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People complaining about battery = no life?

S

shinenjk

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 23, 2008
202
1
Boston, MA
Sorry I don't mean to start anything here and this is based off on my personal experience also so don't take it too seriously.

When I first bought the iPhone 3G over the weekend, I couldn't let it go and kept on playing around with it for hours. And yes, I did notice how fast my battery was draining. OK it stunk but understandable because I did abuse it for a good amount of time.

Now I'm at work and I obviously can't play with it that often, using it occasionally to check emails and make/receive calls. I talked to someone for an hour and a half first thing this morning starting from 100% battery life and NONE of it even drained. Now I'm about to go lunch and the battery is SLIGHTLY down from 100%. I think I will be good for the entire day w/ no problem.

So basically as long as you're not using your iPhone to do crazy energy-draining stuff, it will last a day, or even two. And it's quite obvious that those who whine about the battery life have no lives and need to quit playing w/ the damn thing. :D And on a different note, I can't believe how freakishly good this thing will get if they DO improve the battery. Agreed?
 
was jsut about to post something like this, i don't get why people complain about the battery life. i mean... if you are going to use the phone for stuff it is intended to, the battery is going to drain (DOIY) expecially with 3g..

i can go for almost 2 full days of not charging my phone, with moderate use, texting, music, calls here and there.
 
a lot of people use their iPhones for work, extensively. Its not just a pretty toy for many of us. :)
 
Yep...the battery in my iPhone is fine until I play games, watch videos, surf the web, make a call or two, send several text messages and send emails. :D I mean if you use ANY device to do all those things the battery can only last so long.

If I use my iPhone the way I use my Blackberry Pearl it is about the same. That's not a guess/conjecture...I've played with both extensively over the last week +. If I could do all the things on my Pearl that I can do on my iPhone it would die just as fast.

In my head to head comparisons the iPhone when used for email, SMS, and calls alone lasts every bit as long (or longer) than my Blackberry.
 
This cannot be said for those with defective batteries.

I recently replaced my white iPhone last Friday because of a battery which lasted 3 hours with every service apart from Edge, turned off.

My new unit, has battery life which has improved 6-fold compared to my last unit, and I now get at least one whole day of usage.

Don't say people who complain about battery life have no life, because actually, some are trying to protect the worth of their device.

Would you keep a unit which features a defective battery? - I doubt it.

Things must be discussed, in order to be resolved.

Creating a thread soley to moan at the moaners, will get no-one, no-where.

R-Fly
 
razorianfly said:
This cannot be said for those with defective batteries.

I recently replaced my white iPhone last Friday because of a battery which lasted 3 hours with every service apart from Edge, turned off.

My new unit, has battery life which has improved 6-fold compared to my last unit, and I now get at least one whole day of usage.

Don't say people who complain about battery life have no life, because actually, some are trying to protect the worth of their device.

Would you keep a unit which features a defective battery? - I doubt it.

Things must be discussed, in order to be resolved.

Creating a thread soley to moan at the moaners, will get no-one, no-where.

R-Fly
Click to expand...

Hey, did your battery last 3 hours usage with how many hours standby? Or was it just 3 hours including standby time?

Im currently getting about 3 hours usage with 3g on, mostly browsing/emailing, with about 13-15 hours standby. Is this normal you think?
 
komiothebeat said:
i mean... if you are going to use the phone for stuff it is intended to, the battery is going to drain (DOIY) expecially with 3g..QUOTE]

The iPhone is marketed as a camera, cell phone, iPod, iPod video player, handheld web-surfing, handheld e-mail send/reciever, electronic calander, handheld gaming device, GPS locator and Route Finder, just to name a few of the functions.

That is what it is "intended" to do, that is how Apple portrays it. And it does all of those things better than any other mobile device hands down. So if you plan on using all of the features it has to offer you would hope the battery could stand the strain of using it for what it is "intended" to do.
Click to expand...
 
The iphone battery is no BlackBerry battery. My old BB (brick) 8703e battery lasted like a champ i charged it once every 3 days, with emails and texting constantly. Iphone has to be charged every night. oh well I still like it better than the BB.
 
jsquared said:
komiothebeat said:
i mean... if you are going to use the phone for stuff it is intended to, the battery is going to drain (DOIY) expecially with 3g..QUOTE]

The iPhone is marketed as a camera, cell phone, iPod, iPod video player, handheld web-surfing, handheld e-mail send/reciever, electronic calander, handheld gaming device, GPS locator and Route Finder, just to name a few of the functions.

That is what it is "intended" to do, that is how Apple portrays it. And it does all of those things better than any other mobile device hands down. So if you plan on using all of the features it has to offer you would hope the battery could stand the strain of using it for what it is "intended" to do.
Click to expand...

People just like to whine. Everyone knows about the iphone before they buy it. They then buy it and then complain. You knew beforehand the way it was. Either dont get it or shut up. Its not that bad.
Click to expand...
 
greedyboy said:
Hey, did your battery last 3 hours usage with how many hours standby? Or was it just 3 hours including standby time?

Im currently getting about 3 hours usage with 3g on, mostly browsing/emailing, with about 13-15 hours standby. Is this normal you think?
Click to expand...

That sounds about right to me.

You should expect 3/5 hours with 3G on, and browsing/e-mailing.

I was getting 3 hours maximum, including standby.

Now I'm getting 6 hrs usage, with 12hrs standby.

R-Fly
 
Ha...I'm sure this thread will make people mad, but it's essentially correct.

