iPhone battery

[a456]

External Battery and Hard Drive

Let's face it the first iteration of the iPhone is not for heavy business users. It is for people who get it out their bag occasionally and want something that's easy to use, the heavy business user has already learnt how to use a Blackberry or a Treo and all they need is the battery mileage. Hence they won't want to use all the other features. The iPhone is for those people who like to do a bit of everything. Maybe in five years it will be at a stage where it has everything - the storage for all your films, the battery life, etc. but that won't be the case with the first iPhone. Having said that I'd love one purely because I hate the mobiles currently available and this looks usable.

 

[aricher]

I've been using cell phones since 1995 and have never replaced a battery during the life of any phone. That said, if there is an AppleCare or similar extended warranty contract with the iPhone I will be purchasing it. 1st gen. models of anything scare the crap out of me.

I just bought a new dig. camera at Best Buy and they are now offering $99 3 year extended warranties that include accidental and damage. If only Apple sold the iPhone there. I can see the iPhone getting pretty scratched up over a couple of years of use. Doubt the touch screen would work well with Invisible Shield coverings either.

 

[Rychiar]

the difference between a phone and a iPod is a phone is on all day even when your not using it theres stuff going on so that battery takes alot of drain. Every cell phone i ever had started off with like 3 days of use with no charge and by the end of a year it could only get a day and kept goin down so verizon would just replace the battery for free. Don't expect to have an iPhone 3+ years and still have a good functioning battery.

 

[simontarr]

Or....someone clever will make an external battery that plugs into the dock connector for an extra few hours. It would look stupid & weigh quite a bit, but for those that gotta talk....well, you gotta talk.

 

[matticus008]

the difference between a phone and a iPod is a phone is on all day even when your not using it theres stuff going on so that battery takes alot of drain.

That's another advantage of a smartphone. You can disable the phone radio when you know you're not going to be using it or don't want to be bothered by it. Instead of it running constantly and draining the battery, you can turn it off without turning the entire device off.

If you look at some of the new li-ion batteries coming out these days, they're rated for upwards of 5000 cycles, with some as high as 9000. That's a far cry from the 500 cycle batteries of just two years ago. There have been some notable improvements to the batteries, not necessarily in capacity, but certainly in longevity. 5000 cycles could easily last 5 years (keep in mind that cycle ratings are full charge/discharge operations, and real world use is worse than that).

 

[dllavaneras]

What's the standby battery life for the iPhone?

 

[killmoms]

What's the standby battery life for the iPhone?

Apple hasn't said, so nobody knows. It's a product that's six months away from launch, I doubt even Apple knows yet.

 

[jbernie]

As much as the device is a very nice combination phone, ipod video & internet tablet, the mixture does not bode well for battery life.

5 hours of life for video mode? great, but don't forget watching a 90 minute movie will reduce the life of all other functions a significant amount. Wait I want to check some new online, lets burn the battery more on wireless internet, add in some tunes at lunch and before doing any phone calls you are probably below 50% of your battery life.

With a standard cell phone you can expect to go 3 days easily without being a power user of the phone and be ok. Add in all these nice options and people will use them and be desparately scrambling for a charge. Instead of people trying to get a cigarette from you they will be asking you for a charge for their phones

As to the phone not being for the power users. This will fail and fail badly. The phone is for sale to everyone, people will buy the phone because it looks good, or it just happens to be the latest phone, they will expect miracles to happen and they will be disappointed, it wont necessarily be the fault of Apple, but at the same time Apple won't be selling the phone and telling them as a power user to go buy a motorola or a nokia.

As to replacing/removing batteries, for the Blackberrys a quick fix to reset the email if it isnt being received is to pull the battery. Now I know the ipod has some funky combination of holding the scroll wheel and moving the lock button to do a reset.. that could be fun to teach the non technically inclined .

Not going to say it is all Apple's fault, but in the current environment, even if the user is at fault, we know how the media loves to beat up stories and make big business look evil etc etc. More than just a bit concerned that a good product will be viewed as a poor product because of user incompetance. And some of the, umm, poor support experiences posted on here don't inspire confidence either.

 

[matticus008]

With a standard cell phone you can expect to go 3 days easily without being a power user of the phone and be ok. Add in all these nice options and people will use them and be desparately scrambling for a charge. Instead of people trying to get a cigarette from you they will be asking you for a charge for their phones

That's the comparison that must be avoided when you start dealing with multifunction devices. It's the standard knee-jerk reaction, but the truth of the matter is that it's the exact same actual ability.

