Charging Opportunities Aplenty

[Bryan Bowler]

Even though I have great battery life, I know others are having problems. With that being said, I'm really curious as to why someone would even run out of battery life to begin with. I have a dock sitting at my work desk, a dock at home, and a car charger in the glove box. For starters, my 3G lasts far more than a day without charging, but regardless, it doesn't really matter because I can charge it just about anywhere I'm at.

Sure, extra USB cables, docks, and car chargers cost money (and docks are over-priced), but unless you are out hiking in the wilderness, I can't really get a grip on what the big deal is.

Let's discuss...

Bryan

 

[kdarling]

Odd question.

If you're always near a charger, then you're okay. Those who are not, aren't.

A portable device is supposed to be... portable. I find it a lot easier to have the spare battery tied to a single spot, than to be forced to keep my device tied to a charging spot.

My wife and I have different phones, but share three cars. I'm not about to have duplicate charging cords laying all over each car. Sometimes she also just forgets to charge. A spare battery charging at home is priceless in that situation.

The other day I was taking some videos of a ceremony. There's no charger outdoors. It chewed up my battery quicker than I expected and I had to go out that night. I didn't have time to charge even if I wanted to. No problem, just popped in my spare battery.

Another good thing about replaceables, is that you can often find aftermarket versions with higher capacities. I doubled the life of some smartphones just by using those.

 

[Flhusky]

Situations where you could run the battery out;
1. Coast to Coast or over seas flights (6+ hours) watching movies/mp3 not everyone has a charger in/near their seat)
2. Bus Rides (Greyhound) interstate
3. Friends house who is not 'PC Centric' they exist!
4. Road Trips, forget that car charger in the other car? leave the USB cable in the hotel or other laptop bag? Co-Pilot charging their Cell? GPS on the fritz and don't have a multi cig plug adaptor? Car charger broke?
5. Site Seeing, taking lots of crappy iphone pics? running cycorder? listening to an eBook?
6. Job Sites where USB ports are disabled (physicaly)
7. Co-Worker borrow usb cable and lock it up?
8. Extended power outages (weather or other wise)

Yeah I can't see the need for a back up battery pack

 

[Small White Car]

Well, on production shoots I'm constantly moving AND almost constantly using my phone.

After 10 hours I've racked up about 4-5 hours of phone and text use and I'm pretty much drained. Shoot days last 12-14 hours sometimes. Oh well!

I try to get a 20-minute charge in at lunch and that's usually just enough. But it's tough. I'd really prefer that the phone had twice the battery life that it currently does.

 

[bigmouth]

1. Coast to Coast or over seas flights (6+ hours) watching movies/mp3

Actually, I do coast-to-coast flights a lot, and watching movies plus MP3 never comes close to draining the battery. I'm usually at about 2/3 of a charge when we land. But your point is well taken that an extended GPS session or even a long phone conversation can drain power quickly.

Still, I do find some of my friends are unnecessarily tethered to their chargers, unwilling to even risk running out of juice.

 

[macaco74]

never quite understood why there is not a user changeable battery pack. Detracts from the sleekness of the device I guess...form over function in this case.

 

[m477h3w]

Even though I have great battery life, I know others are having problems. With that being said, I'm really curious as to why someone would even run out of battery life to begin with. I have a dock sitting at my work desk, a dock at home, and a car charger in the glove box. For starters, my 3G lasts far more than a day without charging, but regardless, it doesn't really matter because I can charge it just about anywhere I'm at.

Sure, extra USB cables, docks, and car chargers cost money (and docks are over-priced), but unless you are out hiking in the wilderness, I can't really get a grip on what the big deal is.

Let's discuss...

Bryan

That's pretty much the same as me. Charges over night on my desk at home, charges in my car while playing music through my stereo, charges on my desk at work. Have to admit though, it runs down fairly quick when out of my normal routine

 

[question fear]

That's pretty much the same as me. Charges over night on my desk at home, charges in my car while playing music through my stereo, charges on my desk at work. Have to admit though, it runs down fairly quick when out of my normal routine

It definitely runs down fast when you are out of your routine. I think for me it was because I was using my iPhone more to look up directions, text, check items, etc.

A good rule of thumb: anything that has you interacting with the screen or forcing the phone to work hard with a network drains your battery faster. So texting is going to drain your battery pretty quick. Listening to music with the screen off isn't as bad. Surfing safari will. Talking on the phone with the screen off (via wired buds or up against your ear) less so (bluetooth and low signal areas obviously impact this too.)

But that's the general rule of thumb...and when you're out on a road trip or at a friend's house looking up movie times is when you're doing all that battery intensive stuff, and why it feels like the phone drains faster when you're out and about.

 

[skye12]

If I get my iphone soon, I'm hoping my solar Solio will make a great backup
battery. It stores a charge internally and you can get adapters to fit almost any portable phone/mp3 type device.

 

[Bryan Bowler]

I could see running the battery done on a long flight or something of that nature. But I'd also like to point out that (in my opinion) I think the iPhone has a tremendous battery. Think about it: it has a large screen, bluetooth, wi-fi, 2 types of cell network radios, gps, and more...the battery in this slim device is being asked to carry a pretty big workload.

Speaking of slim devices, the iPhone wouldn't have the same form factor if it had a removable (and replaceable) battery. It wouldn't be as small as it is and it certainly wouldn't have a sleek look.

Bryan

 

[Marky_Mark]

As a competing product, the BB Curve is no better. A few weeks ago, I spent two hours on the train from London to Bristol browsing the internet over GPRS and it just about killed it. I think the iPhone stands up ok against direct competitors. So it doesn't have the four day battery life of a bobby-basic Nokia, but then I wouldn't attempt to use WAP for two hours straight, moving from cell to cell on a cross-country train, either. These things are relative.

 

[kdarling]

It doesn't matter what other smartphones do or don't do, power wise. Most smartphones are similar in their duty time. The difference is, all the others have replaceable batteries.

All that matters is whether or not your phone makes you fit to its schedule and/or ties you to its charger, or vice versa. It's supposed to be a portable aid, not an anchor.

 

[ajpak]

Buy a portable usb back up battery (ex: icel, kensington, richard solo) its like carry 2 extra batteries in one device so there you go PROBLEM SOLVED! iPhone 3g is considered one of the best battery life in a 3g phone... its just you can do so much on it that people drain it when they play games and use apps .... if the blackberry had the same ability it would drain just as fast.... Also may have a faulty battery in your iphone cause my battery life is excellenttttt

 

[Interstella5555]

Even though I have great battery life, I know others are having problems. With that being said, I'm really curious as to why someone would even run out of battery life to begin with. I have a dock sitting at my work desk, a dock at home, and a car charger in the glove box. For starters, my 3G lasts far more than a day without charging, but regardless, it doesn't really matter because I can charge it just about anywhere I'm at.

Sure, extra USB cables, docks, and car chargers cost money (and docks are over-priced), but unless you are out hiking in the wilderness, I can't really get a grip on what the big deal is.

Let's discuss...

Bryan

Let's discuss how out of touch you are with the realities of a battery driven device? Or let's discuss how you said all the thing YOU do without considering how other people use their devices or their charging options?
If I'm in OOO meetings all day and am metroing to and from work with the need to stop at a few stores on my way home, I don't have that many opportunities to charge my phone, especially if I'm using e-mail,, the internet and the phone. By your logic, no one should complain about the need to charge anything, because there's always an outlet in your office. guess what buddy, many of us are actually out and about during the day, not plugged into a cubicle.