I'm getting better battery life than my 3G. I ended up this last charge cycle with 1 day, 11 hours, 8 hours 17 minutes usage. I still had 17% left. By the way, you must have missed the other 100 battery life threads.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Battery on iphone 3g s drains very fast.
- Thread starter tigerinroc
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
It definitely depends on what you were doing with your iPhone. Your battery life looks ok if the drainage is from nothing but internet usage. I tested my battery yesterday to see how it would do with internet usage only and I actually got around 4.5 hours out of it. I was pleased with this since Apple's tech spec states that it should get up to 5 hours of internet use while using 3G.
I can say that turning 3G off has made a huge difference for me. I was coming from the 2G iPhone and was very disappointed with the battery life I was getting on the 3GS. I turned 3G off and at the end of the day I was still at over 70% full. I have everything else on (Wi-fi, Bluetooth, Push, GPS). Right now it looks to me to be even better than my 2G iPhone.
I guess I can just turn 3G on when I need it
I guess I can just turn 3G on when I need it
look ok to you guys? This is with everything cut off. no 3g, push, fetch, data roaming, location services, wifi.
it seems fine.
it really depends what you do on your phone...i play Space Trader on my phone for 10 minutes and my battery drains about 15%.
by the way Space Traders is FREE and the graphics are SICK. check it out.
Well, yes, it looks great. The only difference in my setup is that I use wi-fi a lot at home. I am still getting great battery performance with it on. 3G and/or Notifications seem to have been killers. I only turn 3G on when I away from wi-fi and need to use data. I wish I did not have to do this, but it is worth it for how I use the device (e.g. about 5 seconds to enable and connect with 3G). I may turn Notifications back on if Facebook updates their app to support it. But, I will test it closely to see the cost/benefit.
And I guess that is what it comes down to for all of us - right? A cost/benefit analysis of what is important to each of us. For some it is longer battery and less services are OK. For others, it is less battery performance and more services. Everything (I think) in life has some sort of cost/benefit that needs to be weighed - right? I am honestly unsure why people do not seem to see that with something like the iPhone. Not looking to get flamed here, but am wondering why so many people honestly believe that that they should be able to do so much (e.g. lots of services running) for little cost (e.g. lower battery performance). I realize some people got lemon devices, and those should be returned/replaced. But, for me at least, I am now pretty happy with how I use the phone vs. the performance of the battery. Even when the 4G, 5G, and later devices come out - there will always be a trade-off of what can be done vs. how long it can be done.
Also, if you use 3G, your signal strength (number of bars) can make a significant difference. At work, I tend to get 0-2 bars, and battery life is pretty awful. At home, I often get 4-5 bars, and battery life is noticeably better (still awful, but less awful
-- this is with everything enabled).To people posting their battery run-times: if you have 3G turned on, please tell us what kind of signal you're getting (number of bars). Also, if you move around, telling us if and how the signal changes as you move from place to place, would also be useful. (But please do so safely -- please don't do it if you're driving, etc., etc..)
I just noticed
If you look under settings, email you will see that you turn of the fetching obviously that is the same as before. I now notice there is an advanced tab under there and if you go to that you will see that u have to turn off the auto fetching for each individual app in there i.e. mail and calendar. I thought that if I just turned it off from the first screen it was enough but its not you have to go further. After this my battery is back to where it was.
If you look under settings, email you will see that you turn of the fetching obviously that is the same as before. I now notice there is an advanced tab under there and if you go to that you will see that u have to turn off the auto fetching for each individual app in there i.e. mail and calendar. I thought that if I just turned it off from the first screen it was enough but its not you have to go further. After this my battery is back to where it was.
Great point, I had already done this.
Seems like people just need to give the phone a few weeks, usually the battery will be better after some charge cycles, and a full drain to calibrate it.
It seems like everyday my phone battery is getting better. I've got about 4 hours 10 minutes of usage until the low battery indicator, with most of that being 3g web browsing and using the camera/video recorder and using apps to upload them over 3g. A bit of wifi browsing and about 40-50 text messages.
Location services turned on for a few hours, everything else off.
Keep using the phone and the battery should get better and better.
I win the prize for worst battery life. This usage by the way is 99% from some texting. This is just after I brought the phone to the Apple store since I wasn't able to get over 5 hours usage. They said it was fine but would "make a note on my serial number." Needless to say, I'll be back at the store rather shortly because mine is obviously defective.


Attachments
Can you let us know how it goes after you swap it for a new one? Make sure you have the same settings I guess, to keep it fair
iPhone 3GS battery drains super fast
I have taken some screenshots.
I used the video cam and camera to take videos and pictures for about an hour plus uploading a couple of clips to YouTube. Made some calls and browsed through the photo album and watching the video clips for another hour or so. Used Safari, YouTube and played a little music, sms, calendar, maps, and played a game. plus some other applications.
Wifi, push, bluetooth off, fetch hourly.
Usage 4 Hours, 10 Mins
1 Day, 13 Hours
(Does this reading seem ok?)
-----------------------------------
The other 4 screenshots
Mostly phone calls, very little music played and browsed through the photo album and watched the video clips. Played some games and used very little maps. A few SMS, lightly Safari, and some other apps.
Wifi, push, bluetooth off, fetch hourly.
I have taken some screenshots.
I used the video cam and camera to take videos and pictures for about an hour plus uploading a couple of clips to YouTube. Made some calls and browsed through the photo album and watching the video clips for another hour or so. Used Safari, YouTube and played a little music, sms, calendar, maps, and played a game. plus some other applications.
Wifi, push, bluetooth off, fetch hourly.
Usage 4 Hours, 10 Mins
1 Day, 13 Hours
(Does this reading seem ok?)
