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[Keylime]

Also seeing decreased battery life compared to my 3G.

Not sure if I just have to break in the battery or if I need to be more conscious of what I've got turned on all the time.

Hoping it's a temporary issue, as the 3GS is supposed to be better than the 3G. It's hard to gauge, though, as I used 3.0 for all of 2 days before getting the 3GS.

 

[DopeyFish]

Do you have bluetooth on? now that they added that function to the touch 2g it drinks power nearly as fast as running a 3d app.

Wi-fi off, Bluetooth off, push email off, push notifications on (testing with it off to see if it's the source of the drain), brightness 10-15%

I'm very conservative having owned a 3G before this

 

[Phoenix]

My battery life is horrific. I turn off 3G and GPS and it still seems worse than my old iPhone. Could be the push notifications, though.

Push notifications keep a pretty much always on network connection to the push servers. That said, I have pretty much everything on (bluetooth off) and its normally fine for me. I do have a charger in the car that it sits on for the commute to work and the commute home, so that's maybe why I don't have any battery life horror stories.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I've been pretty happy with the battery life on the 3GS so far, but I have Push turned off and only have it fetching mail every hour. I manually check when I want it sooner than that. Also, if you have an e-mail address that is very busy, with lots of mail coming in, it seems to hit the battery hard. I have five different e-mail addresses for various projects I work on, and one of them gets an insane amount of mail. When I disabled it on the phone, it helped battery life a lot.

 

[brassica]

I just get an iPhone 3G 8gb and was using an HTC Diamond before.
I used to have RSS feeds with Opera mini, many actually, is there a way to get them and then import them in an RSS application on the iphone ? If so, which one do you recommend ?

 

[VanMardigan]

I have this bug since I got 3.0 where I will listen to a podcast, video podcast etc. all the way through, or even sometimes halfway through, and the next time I open it up, it is marked as unheard. I was halfway done with Twit, for example, and when I fired it up again later in the day it was marked as new and started at the beginning. I saw a video podcast and synced, then I noticed the video podcast was still on my iPhone, marked as new.

Annoying as hell when you're trying to manage space and keep track of your podcasts. I have an 8GB 3G. Anyone else had issues with the content on their iPhones marked as new after they start playing it?

Edit: Push is an absolute MURDERER of iPhone batteries. My 3G does not last overnight with push on. I've woken up late because my iPhone alarm didn't go off, my phone dead from push notifications. Once I figured it out, I never turned push on again.

 

[mrkgoo]

I have this bug since I got 3.0 where I will listen to a podcast, video podcast etc. all the way through, or even sometimes halfway through, and the next time I open it up, it is marked as unheard. I was halfway done with Twit, for example, and when I fired it up again later in the day it was marked as new and started at the beginning. I saw a video podcast and synced, then I noticed the video podcast was still on my iPhone, marked as new.

Annoying as hell when you're trying to manage space and keep track of your podcasts. I have an 8GB 3G. Anyone else had issues with the content on their iPhones marked as new after they start playing it?

Edit: Push is an absolute MURDERER of iPhone batteries. My 3G does not last overnight with push on. I've woken up late because my iPhone alarm didn't go off, my phone dead from push notifications. Once I figured it out, I never turned push on again.

Funny you should mention, while I haven't had my iPhone run flat (in regards to this), I have missed two alarms. I have had sleeping issues recently, so I figured it was due to that (actually waking and disabling the alarm and then resleeping and forgetting). But it has had me wondering if I actually had a bug.

 

[VanMardigan]

Funny you should mention, while I haven't had my iPhone run flat (in regards to this), I have missed two alarms. I have had sleeping issues recently, so I figured it was due to that (actually waking and disabling the alarm and then resleeping and forgetting). But it has had me wondering if I actually had a bug.

I haven't had issues where the alarm doesn't go off, actually, unless my phone dies. Your issue might still be sleep-related. Although, it's weird, since it's much easier to hit "snooze" than to swipe to turn off the alarm. That would be strange if you wake up, swipe to turn off (which demands much more mental recognition than pressing "snooze") and you can't recall that. I'd recommend you try setting the alarm to various times during the day and then making sure they all go off just to test.

