iPhone 3G Battery Life Tests

[MacRumors]

Gizmodo compiled this impressive chart of battery times for the iPhone 3G as reported by various reviewers.

Most reviewers found the iPhone 3G did have around 5 hours of talk time which was amongst the best for 3G handsets that were testing. The "mixed" use included web browsing and had far more variable results. In those tests, the iPhone 3G ranged from 2 hours and 52 minutes of use as high as 5 hours and 49 minutes.

Hardware site Anandtech actually performed dedicated web browsing tests for the iPhone 3G compared to the original iPhone on EDGE. They found that iPhone 3G (in 3G mode) could browse for 3 hours and 17 minutes, while the original iPhone browsing on 2G could browse for 5 hours and 42 minutes.

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[johnnyjibbs]

hmmm web use is a little disappointing... 😱

 

[IDANNY]

battery life really sucks in comparison to the 2g iPhone. I really like the new one but I never needed any extra power connectors with me for the old one. with the 3g I think I need to get one of those battery packs.

 

[bondsbw]

They need to show battery life of the iPhone 3G on EDGE and WiFi. I live in an EDGE-only area, so of course I would turn off 3G.

 

[jlubinsh]

Not Bad!

When saying that 3g iphone web time is not good when compared to first gen. iphone, you should keep in mind, that in 3 hours on 3g ihpone you can brows MUCH more websites, than in 5 hours on firstgen. Those 2 hours is the time you are WAITING for pages to download 🙂

I am almost sure that new iphone will beat old one if 3g is turned off.

 

[Lexoticstylez02]

When saying that 3g iphone web time is not good when compared to first gen. iphone, you should keep in mind, that in 3 hours on 3g ihpone you can brows MUCH more websites, than in 5 hours on firstgen. Those 2 hours is the time you are WAITING for pages to download 🙂

I am almost sure that new iphone will beat old one if 3g is turned off.

That is very true.

 

[KaiMac]

Turn Off 3G Unless You're Browsing...

When saying that 3g iphone web time is not good when compared to first gen. iphone, you should keep in mind, that in 3 hours on 3g ihpone you can brows MUCH more websites, than in 5 hours on firstgen. Those 2 hours is the time you are WAITING for pages to download 🙂

I am almost sure that new iphone will beat old one if 3g is turned off.

I agree. I turned off 3G and have gotten great talk time compared to my other 3G phones (Cingular 8525). Unless your on a park bench browsing, turn it off and just use Edge for voice and txt. Having the option to turn off 3G is a great feature, I couldn't do it on my 8525 and would rarely go a full day without losing my charge.

 

[IlluminatedSage]

to be honest, this battery life is less than stellar, it is kinda depressing when i was out yesterday and the battery indicator kept getting lower and lower.

and it was not with tons of use!

Apple kinda sucks for not designing the phone with user swapable batteries like every other cell phone.

THIS IS A HUGE PROBLEM which will only get worse with 3G!!

 

[iNfowarrior]

When saying that 3g iphone web time is not good when compared to first gen. iphone, you should keep in mind, that in 3 hours on 3g ihpone you can brows MUCH more websites, than in 5 hours on firstgen. Those 2 hours is the time you are WAITING for pages to download 🙂

I am almost sure that new iphone will beat old one if 3g is turned off.

what I don't understand is, how does Apple get away with outright lying about this very topic?

One of the things most of us were worried about was battery life on a 3g iPhone. Jobbs comes out on jun 9 and tells how absolutely wonderful and revolutinary their newest battery life accomplishments are.

Why can't they just be honest? I left the keynote thinking: 3G and better battery life. Reality though, is 3G and worse battery life.

How does that not become a legal issue for them? I mean, it will eventually. They get sued constantly over these things. But it will be all hush hush again and swept under the rug like the macbook battery issue.

 

[cshale210]

When saying that 3g iphone web time is not good when compared to first gen. iphone, you should keep in mind, that in 3 hours on 3g ihpone you can brows MUCH more websites, than in 5 hours on firstgen. Those 2 hours is the time you are WAITING for pages to download 🙂

I am almost sure that new iphone will beat old one if 3g is turned off.

see I wouldn't think of that. That is very true

I continued reading and thought the following...

So, my White 16gb is on the way, so I cannot accurately speak from experience. Apparently the battery is horrible. I've heard it countless times at this point. I feel like I will be keeping my phone on EDGE all the time unless I wanted to actually browse the web, then I would turn it on.

Now what if there was an free app that you touched on the home screen and it toggled 3G on and off..? Then you wouldn't have to go to setting, etc...

Just a thought, but one of my buddies is actually returning the device and going back to his old one. XP Vista situation? We will see...

 

[KaiMac]

I continued reading and thought the following...

