How Many Are Getting Poor Battery Life? - iPhone 3G

danielrm26 · 07-02-2007, 02:55 AM

I'm getting quite worried about battery life. I have gone through two cycles already and am still not able to get a full day out of the device. Granted I've been doing a LOT of demoing, but I've basically spent like two hours on voice each day both Saturday and Sunday -- starting at 8a.m. and have had the phone die on me by 10pm.

This is with a few demos of videos, the iPod features, browsing, etc, but no real use. No extended phone use, no extended media use -- nothing. I basically use the phone very little through the morning and I'm like 25% drained by noon, and as it gets to afternoon I'm like 75% drained. I have WiFi turned off, Bluetooth turned on, and am using a single Yahoo! account with push enabled.

Are you guys getting similar results? I have yet to COMPLETELY drain the battery, but I'm about to do that tonight and give a full charge on AC overnight. All I know is that I need to be able to go to the gym and do an hour on the treadmill with audio or video -- in addition to regular day of use -- and not worry about running out of charge before I go to sleep.

Perhaps I just need to power cycle or something -- or I still haven't conditioned my battery correctly. Hopefully you guys are getting better results; let me know how it's going for you...

Thanks.

stecarey · 09-11-2007, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielrm26

I'm getting quite worried about battery life. I have gone through two cycles already and am still not able to get a full day out of the device. Granted I've been doing a LOT of demoing, but I've basically spent like two hours on voice each day both Saturday and Sunday -- starting at 8a.m. and have had the phone die on me by 10pm.

This is with a few demos of videos, the iPod features, browsing, etc, but no real use. No extended phone use, no extended media use -- nothing. I basically use the phone very little through the morning and I'm like 25% drained by noon, and as it gets to afternoon I'm like 75% drained. I have WiFi turned off, Bluetooth turned on, and am using a single Yahoo! account with push enabled.

Are you guys getting similar results? I have yet to COMPLETELY drain the battery, but I'm about to do that tonight and give a full charge on AC overnight. All I know is that I need to be able to go to the gym and do an hour on the treadmill with audio or video -- in addition to regular day of use -- and not worry about running out of charge before I go to sleep.

Perhaps I just need to power cycle or something -- or I still haven't conditioned my battery correctly. Hopefully you guys are getting better results; let me know how it's going for you...

Thanks.

Kill the Bluetooth !!

There is no reason to use it ( except when on a call )
It's the biggest drain on the battery, and is the least useful function on the phone.

Im quite annoyed with Apple for putting this on the Iphone , as it can only be used for calls, therfore it's basically a drain on battery.

Useless

z28black98 · 09-11-2007, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stecarey

Kill the Bluetooth !!

There is no reason to use it ( except when on a call )
It's the biggest drain on the battery, and is the least useful function on the phone.

Im quite annoyed with Apple for putting this on the Iphone , as it can only be used for calls, therfore it's basically a drain on battery.

Useless

yeah I have only had mine since saturday and I have noticed that I put it on the charger sometimes twice a day. I have wifi enabled for my home network, bluetooth turned off. I dont really do alot of web surfing, just to check the email accounts, thats about it. I listened to a few songs to try out the ipod portion of the phone, but like you said, no real major use. I am somewhat disappointed in the battery life of a 400 dollar phone. But none the less, I managed to get ahold of a 0 deductible policy through state farm yesterday for 30 bucks, so if a new one comes out within a yr, I will "accidentally drop my phone" or something to get a new one, hopefully they improve the battery life!

DRabbit · 09-11-2007, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by z28black98

yeah I have only had mine since saturday and I have noticed that I put it on the charger sometimes twice a day. I have wifi enabled for my home network, bluetooth turned off. I dont really do alot of web surfing, just to check the email accounts, thats about it. I listened to a few songs to try out the ipod portion of the phone, but like you said, no real major use. I am somewhat disappointed in the battery life of a 400 dollar phone. But none the less, I managed to get ahold of a 0 deductible policy through state farm yesterday for 30 bucks, so if a new one comes out within a yr, I will "accidentally drop my phone" or something to get a new one, hopefully they improve the battery life!

Turn OFF WiFi when you're not using it. And turn off the WiFi auto-ask (or whatever it's called).

and Turn OFF BlueTooth when not using it... though it isn't as bad as WiFi in draining the battery.

Last but not least, turn your brightness down. The way it is set by default is not at all necessary... I keep mine at like 25-30% brightness.

I'm getting nearly 3 days without having to recharge.

z28black98 · 09-11-2007, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRabbit

Turn OFF WiFi when you're not using it. And turn off the WiFi auto-ask (or whatever it's called).

and Turn OFF BlueTooth when not using it... though it isn't as bad as WiFi in draining the battery.

Last but not least, turn your brightness down. The way it is set by default is not at all necessary... I keep mine at like 25-30% brightness.

I'm getting nearly 3 days without having to recharge.

ok I will try that for a few days and see how it goes.

stecarey · 09-11-2007, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by z28black98

yeah I have only had mine since saturday and I have noticed that I put it on the charger sometimes twice a day. I have wifi enabled for my home network, bluetooth turned off. I dont really do alot of web surfing, just to check the email accounts, thats about it. I listened to a few songs to try out the ipod portion of the phone, but like you said, no real major use. I am somewhat disappointed in the battery life of a 400 dollar phone. But none the less, I managed to get ahold of a 0 deductible policy through state farm yesterday for 30 bucks, so if a new one comes out within a yr, I will "accidentally drop my phone" or something to get a new one, hopefully they improve the battery life!

Ha ha ...yeah I've had to "lose" my Phones in the past when they were not up to my standards

venturo · 09-11-2007, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stecarey

Im quite annoyed with Apple for putting this on the Iphone , as it can only be used for calls, therfore it's basically a drain on battery.
Useless

You know how many ppl would be pissed if it came without BT haha, but you are correct in saying you only need to have it on during calls. Basically anything you can turn off needs to be when yur not using it, wifi and BT are the big ones, also manually udating your mail helps instead of having it auto check. i have moderate usage and am getting day and half, 2 days. But if you think about it, battery life is always an issue in phones liek theses, so i cant complain really.

Hawk · 09-11-2007, 06:14 PM

Do yourself a favor and every time you finish charging, clear your usage statistics. And just before charging, record them.
Also make notes on brightness, WiFi, and Bluetooth usage. If you squeeze everything down to the min, and you are still getting poor battery life, either call apple or take it in to a store. show them your usage versus battery life. You need service.
I did this and Apple ended up replacing my phone.

kdarling · 09-11-2007, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stecarey

Kill the Bluetooth !! There is no reason to use it ( except when on a call ) It's the biggest drain on the battery, and is the least useful function on the phone.

Backlight, EDGE, talking are far more. I need to open one up and put a meter on it, but really, BT should only be using about 30ma when idle, whereas WiFi could be over 100ma.

Quote:

Im quite annoyed with Apple for putting this on the Iphone , as it can only be used for calls, therfore it's basically a drain on battery.

I agree that its BT is insanely crippled. No stereo. No external keyboards. No file transfer, or remote printing. No access to GPS pucks.

Dawgfan · 09-11-2007, 07:50 PM

I turn BT and wifi off unless I need them.

I am currently at over 5 hours of usage and about 1.3 days of standby.

It appears that I have just BARELY under half my green bar left, so let's say I have 45% battery left.

It will be at least 4-5 cycles before you start getting good battery life. ALSO, if you start hitting heavy video usage or your usage rolls into the 8 hour range...expect the battery to drain faster.

The first few weeks of the iPhone seem to be the worst with the battery as I think the usage and "demo'ing" is more than we realize.

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