Does anyone know roughly how long an Iphone 3GS battery lasts? I bought a secondhand one and it lasts on a good day 10-12 hours on a good day with say 3-4 hours usage (Usually just shy of a full days usage =/, say for example today I unplugged it 830ish and it died around 630 i think. Do you think replacing the battery would make much of a difference? Also I'm looking on ebay at $5 batteries from China and $15-20 batteries from Australia, but kinda thinking the local ebay sellers buy them from China anyways and mark it up. Any ideas?
iPhone 3GS Battery
gmail92 on 28/02/2011 - 19:57
Comments
i mean good day as in minimal usage, data turned off when in wifi, sometimes 3g off, lowered brightness etc.
hmm, not sure then. I actually have a 3G not 3GS, I actually have 2 external batteries I keep charged, I usually carry one of them with me just in case.
Sounds like you might get a better battery life from a new battery, but I'm not sure.
Have you made sure you don't have background apps running?
Why not make a 'Genius Bar' appointment at an apple store? For all you know, it could be something else other than the battery. The appointment is free anyway, so getting their tech opinion might save you some $$.
Good luck.
so i might be better off investing in a portable charger?
iPhones have horrible battery life imo, no matter what you do it will still be bad.
its just the way it is, ive gone from 3G to iPhone 4, sister has a 3GS its slightly better lifespan than the 3G, but way worse than the 4, and the 3G is utter crud compared to iPhone 4's battery life.
phones these days require to be charged basically every night anyway, i still remember my old 3315, would last me like 3-4 days without having to charge again, then again it was so utterly basic compared to the amount of things you can do on phones nowadays.
I have a 3GS - your battery life sounds about right. Using as a phone, the battery lasts a long time, probably get 1 1/2 days or even 2 at a pinch. I reckon I get 3-4 hour talk time per day.
But playing games kills the battery, because you are using the screen, the Video processing and also the CPU for logic etc. If I am playing action-packed games, I can use up to 1/2 a charge in the 45min bus ride to work
Easy solution is one of the lithium charger packs. They have a iPhone plug on the top and a iPhone socket in the bottom. Charge using normal iPhone charger, then keep in your bag. When phone dying, you plug it in to top up.
Take up Pauly's advice, the genius can check things out for you better than we can. The other day my battery ran out half way during the day. Not like my even older 3310 (uniquinsanity beat that! LOL)
But then I realised I had been on 3G AND using the GPS driving that morning which I had failed to turn off.
There is always a trade off - better functions, better time and lighter weight. Some as indicated have external batteries, but that adds weight. This is where the genius comes in they can look at what you are using and make a call based on the trade offs, and then help to see if it is a degraded battery or just usage.
Yes, GPS absolutely slaughters battery life!
The external battery that I use doesn't add any weight. Whilst possible to use the phone whilst it's attached, but really it just gets used as a charger.
This page contains good images of the exact model I have been using
http://www.gadstyle.com/apple-iphone-3g-ipod-1900mah-nano-ba…
But I got it from OzStock for $12.80 + $5.97 shipping. Works bloody well - much better than I expected.
How can that not add weight? it weight 65g afterall
Because you don't USE the phone with it connected. Well, you can if you really want to, but you look like an idiot with a 50% longer phone :-P
The idea is you carry it for emergencies. I only use mine once every few weeks. 65g is not noticeable in my laptop bag, especially compared to all the other crap I inevitably seem to carry around.
Still adds to the weight when you are using it.
No it doesn't… it's a charger. Does YOUR phone charger add weight to your phone when you are using it? Mine doesn't, because I don't charge my phone when I am using it.
It still adds weight to your phone while you are using it (using the charger).
The way you say it it's like your battery magically weight 0g once plugged in.
These are some of the things that kill iPhone battery life
GPS (look for the little arrow up next to the bluetooth icon)
Games (especially if there is moving / animation, rather than say Sudoku)
Internet browsing, especially over 3G rather than wireless
Bluetooth (switch off when not using)
Email push (Fetch New Data) = causes continual pings to mail server
WiFi activatedThe easy solution is to switch off WiFi and Bluetooth when you aren't using them. Get rid of Email Push and let email come ONLY when you open the email applications. Those 3 things alone will add heaps of hours of extra battery time.
^ applies to all feature-capable electronics(i.e. laptops)
bought this a few hours ago
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160550…
battery sleeve for the 3GS by energizer, retails apparently for $100+?
see how that goes i guess =s
although i have to admit that mophie juice pack for the iphone4 looks pretty sweet
saw those @ battery world
good deal you got it on
My battery died and Apple store made me get a refurbished iPhone 3G for $249. I dont mind though, 3G is still a good phone and im holding out for iphone 5. I will be able to sell the 3G for $249 at minimum anyway, they go for $400-$450 on ebay in 16gb model.
the external charger makes the battery decently last the whole day;
but still very poor with like average battery usage (bit of music, bit of facebook etc)say today for example,
(decent usage data, 3g, on, wifi when needed)
41% left with 2h42min usage and 04h57min standby
10% left with 3h51min usage and 07h15min standbythe standard 3gs battery does better than that right?
(decent usage data, 3g, on, wifi when needed)
41% left with 2h42min usage and 04h57min standby
10% left with 3h51min usage and 07h15min standbySo after 7.5 hours, with about 2.7 hours of continuous usage, you still have 41% left after a full charge? I'd say that's pretty normal. Also, using more 3G than wifi for surfing drains your battery faster.
What are you complaining about? You are getting plenty of run time, that's the sort of times that I get too.
Try switching all the features off and using it just as a phone. Then compare to your previous phones.
Here's a fix….
Sometimes when you use apps or other features on the iPhone, when you shut them down they dont actually shut down in the background and keep using power. Then you'll find the battery life seems to drop very quickly, even after shutting down the iPhone and restarting. All that does is a 'soft reset'. What you need to do is actually shut it all down for 30seconds…. HOLD THE POWER BUTTON AND THE FRONT CENTER BUTTON TOGETHER FOR 10 SECONDS. Dont worry, it wont reset the iPhone back to factory or anything like that, but it will shut it down and restart it properly. Then give it a full charge overnight and you should notice an improvement to battery life.
ERRR - by what scientific basis can you claim that turning off the phone will "fix" the battery?
If there are apps running in the background (like GPS) then you can close them…
Go back to the main icon screen (ie: close all open apps)
DOUBLE-PRESS the Round button until the "tasklist" opens
Press and hold any icon until they start wiggling
Tap the red (-) to close any that you like.HOWEVER, the iPhone doesn't really run apps in the background anyway - it Task-Switches between them. In other words, it can only physically run 1 app at a time, and the others go into a kind of "suspend mode" that doesn't use power.
Only a few types of apps DO keep running:
a) Music players
b) GPS Apps (you can see a small < arrow up the top right is they are)
c) FTP and other apps that "wait for a connection"You need to ensure you close any of those kinds of apps down, or they will chew your battery (especially the GPS ones)
That sounds about right. Replacing the battery won't make a difference.
And I would say you are right about the markup.