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- patarkan, on 07/04/2009, -17/+99I have had every iPhone. The 3G S has the best battery life by far. Maybe the battery life varies even with the same model but I have had 3 previous units with similarly poor battery life. The 3G S is the first usable iPhone where I am not needing to plug it in 2 or 3 times per day and having to make sure I turn off location services and WIFI to conserve.
Finally satisfied. - Wootstapler, on 07/04/2009, -5/+54"The new model is smaller and sleeker"
What?? The 3GS outweighs the 3G by .1 oz, so how is it smaller and sleeker?? - bantam, on 07/04/2009, -21/+66yeah my 3GS' battery life rocks i think this is yet again another misinformed LA times article... Idiots.
- Dragular, on 07/04/2009, -9/+41During weekdays, when I actually use it as a phone/mp3 player, i get great battery life, at least a day and a half off a full charge. Now, of course, on weekends when I use it to make a call then twitter about the call then post on facebook about the twittering then update my blog to note the fact that both my facebook and twitter have been updated then record a video of how to do all of those things then upload it to youtube then watch seventy related youtube videos then type an extremely long digg post on it... well yeah that causes the battery to last a wee bit less. Still better than the laptop battery though, so it's a win.
- frumpsnake, on 07/04/2009, -3/+34...Battery life sucking on a smartphone? NO!
Every smartphone sucks at battery life. Particularly 3G models. Not only are they much more powerful and power hungry, but the users tend to use them constantly.
If you look at Anandtech's review of the Palm Pre, battery life was pretty much the same as the 3GS (actually the 3GS lasted 49 minutes longer on Wifi, but 23 minute less talk time). And the T-Mobile G1 was much worse.
One thing I will complain about is iPhone OS 3.0's Push Notifications -- my jailbroken 3G running Backgrounder (an app to run apps, ie Beejive IM in the background) seemed to take less of a performance hit than Beejive with Push Notifications on my new 3GS. How does that work? - TrancePhreak, on 07/05/2009, -2/+23That's a very small improvement.
- Galaxylander, on 07/05/2009, -3/+23The iPhone has 'real GPS.' It doesn't have turn by turn which doesn't make the GPS any less real, and TomTom is releasing a turn by turn app.
A 5 MP camera wouldn't change anything in a cell phone camera, they all suck because the depth of the sensors is so small. Unless you want an iPhone the size of a Nokia N95 you're not going to get a 'uber-*****-fantastic' camera and the N95 is HUGE.
The iPhone 3GS seems to have a louder external speaker, and it's fine, where exactly are you going to be blasting music out of your iPhone? If you do that in public let me inform you, the world hates you.
3.0 enabled full Bluetooth support.
The iPhone 3GS has a ridiculously huge amount of RAM for a phone...
Actually, when new Macs come out, they're usually tiny increments. The 3GS has an extremely powerful processor for a phone, again.
Multitasking is a ***** gimmick. It kills your battery life and you can only see one app at a time. Sure the others are running in the background but the only practical use for multitasking on a phone is like running internet radio in the background. You have to enter the cards screen to switch apps and tap the one you want which is the same ***** thing as pressing the home button and picking another app.
Flash on camera, again, the phone will get thicker and uglier and if you think you won't mind it, you will. Regardless of how badly you try to fool yourself into thinking you wouldn't mind if it was bigger.
No radio? Uh. I don't know of a phone that has a radio, not to mention the iPhone is already FULL of them. With the internet radio apps it's pointless...
No TV. Again, apps...
Memory card support? Sure I'll give you that, but it's not required. I don't know of any other phones that have 32GB of storage, and you'd need 4 8GB SD cards with you at all times to achieve that. That's stupid.
No front camera for video chat? HOW THE ***** IS THIS PRACTICAL!? It's not! You're not going to walk down the street holding the phone at your face talking to someone. it's something cool for 3 minutes that you NEVER use again because it's so god damned pointless.
802.11n sure, that would be fantastic, but at what risk? More ***** battery life? A thicker, hotter phone?
Email thing, not being able to watch videos, I'll give you that but I think that should be WiFi only because it would take too damn long on the cellular network anyway.
You want all of this yet you think the battery drains too fast? What the *****, do you want to be holding a paperback book against your face? Get a grip!
***** people piss me off. - enevitable, on 07/05/2009, -2/+21And the original iPhone had a 1400mAh battery.
So obviously Apple has been cutting corners. - quomen, on 07/05/2009, -3/+22I can confirm that indeed, the battery life is terrible.
- inactive, on 07/04/2009, -4/+19Dugg for "insane whackos here don't want any more radiation"
- tnoy, on 07/04/2009, -9/+24Uh, thats why you have a second battery that you just swap out... oh wait.
