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On average how long does the battery on your iPhone 3G last?

N

NewIphone

macrumors member
Original poster
Hi everyone,

Like the title says, On average how long does the battery on your iPhone 3G last?

Mine needs a charge pretty much everyday :/
 
I'd say a day or less. Because of those free online games, surf for 20mins and calls for about half an hour. Forgot about those Internet radio apps too.
 
About two days. I leave everything on including 3G, WiFi and push everything with Mobile Me. Usage is about 2-3 hours with maybe one or two phone calls. It gets used mostly for email and iPod and the iHeartRadio app.
 
I get good battery life by leaving off push and I manually pull my email. I leave 3g on and I put the screen on either 50 percent brightness or auto brightness, 1 minute autolock, volume on all the way, and I do a lot of texting. I'm on the 1500 a month plan and I think I'll go over by about 100-200 this month.

I use surf about an hour a day using facebook and some apps. I rarely check email during the day. If I'm on the phone for about 10 minutes a day I have about 80 percent battery life left, when I go to bed. BUT talking drains my battery big time. Last week I had a 100 minute phone conversation starting at about 10:30pm with my phone at 80 percent battery after after a morning charge and normal usage and my battery at the end of the talk was at 20 prercent with the red battery indicator on the 3g network and sometimes flipping between edge and 3g.
 
Phone comes off the charger at 0530 and with random browsing, texting, checking Cydia for new releases my battery is usually 50% or less when I leave work at 1500. Could definitely be a lot better but if I'm careful I can make it last the day. With no usage, 2+ days easily.
 
It lasts a lot longer lately, but I still charge it on a nightly basis during the week. On the weekends I usually never charge it. I bet I could get 2-3 days out of it during the week, but it's not worth risking not having my iPhone if I need it. So, I just make sure it's charged.
 
I find that if I only use it to check my email when I hear it "ding" then I can use it for about 2 days, with the ocasional talk to a friend or a few SMS's a day. If I really use the internet alot and SMS often it will last a few hours ~3.
I have chargers everywhere (car, office, home, laptop). I never had to charge my blackberry as often, but I never used it as much either.

Once you have an iPhone 3G in hand it is hard to let it go. I find myself doing things that I never could do with my BB.
 
NewIphone said:
hmmm well i use around 100-200 mins a day so I guess that eats up all my battery 🙁
Click to expand...

Yup, talking seems to be the big drain on the battery. If I don't talk on the phone I could easily go 2-3 days and that includes my texting and some surfing and some apps.
 
I actually use mine more as a computer than as a phone.

I average maybe 2 short calls a day (like 2 minutes each or something), and mostly use a few low power apps to view photos, use safari a decent amount, check mail maybe 3-4 times a day, and a really good amount of IM'ing with Beejive.

It's definitely the 3G internet traffic that runs down my battery.

I usually end up with just over 50% power by the time I'm done with everything, so I nearly always recharge when I get home for the day.
 
Not sure what has happened, but as of yesterday, my iphone 3G has had a runaway battery discharge issue. I don't have a clue what I could have done to cause this. I downloaded flixter (movie app) and super monkey ball lite (Free) and the next day the phone is nuts. I know something is wrong because the phone comes out of my belt case and it's pretty hot like i've been using it on a really long call.

I deleted my latest downloaded apps and I am currently downloading the 2.2.1 update from itunes. I hope this solves my issue.

I charged it all night, got up at 8AM and actually forgot my phone at home. Got home at 1:30 PM and the phone is completely dead. Just sitting here. Bad mojo.
 
I'm not sure how the iPhone's battery life stacks up against other premium smartphones, but when up against lower-end devices, the battery life is understandably less, because of the large screen, and you're more likely to use the iPhone's other power-sapping functions a hell of a lot more(Browsing, iPod, apps, etc - I know I do) than on a standard phone.
 
I do internet radio 1-2 hours a day, 1-2 hours of talk time, 1 hour surfing or so, checking mail a few times. Lasts 2 days or so.
 
ScottFitz said:
Not sure what has happened, but as of yesterday, my iphone 3G has had a runaway battery discharge issue. I don't have a clue what I could have done to cause this. I downloaded flixter (movie app) and super monkey ball lite (Free) and the next day the phone is nuts. I know something is wrong because the phone comes out of my belt case and it's pretty hot like i've been using it on a really long call.

I deleted my latest downloaded apps and I am currently downloading the 2.2.1 update from itunes. I hope this solves my issue.

I charged it all night, got up at 8AM and actually forgot my phone at home. Got home at 1:30 PM and the phone is completely dead. Just sitting here. Bad mojo.
Click to expand...


haha. My company updated our exchange server software exactly the same time my phone went nuts and lost all battery goodness. I deleted the corporate email account and then reentered it and my phone is no longer overheating. I don't quite understand it completely, but if it's working now, it's working. that's all that matters.
 
I get about 20 hours.

3g on, screen brightness 45% and usage about 20 sms a day, 2 hrs web and general use throughout the day.
 
Plenty for what i do

I guess i'm what you'd call a power user 3hrs a day (long commute) on the ipod podcasts, 120-180mins calls wifi and 3g always on, 10 txts and 20mins surfing a day and my battery usually (more often than not) gives a full day, there's usually a point during day that i can plug into computer or charger if needed.

If it does a day what's wrong with that, I had a Nokia N95 before and it wouldnt last till lunch!
 
ScottFitz said:
haha. My company updated our exchange server software exactly the same time my phone went nuts and lost all battery goodness. I deleted the corporate email account and then reentered it and my phone is no longer overheating. I don't quite understand it completely, but if it's working now, it's working. that's all that matters.
Click to expand...

Bet that's a relief!
 
Sometimes I have to recharge before the day is over to use it for the rest of the evening. My backup batteries get used fairly often.
 
Non stop usage ,several calls , browsing , 1 full length movie , 1 hour playing games , several e-mails , 1-2 hours music ,GPS, taking 10-15 pics = 6 hours max.

Normal usage : 2-3 calls , 10 minutes browsing , 1 hour music , 10-20 minutes playing games , calculator , some pics etc = a full day ( still have 20% or so battery )

On Stand by ( most over the weekend ) : 1-2 calls , some minutes browsing , no music, no games = 2 full days and still have 40% battery on Sunday night .

So.... If I don´t use it at all , it should last 3 full days

Oh.... Fetch every 15 m , full brightness , volume top, wifi on .

Saludos
 
Seems like a pretty big spread to me. I just got mine a last Friday so today was my first full day at work with it. I was a bit bummed with the battery life today even by noon it was down pretty good. I'll give it an all nighter on the AC charger and see what I get tomorrow.
 
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