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Real-world iPhone 3G battery life sucks.

Guys, I really think (and hope) that this is mostly a software issue in 2.0 - I've been using my first gen iphone w/ software update since Friday morning (I grabbed the file Thurs night) and have noticed considerably worse battery performance. Today - for the first time ever - I could not last the day.

The only thing I did extra was play enigma on the train ride home, and even this might not be "extra," considering I usually watch a video podcast or two anyway, and still have about 30-40% battery when I get home. Also noteworthy is that I had noticed faster deterioration of the battery throughout the day...
 
I don't understand how everyone is getting such bad battery life. I have my e-mail check to manual, auto brightness off (set about 25%), push off, no iPod EQs, Wi-Fi off until I need it, location services off until I need it, 3G is on about half the time I'd say, I only turn it off when I'm getting bad reception or I don't really need it to save battery life. This makes a hell of a difference in the battery and I'm glad to say that I'm very impressed with the battery life that I've had today.

I still have about 40-45% battery left and here are my usage stats:


Usage: 7 Hours, 41 Minutes.
Standby: 12 Hours, 3 Minutes.

About 4 hours or so of music
About 60-90 Minutes of Internet 3G use.
About 45 Minutes of Video usage.
I've sent about 40 text messages today.
I've sent two e-mails out and have checked e-mail three times today.
And some other random stuff that I can't think of.

If you do the procedures that Apple says to get higher battery life, you WILL get more life out of it.
 
Lexoticstylez02 said:
I don't understand how everyone is getting such bad battery life. I have my e-mail check to manual, auto brightness off (set about 25%), push off, no iPod EQs, Wi-Fi off until I need it, location services off until I need it, 3G is on about half the time I'd say, I only turn it off when I'm getting bad reception or I don't really need it to save battery life. This makes a hell of a difference in the battery and I'm glad to say that I'm very impressed with the battery life that I've had today.

I still have about 40-45% battery left and here are my usage stats:


Usage: 7 Hours, 41 Minutes.
Standby: 12 Hours, 3 Minutes.

About 4 hours or so of music
About 60-90 Minutes of Internet 3G use.
About 45 Minutes of Video usage.
I've sent about 40 text messages today.
I've sent two e-mails out and have checked e-mail three times today.
And some other random stuff that I can't think of.

If you do the procedures that Apple says to get higher battery life, you WILL get more life out of it.
Click to expand...

God - I HATE THESE ****ING POSTS!!!!!

BRIGHTNESS 25%!!! WTF, DO YOU LIVE IN A CAVE?? 99% of my day I wouldn't be able to see the screen...
WIFI off??!?!?! Why did I buy a wi-fi enabled phone?!?!?
3G off!?!?!? Again - why buy a 3G enabled phone!?!!?
Location Services off?!!??! SEE ABOVE TWO!!!
Manual email check?!!?!? POINTLESS.

#1 reason why I was about to buy the 3G but decided to hold on to my gen 1....BATTERY LIFE. Goddamn you Apple for being so ****ing stupid and not offering a user replaceable battery....all for aesthetics. Makes me puke.
 
theNEOone said:
God - I HATE THESE ****ING POSTS!!!!!

BRIGHTNESS 25%!!! WTF, DO YOU LIVE IN A CAVE?? 99% of my day I wouldn't be able to see the screen...
WIFI off??!?!?! Why did I buy a wi-fi enabled phone?!?!?
3G off!?!?!? Again - why buy a 3G enabled phone!?!!?
Location Services off?!!??! SEE ABOVE TWO!!!
Manual email check?!!?!? POINTLESS.

#1 reason why I was about to buy the 3G but decided to hold on to my gen 1....BATTERY LIFE. Goddamn you Apple for being so ****ing stupid and not offering a user replaceable battery....all for aesthetics. Makes me puke.
Click to expand...

So I suppose you're going to try and tell me how your current 3G phone is SOOOO much better. PC Magazine doesn't think so.

The iPhone is Best in Class. Get out there and buy the phone you want........(it doesn't exist).

I managed 5 hours of Usage today, with 11 hours of standby. Mostly surfing the web on Edge (no 3g here yet) and some on wifi. Location services on, push on, bluetooth on 1/2 the time. A bit of gaming. Some music. That's a lot more internet and email usage than I would normally do in that timeframe. I'm trying to break it right now. I think it's going to be just fine. When I'm in the car, I'll plug it in.
 
theNEOone said:
God - I HATE THESE ****ING POSTS!!!!!

