Why are you people so worked up about battery life?

[Loonytik]

One option is to buy a small external battery, like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-Battery-Extender-Charger-iPhone/dp/B0018DKODQ/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_i

mine's not here yet, but it seems relatively unobtrusive for emergency charges while away from the desk, and size-wise, it's probably almost comparable to carrying an extra battery around anyway. When the battery gets low, just pop it on and continue working for however many hours it may actually allow the iPhone to run.

it looks aesthetically pleasing too: http://laughingsquid.com/kensington-mini-iphone-ipod-battery-pack-charger/

So I need to spend another $36 to make my $300 iphone work throughout the day? And I need to make sure that I have a USB port around so I can charge said external battery? No thank you.

 

[tallyho]

So I need to spend another $36 to make my $300 iphone work throughout the day? And I need to make sure that I have a USB port around so I can charge said external battery? No thank you.

If you had a Nokia etc smart phone with comparable or shorter battery life (N95)...how much would you pay for your spare battery and how would you charge it? Just asking.

 

[Jack Dangers]

I'm really shocked at some of these comments. People expect to use 3G for data and voice, GPS and use apps all day and not expect the battery to die? It's all about power management. If I'm not using 3G, I just turn it off. 3G consuming power is nothing new, this was known, and it actually warns you on the phone! I think i'm in the minority that is actually satisfied with the battery life. No, it's not as good as my previous Nokia which was basically just a phone, but it's definitely good enough to handle the tasks I throw at it any given day...

BTW, RIM told me that my Blackberry Pearl would last me 15 days in standby...sheesh that thing would last 1.5 days max before it was begging for a charge.

 

[oban14]

A wireless phone that is wired! Perfect! Just keep it plugged in and you wont have to worry about the battery life..... Hows that for being "mobile?"

Like I said, I take it to my car, take it home, take it to work, wherever. There is no reason to not have it plugged in when I'm at home or sitting in my office.

Maybe some of you work in restaurants (last I checked, they still had outlets in the kitchen) and maybe some of you have to fly to Asia all the time. But 90% of you probably wake up, drive to work, sit in a cubicle, and then drive home. You should have ample opportunity to charge your phone during the day, and it certainly shouldn't be a problem to charge it overnight.

You people do sleep, don't you?

 

[spaceballl]

So stop your crying and go return it if the issues that bad.

Um, no - we'll keep our iPhones too. Sorry if it offends you that we point out the issues it has!

 

[Nikhil72]

So I need to spend another $36 to make my $300 iphone work throughout the day? And I need to make sure that I have a USB port around so I can charge said external battery? No thank you.

*If* the iPhone had used replaceable batteries, you would easily spend this much, if not more, for an additional battery to swap out, AND you would have to somehow supply charge to the additional battery IN ADDITION TO the primary battery if you wanted both charged up for use. This seems like a reasonable solution, even if it's just for a boost and not for a full, 100% increase in talk time. Just pointing that out.

 

[spaceballl]

*If* the iPhone had used replaceable batteries, you would easily spend this much, if not more, for an additional battery to swap out, AND you would have to somehow supply charge to the additional battery IN ADDITION TO the primary battery if you wanted both charged up for use. This seems like a reasonable solution, even if it's just for a boost and not for a full, 100% increase in talk time. Just pointing that out.

You make a good point - but while I can't speak for others, I'm not wishing it had a user replaceable battery. I'm just wishing that it lasted about 30% longer!

 

[BongoBanger]

If you had a Nokia etc smart phone with comparable or shorter battery life (N95)...how much would you pay for your spare battery and how would you charge it? Just asking.

£5.

http://www.ukphonesales.com/nokia-spare-battery-bl5f-range-click-here-models-covered-p-885.html

You charge it by swapping them over every now and again. Generally they hold their charge pretty well if not in use.

 

[Nikhil72]

You make a good point - but while I can't speak for others, I'm not wishing it had a user replaceable battery. I'm just wishing that it lasted about 30% longer!

Completely legitimate, but now that I'm distancing myself more from my 2G iPhone, I'm realizing that the 3G is pretty solid as a 3G device. Granted, my only experience was with a Samsung Blackjack, which I returned after 25 days because of horrendous battery life (that would get me through half a day but lacked Wi-Fi, LBS, etc., and I never used it for multimedia...in comparison, my iPhone 3G is getting hammered by me in terms of usage but is holding itself up pretty well [relatively speaking])

 

[estark]

Congratulations to those of you have found how to increase the battery life to hundreds of hours.... sit by a wall socket!

I think that its sad that many people here are suggesting that they have to "MANAGE" battery life. Geez, I haven't had another cell phone that I had to MANAGE just to get a days life out of the battery. My 3G Blackjack lasted a day and a half or more. Why are so many people feel personally defensive about the poor battery life that this phone gets?

