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iPhone vs iPhone 3G - battery life

QueBert

QueBert

Lifer
I'm on AT&T and I want to get an iPhone, I'm not exactly sure I want 3G. From what I was reading the first gen iPhone gets better battery life, but I've also read from people, not stating facts or anything but a few are saying with the 2.0 firmware the first gen's battery life isn't as good as it was before the firmware update. And even about the same as the 3G model. Stories of people with the 3G and having it not even last a day with light usage worries me. I think some of them might be exaggerating "light usage"

I'm on the fence about 3G but battery life could possibly sway me either way.

 
I'd have to say that the stories you've read are true. Yesterday was the first day that I had time to play with my iPhone. I had to turn off 3G when I got to work, because I couldn't get a signal at my desk. That ticked me off a bit, because I thought it would look for the best signal, and pick it.

Once I had a signal, I surfed for about 2.5 to 3 hours, and setup the Pandora app. At lunch a buddy wanted to compare his iPhone to my 3G phone, so we went outside so I could get a 3G signal. We then downloaded videos on youtube for about 30 minutes to see the difference in speed. Mines was faster, but it was no where near twice as fast. It was about 1/3 faster. My friend was disappointed to learn that the screen was the same. I probably cost at&t a sale, because after our little test, he has no desire to upgrade now.

After lunch, I went back to my desk & played Pandora for about an hour. Then I setup my Yahoo & Gmail accounts, and set the phone to check for email manually. I had one call on the phone which was about 20 minute long. After the call, I saw that I had about 1/4 of battery life left, so I put it away.
 
Muadib, are you saying that the battery should last longer?

I have a Samsung U740 and if I did all that all day my battery would be pot. I txt most days and after about 100 or so txts, I'm at half battery. So I think that if you're surfing using the net for Pandora, and showing off videos that you got pretty decent time.

I would love for it to be better, but I don't think that it's horrible for what you are able to do with the device.
 
Originally posted by: Muadib
I'd have to say that the stories you've read are true. Yesterday was the first day that I had time to play with my iPhone. I had to turn off 3G when I got to work, because I couldn't get a signal at my desk. That ticked me off a bit, because I thought it would look for the best signal, and pick it.

Once I had a signal, I surfed for about 2.5 to 3 hours, and setup the Pandora app. At lunch a buddy wanted to compare his iPhone to my 3G phone, so we went outside so I could get a 3G signal. We then downloaded videos on youtube for about 30 minutes to see the difference in speed. Mines was faster, but it was no where near twice as fast. It was about 1/3 faster. My friend was disappointed to learn that the screen was the same. I probably cost at&t a sale, because after our little test, he has no desire to upgrade now.

After lunch, I went back to my desk & played Pandora for about an hour. Then I setup my Yahoo & Gmail accounts, and set the phone to check for email manually. I had one call on the phone which was about 20 minute long. After the call, I saw that I had about 1/4 of battery life left, so I put it away.
Click to expand...

... I'm surprised you even had 1/4 battery remaining after all that! You'd be lucky if a LAPTOP could do that, let alone something 1/8th its size.

Edit: While its battery life is lower than the 1st gen, it doesn't make me upset that I upgraded. It's the nature of the beast-- 3g surfing sucks battery. I can get longer than a day on it with no problem and I surf while I'm on the bus to and from work every day (1.25 hours?). I don't mind plugging it in every night before I go to bed.
 
I guess my expectations were too high. Except for the video testing, I was running on edge.

I think something might be wrong with mine. I couldn't get a signal at all this morning, but it started working again once I got to work. I was taking it back anyway, but it might be sooner than I wanted.
 
I'm returning mine tomorrow. I had no signal for a good part of the day, and looking at Howardforums, I see that many others are having the same issue. I know it's the phone, because a co worker had no problems with his 3G phone.
 
I bet that's what was causing your poor battery life as well. My phone, which normally will last for 3 days with a full charge, can be dead in an afternoon if I don't have any cell towers available. It's that constant search for signal that really kills it.

Sorry about having to take it back, that sucks. 🙁
 
looks like i'll be waiting for the "refurbs" 🙂

Too bad the price on the 1g versions didnt drop like i was expecting.
 
sounds like an issue Apple needs to address in the next firmware update, I'm torn even more now. And as ric1287 pointed out the 1g iPhones aren't exactly dropping in price. On Craigslist they still seem to be going for retail or higher. Maybe I should just settle for a crap cell phone and be done with it 🙂
 
Any cell phone will take a huge battery hit if it has a very weak signal and/or is constantly having to "look" for a network to register on.

I must say I'm disappointed in the 3G battery life but not really surprised.
 
The battery life gets better as time goes on. I know it is counterintuitive to what sites like batteryuniversity, etc. say. But from first hand experience it is absolutely true. After a week of usage I started to see improvement. I surf heavily, talk heavily (bluetooth) email (push) and text. I used to drain and refill twice a day. Once at about 1:30-2 and once at 8. Now I'm down to once a day with the same usage.

I don't know if it is battery conditioning (didn't think that was a factor with lions) or the software indicator, but whatever it is... it is improving. Almost to the point where I'm about 80% of the original iPhone.
 
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