BRIGHTNESS 25%!!! WTF, DO YOU LIVE IN A CAVE?? 99% of my day I wouldn't be able to see the screen...
WIFI off??!?!?! Why did I buy a wi-fi enabled phone?!?!?
3G off!?!?!? Again - why buy a 3G enabled phone!?!!?
Location Services off?!!??! SEE ABOVE TWO!!!
Manual email check?!!?!? POINTLESS.

#1 reason why I was about to buy the 3G but decided to hold on to my gen 1....BATTERY LIFE. Goddamn you Apple for being so ****ing stupid and not offering a user replaceable battery....all for aesthetics. Makes me puke.
Click to expand...

You know all of these will drain your battery. Every phone with these capabilities will drain battery faster. Why do you find it a problem to turn off GPS, wifi, and 3g when not in use? Why do you NEED wifi on if your not even using it? This is why I font get why people are complaining.
 
thomasfxlt said:
So I suppose you're going to try and tell me how your current 3G phone is SOOOO much better. PC Magazine doesn't think so.

The iPhone is Best in Class. Get out there and buy the phone you want........(it doesn't exist).

I managed 5 hours of Usage today, with 11 hours of standby. Mostly surfing the web on Edge (no 3g here yet) and some on wifi. Location services on, push on, bluetooth on 1/2 the time. A bit of gaming. Some music. That's a lot more internet and email usage than I would normally do in that timeframe. I'm trying to break it right now. I think it's going to be just fine. When I'm in the car, I'll plug it in.
Click to expand...

Did you just reference PC magazine? Yup? Ok the rest of your post means sh*t.
 
Lexoticstylez02 said:
You know all of these will drain your battery. Every phone with these capabilities will drain battery faster. Why do you find it a problem to turn off GPS, wifi, and 3g when not in use? Why do you NEED wifi on if your not even using it? This is why I font get why people are complaining.
Click to expand...

Let me get this straight....you don't understand why people are complaining? Really? I mean...really really really? Or just kind of, to prove your point?

Do you mean you really don't understand why people are complaining about buying a phone with features that they can't use and/or have to keep switching them on and off for fear of having it die in the middle of the day? 11 hours of standby? That's totally fuc*ing useless. I wake up at 6am and don't get home from work until 9pm sometimes. So if I DON'T EVEN USE MY PHONE AT ALL, AND SIMPLY LEAVE IT ON STANDBY, IT WILL DIE.

Again, do you REALLY not understand???
 
Ok, since some of you obviously haven't dug around in the SDK and have no idea how some of this stuff works....

There are 2 parts to the Location Services that need to be understood -

When you have it turned on in the settings, that just means it's available, but that doesn't mean the GPS is actually up and running. (ie, if you have it turned off, and go into an app that wants to use it, it will prompt you. If you already have it on, and an app wants to use it, it just will without asking.)

The second step is actually having the service doing something (locating). This happens when you press the little blue "locate me" on the map. If you don't unclick this, even if you leave the map application ,the GPS is still up and running and listening to teh signals from the satelites, and that sucks power down hard. The only option to turn this off is to either uncheck the blue locator orb, or go into settigns and completely disable the service.

If you turn the service on, but NEVER go into the map application and hit the orb to initiate tracking, you're not really using any battery.

Therefor, all you folks who are getting 6+ hours doing different things with the locator on, but who never initiated tracking, you really aren't hitting the GPS.

The SDK states that any application running is supposed to perform clean up tasks in the process of being switched out. It's pretty obvious to me that there are many that are not turning off the GPS when they are switched out.

And agreed, I'd like to see a little app that allows us to quickly turn on/off each of the radios (3G, WifI, BT, GPS) without having to dig through the various settings menus.

I only turn on the things I need when I need them, and then turn them off. Otherwise I'm just wasting power on stuff I'm not even using....
 
I'm gonna have to go with the software version.

I had the leaked release of the 2.0 Firmware on the first gen iPhone and yeah, the minute I upgraded, the battery was being SUCKED OUT... Obviously that phone didn't have 3G... I'm sorry but I REALLY don't think 3g would really suck that much life out of a phone.

