News
iPhone 3.0 software or hardware causing battery issues?
A number of both iPhone 3G and 3GS users are complaining of poor battery life when running iPhone OS 3.0. Some iPhone 3GS users, who had 3.0 pre-installed on their phones, have found some improvement after cycling the battery from full charge to dead a few times, while others, including iPhone 3G users, are reporting improved battery life after disabling Push Notifications, suggesting Apple may still have some kinks to work out in the new service. iLounge’s reviews of both the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS noted “unacceptably low” battery life under certain conditions, including 3G calling, data, and video recording; it is unclear whether the problems are in hardware, software, or interrelated in nature, and whether or not Apple’s upcoming iPhone 3.1 software update will improve battery life. [via Macworld UK]
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1
I bought a 3GS and I’m very disappointed with the battery life. It doesn’t perform anywhere near the advertised duration. I find myself never far from a charger and outlet. It’s a little frustrating.
Posted by Angel on July 6, 2009 at 7:13 AM (PDT)
2
The new 3.0 OS seems to handle the Push feature a little differently - there’s constant antenna noise which not only drains the battery much faster (about 15hrs of stand by mode on my 2G) but is causing dropped calls as well.
The solution is to disable Push for any MobileMe e-mail account. I had to disable Fetch for other e-mails accounts as well to improve performance.
I can confirm this fully solves the problem.
Posted by Agustin Cordes on July 6, 2009 at 7:20 AM (PDT)
3
Ohhh… So you just disable everything you like about your iphone and do not use any of the features you purchased it for and then the battery will hold up. Sounds good.
Posted by Phillip Johns on July 6, 2009 at 7:48 AM (PDT)
4
Every new toy gets played with more than the old. While there could be some additional power drain with the 3.0 OS, I would guess that at least some of the increased power usage is simply due to people using their iPhone more while playing with the new features.
Posted by Dave Swartz on July 6, 2009 at 7:48 AM (PDT)
5
Don’t know what all this is with the battery life. OK, on my 3G with the 3.0 OS it’s not great — but it’s not that bad. I use e-mail at least once an hour, make phone calls, browse and use iPod both to and from work and it holds up for at least a day — sometimes longer.
I admit, that’s not earth-shattering but it’s not disastrous either considering the power usage.
Posted by JonM on July 6, 2009 at 8:55 AM (PDT)
6
Having had each iteration of the iPhone, I can safely say that the battery life has regressed slightly from the original model to the 3G and 3GS builds. I’m not complaining that much, because realistically I know that an EDGE-only phone in a pre-App Store 2007 wasn’t going to present the same kind of drain as an app-heavy, 3G-compatible device. But there’s definitely some frustration, because I don’t think Apple has made the appropriate adjustments in this area—as one article pointed out, while the iPhone’s battery life isn’t any worse than the Palm Pre, the user-replaceable battery in the latter is a big bonus.
As a frame of reference, I had a Palm Treo for two years prior to getting the first iPhone. The battery life was horrible, so I wasn’t completely aghast at the pedestrian specs of the iPhone’s battery. I had to charge my Treo in the middle of the day often, so the iPhone (or the 3G or the 3GS) has never bothered me with its inability to make it from morning to night with anything more than moderate usage. I keep a speaker dock in my office and usually just place the device there when I arrive in the morning, so generally speaking I try to head off dying batteries as much as I can during the day. That said, I feel like we’ve reached a juncture in telephony where midday recharging is definitely a sore point.
Posted by Flippy Hambone on July 6, 2009 at 9:46 AM (PDT)
7
when I installed 3.0 on my 3G is was god awful. My battery life was cut from 2 days to about 1-1/4. But when I got the 3GS a week ago, it was been a dream! it’s been 7 days and I have charged it twice. I got 3 days out of it out of the box, then 3 more after the first change and so far after the 2nd charge, it’s been 1 full day and my battery is at 96%. I hope this keeps up when 3.1 comes out and I hope it fixes any battery issues that may be plaguing the 3G, as I just gave my old phone to my friend.
Posted by enero in New York, NY on July 6, 2009 at 10:28 PM (PDT)
8
Enero, how do you get 3 days on one charge? Do you not use your phone at all? It’s just hard to believe because my 3GS is at 30-40% by the end of one day with 3G on and moderate use. Is there a secret to maximizing battery usage that I don’t know about other than turning 3G/Wifi off?
Posted by viperkp on July 7, 2009 at 9:24 AM (PDT)
9
Here try this you get Longer Battery Life as well.
go to Mail, Contacts, Callendars. The go to fetch new Data. Then go down to Bottom under advance and change it to Manual. It gives a alot better Battery
Time. Was told by Apple Geek that even when check
manually on previous screen it still seeks emails.
must change also under advanced setting as well
Rick
Posted by Rick on July 7, 2009 at 12:42 PM (PDT)