So, my White 16gb is on the way, so I cannot accurately speak from experience. Apparently the battery is horrible. I've heard it countless times at this point. I feel like I will be keeping my phone on EDGE all the time unless I wanted to actually browse the web, then I would turn it on.

Now what if there was an free app that you touched on the home screen and it toggled 3G on and off..? Then you wouldn't have to go to setting, etc...

Just a thought, but one of my buddies is actually returning the device and going back to his old one. XP Vista situation? We will see...

If he is returning his 3G iPhone then I'm sure there is a line of folks to buy it from him. Considering how horrendous the Edge Data speeds were, 3G is great. Long Range wireless does take more power. If you are only doing voice/txt or in a Wifi area, just turn off 3G and you'll be very happy with this phone. If you think Apple is going to be releasing a new 3G iPhone with a better battery before the next 12 months, then you will be disappointed. 3G battery life is not just an Apple issue, its across all vendors. It is a very power hungry chipset to do 1.4mbps of data transfer long range. My battery life has so far blown away my old 8525. I'm very happy with it.

 

[cshale210]

If he is returning his 3G iPhone then I'm sure there is a line of folks to buy it from him. Considering how horrendous the Edge Data speeds were, 3G is great. Long Range wireless does take more power. If you are only doing voice/txt or in a Wifi area, just turn off 3G and you'll be very happy with this phone. If you think Apple is going to be releasing a new 3G iPhone with a better battery before the next 12 months, then you will be disappointed. 3G battery life is not just an Apple issue, its across all vendors. It is a very power hungry chipset to do 1.4mbps of data transfer long range. My battery life has so far blown away my old 8525. I'm very happy with it.

That's good to hear. Personally, I am so anxious to get my hands on my iPhone Pearl.

 

[supmango]

what I don't understand is, how does Apple get away with outright lying about this very topic?

One of the things most of us were worried about was battery life on a 3g iPhone. Jobbs comes out on jun 9 and tells how absolutely wonderful and revolutinary their newest battery life accomplishments are.

Why can't they just be honest? I left the keynote thinking: 3G and better battery life. Reality though, is 3G and worse battery life.

How does that not become a legal issue for them? I mean, it will eventually. They get sued constantly over these things. But it will be all hush hush again and swept under the rug like the macbook battery issue.

Apple outright lied about several things, if you didn't take the time to notice the fine print. This is unfortunately a common model for operation now, as it really has been for almost 20 years now. It sells more products by emphasizing what is most appealing while simultaneously all but disclaiming that which is not. In this case the price point is one example, the battery life is another. I am sure that this is a trend that will continue and only get worse with time. Be wary what you conclude from any keynote SJ does in the future, and make sure to look at all the fine print and subtle wording he uses.

 

[Bernie-Mac]

What upsets me is that the reason Jobs didnt implement 3G in the first iPhone is that it sucks battery life, so he said he wants to find the battery technology to be able to handle it. Well after one year we do not have battery times anywhere near the old one so basically Jobs spent the last year sitting on his ass in terms of batteries

 

[KaiMac]

Hilarious

.... so basically Jobs spent the last year sitting on his ass in terms of batteries

That is one of most ridiculous statements I have read regarding this iPhone3G battery issue. You clearly have no understanding of mobile chipsets and what it takes to maintain a tower connection for that kind of data speed over miles of distance. I guess you're unhappy when your Macbook dies after 2 hours on your local wifi network. You really should be carrying around a trac-phone that you only need to charge once a week. 😱

 

[Bernie-Mac]

That is one of most ridiculous statements I have read regarding this iPhone3G battery issue. You clearly have no understanding of mobile chipsets and what it takes to maintain a tower connection for that kind of data speed over miles of distance. I guess you're unhappy when your Macbook dies after 2 hours on your local wifi network. You really should be carrying around a trac-phone that you only need to charge once a week. 😱

When i get the 20% warning after 2 hours of use? Really? Apple used a smaller battery than the OG iPhone, smaller. Knowing with 3G and GPS sucking the battery. I love my iPhone but hate the battery, frankly it sucks. Real life numbers are worse than Apple's suggested ones which are worse than the OG iPhone. I understand, 3G, GPS, yeah it isnt going to be better but it shouldnt be this bad. And to top it off, how apple suggests you save the battery is not use all the new features you bought the new iPhone for in the first place. IMO Apple could have done a lot better with the battery

 

[Loonytik]

When saying that 3g iphone web time is not good when compared to first gen. iphone, you should keep in mind, that in 3 hours on 3g ihpone you can brows MUCH more websites, than in 5 hours on firstgen. Those 2 hours is the time you are WAITING for pages to download 🙂

I am almost sure that new iphone will beat old one if 3g is turned off.

Whats the point then? Surf for longer or surf for less time. Seems like a wash to me....

