iPhone 3GS battery issues

[HeartsOfWar]

My iPhone 3G S battery life has steadily improved as I've used and re-charged over the last few days.

Although the battery is suppose to be better on this model, I'm not overly impressed and I'd hate to of used the iPhone 3G / iPhone.

[tomwarren Veteran]

The battery shows more if you listen to music only. It shows less if you're playing a game or watching a video.

Huh?

The actual percent left on the battery shouldn't vary. A laptop "time remaining" varies yes according to what you're doing but with the iPhone it's just a percentage which should never vary, it should just go down.

[MrChainsaw]

Huh?

The actual percent left on the battery shouldn't vary. A laptop "time remaining" varies yes according to what you're doing but with the iPhone it's just a percentage which should never vary, it should just go down.

Thats what happends on my nano. Its the most if you listen to music.

[majortom1981]

When the battery shoots up did you do something like turn wifi off or bluetooth off? Maybe the percentage differes based on what you are doing?

I have the new iphone 3gs and havent used it long enough without being docked to find this out. (i have chargers everywhere lol)

[ToneKnee]

I had this exact problem. Charged the battery to full, and after 6 hours of little use, it died on me. So I restored my phones OS but I didn't load my old profile (which I did) previously, and all was fine. Could be a profile issue for people with the normal 3G phone. Try resetting to phone to defaults through iTunes and try again, if not, then return it.

[consume]

I have a feeling 3.0 was designed more towards the iPhone 3GS because it runs very well on the 3GS and switching apps is amazing.

I think everything after 1.1.x was in need of a processor upgrade. That's why the second generation ipod touch has a faster processor (and is noticably faster than the first generation ipod touch). I should also mention that i seem to be having this problem on my ipod touch also (jailbroken to get the battery percentage of course). It was at 80% last night and I picked it up this morning (without charging it) and it's reading 99%. Maybe it reads the battery percentage relative to what you're doing?

[BajiRav]

Is there a way to get battery% on iPhone 3G?

[consume]

Is there a way to get battery% on iPhone 3G?

Yes, you have to jailbreak it first though. And also, i take back what i said in my last post. I plugged it in and it randomly dropped to 94%...

[tomwarren Veteran]

Yes, you have to jailbreak it first though. And also, i take back what i said in my last post. I plugged it in and it randomly dropped to 94%...

So maybe this is an issue for more than just me....not good.

[KeR]

My battery on the 3Gs has been draining fast too, but I blame it on the fact that I have been using it a lot...and I mean a lot.

[Sikh]

I got mine 726am friday and it was like half charged? idk, but all I know is, I got home and plugged it in(for backup and synching).

Then, I let it fully charge. Well that day I use it A LOT. I mean holy **** a lot. Im a heavy texter so that day, I didnt text much but I was using apps, going on safari, etc. It lasted about 7 hours. It was expected because new phone / battery so it needs to be calibrated. I let it die, that night about 2 am it was dead. Then I plugged it in and in the morning it was fully charged.

So I took it off, and used it all saturday and it lasted me pretty much all day. it said "Usage 8 hours xx minutes and Stanby 11 hours xx mins".

I remember this becuase I wrote it down, but not the exact minutes. So, now, Looking at my phone today, with texting like 50+ messages every 15 minutes and etc in the last 2 days. Using safari with 5 tabs. and apps like games or twitter or aim.

It says atm, with 13% battery left "Usage 9 Hours 44 Minutes and Standby 19 Hours 25 Minutes". Deffently not bad for me. First iPhone plus with everything I do, I think its fair.

Also, I have wifi on, bluetooth off.

Besides all that, the only weird thing was, I unplugged it at 3am yestarday. Today in the morning around 9 I saw it, and it was at 74% battery life. Now that was weird to me, but then I used it the whole day. From 10-2 it sat there because of work, but after that it was used non stop till now. Its plugged in now charging but those are that stats above from "last charge".

All I know is, if its a problem, apple will be good about replacing it / handling the issue. Also, if you bought a protection plan(how cant you $69 for a year, THATS A STEAL) Exspecially for someone using the hell out of it and charging it once a day(like me) the protection plan + the 1 year from apple, basically covered for the contract. So when your battery wears out, they replace it. Come on!

But anyway, I saw have O2 hold one for you so when it comes in you can get it.

Btw to Tom and others. Just wondering what color / model?

I got the Black / 32GB 3G S

[Berserk87]

you guys need to do full charge/discharge cycles, recording your battery life for each cycle.

play a really long vid on your phone repeatedly, to kill the battery, record the time along with model of iphone, then you guys can compare battery life, and see if you can get any results.