 

[DopeyFish]

Yeah it's looking like push was the culprit, absolute massive battery drain - 2 hours standby and 40 minutes of browsing and music playing at the same time = 96% life left. (with push off)

 

[bionic77]

3g and intensive games destroy the battery. That unfortunately is true of every phone on the market right now. I get 6 hours of usuage using email and the web when I am in a edge zone but that drops to barely 3 hours on 3g.

All you can do is carry a charger with you or turn off 3g. Bummer about these battery reports on the 3GS as I was hoping Apple was going to find a way to improve battery life on 3G networks.

 

[HUELEN10]

Applecare on my iPhone EDGE is gonna run out soon, so I have been looking into a 3G or 3GS. One thing I can't find anywhere is the rate plans. Little help?

USA, Florida, ATT.

 

[Ghost]

Not surprised Push messes up the battery life, not surprised Apple aren't forthcoming about it either given that it's one of the main reasons to pay for MobileMe

 

[mrkgoo]

Not surprised Push messes up the battery life, not surprised Apple aren't forthcoming about it either given that it's one of the main reasons to pay for MobileMe

I don't have mobile me, and push notifications still lower my battery life (I believe).

 

[Mamesj]

Ran into my first glitch last night while driving home.

I was listening to some music in the car, fiddled with the volume a bit, then the volume turned all the way down and stayed down. I'd try to turn it up again and the volume notch would jump up and back down quickly, as if the volume down button was stuck.

Fixed it by turning the thing on and off, but it was annoying.

 

[Meier]

Well, the phone doesn't show as backordered when I look at my order status now but it hasn't shipped yet. If it doesn't go out first thing, can it be shipped at all?

 

[gigapower]

Well, the phone doesn't show as backordered when I look at my order status now but it hasn't shipped yet. If it doesn't go out first thing, can it be shipped at all?

AT&T usually ships in the middle of the night.

 

[Meier]

My buddy showed me an android app that did this w/ location awareness. When it got within like 3miles of his work it went totally silent, when he left it turned back on all sounds.

I'd pay for that for sure. even more so if it turned on/off wi-fi at the same time.

That's pretty damn slick. For my current Q, I just set it up where there is a recurring meeting every day during my work hours and have it set to Automatic so when I'm in a 'meeting', it goes to vibrate only mode but when I'm not, it's on standard ring, etc. Not quite as elegant but it gets the job done.

 

[ckohler]

I've been really disappointed with the battery life of the 3GS (its my first iPhone). I have Mail fetching every 15 mins, send the occasional text and email, browsed GAF for a bit and played a few games of table tennis, after about 12 hours it just completely died, as in the battery was 0% and I couldn't turn it on.
I hate having to always be worrying about the battery life and my eyes being on it constantly whenever I use the iPhone.
Oh and I have bluetooth, Wifi etc all off (though I keep 3G on).

It's better to leave Wifi on. That way when you come into a free wifi area, 3G data is disabled automatically, especially if you have wifi at work and/or at home. 3G eats the battery more than anything else you're doing. Browsing GAF and polling for new mail every 15 minutes on 3G is what's killing your battery. Games are the second biggest battery drain.

 

[TheGreatDave]

I disable 3G unless I'm downloading something. The speed benefit isn't really there for most mobile-friendly websites.

 

[Tobor]

Compared to other smartphones on the market, the iPhone has decent battery life.

It's surprising to hear people complain about 12 hours in this thread, 12 hours is pretty good.

Just keep a charger at work or in the car and top it off when you can during the day. Not a huge deal.

 

[TheExodu5]

I keep push on, and run with 3G.

Sure I only get a few hours of browse, but I only ever browse a few minutes at a time. I never run out of juice during the day if it was charged in the morning. On top of that, it's easy to keep a USB cable handy to charge the phone when needed. For music, I could still play it all day and not even come close to running out. My battery lasts many times as long as my old Motorolla and Sony phones.

I think I'm going to hold off on the 3GS. Since I'm with Rogers, I can actually upgrade and pay the subsidized price (in September, since it will have been 1 year since my last phone), so I wouldn't get shafted on the price. Still, other than a few games, it doesn't seem like the speed increase is really going to be worth that $200. I'll wait until next year's model.