- neom, on 07/04/2009, -9/+23Must admit, as a 3GS owner, who doesn't work in an office, I undock around 9am and by 5:30pm I'm usually getting 10% battery warnings. I was actually somewhat surprised about this. I'm also not a super power user 6.0. I check my email, make calls and sms.
- astrixx, on 07/05/2009, -0/+14I can confirm this man's confirmation that the battery life is terrible.
- kayfouroh, on 07/04/2009, -6/+20WTF does this have to do with the story?
- mysql101, on 07/04/2009, -4/+16Yes, I have the original iPhone and the 3GS, and the 3GS has longer batt life. I use phone, wifi, and 3G on a daily basis without issue.
- tkeajax, on 07/05/2009, -1/+12I think tonight I'm going to have pudding for desert. Maya is improving her math skills. How long do nightlight light bulbs last?
- eadnams, on 07/04/2009, -4/+15Agreed. I get a day and a half of use, at least.
- davewelsh79, on 07/05/2009, -5/+16@monodelasno
You're right. It is quite a small leap. (Quantum leap implies a very small leap in reality) - mysql101, on 07/04/2009, -10/+21The 3gs has a larger battery than 3g.
1219 mAh on 3gs compared to 1150 mAh on the 3G - eadnams, on 07/04/2009, -6/+16yeah, like those damn 6 hour macbook pro batteries, those *****!
- essjay, on 07/04/2009, -7/+17I upgraded from a 3G to a 3GS and I've noticed significantly worse battery life on the 3GS. In the region of 25% worse I'd guess. This is with pretty much the same usage (my schedule hasn't changed dramatically since upgrading) and the same locations (ruling out signal searching etc.). I can still get a day's usage out of it though, so it's not an issue. One thing I will say, I'm not sure whether the new percentage battery indicator just makes it seem as if it's draining faster. When you're browsing the internet and you can actually see the numbers falling as you do it, it definitely makes you think about it more.
- Xaevier, on 07/04/2009, -2/+12How am I supposed to break my old baby shaker record if I have to keep it plugged in!
- defectDS, on 07/04/2009, -3/+12Confirmation that this article is a load of BS. There are some cases of defective batteries, but mostly all of us are satisfied.
- frumpsnake, on 07/04/2009, -0/+8It's not conventional wisdom. It's a fact. By letting your battery run down completely before charging you're actually decreasing battery life.
http://www.apple.com/batteries/
It is recommended, however, to do one full charge cycle a month. - floam, on 07/05/2009, -1/+9The 3GS does last longer than the 3G. They're comparing it to the original iPhone throughout the article, and do mention that it's slightly better than the 3G. The 3G was worst.
- CoreyFC, on 07/04/2009, -5/+13I have the 3g and have less battery life with the 3.0 update than I did before...
- inkswamp, on 07/04/2009, -2/+10The 3.0 update seems to have improved my 3G's battery life by quite a bit. I suspect 3GS owners will have to hold on for a future update that will address this.
It is funny that Apple is in a bit of a damned-if-they-do-damned-if-they-don't position. When they didn't offer 3G due to power consumption concerns, everyone screamed bloody murder, but now that they've conceded and said power consumption concerns become a reality, people still gripe about it. Hopefully, Apple has some ideas about how to fix it. - antoniuk, on 07/05/2009, -5/+13All abord the misinformation train!
Chugga chugga choo choo! - inactive, on 07/04/2009, -3/+10My 1st gen iPhone runs for about 40 mins before the battery dies.
I'm still under contract and they wont replace it... - inactive, on 07/04/2009, -4/+11Lucky you, I guess you didn't use it as much as I did.
Mine runs for 40 mins if I do NOTHING. - gdenne, on 07/05/2009, -0/+7My old Nokia phone ;) I get a couple of weeks of standby and use of all features. That is, the cube game and a calculator.
- SirBruce, on 07/05/2009, -0/+7I will agree that the one thing that has bothered me so far with the 3GS (my first iPhone) is the battery life. But that's primarily running apps; when you use it just as a phone it lasts a good while.
- monodelasno, on 07/05/2009, -6/+13Wow. 6%. What an quantum leap.
- jeclone, on 07/04/2009, -0/+6its not memory causing problems in lipoly batteries it is the lipoly battery aging and having less capacity
- 360glitch, on 07/05/2009, -1/+7LOL @ Pre Owner
Bury me, I don't care. XD - ryanhayn, on 07/04/2009, -1/+7I complained about the battery life too, but after about 3 full charge/drain cycles the battery life greatly improved.
- Thomasaka, on 07/05/2009, -0/+6The 3GS is my first iPhone so I can't compare it to the others, but it gets far better battery life than my previous HTC phones running Windows Mobile (8125, 8525, Tilt).
