iPhone 3G Battery Life

[wcarr3]

While browsing the discussions at apple.com, I came across some interesting info. It seems that many 3G iPhones shipped without the final version of 2.0 software. To check your version it's Settings>General>About. Scroll down to see your version. If you're running 5A345 or before, you need to upgrade to the final version (5A347). Since upgrading, my battery life has noticeably improved. To upgrade, you can back up the phone and do a restore. iTunes will DL the latest version during the restore. Then install your backup.

I had the 5A345 firmware version. I went ahead and did the restore and afterwards I did get the 5A347 version firmware as stated above. I guess only time will tell if I get the same improved battery results as russellmj has gotten. I'll do my best to remember to report my findings.

 

[IZVERG]

Are you guys charging your iPhone overnight? I plug mine in when I go to bed just out of habit and plus I don't have to worry about a dead battery in the middle of the next day.

 

[rmargiotta]

I bought the original iPhone a month after it came out last year, just got my 3G iPhone last thursday, and the battery life is terrible....
I updated to 2.0 on my old iPhone the morning it came out, and noticed a little lag in operation (but to be expected, no complaints), and no difference in battery life even after playing games, etc. the first couple days.
I am on 2.0 5A347 on my 3G, and currently (as I type) my usage since last full charge is as follows:
3 hours 3 minutes, Standby: 9 hours, 17 min, and I'm sitting at 25% battery, just the last sliver of green before the red comes up.
I habitually charge mine every night before I go to bed, and I just can't imagine my year old iPhone having better battery life?!

I took a look at apple's solution (don't get me wrong I love them, I've owned 2 iPods, 2 iPhones, and am typing this on my 17" MacBook Pro, blah blah...). It seems ridiculous to have a phone to have these features but you /shouldn't/ use them to conserve battery life (the usage is all within reason, I'm not complaining that I can't watch every episode of Entourage on a charge). It says to turn 3G, location services, bluetooth, wifi, push email off?!?! Turning these things back on takes as much time as it does to open my laptop, and also kind of defeats the purpose of having an iPhone if you ask me. The kicker was also to put it in Airplane mode if you have limited service, then you have a $300 $130/per month iPod touch...

And the master reset function (home and lock buttons held down) didn't do anything, as I've hit that every time my ringtone and text tones stop working, which I've notice happen quite frequently, as well as the phone 'disconnecting' from the charger after being on it for 2 minutes. Real nice waking up to a dead phone, I'm just glad it was Saturday... I proceeded to plug it in again, it would charge for 2 minutes then disconnect again. Did this about 5 times, then just magically stopped.....

So I don't know what's up. I'll try the master reset, again, and turn all of the features that me it an iPhone off, and try that tomorrow, if it's not any better, I would hope they would take it back.

Who else has had the same issues, and if you've found a way around them, let me know!

This will be duplicated in the iPhone 3G problems thread as well.
http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118249

 

[rich6490]

After a few weeks of charging, using/discharging my iphone 3g, I gotta say the battery life has improved significantly. From the day I bought it, I would say it lasts at least 4x longer if not more. I leave it on all night when it charges because its my alarm for the morning as well. ( I wish you could power off and still have alarm work). At first, I was wondering how I would cope with the terrible battery life, and I couldn't believe such a cool product could have such a simple yet important downfall as the battery. Now its great and I don't have to think twice about having to charge it every single night haha.

 

[diesel828]

Just like the old iPhone, battery life will improve a little bit over time before it levels off. Just wait a month or two. My first iPhone was great after the first two months... the battery lasted two or three days before charging.

I'm pretty sure it will be the same with the new iPhone... but if battery life sucks...


The new iPhone 3G - just turn 3G off.


Kinda pointless to use the new phone's biggest feature if all it does is suck the living crap out of the battery and you have a dead phone by 4 p.m.

 

[JoyceMac]

Hi all...

Im considering getting the 3G but battery life is vital for me. I need to be sure that I can use it for a full day without recharging. I dont need location services or wifi on but do make/receive a decent amount of calls plus sms and push email.

From reading this and other threads, people seem to be advising turning off 3G. Is the negative effect of 3G due to the phone searching for 3G signals in non complete 3G areas or is it something integral to 3G?

I live in an area where 3G service is excellent and my phone should never need to search for 3G as its always present. Would this mean that I can always have 3G on and it not have a negative effect on battery?

Thanks for any help with this...