My battery story

[doubleatheman]

This all started about 3 weeks ago. I began to notice my iPhone would be at about ~25% when I plug it in at night. Then 2 weeks ago I started getting the 20% notice every day. Last week the 10% notice, now I'm having to charge 2-3 times a day (or else I die). This happened slowly and was really bugging me. I thought I must really be using my iphone allot more than I used to.
A few examples of the weird things to happen.

4 days ago I noticed my battery was at 47% so I plugged my iphone in to charge (the 2d charge of the day) The phone immediately started flashing the red dead battery symbol, I thought that was weird, I couldn't even turn my phone on. I had o wait about 10 minutes before I could turn it on. It was asking like an ipod does when it hasn't been charged in years. When my phone finally turned on it said the battery was at 4%, I checked my email and about 2 minutes later the battery was at 52%. What?!?!

3 days ago My phone was at about 80% I was on facebook, I turned my phone off put it in my pocket. About 10 minutes passed by and I wanted to check back on FB, 29%. I proceeded to use my iphone for another hour heavily (mostly FB and the web) it was now 28%. My pocked uses more than half my battery in 10 minutes, but actually using it takes 1% in an hour?

On Christmas day I had another large drop, I was taking pictures, and was at about 80% but immediately it dropped to 30% in a matter of minutes.

No I know some of you will suggest the meter can be wrong. I understand batteries have natural voltage fluctuations, but I'm gaining and loosing 50% sometimes in 5 minutes.

I called apple support and they suggested a restore, which I did, but 2 days later nothing is different.

My phone never feels hot after the big drops, it's not like it's trying to download any big emails.

I have gone through apples checklist on how to save battery life, but turning off push, 3g, bluetooth, Wi-Fi are just not options for me, this is why I own an iphone.

My screen brightness is about 1/4 all the time, I don't need It very bright.

I use Bluetooth heavily (with my jawbone prime) I have 4 email accounts (2 push, 1 exchange, 1 Gmail) 1caldav (Google).

I use beejive, facebook, safari, textfree, email, twc, ap mobile & mint.com on a normal day. And in the past month I have not changed my daily use.

Typically 4 hours a day of use in a day.

I am not jail broken (and never have been) (on this phone )

I plan on going to the apple store to see what they say. But do any of you have any suggestions, or do you think my phone is broke?

 

[Small White Car]

do you think my phone is broke?

Yes.

Sorry to answer such a long post with just one word, but that's what I think! Go to the Apple store and be very clear that you've already tried a restore and that the battery is draining far faster than any application could cause. This is not a case of e-mail constantly checking or something like that. My wife had that problem and even THAT phone lasted longer than yours is!

 

[scottness]

It looks like I'm in the beginnings of what you're describing. One charge a day used to be sufficient, now I'm charging frequently and always seem to be in the red. I'm wondering if I should take mine in as well. It's only 5 months old.

 

[doubleatheman]

Well I went to my genius appointment today.
To sum it up apple support well... sucks, when compared to a few years ago.
And no I'm not just saying that because I like pc's more, honest to goodness the support I received today reminded me of any support from any company. I did my best to stay nice and calm the whole time, I treated the employee with respect.
Driving to my apple store is not fun, its 30 minutes away and longer if I have traffic (Yeah I know some of you drive several hours for an apple store, but I hate traffic, this is why I avoid driving north anytime I can)
First off of course my phone wont reproduce the issue in store... it's a random issue. I can't blame them they need proof, ok fine. But when I had a similar issue with my original phone it was replaced on the spot.
(To update you guys & gals on my issue: My phone will shut itself off when I plug it into the charger if the battery is below 20%.)
The Genius in the store said that this was a feature of the phone to protect the battery level going too low. I replied "so the last 20-30% of the battery is useless?"She responded "blackberrys do that too" I said " I own an iPhone so I don't have to deal with blackberry issues, don't I?" She didn't have a response for that.
I told her I called apple support a few days before, & they had told me to take it to the store for replacement if my issue continued. Of course she can't find any record of said call in the system.
She took the phone in the back and did some testing, She came back out and Said I have heavy use features on like bluetooth wi-fi 3g ect ect... I didn't say anything. I'm tired of apple treating all the features of the phone like you can't use them at all or your doing something wrong. And god forbid I set my auto-lock to 2 minutes! that was causing my problem according to her.
Make note: When she took my phone to the back the battery was at 32% when she came out about 3 minutes later it was 52% (it was plugged into a computer in the back no longer than 3 minutes), as we talked for a few more minutes it was 53% I pointed out to her "look the battery level is jumping all over the place". and she said that my apps or email or something was corrupted and I need to restore my phone AGAIN.
We went back and forth about firmware hardware software issues ect. ect. for several minutes.
I also pointed out the cord on my charger is splitting from the connector. I take extreme care to properly unplug the phone by gripping the plastic plug and not the cord. She said that was from miss use and wear and tear. I have other Ipod cables going on 4 years of use now, and they have never split like that. Apple is just making the cables too cheap now, it's an obvious defect (at least my cord is.) I assume the apple protection plan, and the 1 year warranty on parts is totally pointless? She said my cable could be causing some of my problems, but would not offer to replace it. I ended up buying a new cable, just so they can't blame it for causing the problem again. BTW $19 for a cable is a total rip off!
We did a "deep" restore, apparently something my pc at home can't do...
She said to set my phone up as a new phone... UGH... what a nightmare I knew that was going to be.
This is what I had to do to get my phone back to normal after that:
(yes I know I can restore my phone from my backup, but apple told me that I can't use that any more, and they won't service my phone if I don't set it up as a new one.)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lost notes
Lost Message History
Lost background
Lost google bookmarks in maps app
Lost Phone favorites
Lost Call timers
Lost data usage
login youtube app
Re-Pair Bluetooth
Change Auto-lock to two minutes
Re-setup all email accounts (4)
Set to show 200 most recent, show 5 lines, Delete after 1 month
Login to work server to find work exchange settings
Lost exchange settings
Reset 2 cal-dav calendars
Enter correct cities in weather app
Turn on Safari Autofill
Turn on Ipod Volue limit
Change photo Slideshow options
Type in password into 6 beejive accounts
Manually reoder all app icons
loginto facebook app
login ebay app
login pandora app
login paypal app
re-pair remote app
reset correct location TWC app
login u-brodcaster app
Re-download 200 most emails
find backround from backup reset iffound+ app info