- deadbaby, on 07/05/2009, -4/+10Users coming from a dinky non-SmartPhone might not be used to it but for a SmartPhone the iPhone gets above average battery life.
- jedicor, on 07/05/2009, -1/+7It's worth pointing out that smaller and sleeker things are capable of weighing more than bigger and bulkier ones. Weight != size or shape.
- s0ny, on 07/05/2009, -1/+7Well, if the 2g users are whining about battery life, how about turning off 3G?
It doubles your talk time and makes the battery last forever. OOH you want that extra speed? Then suck it up. Speed costs power. - jwdav, on 07/05/2009, -3/+9So buy a Mophie Juice Pack instead of a case and a second battery.
- shank2001, on 07/05/2009, -13/+19This is total bunk. I have extensively compared the battery life of my 3G to my 3GS, and there is no doubt the battery lasts longer on the 3GS. For example, I ran SimplifyMedia2 over wifi on both devices, playing the exact same playlist, and I ran until the power was so low that the devices shut themselves down.
3GS: 7 hours 55 minutes
3G: 5 hours 45 minutes
Screen was off the entire time.
This is just one of many such tests I carried out myself, and every test was either better for the 3GS or about the same.
When push comes to shove during my tests, playing Galcon on the 3GS VS 3G lasts longer, Sim City lasts longer, Safari lasts longer, listenting to music lasts longer, watching videos lasts longer.
I think the main reason people are thinking the 3GS battery does not last as long is a few reasons.
1. The battery can be set to show a percentage, and it does seem to drop very fast. Before you know it, it is at 70%. This really threw me for a loop when I first got the 3GS as it DID seem like the battery was not lasting as long. However, when I ACTUALLY TESTED, there is no doubt the battery lasts longer in the 3GS.
2. People have changed the way they use the device. For example, I use GPS a lot more now that there is turn by turn (the G-Map application is pretty sweet). And GPS REALLY drains batteries, in ANY device, not just the iPhone. Now there is push as well, all these things contribute to lower overall battery life.
The 3GS is so fast, I find I use it even more than I used my 3G which is quite amazing, since I used my 3G all the time.
So overall, yes my iPhone runs out of juice earlier in the day than my old 3G did at times. But I am not stupid about it, I realize that I have been using it differently, and demanding more from it. Of course my battery dies sooner... but that is because I use it more, or for more intensive purposes than I used to. The tests definitely show that doing any one thing continuously, the 3GS lasts longer! But if I am using GPS more now, when I hardly used it at all on my 3G.... OF COURSE my overall time will be less....see what I mean?
3. The people who are complaining about the battery life are coming from non-smart phones, who are used to crazy long battery life, or are coming from the 2G iPhone... both the 3G and 3GS cannot compare to the battery life the 2G got with its Edge limitation.
In any case... I am very pleased with the battery life of the 3GS. It is better than any smartphone I have ever owned before, and that includes the 3G I used to own.
I never owned the 2G... I come from the PocketPC, Windows Mobile side of smartphones... whose battery life SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS! The iPhone is magnitudes better for battery life!
It is always good to keep things in perspective, and evaluate how you are actually using the device before jumping to the conclusion that the battery sucks. - DeathToaster, on 07/05/2009, -0/+6The 3GS is identical to the 3G is shape and size.
- loconet, on 07/04/2009, -12/+17Now image if the iPhone had true multi-tasking...
- JayBabs, on 07/04/2009, -6/+11I will have to agree. Maybe if you waste your entire day playing with apps you will drain your battery, but personally I've had no such issues.
- BedPost, on 07/05/2009, -4/+9You want a ***** pony, too?
- inactive, on 07/05/2009, -2/+7If I just use phone, wifi for mail and basic apps, I get about day and half to two days on one charge. Depending on the apps I use, I get a day. Some apps seem to have better memory management than others, it seems.
- Turbojugend27, on 07/05/2009, -1/+6The exact same thing is happening to the HTC's running Android, so chill out there fanboys.
- iChopPryde, on 07/05/2009, -0/+5haha completely agree, though I find the battery to be just fine went from 2G and now 3GS sometimes I find the battery drain quicker but that is because I am playing games on it like Need For Speed or the Sims its to be expected games like that will drain the battery quicker. Though with the Percentage on I definitely pay a lot more attention to my battery consumption I am thinking about turning it off cause I hate being so conscious of it lol
On Another note loving my Jailbroken 3GS :D - kimbermatic, on 07/05/2009, -0/+5I own the 3G and the 3GS and like others here I don't see any difference. I have found myself using the 3GS more than the 3G due to social networking. I will say if you live somewhere that is on the boundary of a network and the phone is constantly polling the 3G tower you will have it drain quicker.
I solved the problem with a Fastmac battery pack, flash included. -
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