iPhone battery. To plug-in or not to plug-in?

[j-a-x]

I've got a quick question about getting the most out of my iPhone battery. When I get home, is it better for me to Dock my iPhone with my Mac and let it charge, even if I've only used 10% or so of the battery, and just pick it up from the dock when it rings, or am I better to let it run down and charge it once the battery gets low? I know that Li Ion batteries don't have a "memory" effect, but I am still wondering if repeated charges from 90% battery life are detrimental.

I use to use my 2nd Gen iPod in a similar way (leave it plugged into my mac all of them time when I was at home) and the battery actually lasted fairly long, while everybody else had complaints of battery problems with that generation of iPod (there was even a class action law suit). So I think my method is pretty good, but I still wanted to check and see what people think.

Thanks!

 

[EricNau]

You may want to read this page of Apple's: http://www.apple.com/batteries/

(Note the iPhone link on the right of the page.)

 

[Leney]

Here's another article for reference: http://www.iphoneatlas.com/2007/07/...-life-between-charges-and-before-replacement/

The consensus is that you should not drain it down before charging; you would be then going through a charge cycle. Whether you should or should not continually top off, I'm not sure about.

 

[j-a-x]

Thanks for the article.
So it seems like my shallow charging strategy is the best.

The article said that leaving the iPhone plugged into your computer will cause it to heat up, thereby damaging the battery, but I've never noticed my phone even being the slightest bit warm after leaving it plugged in. I guess I'll keep an eye on the temperature and make sure it's not getting too hot, but otherwise leave it docked with my Mac when its not in use.

Since the shallow charging is a trickle charge (it charges more slowly than the first half of the battery), I don't think it causes the phone to heat up much, but I could be wrong.