I'd put 10$ that Apple addresses this issue with an update soon, like they did for the MBP.

If you can get 18 hrs of standby, like I have (with the 3g), then SOMETHING is funky somewhere with the firmware...
 
theNEOone said:
Let me get this straight....you don't understand why people are complaining? Really? I mean...really really really? Or just kind of, to prove your point?

Do you mean you really don't understand why people are complaining about buying a phone with features that they can't use and/or have to keep switching them on and off for fear of having it die in the middle of the day? 11 hours of standby? That's totally fuc*ing useless. I wake up at 6am and don't get home from work until 9pm sometimes. So if I DON'T EVEN USE MY PHONE AT ALL, AND SIMPLY LEAVE IT ON STANDBY, IT WILL DIE.

Again, do you REALLY not understand???
Click to expand...

I can understand but everybody knew these services would drain your battery, Apple even said this from the beginning and is why they didn't have 3G in the 1st gen. There is not a NEED to have Wi-Fi enabled if you're not using it. I wake up at 6:30AM and get to work at 9AM as well.. my phone lasts me all day and I don't have to charge it. I posted my usage times above and they are pretty good to me. Like others said you need to cycle your battery and charge it 100% and drain it to 0% for the first few charges, this will help battery life overtime. There is also no need to have your brightness at 100% and yet people still complain about having their screen brightness lower. I've had 3G on 50-75% of the day and my times were pretty impressive to me. I'm going to take a screenshot of my usage times when I get my 10% warning.
 
theNEOone said:
Let me get this straight....you don't understand why people are complaining? Really? I mean...really really really? Or just kind of, to prove your point?

Do you mean you really don't understand why people are complaining about buying a phone with features that they can't use and/or have to keep switching them on and off for fear of having it die in the middle of the day? 11 hours of standby? That's totally fuc*ing useless. I wake up at 6am and don't get home from work until 9pm sometimes. So if I DON'T EVEN USE MY PHONE AT ALL, AND SIMPLY LEAVE IT ON STANDBY, IT WILL DIE.

Again, do you REALLY not understand???
Click to expand...

Ever consider some therapy......all that anger will give you a stroke...
 
theNEOone said:
God - I HATE THESE ****ING POSTS!!!!!

BRIGHTNESS 25%!!! WTF, DO YOU LIVE IN A CAVE?? 99% of my day I wouldn't be able to see the screen...
WIFI off??!?!?! Why did I buy a wi-fi enabled phone?!?!?
3G off!?!?!? Again - why buy a 3G enabled phone!?!!?
Location Services off?!!??! SEE ABOVE TWO!!!
Manual email check?!!?!? POINTLESS.

#1 reason why I was about to buy the 3G but decided to hold on to my gen 1....BATTERY LIFE. Goddamn you Apple for being so ****ing stupid and not offering a user replaceable battery....all for aesthetics. Makes me puke.
Click to expand...

LOL! No kidding!

Ok, here's how to get great battery life:

3G, location services and wi-fi off.
Keep phone calls to a maximum of 3.5 minutes and no more than 5 calls a day.
Do not watch movies.
Only check emails when near a phone charger.
Keep screen turned down to 10 percent and then get in a dark closet to view.
Set to no ringtone and no vibrate. Just guess when calls come in.
Do not surf web. If you need something...borrow a computer.
When showing phone off to friends keep screen on for no more than 3 sec.
Only use iPod (music) when absolutely necessary. Make sure to only load 7 or 8 songs on ipod so you won't be tempted to listen longer.
Keep text messages to only 3 a day. Be concise and to the point.

That should keep your battery going until about 1pm or so.

Ok but really, why have all these features and then have no battery life?

I agree with the poster I quoted.:)
 
Today was kind of my first "real world" test of my iPhone 3G's battery. I was concerned, given what I'd read on the net.

I have to say that I was actually pleasantly surprised. Here were my settings:

3G: off when not connected to my car charger, except for about 15 minutes during lunch when I had some time to surf.

WiFi: on, but not connected most of the time from 8 - 5, connected to WiFi at home this evening.

Data Retrieval: Push was on all day for email, contacts and calendar.