 

[Bowser]

Holy shit, I just discovered by complete accident that you can copy/paste from the NeoGAF webapp! Go ahead, try it.

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

Holy shit, I just discovered by complete accident that you can copy/paste from the NeoGAF webapp! Go ahead, try it.

Usually you have to do the double tap from an empty part of the screen where there's no text, then start dragging into the text area.

 

[elektrikluv]

It's better to leave Wifi on. That way when you come into a free wifi area, 3G data is disabled automatically, especially if you have wifi at work and/or at home. 3G eats the battery more than anything else you're doing. Browsing GAF and polling for new mail every 15 minutes on 3G is what's killing your battery. Games are the second biggest battery drain.

I turn Wifi on when I'm at home as its much friendlier on the battery. But I don't really use my iPhone when I'm at home anyway as I just use my laptop then. And when I'm out, 3G is pretty much the only option as its rare to come across free Wifi on the streets and I figured if I turned it off completely at least the battery wouldn't drain while the phone tried to search for Wifi networks to connect to.

 

[ckohler]

Usually you have to do the double tap from an empty part of the screen where there's no text, then start dragging into the text area.

I fixed the copy stuff earlier this week. You don't double tap, you just tap and hold. Depending on where you tap it will either select the entire post or just a word with handles.

 

[Eaten By A Grue]

I've honestly have no problem with my battery life with
push (using AP news and BeejiveIM) and 3G enabled. *knocks on wood* Perhaps my phone is a freak of nature.

 

[Gary Whitta]

Is Bluetooth a drain even when not connected to a device? Wondering if I should switch it off if I don't plan to connect a headset that day.

 

[MaizeRage25]

I just get an iPhone 3G 8gb and was using an HTC Diamond before.
I used to have RSS feeds with Opera mini, many actually, is there a way to get them and then import them in an RSS application on the iphone ? If so, which one do you recommend ?

Use Google Reader. If you want a dedicated app for RSS then get Byline which syncs with Google Reader.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Is Bluetooth a drain even when not connected to a device? Wondering if I should switch it off if I don't plan to connect a headset that day.

I leave BT on all the time, as my car has it built in and the phone auto connects to it when I get in the vehicle. I don't see any kind of major drain from having it on all the time.

 

[YuriLowell]

ATT does ship in the middle of the night.
Mine is on FED-EX truck for delivery.
HURRY THE FOCK UP. I WANTS DE IPHONE.

I have another question. I have a kenwood deck in my car, and it has a hands free bluetooth that I use with my shitty Touch Diamond. It also has a usb connector thats in the glove box that has my iTouch in it. If I plug in my Iphone into the usb connector to play music off it, will it also charge the battery, and still be able to receive calls?

 

[Marty Chinn]

Is Bluetooth a drain even when not connected to a device? Wondering if I should switch it off if I don't plan to connect a headset that day.

I heard it is because whenever a bluetooth device gets within range, it tries to talk to it to see if it's a valid device. Now imagine being around people and how many bluetooth devices or computers you might pass.

 

[mrkgoo]

I heard it is because whenever a bluetooth device gets within range, it tries to talk to it to see if it's a valid device. Now imagine being around people and how many bluetooth devices or computers you might pass.

Makes total sense. I'm guessing ANY wireless transmitter/receiver is going to be a drain to some degree, so it's best to turn it off if you don't use it.

If push is going to be a major issue for me, I'm going to turn it off (since I have no data plan, and is only supported by BeeJive for me anyway).

 

[YuriLowell]

how long is everyone waiting for the damn thing to activate?

 

[Marty Chinn]

Makes total sense. I'm guessing ANY wireless transmitter/receiver is going to be a drain to some degree, so it's best to turn it off if you don't use it.

If push is going to be a major issue for me, I'm going to turn it off (since I have no data plan, and is only supported by BeeJive for me anyway).

I think it might be. I went to sleep and the bar looked about half full, but I woke up this morning and for some reason I was in the red with a 20% warning. I thought my battery life had been pretty solid, but to see the phone in the red by morning from it just sitting there is worrysome.

