it was using this data connection mostly for email and web browsing, twitter, other test and application usage - brightness at 25-30%

So, currently I am at 48%
3 hours 55 minutes usage
28 hours 35 minutes standby
call time 23 minutes
battery at 46% now.
 
Then why does Apple themselves say to fully discharge your 3G at least once a month?

Probably because holding Lithium batteries at 100% charge is also bad for them (they store them at about 80% when new, this is why your devices all come almost, but not fully, charged). I would be glad to post the details involved but the short of it is this: Lithium batteries have a limited number of charge/discharge cycles (about 900 -1500 depending on the battery and technology used in it), and every full cycle reduces the total charge carrying capacity of the battery by a small percentage. These cycles add up and eventually end the battery's useful life.
 
Today i turned off 3g and wifi, and my battery lasted way longer than it did the day before, i seen a big difference.
Im at 33% on my batt. with 4hr and 4 min of usage
 
ok so i took some screenshots of my usage for today
once at the 20% warning
and then again at the 10% warning

3657881649_5398107b77_o.jpg


3658675926_cd05da17cc_o.jpg


Took it off the charger at around 7:30am
just got the 10% @ 7:30pm

bluetooth is off
brightness is at about 25% auto-brightness is on
notifications are on for AIM (alerts and badges only) but i only had aim running from around 2pm today
wifi is on, but ask to join is off
push email is off
fetch email is on for every 30 mins

my routine consists of listening to the ipod on my 45min-1hr commute to and from work.
checking email
checking twitter
browsing the internet every now and then
txting
while on the ride back home today i played some star defense

dunno if my results are good or not but I guess it's something to weigh your usage against

also those data usages are not indicitive of the data i used today
 
I've noticed that when my phone struggles to keep a signal 2G or 3G is drains the battery pretty fast. For the most part only getting about 1/2 the life that i would if I were in an area where my signal is strong all day.

I/we/you can try all day turning on and off different features which may help but if the phone struggles to get that main signal it's using for cell service it will drain. It helps putting it into Airplane Mode while the signal is weak or non existent.
 
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