Today was one of those days that make me worry about my phone battery. I had a long assignment from 10a - 4:30p where I would be away from my dock and charger. I wasn't going to be surfing much, so 3G was off. I had some browsing time during lunch, and turned on 3G for a bit. When in my car, I had it plugged into the charger. I had about a 20 minute commute each way to the university.

I got about 15 - 20 emails, sent about 10. Sent several text messages. Used Loopt 4-5 times today, Twitter, AIM, etc. Not HEAVY use, but now and again throughout the day. My battery meter didn't move until late in the afternoon. When I put it on the charger on my drive home, it was once again full. At home I keep it connected to my computer for the most part, but did condition my battery over the weekend, and will do once a month or so like the manual recommends.

I was pretty impressed, actually. Granted I didn't use 3G much, but I probably won't be a heavy 3G user. EDGE is fast enough for email, which is what I use it for the most. 3G is nice to have when I need faster speed, but I don't need it all the time.

My best suggestion would be to get a car charger and keep it on there while you're driving. A quick top-off can really streth your battery life.
 
iphone 3G newbie!!

quick question...what does the Standby mean? :confused:
right now mine reads Usage 2 Hours, 37 Minutes and Standby 16 Hours, 51 Minutes. (the green bar is @ halfway point)....thanks!!
 
theNEOone said:
Guys, I really think (and hope) that this is mostly a software issue in 2.0 - I've been using my first gen iphone w/ software update since Friday morning (I grabbed the file Thurs night) and have noticed considerably worse battery performance. Today - for the first time ever - I could not last the day.

The only thing I did extra was play enigma on the train ride home, and even this might not be "extra," considering I usually watch a video podcast or two anyway, and still have about 30-40% battery when I get home. Also noteworthy is that I had noticed faster deterioration of the battery throughout the day...
Click to expand...

same exact here
 
theNEOone said:
Guys, I really think (and hope) that this is mostly a software issue in 2.0 - I've been using my first gen iphone w/ software update since Friday morning (I grabbed the file Thurs night) and have noticed considerably worse battery performance. Today - for the first time ever - I could not last the day.
Click to expand...

You need to restore your iPhone to get the "official" 2.0 from iTunes. I too downloaded 2.0 Thursday and put it on my original iPhone and it SUCKED the battery like you wouldn't believe.

If you do a restore, you should see a big difference in your battery life.
 
rotobadger said:
Ok but really, why have all these features and then have no battery life?
Click to expand...

Why? Because everybody wants those features, but no one wants to have a phone the size of a brick (due to bigger battery size). I bet most people would choose a smaller phone with less battery life and lots of features over a larger phone with more battery life and the same features.
 
I'm running at 7 hours usage and 15 hours standby. 10% left with everyhing off. I will try no push Tommorrow
 
just think of how much more battery would be used if apple put in all those other features ppl wanted to add in. namely stereo bluetooth and a couple others. Tether to laptop in 3g... for 10 minutes lol.. errr wait. you could just charge it on that computer...WHATEVER!!
 
Signal Strength - big issue

Something I've heard before, and its mentioned in anlther thread, a big contributer to good or bad battery life (exagerated with 3G) is environment, too cold or hot, and more importantly signal strength, bad signal and the phone could ramp up power to stay connected and 3G isnt as good for coverage in many areas either, which would amplify the problem further!

Perversely, someone also told me if you are too close to a transmitter you have too good a signal and that can cause problems too - though I havent seen that confirmed or repeated.

Both of the above can also apply to Wifi so our network expert says...

What i'm getting at is people seeing different usage times isnt a big shock, and its not that one is doing it wrong necissarily.
 
theNEOone said:
God - I HATE THESE ****ING POSTS!!!!!

BRIGHTNESS 25%!!! WTF, DO YOU LIVE IN A CAVE?? 99% of my day I wouldn't be able to see the screen...
WIFI off??!?!?! Why did I buy a wi-fi enabled phone?!?!?
3G off!?!?!? Again - why buy a 3G enabled phone!?!!?
Location Services off?!!??! SEE ABOVE TWO!!!
Manual email check?!!?!? POINTLESS.

#1 reason why I was about to buy the 3G but decided to hold on to my gen 1....BATTERY LIFE. Goddamn you Apple for being so ****ing stupid and not offering a user replaceable battery....all for aesthetics. Makes me puke.
Click to expand...

Blood pressure raised much? :rolleyes:
 
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