If you need to turn off 3G, turn the brightness down, turn off location services, and limit email usage, why didn't apple just slap their logo on a Razor? I think that when they chose battery design, they had all of these features in mind... they should've added another .1mm to the thickness of the phone if needed or had the SOFTWARE manage battery life.

 

[GfPQqmcRKUvP]

I think that its sad that many people here are suggesting that they have to "MANAGE" battery life. Geez, I haven't had another cell phone that I had to MANAGE just to get a days life out of the battery. My 3G Blackjack lasted a day and a half or more. Why are so many people feel personally defensive about the poor battery life that this phone gets?

Because it doesn't get poor battery life.

I bet if you bought a Lamborghini you'd complain about the poor mileage.

 

[oban14]

Congratulations to those of you have found how to increase the battery life to hundreds of hours.... sit by a wall socket!

I think that its sad that many people here are suggesting that they have to "MANAGE" battery life. Geez, I haven't had another cell phone that I had to MANAGE just to get a days life out of the battery. My 3G Blackjack lasted a day and a half or more. Why are so many people feel personally defensive about the poor battery life that this phone gets?

If you need to turn off 3G, turn the brightness down, turn off location services, and limit email usage, why didn't apple just slap their logo on a Razor? I think that when they chose battery design, they had all of these features in mind... they should've added another .1mm to the thickness of the phone if needed or had the SOFTWARE manage battery life.

Welcome to the world of smartphones. My Treo 700p had less than ideal battery life, and it still blew the doors off my old Samsung i700. The 3G iPhone is an improvement on both, but you guys sound like a bunch of lazy whiners to me who feel you should only have to plug in your phone on weekends.

Quit being so cheap: Buy a charger for your car and a charger for your cubicle.

You're welcome.

 

[Loonytik]

Because it doesn't get poor battery life.

I bet if you bought a Lamborghini you'd complain about the poor mileage.

Seriously? So the overwhelming posts by people in this forum about poor battery life on their iphones are wrong? I think it honestly offends you people that some have issue with having to charge your phone multiple times a day during normal use.

You shouldn't have to charge your phone in the middle of the day after normal use. You shouldn't have to carry around usb cables or plug ins or spare batteries for one day of use. I can understand if you are going to be on a business trip where you are gone for a couple of days but not just going to work 8-5....

I wont say the battery life sucks because its not horrific but admit it fanboys.....its not that great.

 

[GfPQqmcRKUvP]

Seriously? So the overwhelming posts by people in this forum about poor battery life on their iphones are wrong? I think it honestly offends you people that some have issue with having to charge your phone multiple times a day during normal use.

You shouldn't have to charge your phone in the middle of the day after normal use. You shouldn't have to carry around usb cables or plug ins or spare batteries for one day of use. I can understand if you are going to be on a business trip where you are gone for a couple of days but not just going to work 8-5....

I wont say the battery life sucks because its not horrific but admit it fanboys.....its not that great.

You don't get it. 3G phones don't have good battery life, and the iPhone's is impressive given the screen size and brightness.

What does this mean?:

You shouldn't have to charge your phone in the middle of the day after normal use.

Shouldn't? What do you mean by shouldn't? You can give me all the "should's" you want, but 3G phones use more power. I should have $100 million and five Ferrari's. Should is meaningless unless there's a reason why something should be a certain way.


Again, you don't by a Lamborghini and complain about the mileage, so stop buying a 3G phone and thinking it should last far longer than any other 3G phone on the face of planet.

 

[Loonytik]

Shouldn't? What do you mean by shouldn't? You can give me all the "should's" you want, but 3G phones use more power. I should have $100 million and five Ferrari's. Should is meaningless unless there's a reason why something should be a certain way.

Here's a "should": It should live up to the claims that Steve Jobs and Apple made for it. It should work efficiently without having to turn location services off, 3G off, GPS off etc. The phone isn't a 3G phone or a next generation phone for that matter if you have to turn everything off for it to last through a day. The overwhelming majority feel that the battery life isn't very good. Sorry. Thats the way it is.

 

[GfPQqmcRKUvP]

Here's a "should": It should live up to the claims that Steve Jobs and Apple made for it. It should work efficiently without having to turn location services off, 3G off, GPS off etc. The phone isn't a 3G phone or a next generation phone for that matter if you have to turn everything off for it to last through a day. The overwhelming majority feel that the battery life isn't very good. Sorry. Thats the way it is.

Apple didn't lie. Some tests show that they overestimated battery life. Some tests show they underestimated it; it's not an exact science.

You still don't get it. The technology in the 3G iPhone imposes limitations on battery life. No matter how much you, or other people, think that the phone should magically exceed those inherent limitations is irrelevent, because those limitations still exist



EDIT: The Lamborghini analogy still holds true. People don't expect a 640 HP car to get great mileage, because of the fact it has a 640 HP engine. Stop expecting a 3G iPhone to have great battery life because it has power consuming 3G and GPS chips in it.