 

[Blackhead]

Makes total sense. I'm guessing ANY wireless transmitter/receiver is going to be a drain to some degree, so it's best to turn it off if you don't use it.

If push is going to be a major issue for me, I'm going to turn it off (since I have no data plan, and is only supported by BeeJive for me anyway).

:0 I shudder at the thought if your phone bill.

Optimize your iPhone settings

Depending on how they are configured, a few features may decrease your iPhone battery life. For example, the frequency with which you retrieve email and the number of email accounts you auto-check can both affect battery life. The tips below apply to an iPhone running iPhone 3.0 or later software and may help extend your battery life.

Minimize use of location services: Applications that actively use location services such as Maps may reduce battery life. To disable location services, go to Settings > General > Location Services or use location services only when needed.

Turn off push notifications: Some applications from the App Store use the Apple Push Notification Service to alert you of new data. Those applications that extensively rely on push notifications (such as instant messaging applications) may impact battery life. To disable push notifications, go to Settings > Notifications and set Notifications to Off. Note that this does not prevent new data from being received when the application is opened. Also, the Notifications setting will not be visible if you do not have any applications installed that support push notifications.

Fetch new data less frequently: Applications such as Mail can be set to fetch data wirelessly at specific intervals. The more frequently email or other data is fetched, the quicker your battery may drain. To fetch new data manually, from the Home screen choose Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data and tap Manually. To increase the fetch interval, go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data and tap Hourly. Note that this is a global setting and applies to all applications that do not support push services.

Turn off push mail: If you have a push mail account such as Yahoo!, MobileMe or Microsoft Exchange, turn off push when you don’t need it. Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data and set Push to Off. Messages sent to your push email accounts will now be received on your phone based on the global Fetch setting rather than as they arrive. If the global Fetch setting is set to Manually, you will not be able to locate your iPhone using the MobileMe Find My iPhone feature.

Auto-check fewer email accounts: You can save power by checking fewer email accounts. This can be accomplished by turning off an email account or by deleting it. To turn off an account, go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars, choose an email account, and set Account to Off. To remove an account, go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars, choose an email account, and tap Delete Account.

Minimize use of third-party applications: Excessive use of applications such as games that prevent the screen from dimming or shutting off or applications that use location services can reduce battery life.

Turn off Wi-Fi: If you rarely use Wi-Fi, you can turn it off to save power. Go to Settings > Wi-Fi and set Wi-Fi to Off. Note that if you frequently use your iPhone to browse the web, battery life may be improved by using Wi-Fi instead of cellular data networks.

Turn off Bluetooth: If you rarely use a Bluetooth headset or car kit, you can turn off Bluetooth to save power. Go to Settings > General > Bluetooth and set Bluetooth to Off.

Use Airplane Mode in low- or no-coverage areas: Because your iPhone always tries to maintain a connection with the cellular network, it may use more power in low- or no-coverage areas. Turning on Airplane Mode can increase battery life in these situations; however, you will be unable to make or receive calls. To turn on Airplane Mode, go to Settings and set Airplane Mode to On.

Adjust brightness: Dimming the screen is another way to extend battery life. Go to Settings > Brightness and drag the slider to the left to lower the default screen brightness. In addition, turning on Auto-Brightness allows the screen to adjust its brightness based on current lighting conditions. Go to Settings > Brightness and set Auto-Brightness to On.

Turn off EQ: Applying an equalizer setting to song playback on your iPhone can decrease battery life. To turn EQ off, go to Settings > iPod > EQ and tap Off. Note that if you’ve added EQ to songs directly in iTunes, you’ll need to set EQ on iPhone to Flat in order to have the same effect as Off because iPhone keeps your iTunes settings intact. Go to Settings > iPod > EQ and tap Flat.

Turn off 3G: Using 3G cellular networks loads data faster, but may also decrease battery life, especially in areas with limited 3G coverage. To disable 3G, from the Home screen choose Settings > General > Network and set Enable 3G to Off. You will still be able to make and receive calls and access cellular data networks via EDGE or GPRS where available.

And there are external batteries as well to recharge on the road, some even double as cases, but few are cheap though.