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Those are all easy things to do but, they all add up to allot of work to get things up and running. They so nonchalantly say in the store "just set it up as a new phone" in all reality that's the last thing I wanted to hear. I do understand its part of the process.
I wish apple had some kind of way to test if my issue was coming from one of my settings/apps on the phone.

 

[ouimetnick]

Heres what you need to do. CALL APPLE!!! The reps on the phone are so muc more helpful. The guy I talked to about the cable splitting, knew all about it. The store said I abused it. My iPhone had bad battery life, and the sleep wake button was slanted. The store said the battery was fine, and the button can't be replaced because of it being a cosmetic issue. Funny how I paid $499.99 for a phone with slanted buttons. But the phone support sent me out a replacement cable and iPhone. The replacement iPhone had a more slanted sleep/wake button, and the glass wasn't flush, It was raised on the left, and sunken on the right. Not what I expected from a $499.99 iPhone. So I called them a gain, and spoke to a Product Specialist, he did one more over night new iPhone thingy. This one that I have now still has a little but of uneven glass. The buttons and battery are perfect. I'm going to stick with what i have, because its becoming a PITA.

Thats my story, now go call up Apple and get it sorted out. And say you can't gop the the Store, if the ask you to.

 

[anonymouz1828]

Did you try to power off the device?? Sometimes some apps can drain battery quickly even though you had hit home button.

 

[doubleatheman]

Did you try to power off the device?? Sometimes some apps can drain battery quickly even though you had hit home button.

I tried that

also considering my iPhone has a built in automatic restart when I plug it in every night the offending app has been restarted many times.

 

[doubleatheman]

Heres what you need to do. CALL APPLE!!! The reps on the phone are so muc more helpful. The guy I talked to about the cable splitting, knew all about it. The store said I abused it. My iPhone had bad battery life, and the sleep wake button was slanted. The store said the battery was fine, and the button can't be replaced because of it being a cosmetic issue. Funny how I paid $499.99 for a phone with slanted buttons. But the phone support sent me out a replacement cable and iPhone. The replacement iPhone had a more slanted sleep/wake button, and the glass wasn't flush, It was raised on the left, and sunken on the right. Not what I expected from a $499.99 iPhone. So I called them a gain, and spoke to a Product Specialist, he did one more over night new iPhone thingy. This one that I have now still has a little but of uneven glass. The buttons and battery are perfect. I'm going to stick with what i have, because its becoming a PITA.

Thats my story, now go call up Apple and get it sorted out. And say you can't gop the the Store, if the ask you to.

Well I called Apple just now, (err they called me, weird appointment system thingy.) I said I've always been careful with the cables and others have lasted me over 5 years (which is true!) The rep on the phone was sorry the cable was fraying on the end, and said it was covered under warranty. I was not accused of abuse, All I need to do is wait for the new part and ship the old one back. I thanked him for the "painless" process.

As far as my phone behavior goes since the visit at the store, I haven't used it enough, but oddly enough the battery seems to be working fine now...

Although I am using my new cable I bought from the store. (which Ill be promptly retuning once my replacement comes in.) (Heck I may keep it, I need one for charging from my laptop when at work. Darn apple you made some $$ anyway , but look you made me happy with good service on the support chat )

Everything else on my 3gs is perfect, no yellow tint, no sound issues, no crooked buttons, just a kinda "mushy" home button, but all 3gs's seem to have that. (Occasionally I will push the home button once, but it thinks I clicked it twice and opens my camera, I blame the mushy home button!, but I will live with it, its not that big of a deal it itself.)