Instead of charging 3 devices every 3 days, you charge one device every day. The only downside is that before, if you forgot to charge your iPod, your phone would still work. And if you forgot to charge your phone, your PDA would still work. But the flip side of that is that it's hard to remember which devices are charged when you've got a handful of them to keep track of. It's much easier to remember to put one device into the dock every night (or, for some of us, when we get back from lunch and then at night).

 

[jbernie]

That's the comparison that must be avoided when you start dealing with multifunction devices. It's the standard knee-jerk reaction, but the truth of the matter is that it's the exact same actual ability.

Instead of charging 3 devices every 3 days, you charge one device every day. The only downside is that before, if you forgot to charge your iPod, your phone would still work. And if you forgot to charge your phone, your PDA would still work. But the flip side of that is that it's hard to remember which devices are charged when you've got a handful of them to keep track of. It's much easier to remember to put one device into the dock every night (or, for some of us, when we get back from lunch and then at night).

Definately a lot more ways to power devices these days with USB connections etc. Though I am sure long haul airlines could get a good customer service boost if they offered a usb connector in the seats from which we could charge devices in flight.

They might even get away with reduced costs for entertainment as people could provide their own music/video for the flight.

Back on track. As much as l like the 3 in 1 design. The compromise will always be around the battery. If you are out and about, say you work down town and catch a bus home, you used up a good bit of battery life during the day, if you have time to pass waiting for the bus and then the trip itself, do you save battery life for the phone function or burn it up with some entertainment?

Maybe not such a big issue in most parts of the US where driving is the main form of transport, but when they expand out to Europe and Asia, it will change the dynamics quite a bit. Maybe when we get to that point in time battery technology may have been improved again and a longer lasting battery is available.

 

[OCOTILLO]

The internal battery is used in the iPhone because it is cheaper than a typical cell phone battery. The case design is less complicated and the internal battery takes less space for equivalent capacity. This is a case where form has won out over function.
I have had cell phone batteries give up on me and I do not care much for losing the use of a $600 + phone while the battery is being replaced.

 

[Eraserhead]

Maybe not such a big issue in most parts of the US where driving is the main form of transport, but when they expand out to Europe and Asia, it will change the dynamics quite a bit. Maybe when we get to that point in time battery technology may have been improved again and a longer lasting battery is available.

on the buses from Oxford to London they now have power outlets for laptops/phones, as they also do on virgin trains, I imagine that if you travel first class with other train companies you will also get a power outlet.

As it has a dock connector I can use the 80 hour battery I got for my 3G iPod. It allowed me to watch about 10 hours of video on my 5G iPod when I first got it without dropping below 75% power.

 

[weg]

Have you ever replaced a battery in your cell phone?

No. My cell phones usually don't last longer than 18 months, so I usually replace the complete phone. That's fine, since the phones I buy are usually not more expensive than 100$ (unlocked).

Buying a (locked) 600$ phone every 18 months.. well, that's a different story..

 

[MacCheetah3]

Hi
I'm quite sure that Apple will allow customers to bring their iPhones to a local Apple Store and get the battery replaced for ~$75 in probably ~1 hour. So, what's the big deal. Sure, that's probably double the price you'd pay if you did it yourself but you won't do this but every 18+ months and is that really such a huge problem? Sheesh, one would think someone becomes critically ill if they don't have their cell phone for an hour.

 

[batteryman]

The easiest way to extend your talk and standby time is to get an extended battery for your phone. Sometimes your provider will offer one or contact batteries4less for available options.
Unfortunately a spare battery is not always the best option as the lithiom ion battery deteriorates after time due to oxidation, especially if it is not used.
Hope this is helpful.

 

[nagromme]

The battery doesn't worry me with the iPhone, since my 3-year-old iPod has held its original battery life so well.

I'm sure you CAN change the iPhone battery, and I'm sure products services will pop up for that. (Not to mention external booster batteries/battery-wallets that connect to the dock connector.)

But I'm not bothered by the fact that it won't be easy. I'll probably never do it. Depends on your needs, but I doubt I'll talk more than 3-4 hours in any one day, and then at night it charges. So 5 hrs talk time should give me a nice cushion.

 

[buymeaniphone]

This is the same argument I was making to someone complaining about the battery life of the iPhone. I have been using cell phones since 1999 and have never once needed to replace a battery and have only charged the phone at night or in car while on long trips. I think the battery life of the iPhone is pretty acceptable considering all that it can do.