New to iPhone. 3GS battery life & charger questions...

[iBoxtaboy]

Hi there. Just got my first ever iPhone (3GS 32gb) last week, and am loving it! Coming from a BB Pearl, it was a HUGE jump. One thing I am sorta dissappointed about, however, is the battery life. I thought the battery life was supposed to be pretty good with the 3GS, but after leaving the house at 8am this morning with a full charge, at 10:20am, I'm now at only 62% battery power left? What gives? The phone is registering full bars of 3G, and I also have the wifi on even though I'm not connected to any wifi here at work. Would turning wifi off help, or is it just that I have applications that are using up battery power? I downloaded 27 applications, but I thought those applications don't run in the background like they do on Blackberries. I also have 2 email accounts on push, and 3 on fetch (once every hour). Any suggestions on how to better conserve power? Thanks in advance.

Also, for my old blackberry, I had a nifty little desk charger stand that I could just drop my Pearl into. Is there anything like that for the iPhone? I see that there are docking station chargers, but those you have to be careful inserting the phone into, as there are no charge contacts on the phone like the Pearl had. Seems you have to carefully insert the connection into the bottom of the iPhone, or are there some other solutions that I don't know about?

 

[Kerti]

Welcome to the addiction. I used to be BB user also, so I had the same questions like you did when I first got my iPhone.

It's a good idea to turn off WiFi when not using, main reason being is that it will constantly be scanning for hotspots, which will drain your battery. If you have bluetooth on, I would recommend turning it off also when not using it. Another thing to consider also is to turn off 3G when you're not using the iPhone to browse the internet, and are using it only for phone and text messaging. When you go to browse the internet, just flip the 3G switch back on.

Apps don't run in the background, so it's definately not the apps giving you battery problems. The battery does suck on the iPhone, but it's just a matter of getting used to it. I recommend buying a car charger also if you haven't done so already.

Also, yes they do have docks for the iPhone. If there's an Apple store near you, you'll be able to find them there. Or go to an AT&T store, last time I went there they had a cool few docks to choose from.

 

[iBoxtaboy]

Thanks! Ok, I turned off the 3G as well as wifi now. Hope that works, as now I'm down to 52% battery, and I'm not even thru half the day!

Welcome to the addiction. I used to be BB user also, so I had the same questions like you did when I first got my iPhone.

It's a good idea to turn off WiFi when not using, main reason being is that it will constantly be scanning for hotspots, which will drain your battery. If you have bluetooth on, I would recommend turning it off also when not using it. Another thing to consider also is to turn off 3G when you're not using the iPhone to browse the internet, and are using it only for phone and text messaging. When you go to browse the internet, just flip the 3G switch back on.

Apps don't run in the background, so it's definately not the apps giving you battery problems. The battery does suck on the iPhone, but it's just a matter of getting used to it. I recommend buying a car charger also if you haven't done so already.

Also, yes they do have docks for the iPhone. If there's an Apple store near you, you'll be able to find them there. Or go to an AT&T store, last time I went there they had a cool few docks to choose from.

 

[Jeremy]

For more battery information please take a look at this sticky thread.

http://forum.theiphoneblog.com/iphone-help/175102-iphone-battery-tips.html

 

[slo4b11]

I bought an "InCase" cover which comes with a built in battery, I used to get low battery warning by 5-6pm everyday but now can go from sun up, till the wee hours of the morning without any issues.

EDIT - case/battery costs 80 retail, but i found an open item for 71.99 at best buy, talked them down to 59 bucks.

 

[iBoxtaboy]

I bought an "InCase" cover which comes with a built in battery, I used to get low battery warning by 5-6pm everyday but now can go from sun up, till the wee hours of the morning without any issues.

EDIT - case/battery costs 80 retail, but i found an open item for 71.99 at best buy, talked them down to 59 bucks.

Thanks, I might need one of these. I turned off my 3G and wifi, and location services, and still, my battery is now down to only 11% at 2:53pm. It has basically been on standby for the whole day too. This kinda battery usage will not work for me if it drains down to nothing before even 5pm. Don't know what is going on . The phone is brand new, and the battery drains this fast?!

 

[bullitt3246]

I'll agree it doesnt last long at all.... I just got mine last week. I carry a charger everywhere I go, work, car etc etc

 

[iBoxtaboy]

I'll agree it doesnt last long at all.... I just got mine last week. I carry a charger everywhere I go, work, car etc etc

My battery went from a full charge at 8am to totally dead at 4pm. That's from using the phone very sparingly too. Will need to keep a charger at work I guess.

 

[touchyphone]

Ummm do you guys have location services turned on or off? also whats your screen brightness. Having the brightness high is a huge killer. Also location services is killer on battery too! Weird, I get about 8hrs of usage time per day, you guyss should do a monthly total drain of the battery then full recharge.I do that, it helps

 

[big9erfan]

I can disconnect around 7:30 am, use it sparingly during the day for texts and such and I am around 50ish% when I get home around 6-6:30pm.

I kept a log on my friends site during a day to see how far I could take my phone in terms of battery usage: iPhone 3GS Battery Day in Review | Phase to Ground

As TouchyPhone mentioned, turning down the screen brightness and enabling auto brightness were huge increases for me.

All that mentioned that DOES NOT keep me from keeping it plugged in when at the office, at night and having a charger in my car for just in case.

 

[iBoxtaboy]

Ummm do you guys have location services turned on or off? also whats your screen brightness. Having the brightness high is a huge killer. Also location services is killer on battery too! Weird, I get about 8hrs of usage time per day, you guyss should do a monthly total drain of the battery then full recharge.I do that, it helps[/QUOTEellAell,

Well, I did have location services off, as well as wifi, and 3G, and the standby time was still around 8 hours. I hardly used it during that time. Although at home, it seems to last a lot longer, so I'm thinking the signal is just weaker at my office, and so it ends up searching for signal, and using up more battery.