3GS Refurb Battery Life?

[flatlined]

I have a question about battery life, I've been reading in general the Battery life is still something to be desired on the iPhone 3GS I took it off the carger around 6:30am and by 3:30pm it was below half way, I'd say 45% (Did not find the Battery Precentage Indicator till just a few moments ago). This was with some checking of email, some web, and facebook app. Does this sound normal?

That was with Factory Settings, When I got home I did the setting changes I read about on apple.com and I charged it to 100% and it seems goen to 94% in about an 2 and a half hours with checking afew emails (One being a forwared link to a youtube like 90sec video)and that's it.

Should I let the battery drain down then do a complete recharge? How low should allow the battery to drain?

Thanks

[Username00089]

That's just normal 3GS battery life.

When I'm at work or home and connected to Wi-Fi, I switch to EDGE. No reason to
stick on 3G when all data is going through your own connection. The 3G sucks
some major battery life.

[xxxxpradaxxxx]

After a while you master battery "surfing".

As in, riding it's ebbs and flows.

The first week of having my 3GS I was able to kill the battery crazy fast.

Disable 3G, lower the brightness, Set the E-Mail to check less frequently (Manually, if you can manage) and turn off Notifications.

Whenever I get into the car I make sure to plug it in my car adaptor and use it to listen to music on the go (which charges it too)

My battery rarely goes below 80%

[sniffs]

For me, it's not all about having to disable things.. for the most part, it's because after awhile of using it, finding all its cool features, you start using it less and less and more like a phone.

You realize you dont need to turn the screen on every 2 and a half minutes to look at something and only when you need to.

that's my biggest battery saving advice.

[xxxxpradaxxxx]

Oh yea! I forgot about that, I got into the habit of locking my screen every .000006 seconds.

That helps alot.

The display is probably the biggest drain on battery aside from 3G.

[sniffs]

Yeah..I have the Droid and you can go into the battery status and it tells you via a percentage of everything that is using battery power..display is usually around 75%.

[auero]

Do you keep 3G on at all times? That kills it a LOT quicker.

[dknyberry]

Originally Posted by auero

Do you keep 3G on at all times? That kills it a LOT quicker.

That's true. I only turn on 3G when I have to use my browser and I'm out of wifi range. It makes my battery last a lot longer.

[flatlined]

Thanks for the help! I've been doing better, also the tips apple gives on their site helped.

Does the whole running your battery down to almost dead every now and then and charging it up help? I think the lowest I've let it go without charging it is 15% and then left it on a charger while I slept. Is this good enough or should I let it drain completely?

Thanks

[dknyberry]

Let it drain completely, but I'm not sure if you need to do it every month like people suggest. Once every few months I think is fine.

[bladebarrier]

Originally Posted by dknyberry

Let it drain completely, but I'm not sure if you need to do it every month like people suggest. Once every few months I think is fine.

YOU DON'T NEED TO DRAIN IT ALL THE WAY. IN FACT IT'S BETTER TO CHARGE IT WHILE IT'S ABOVE 50%, AS A MATTER OF HABIT.

Also, to re-iterate what was said above, the display drains a lot, and so does 3g. Reduce brightness and drop to 2g when you don't need it, BUT....

Buy an external battery to avoid issues. $50 for a very good one is all it costs. Avoid the battery pack cases. They're overpriced, generate increased heat, lack a lot of the charge an external gives, and they force you to use inadequate protection at a price point that deserves better.

Google the I-up 5400, or similar type of external battery, and you should have more battery life in a pocket than you'll ever need.

Apple offers all of the basic tips at it's site here: Apple - Batteries - iPhone

If you get the extended plan for $60, it will cover the battery for the second year, as well. They suggest that 400 full cycles is enough to drop it to the replacement point, so the warranty would easily be needed the 2nd year (and I believe their battery replacement charge is $80 without a warranty, though if you're tech savvy, you could do it yourself).

A li-ion cycle is defined as charging 100% of the capacity; not each time it's placed on a charger. So if you charge the battery from 80% back to 100%, that is 1/5th of a cycle.

[stuaw11]

To further that you can easily get one for way less than $50-60. On ebay you can get ones that clip on the bottom into the port for $10-20 for 1800mah (about 1.5 full charges).

My buddy has a generic one like this and it seems to work fine. If you want to spend $50 its your money

[flatlined]

Will letting your battery drain completely be OK on the iPhone? I'm in the process of doing that now and just wondering, so I can give it one good charge and then plan to just charge whenever I can.

Originally Posted by stuaw11

On ebay you can get ones that clip on the bottom into the port for $10-20 for 1800mah (about 1.5 full charges).

Do have a link to one you recommend ?

[bladebarrier]

Originally Posted by flatlined

Will letting your battery drain completely be OK on the iPhone? I'm in the process of doing that now and just wondering, so I can give it one good charge and then plan to just charge whenever I can.





Do have a link to one you recommend ?

I'm guessing he means something similar to this:

Amazon.com: Giessbach 1900mAh External Backup Battery Charger for iPhone (Rechargeable)-WORKS FOR 3GS, iPhone 3G, 2G, iTouch, iPod Nano: Electronics

[sniffs]

As a good rule of thumb, draining a lithium ion battery will get you more accurate battery meter results, however on the other side of the coin, draining it completely and you start losing small percentages of the life of your battery that will not ever come back.

Lithium Ion batteries will eventually die and not be able to be charged.. draining them completely (often) speeds the process up alot.