 

[KaiMac]

Mine Battery Isn't Draining Nearly That Fast

When i get the 20% warning after 2 hours of use? Really? Apple used a smaller battery than the OG iPhone, smaller. Knowing with 3G and GPS sucking the battery. I love my iPhone but hate the battery, frankly it sucks. Real life numbers are worse than Apple's suggested ones which are worse than the OG iPhone. I understand, 3G, GPS, yeah it isnt going to be better but it shouldnt be this bad. And to top it off, how apple suggests you save the battery is not use all the new features you bought the new iPhone for in the first place. IMO Apple could have done a lot better with the battery

My battery isn't going down nearly that fast. Seriously, go have the store check it out. I have been browsing on 3G, doing email, listening to music, and taking a couple calls in the last couple hours and I'm still at 80%+ after a full discharge/charge. If there was a better battery technology out there to fit the size of the iPhone, I think Apple would have included it. It just isn't out there. Any 3G smartphone on the shelf at the ATT store has the same issue or worse. Maybe you should buy a 2G iPhone off eBay and go back. I would sell you mine if I hadn't dumped it for 375$ cash last night to a T-Mobile user. 😀 That extra cash will get me a car charger to keep this thing humming between meetings.

 

[rmroper]

I'd been similarly unhappy at the battery performance in my 3G since Friday, finding the need to recharge two or three times a day - and only with light use.

I let the battery drain a few times to the point of shutdown (as opposed to 10%) in an attempt to "condition" it a bit. No luck.

I cut WiFi, shut off 3G, and lowered my brightness. No significant change.

I reactivated 3G and WiFi (I'm in range about 50% of the time), but turned off bluetooth and killed push (switching to 15 minutes). The resulting improvement was dramatic: phone's been off the charger for six hours now, and is still at about 70%... and I've been using it more today than in the last two. Anyway, just my two cents.... I think the battery's half decent, but either bluetooth or push e-mail is a killer.

 

[scorpiusdeus]

I guess for folks coming from the previous iPhone or other 3G phones the battery life isn't surprising, but for people like me who have a Razr or some other basic phone it's pretty shocking.

I realize this is a huge jump in technology and I will live with it, but 1.5 days with minimal use and 3G on only half the time.... This is an area Apple needs to focus on. 🙁

 

[jamesnajera]

You know which feature I would like? Give me not just Disable 3G, give me the option to Disable 3G Voice. Let me, whenever I open safari to browse the the Internet in 3G when wifi is not available, but only do voice calls via edge.

You know have:

Disable 3G Voice. On/Off
(When disabled all calls come via Edge)

Disable 3G Data. On/Off
(When disabled all data services go through wifi or edge)

 

[Scott6666]

That is one of most ridiculous statements I have read regarding this iPhone3G battery issue. You clearly have no understanding of mobile chipsets and what it takes to maintain a tower connection for that kind of data speed over miles of distance. I guess you're unhappy when your Macbook dies after 2 hours on your local wifi network. You really should be carrying around a trac-phone that you only need to charge once a week. 😱

I think the point might have been that Apple originally stayed away from 3G because it chewed up too much battery. Now a year later we have 3G that chews up too much battery. Could we have had the same thing last year?

Did the mobile chips get better over the last year so the phone would last longer, or after a year did they just put in what they could have put in last year?

 

[bluenoise]

Unfortunately, the tech just doesn't seem to be there for having all the high-power features on all the time without requiring more frequent charging. I'm used to it, though, as I've been using a "smartphone" since the Treo 600 and always charge every night. From what I've heard so far, the iPhone 3G's battery bests many of the current 3G phones out there, so I'm happy about that. Previously, I had a Samsung Blackjack and then a Blackjack II and both would give me the low battery warning after six to eight hours of just sitting (no calls or surfing). I had to find a hack to disable the 3G just to make it through the day. My current phone (Moto Q9h) often won't make it through the day with the slim battery, so I've got this ugly lump on the back of it for the extended battery. Given the iPhone's slim profile, I'm impressed they get any life out of it at all compared to other competing phones.

I'm not saying I am happy to worry about battery life. I'd love to go days without charging, but I understand the current technical limits.

 

[Shin3r]

Seriously, all you guys who are whining about the battery life need to do some research first. Just about every report out there is saying these batteries last longer on 3g than any other smartphone. Is it what you would like it to be, probably not.And I think after a year and a 2nd gen. phone we should stop complaining about the non-removable battery. It's what they are doing, so if you don't like it, you shouldn't have bought an iphone. YOU made the choice knowing what it was the way it was. Nobody forced you to buy it. I know that it's normal to have complaints about products, and desires for better versions of something. BUT, some of you guys are ridiculously arrogant and pompous about what you are writing.

 

[jamesarm97]

I saw on the battery test that surfing with Wifi lasted the longest. I don't use Wifi as much as I could because I was under the impression that Wifi would use more battery life if left on, is this true or not?

- James