-----------------------------------
The other 4 screenshots
Mostly phone calls, very little music played and browsed through the photo album and watched the video clips. Played some games and used very little maps. A few SMS, lightly Safari, and some other apps.
Wifi, push, bluetooth off, fetch hourly.
Attachments
Had a full charge this morning (about 3 hours ago)... been using my ipod in the office and sending emails/texts throughout the morning.
Usage: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Standby: 3 hours, 9 minutes
Batter at 78%
I've got wi-fi and 3G turned off. Push is turned on.
Not sure if that's good or bad.
Usage: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Standby: 3 hours, 9 minutes
Batter at 78%
I've got wi-fi and 3G turned off. Push is turned on.
Not sure if that's good or bad.
I've finally got good battery life after refreshing the battery a couple more times and a blank restore (no backups or anything, bye bye tangram progress ). Now it can last for over a day without problems. before I'd be lucky if it lasted 8 hours in standby. Here's how I refreshed the battery this last couple times:
I did something similar to my 1st gen iphone when it was acting up and it fixed it.
). Now it can last for over a day without problems. before I'd be lucky if it lasted 8 hours in standby. Here's how I refreshed the battery this last couple times:- keep using the iphone until it turns off on its own
- plug into charger and wait for phone to start up
- immediately once it's on, turn off the phone
- leave it like this overnight
- I still kept it plugged in when I turned it on but not sure if that matters
I did something similar to my 1st gen iphone when it was acting up and it fixed it.
Without warning, the battery on my 3GS went dead and powered down my phone while the indicator showed 29% last night.
I was playing softball and wasn't near a charger, so I had a couple hours of panic until I could plug it in.
I really hope that was a one-time thing. That would quickly get old.
I was playing softball and wasn't near a charger, so I had a couple hours of panic until I could plug it in.
I really hope that was a one-time thing. That would quickly get old.
I'm resisting the temptation to be narcissistic and start a new battery thread for my problem...
Last night I tried using the maps to navigate to dinner. Started at 6:27pm with 27%. Watching the GPS dot to see where we were and make corrections. I lost 1% battery power every minute or so. By 6:48 pm all the power was gone. It this normal? Is GPS that power hungry?
This implies a full charge could get you maybe an hour of map usage. I thought you should be able to get a couple of hours (let's say 4) of hard usage, be it surfing, video, etc. That means 1/2 hour of GPS on the map would be 1/8 of the battery or roughly 12%. Seems like I am getting half that at best. Normal or not?
Last night I tried using the maps to navigate to dinner. Started at 6:27pm with 27%. Watching the GPS dot to see where we were and make corrections. I lost 1% battery power every minute or so. By 6:48 pm all the power was gone. It this normal? Is GPS that power hungry?
This implies a full charge could get you maybe an hour of map usage. I thought you should be able to get a couple of hours (let's say 4) of hard usage, be it surfing, video, etc. That means 1/2 hour of GPS on the map would be 1/8 of the battery or roughly 12%. Seems like I am getting half that at best. Normal or not?
Yeah, unfortunately we know the story all too well... some programs and apps will definitely stomp through your battery faster than others. My biggest hesistation has always been not being able to swap batteries on the fly (WTF Cupertino?). That being said, I reluctantly (or cautiously) pulled the trigger on my 1st iPhone (3G-S.. I mean, c'mon.. it's pretty cool tech-candy!).
I do agree with a lot of the others on this board... the battery does seem to get stronger after several complete cycles. However, that still doesn't completely address the issue of it's poor performance.
My cell phone is my business lifeline, and I'm on it all day (MAJOR talk time, constant e-mail, occasional news- no games or crazy apps) . Even with their so-called "improvements" (and "power-saving tips"...sheesh), it's just not getting it done. Look, I understand that there's a lot of magical crap in these phones, and how the R&D wizards can only do so much, but my E-71 is running battery-life circles around it. Oh, and before everybody starts jumping-ugly, I'm not hatin'. And yes, I understand that they are two completely different phones. I'm just frustrated, and venting like a lot of the others. I'm also a little pissed because I may have to return it. While I absolutely love the phone, I can't be bothered by "external chargers", or the like. Geez, Apple... just get it through the day, and we'll be fine... maybe next time around...
so how would the battery life be with 3g off all the time when compared to a 2g phone? It said on the comparisons that it gets 10-12 hours of talk time out of it, which seems to be way more than the 2g's specs.
..doesn't seem as bad as some. This was shot right after the 20% warning came up. Usage was 90% safari on wifi.
..doesn't seem as bad as some. This was shot right after the 20% warning came up. Usage was 90% safari on wifi.
"iPhone has been plugged in since the last full charge"
You seem to have 5 bars. If you had 1-2 bars, like some people, you'd probably be singing a different song ....
Edit: 20% after, say, 16 hours seems to be good for the 3GS, but it's still not great for a cellphone.
Personally, I take the iPhone "Usage" figures in relation to battery drain with a large pinch of the proverbial salt! Surely, the length of such usage is directly dependant on what the usage was - i.e. listening to music has a much lower drain on the battery than, say, Safari, Maps etc.?
So last night, I made it to about 10pm with about 65 percent left. Phone came off the charger at 7am. Running on Edge all day, about 1 hour of usage. Wifi on, all notifications off. Screen at a third brightness.
Played 5k poker until about midnight, had only 10% left.
Can playing a card game like that kill half my battery in 2 hours?
Sucks because I had pocket Ace's when the wifi connection went bad. I was right next to my router too.
Played 5k poker until about midnight, had only 10% left.
Can playing a card game like that kill half my battery in 2 hours?
Sucks because I had pocket Ace's when the wifi connection went bad.
I was right next to my router too.