I'm not targeting anyone in particular, but I am seeing a lot of people complaining about the battery power when they obviously don't know anything about electronic physics.
I have an 18 month old iPhone 2G. I never turn on the Wi-fi except for when I am in an area where Edge is not working. I have push on MobileMe Mail, calenders, contacts, and Yahoo e-mail. I lookup my POP mail every 15 minutes. I listen to my podcasts for roughly 2.5 hours per day and I am constantly looking up things online. I use the NetNewsWire app, Facebook app, and Bloomberg app constantly. I keep a charger at my work desk so I can keep it charged. On days I don't charge it, it will still last me all day. I charge it at night when I hook it up to my PC to sync. When I had a Razr, I had to charge it nightly, and it didn't do half the stuff the iPhone does.
The iPhone has a lot of things that use power and there is only so much energy these Li-on batteries can hold and not be the size of a cinder block. The phone transmitter stays on in order to receive calls, push e-mail, and texts. The touchscreen, display, and backlight use power every time the iPhone turns on. And the speaker uses power if you don't have the phone muted. As for push, you have to compromise. If you don't want your e-mails live, then you can save your battery. But if you do, you will have to use more battery. Nothing is free.
You have a small computer in your pocket that can go through your entire day on a single charge. Short of putting a nuclear reactor in the thing, there is little Apple can do to make the batteries last longer until battery technology improves. If you want the batteries to last longer, turn off features, remove the apps, and turn off your backlight. Otherwise, don't complain.