[tomwarren Veteran]

well I charged it all the way down yesterday and up again. It stuck on 100% for bloody ages (3 hrs) and then started dropping. I ran it all the way down again today and it seemed to drop consistently and didn't just cut out randomly. I have drained it all the way down this morning and it's currently charging now so we'll see what happens :)

I spoke to o2 and they still do not have any in stock near me. I booked an Apple appointment in the regents st store appointment for Wednesday luckily the other day as a "just in case" so looks like I'll be using that now!

[Berserk87]

my 3Gs battery is dropping like a rock.

1% per minute......... thats with bluetooth and wifi turned off, and just playing stupid games like papertoss.

i had locations on.

[Berserk87]

the iphone has a 1 year manufacture warranty on it right? without you having to buy anything?

does it cover this battery issue, or should i be buying apple care right now?

[Sikh]

it has 1 year manfature. But why not buy applecare? Think about it $70 for a $500+(no commitment price) phone or $100+ battery repair job.

The applecare warranty is the best. It extends the warranty as long as your contract(2 yr) runs for the phone. And if you use the phone EVERYDAY and charge everyday then your battery will be wearing out faster and with applecare, its FREE. without $70 that covers all defects, your looking at a lot more money after the 1 year is up.

God I really dont understand why people dont do a warranty. Something like Applecare for $70 is a steal. The guy didnt even have to ask me, I did my research.

BTW, something that I realized, SOME APPS might drain your battery faster, or if you dont close them and lock your phone then. And, another thing, my battery "issue" that I temporaily had was fixed with a AC Charge...

I charged it via computer, day 1 I got it. Yestarday It almost was at 0 and I turned it off, connected it into the wall and powered it on. Besides charging faster, it went for about 16 hours standby and 9 hours 21 minutes using it like usual(texting, apps, maybe a video).

So try that.

[Berserk87]

was your issue it draining quickly? or incorrect reading like the other people in here?

also my problem might be just that, shows 100% without actually being 100%.

ill leave it plugged into the wall while i sleep to make sure, then try it again tomorrow.

[HawkMan]

it has 1 year manfature. But why not buy applecare? Think about it $70 for a $500+(no commitment price) phone or $100+ battery repair job.

The applecare warranty is the best. It extends the warranty as long as your contract(2 yr) runs for the phone. And if you use the phone EVERYDAY and charge everyday then your battery will be wearing out faster and with applecare, its FREE. without $70 that covers all defects, your looking at a lot more money after the 1 year is up.

God I really dont understand why people dont do a warranty. Something like Applecare for $70 is a steal. The guy didnt even have to ask me, I did my research.

BTW, something that I realized, SOME APPS might drain your battery faster, or if you dont close them and lock your phone then. And, another thing, my battery "issue" that I temporaily had was fixed with a AC Charge...

I charged it via computer, day 1 I got it. Yestarday It almost was at 0 and I turned it off, connected it into the wall and powered it on. Besides charging faster, it went for about 16 hours standby and 9 hours 21 minutes using it like usual(texting, apps, maybe a video).

So try that.

Kind of depends on where you live.

over here 1 year warranty is minimum. and depending on the device 2 or 5 years of manufacturer warranty. And it's not legal to have contracts longer than 12 months for regular customers and 18 for businesses. Granted most extended warranties over here are 2 years or more.

[DrScouse]

My dilema, extended warrnty for ?50ish, or home insurance cover for ?26 per year...

[tomwarren Veteran]

Got mine swapped, much better now. Will try it in my car to see if that makes it go crazy again!

[hjf288]

No problems with my battery here... Seems to last longer than my 3G - Iphone 3GS 16GB Black

[Berserk87]

Got mine swapped, much better now. Will try it in my car to see if that makes it go crazy again!

you got it swapped without having to send it to apple?

the store i bought mine at (rogers) said they dont do replacements, i have to go to apple; that was when i got my phone though, im not sure about wack batterys.

[Berserk87]

ive been watching my battery life with my iphone, and it looks like the battery is only lasting 4-5 hours, and thats doing stupid stuff like playing paper toss for a bit, and browsing the app store...

i should be getting at LEAST 6 hours.

[Snowl]

ive been watching my battery life with my iphone, and it looks like the battery is only lasting 4-5 hours, and thats doing stupid stuff like playing paper toss for a bit, and browsing the app store...

i should be getting at LEAST 6 hours.

Is your brightness all the way down, airplane mode on?

[kimsland]

The stated maximum Hrs from the manufacture is in ambient temperature at perfect use (ie a online, without actually viewing a webpage exactly, or using a webpage such as Google, without animations or anything)

Under these ideal conditions, and inside a non interference enviroment, possibly sitting on a table without any intervention ! You should get 6 Hrs (note there may be a 10% tolerance as well !)

Therefore "4-5 hours" is working perfectly, in our normal world :D