 

[alexmarchuk]

I'm starting to think all of you who say "oh stop whining, just return it" don't even have an iPhone, and if you do, stay out of these topics. Nobody needs you.

I still get poor battery life AFTER turning the brightness to the lowest possible, turning 3G off and turning location services off. That's pathetic. If I want to use a phone, I want to see what's on the screen, not squint at it when I'm trying to save battery life.

AND, when you're purchasing a lamborghini, the dealer tells you what gas mileage it gets, that's no brainer. BUT when Apple tells us the battery life is IMPROVED, and it's not, you're damn right I'm going to whine.

 

[maclover92]

what happens when someone goes camping, or somewhere where there is no power. i expect my phone to last more than a freakin day on a charge.

if you are somewhere where you can't access power, you are probably somewhere that has no phone service

 

[GfPQqmcRKUvP]

I'm starting to think all of you who say "oh stop whining, just return it" don't even have an iPhone, and if you do, stay out of these topics. Nobody needs you.

I have one, as do many others.

AND, when you're purchasing a lamborghini, the dealer tells you what gas mileage it gets, that's no brainer. BUT when Apple tells us the battery life is IMPROVED, and it's not, you're damn right I'm going to whine.

Like the EPA mileage doesn't overstate how much mileage you're going to actually get?!

They said it was improved in certain things, and it is. It lasts 5 hours of talk time with 3G, which is what they advertised, and 10 hours on EDGE. The battery tests that have come out are either just short of the estimates, or over them.

 

[alexmarchuk]

I have one, as do many others.




Like the EPA mileage doesn't overstate how much mileage you're going to actually get?!

They said it was improved in certain things, and it is. It lasts 5 hours of talk time with 3G, which is what they advertised, and 10 hours on EDGE. The battery tests that have come out are either just short of the estimates, or over them.

********, I have 3G turned off and I get nowhere near 10 hours on EDGE.

 

[GfPQqmcRKUvP]

********, I have 3G turned off and I get nowhere near 10 hours on EDGE.

Calibrate your battery or return it if it isn't to your liking. We aren't stopping you.


All we're asking is you look at things logically.


I think the main reason you have so many uninformed people on battery life coming on here is that they haven't had a 3G smartphone before. I have. They expect it to get the battery life of their LG flip phone or something like that. They just haven't realized yet that there ARE tradeoffs with 3G technology and that Steve wasn't joking last year when he said that 3G is hugely power consuming.

The fact is that the iPhone compares favorably to other 3G smartphones. Do you think all these companies, keeping in mind that their profits are at stake, just don't feel like creating a longer last phone?

 

[littlewaywelt]

Go and buy a 3G touch screen phone with better battery life then, oh wait there isn't one.

Palm treo 700wx or 750w or 800w.

wrong

 

[littlewaywelt]

if you are somewhere where you can't access power, you are probably somewhere that has no phone service

absolutely not true.

 

[GfPQqmcRKUvP]

Palm treo 700wx or 750w or 800w.

wrong

I'll gladly take my iPhone over those. They're thick, ugly, worse OS (I know, more features, I've owned both OS's before), slower processor, worse screen, and yet the battery life isn't that much better.

I'm keeping mine.

 

[tritonj]

too many posts to read all of them, but here is my take

i'm sure there are some legitimate battery issues, since nothing is ever made perfect so some of you out there with short battery life should definately look at getting a replacement. probably just a defect, it happens.

now, i also think there are some people who have just unrealistic expectations for the phone. i just don't understand how anyone can expect a phone (doesn't matter which one) to last all day without a charge if you are browsing internet, listening to music, and making calls in between all of that, and doing that fairly consistently all day and still expect the battery to be good at the end of the day? to put it in perspective, would your laptop handle that kind of a load? i don't think so, or any other device for that matter?

as for all those who comment about being at work and not being able to charge the phone, well my question to you is, why are you using your cell phone that much at work? shouldn't you be doing your job and not browsing the internet on your phone and listening to music? i'm not trying to pass judgement but logic dictates that the question be asked

when i'm at work, i carry my phone with me and i answer it and make calls all day, i leave all the services turned on, and by the end of the day my battery is fine, easily more than 50% power left on it. so i think if you are having power troubles you may want to exchange it.

another thing people need to understand is cell signal has a lot to do with battery life too, if you are always in an area with poor reception your battery will drain faster because you force the phone to constantly search for a signal, even when the phone is on standby

as for the comment about power leaking on standby, it isn't a leak, it is normal, why wouldn't power be used when a phone is on standby? it still has to maintain it's radio reception to hte cell towers right?