Spoiler

I just want a 3GS review for Mophie Juice Air before I dip...

 

[Midas]

Stupid Swedish carriers refuse to release the price for 3G S and it's less than two weeks til release now. Come on!!!

 

[N Coward Parody]

32g black iPhone 3GS is MINE...

Helluvan upgrade from my 8g 2G, bless its lil heart...

 

[scorcho]

once the 3GS is unlockable, a decent solution to power profiles is SB Settings. One swipe along the top of the screen drops down switches that allow you to turn off 3g, bluetooth, wifi, etc. Very quick and works well.

 

[snacknuts]

Question: I currently have a 30GB iPod that I have had for a few years and would like to continue to use as my primary "music" iPod. If I get an iPhone, is there a way to set my iTunes up on my Macbook to only upload certain songs?

 

[Keylime]

Question: I currently have a 30GB iPod that I have had for a few years and would like to continue to use as my primary "music" iPod. If I get an iPhone, is there a way to set my iTunes up on my Macbook to only upload certain songs?

You could manually manage the music on the iPhone, or I imagine you could just keep an up to date playlist of songs you want to go on your iPhone?

 

[ckohler]

Question: I currently have a 30GB iPod that I have had for a few years and would like to continue to use as my primary "music" iPod. If I get an iPhone, is there a way to set my iTunes up on my Macbook to only upload certain songs?

Just create a playlist (smart or manual) and under the sync screen's Music tab you select "Selected playlists" instead of "All Songs and Playlists". Then check only the playlist you made.

 

[snacknuts]

And my old iPod will continue to sync everything like it does now? Awesome.

 

[ckohler]

Yes. Each device has its own sync settings.

 

[Tobor]

And my old iPod will continue to sync everything like it does now? Awesome.

You can sync as many iPods as you own and create syncing rules for each device individually.

 

[mrkgoo]

:0 I shudder at the thought if your phone bill.

My phone bill of zero? I know the prepay AT&T is just plain stupid. I'm on T-mobile prepay. I basically have noone to call here anyway, so most of the money I spend is on texts, which T-mobile prepay has the cheapest to send overseas (10c out, 5c in). I just load up on prepay monies. I also get to shut off 3G, saving battery.

If I were to go on prepay AT&T, they charge like 1c per KB, so it's like $10 per MB. Stupid. Casual data rate in NZ is much better. NZ$1 per day (USD about 65c) for 10MB. Only on days you use it, and only a fraction of the cost if you only use part. They even added an 'addon' package to a prepay - let it remove $20 (USD$13) per month, and you get 100MB per month access. Not to shabby for casual access.

You can't do any real downloading, obviously, but it's useful for just checking maps and stuff. Thing is, in my experience also, the iPhone will actually page small amounts of data when you do things like just check gps (the assist will try to connect), thus activating your data for the day. I actually built up a resistance to apps that had ads too - since these use your data. So AT&T prepay was a complete NO GO. It would just be too expensive on prepay. Collateral data would be too much.
\

I haven't had issues where the alarm doesn't go off, actually, unless my phone dies. Your issue might still be sleep-related. Although, it's weird, since it's much easier to hit "snooze" than to swipe to turn off the alarm. That would be strange if you wake up, swipe to turn off (which demands much more mental recognition than pressing "snooze") and you can't recall that. I'd recommend you try setting the alarm to various times during the day and then making sure they all go off just to test.

I'm sure it's actually ok. Like I said, I'm having sleep problems (as my physical body, not my phone) - getting like 3-4 hours a night, so I'm exhausted in the morning. Normally I'm not like this, so I think I would remember, but in my current condition, anything's possible. Thing is, if it were just once, I would let it slide, but a couple times? Who knows. Phone is fine whenever I'm actively watching it!

Good news. My iPhone actually rebooted today.

 

[bionic77]

once the 3GS is unlockable, a decent solution to power profiles is SB Settings. One swipe along the top of the screen drops down switches that allow you to turn off 3g, bluetooth, wifi, etc. Very quick and works well.

That is really cool. Apple and other cell phone companies need to streamline the process of syncing bluetooth devices. I always turn mine off and on to save on battery life.