Not that they 'have no lives' but that people expect too much. Using it as a cell phone and using it as an internet device are NOT the same thing at all! Someone who browses non-stop is going to run out a lot quicker.

It's the same with laptops. I can work on a word processor with with the screen dimmed for 4 hours or so, but a DVD won't play much longer than a movie's length.

People understand that, so they don't complain. It's the same thing with the iPhone, but for some reason people don't think of the different KINDS of usage being, well, different!

Some days my iPhone lasts all and others I have to charge by lunch. Yes, sometime's I'm one of those "without a life people!" There's nothing wrong with that! But yes, we do need to realize that we're using the device in different ways than other people, so we shouldn't be surprised when we get different results than they do.
 
I am getting great battery life. I leave locational services off, and in the chicago area 3g is always on. 3-6 hours usage and then a day standby. But what i did notice is if i turn the phone off the battery meter will just completely drop to 20% when i turn it back on. I think that is a bug in 2.0 not being able to read the battery life correctly. Now i have to return the phone because the vibrate button broke off while switching it. I hope i get a good phone with a good battery. i am worried.
 
shinenjk said:
So basically as long as you're not using your iPhone to do crazy energy-draining stuff, it will last a day, or even two. And it's quite obvious that those who whine about the battery life have no lives and need to quit playing w/ the damn thing. :D And on a different note, I can't believe how freakishly good this thing will get if they DO improve the battery. Agreed?
Click to expand...

Obviously you've never been in a situation where your iPhone is stuck in a spot that alternates between 1 bar and no service for several hours. This is the situation I have at work and if I leave 3G on it will drain the battery by almost half just from it trying to maintain a 3G signal without me even using it.
 
PoitNarf said:
Obviously you've never been in a situation where your iPhone is stuck in a spot that alternates between 1 bar and no service for several hours. This is the situation I have at work and if I leave 3G on it will drain the battery by almost half just from it trying to maintain a 3G signal without me even using it.
Click to expand...

This is the same for me. I was getting crappy battery life, and turning off 3g and just leaving it on edge doubled my battery life easy.

My neighborhood is a 3G dead spot (I live 20 minutes west of Chicago) for some reason. I only get 1-2 bars on 3G, but full on edge. In my basement, where I spend most of my time, 3G will go dead and the phone switches to edge anyway. At work 3G is ok outside, but only like 1-2 bars inside the building.

After trying it out for a day, I noticed it's better for me to just turn off 3G all together and only turning it on when I wanna surf the web and there is no wifi available. Battery life is fantastic for me now. Location services and push are both on as well.
 
My battery seems to be sharing someof the same qualities as many of you, in the way that my battery life seems to be ****. I find that I am having to charge it at least twice a day, I do emails and a bit of surfing and a bit of gaming on it but nothing crazy.

For those of you who got your iphones battery replaced, was it a pain in the ass or was apple pretty cool about it??
 
razorianfly said:
This cannot be said for those with defective batteries.

I recently replaced my white iPhone last Friday because of a battery which lasted 3 hours with every service apart from Edge, turned off.

My new unit, has battery life which has improved 6-fold compared to my last unit, and I now get at least one whole day of usage.

Don't say people who complain about battery life have no life, because actually, some are trying to protect the worth of their device.

Would you keep a unit which features a defective battery? - I doubt it.

Things must be discussed, in order to be resolved.

Creating a thread soley to moan at the moaners, will get no-one, no-where.

R-Fly
Click to expand...

I wouldn't discuss it or post messages about it. I would just return the damned thing like you did.
 
If you did return the phone and received a new one, how did you do it? What did you say to convince apple to take it back?
 
I was nervous about the battery life issue at first. I went on vacation right after I got my iPhone, so I didn't get to try it out the way I would use it during the average weekday until today. So far, I've sent a couple of texts, talked on the phone for about 5 mins, surfed (3G) for about 15 mins, played games for 20 mins and listened to the iPod through the headphones for 40 mins and through the speaker almost all day since 9:30 a.m. The battery is only down by one third. What a relief!

My weekend usage would be more, but I'm very satisfied with today's results, since it seems like it will cover my needs. Maybe I don't need to get that new second charger for work after all. Although I guess it still wouldn't hurt...
 
WPB2 said:
The iphone battery is no BlackBerry battery. My old BB (brick) 8703e battery lasted like a champ i charged it once every 3 days, with emails and texting constantly. Iphone has to be charged every night. oh well I still like it better than the BB.
Click to expand...

I've had 4 different Blackberry phones over the last 3 years...my employer dishes them out like candy.

Anyway, I can tell you with 100% certainty not all Blackberry batteries are the same. I'm using my second Pearl and the difference between the 2 is night and day. Battery life can be VASTLY different within the same model.

If one is really getting abnormally bad battery life they may just have a defective battery. I think my battery life isn't great...~4 hrs of typical use for me and it's done, but I use PUSH and surf the web, LOTS of email and some text messaging as well. Would I prefer better? Absolutely! But if I couldn't live with it, I do what others have done and just return it.
 
The real problem with the battery as I see it is that you can't swap it out. Not only does this mean you can't take a spare with you it also means you can't swap it out for a more powerful one.

Look at some of the more popular winmo devices, most of them have some sort of super battery for sale. Yes it increases the thickness, but hell even if you doubled the iphone's thickness it would still be thin. And honestly, while it may last a few days on light usage, it can be drained in sub 3 hours with heavy usage.

If they doubled the thickness and made all the extra battery and it lasted for 15 hours of HEAVY usage I think you'd have more people happy than upset. Just my 2 cents.
 
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