iPhone Battery Life - what should I expect?

[albatross710]

Just wondering what sort of battery life people are getting from their iPhone?

I'm finding that when I'm on the road and away from the office, checking emails, a few website, a few phone calls for the morning that by about 2pm I'm getting the 20% of less power remaining warning.

I've ordered a car charger for a midday kicker when I don't have access to a laptop usb port.

What sort of battery life are others expecting?

Alby

 

[Mal]

limited battery life has been well reported with the iPhone. It's mainly related to how people use the phone - ie they are constantly downloading data or playing video etc.

Can't help with what you can expect, but many others are also reporting 12-24 hr battery life.

 

[Homer]

Sitting at my desk all day, with the iPhone on the company wireless network, and taking maybe two or three calls, I run out of battery at around 4pm. If I turn off the wireless when I am out of the office then I still have some charge left by the time I plug it in at night. Apparently the iPhone has about the average battery life for 3G phones but, as people have pointed out, it's the increased web surfing and the way the various applications use power that causes the biggest problem. Look out for more updates from Apple as they tweak their apps to use less power...

 

[Mal]

Also an article that might be of interest:

Iphone 3g Battery: How To Maximize Your iPhone 3G's Questionably Adequate Battery Life

 

[mainly tailfirst]

Also an article that might be of interest:

Iphone 3g Battery: How To Maximize Your iPhone 3G's Questionably Adequate Battery Life

All pretty standard advice really. My wife's iPhone is getting a day on average. If you turn off 3g (and run edge/gprs only) then it seems to get almost 2 days.

mt

 

[albatross710]

Thanks guys. I've made some improvements as far as decreasing the screen brightness and fetching mail less often.

I would have to agree that it is far more productive on the run. I'm finding that when I do get back to the office I'm not faced with a long list of unread emails. Also, the web browsing allows me to 'action' many of the emails as well.

I also found one reference to be able to turn off the running applications. (Press and hold the Feature button). From what I can tell, using the maps & GPS will continue even though the screen saver may have activated.

I got the phone on the virgin mobile deal. At home & office I'm on local wi-fi. Even with all of the web browsing out in the field, maps, etc I'm not making much impact on the 1gb data allocation. Only about 60Mb in the first month.

The $500 of call charges is another matter....the virgin mobile rates are not very competitive. Flagfall 40c + 40c per 30 secs.

 

[NM]

One of the issues I have with most Apple products is the lack of replaceable batteries. This means there is no option for a non-genuine higher capacity battery, or even to replace with an original battery without paying a service fee.

 

[mainly tailfirst]

One of the issues I have with most Apple products is the lack of replaceable batteries. This means there is no option for a non-genuine higher capacity battery, or even to replace with an original battery without paying a service fee.

It is more accurate to say that there are no "easily user replaceable" batteries for mobile Apple products. There are plenty of sites (esp. here in the LOTFAP) that will happily sell you a new battery + tools for various iProducts, some even are larger than the original capacity.

Personally, I blame Palm for all this sealed battery business. If the fantastic looking Palm V didn't have such long life from its battery, I reckon Apple may have tolerated the extra bulk and ugliness of a removeable one.

Or not. :mrgreen:

mt

 

[oz_mark]

One of the issues I have with most Apple products is the lack of replaceable batteries. This means there is no option for a non-genuine higher capacity battery, or even to replace with an original battery without paying a service fee.

Can't have those evil non-genuine parts now can we,

 

[Mal]

Can't have those evil non-genuine parts now can we,

Of course ... they affect performance ... of Apple's bottom line.

Also affects:
Apple's style factor.
Apple's quest to be the one that rules all.

 

[thegurio]

Ok, well i just picked mine up yesterday and havent put it down almost so i cant comment too much but as far as i can see its on par with my HTC Touch. Overall it rocks (no pun intended) but as i come from a PDA background it is taking some getting used to. I assume i wont get a full day out of it so i will have to buy some spare charging cables for it so that i have use it in the car.

 

[albatross710]

For the record over the weekend I've switched back to 2G and turned off wi-fi, decreased the screen brightness and managed to run for the whole weekend.

The data is considerably slower and wouldn't be acceptable during the week.

I think I'll have two configs...one when I can easily recharge and one 'Longreach' configuration when further afield.

 

[NYCguy]

Of course ... they affect performance ... of Apple's bottom line.

As a "true believer" who bought into the company when it was languishing and considered a dog, I really must encourage ALL of you to only use Apple genuine parts!

Having said that, the iPhone battery isn't great, especially; as others have pointed out; when on uses the fancy 3G features.

Me, I'm sticking with my RazrV9, and accessing the internet on my laptop.