 

[kaching]

So that oleophobic coating they added to the front of the 3GS does seem to do a decent job of cutting down on finger smears, though not entirely eliminating. But, damn, seems like they needed to add it to the back too, because all the grease just seems to be migrating to the backside! :lol

 

[StrikerObi]

I need a case that does as little as possible, but successfully adds enough friction so as to prevent the phone from slipping out of my pocket when I sit down.

I hate, hate, hate iPhones with cases, but I'm about to be traveling for two weeks and can't afford to lose it. Recommendations?

You want the case I just got. You'll have to find it on eBay, because iSkin doesn't make it anymore. It's the CLEAR iSkin Solo. It was available at retail in a bundle called the "iSkin Duet". You can still find them brand new on eBay. I just got mine yesterday and I'm loving it. It's less than 1mm thick totally clear plastic. It's not hard, but it's not silicone. It's something in between the two. There is a very feint textured square pattern on the inside of the case, I presume to help it grip the iPhone.

Like I said you can find them on eBay for $30 and it comes with a screen protector belt clip (which doubles as a landscape mode stand for watching video). iSkin charges $30 for a Solo case w/o the belt clip, and they don't offer it in clear anymore, so this case is a steal from eBay.

I got it from this company's eBay store for $29. http://www.eblazingtech.com/servlet/the-1520/iSkin-Duet-Clear-Solo/Detail

 

[StrikerObi]

Applecare on my iPhone EDGE is gonna run out soon, so I have been looking into a 3G or 3GS. One thing I can't find anywhere is the rate plans. Little help?

USA, Florida, ATT.

I'm in Florida and I also went from 2G to 3GS. It should be basically the same +$10 more for 3G data (it's $30 rather than EDGE's $20) and you'll also need to pay $5 / $15 / $20 for texting since you don't get 200 for free anymore.




Regarding everybody's battery life, what the hell are you guys doing all day? I have never had a single battery problem with my 2G and have yet to have any battery problems with the 3GS. Here is what I do to conserve battery life.

WiFi: I have wifi turned on all the time, but I have "ask to join networks" turned off. This is important. If you have it set to on, it pops up a message whenever you are within range of a wifi signal. So it causes the iPhone to constantly check for nearby wifi signals. With it off, you need to go into the settings to join a network BUT you can tell it remember networks so it will auto-join just those. The first time you go somewhere, you have to join the network manually (through settings) but after that it's automatic. With this setup, the iPhone doesn't constantly look for signals. It only looks for signals if it needs a network connection, and if it doesn't find one that it already knows, it stops looking.

Brightness: I have auto-brightness turned on, and I have the slider set to around 40%.

Mail/Contacts/Calendars: I have a MobileMe account, an Exchange account, and a CalDAV subscription to my Facebook events. I have MobileMe and Exchange set to Push (mail, contacts, calendars, and bookmarks for MobileMe and Mail and Calendars for Exchange). I have the Facebook CalDAV subscription set to Fetch manually (so only when I open it).

Bluetooth: Set to OFF. I don't use bluetooth. I don't have a headset and even if I did, bluetooth is a pretty big battery drain.

Location Services: set to ON, but I notice that when I use the GPS a lot it just rips right through the battery.

I have my auto-lock set to 2 minutes.

Here's my typical usage day. I wake up at 7:00AM. I check the weather on my iPhone before heading into work. I usually get to work early and catch up on Tweets via Tweetie. I am at work until 5:00. I listen to some music or podcasts, probably 1-4 hours worth depending on the day. When I'm home I use the iPhone for random stuff like playing games or messing around with other apps. I probably talk on the actual phone for less than 30 minutes a day, and send/receive maybe 5 texts per day on average (more on weekends). I go to bed at midnight. If I don't plug my iPhone into my car charger at all during the day, I am still left with 40%+ battery life at the end of the day. It's worth noting that I am in the presence of Wi-Fi almost all day long. My house and office both have wi-fi, so I don't access the 3G network that much. That may be my real secret, but I can't confirm it.

 

[Marty Chinn]

I just recently found my power adaptor that came with my iPhone and I remember there was a recall on them. Anyone know if it's too late to get them exchanged?