though Apple is boasting that the iPhone 3G S comes with an improved battery, it appears that users aren’t exactly reaping the rewards of extended battery life. In fact, the new power source on the iPhone 3G S can’t even provide a day’s worth of battery life. A quick autopsy of the iPhone 3G S easily revealed the culprit as the new batteries are actually 15% smaller than the ones found on the original iPhone. Apple recommends turning off 3G and its other new features to extend its battery life, but that would just defeat the whole purpose of getting the iPhone 3G S, won’t it? Anyway, this apparently hasn’t dismayed buyers as sales of the iPhone 3G S continue to rise.
How about you guys? How is the battery life on your iPhone 3G S turning out so far? Any other gripes you have regarding your newly acquired iPhone?
July 7th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
i finally jump the bandwagon just to get a phone with a crappy battery life. if it held a longer charge i would have zero complaints.
July 8th, 2009 at 2:43 am
Yea, or try the hiphones.. atleast they have removeable batteries so can charge up as many as you need and don’t have to worry about external iphone chargers.
July 8th, 2009 at 7:21 am
I personally think it may be an issue with the 3.0 Firmware because I’ve notice my iPhone 3G began to have less than desirable battery life after the update to 3.0.
July 9th, 2009 at 6:05 am
I’ve had the iPhone 3GS for less than a week and I am VERY disappointed with the battery life. Case in point: this morning I was fully charged at 100%. Then I made a 7 minute phone. Checked the battery and it was already down to 86%. What the hell?!?
July 13th, 2009 at 12:28 am
Iphone 3g s battery life sucks so bad i find myself charging mines 2 or 3 times a day
July 16th, 2009 at 7:00 am
[...] Allan David Reyes wrote an interesting post today on<b>iPhone 3G</b> S battery life sucks | PMP TodayHere’s a quick excerpt [...]
July 16th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
well with the jailbroken 3.0 firm on it the battery life dose suck…I here the only way to fix is to
A. downgrade 2.2
B. wait for the new quickpwn to come
C. use pwntool on a mac
D. A+B
July 17th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Im using iPhone 2G with jailbroken 3.0. It’s great but MMS not working. =[ iPhone 3G S Sucks - http://nadzrul.com/apple/iphone-3g-s-sucks
July 17th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
I have the same issue. Battery life is horrible. I had the original iPhone and bit the bullet and purchased the new 3Gs and found the same issues. My battery life is horrible. I used to be able to talk for hours and still have lots of battery life on my original iPhone even running 3.0. But now with this one I have to turn off all the new features that I purchased the phone for, or carry around an extra external battery for it. I’m constantly plugging the thing in to charge it.
July 17th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
[...] yourself an iPhone 3G S, you should take into consideration the numerous complaints regarding its poor battery life. On the good part, though, jailbreaking and unlocking it shouldn’t be much of a problem now since [...]
July 18th, 2009 at 4:06 am
Follow the advices here under the optimize your settings. http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html
I found out that the notification (new feature) is the killer. My battery is back to normal now.
July 20th, 2009 at 9:54 am
I got the 3gs too and this battery is ridiculous. I had a HTC 8525 and I was able to use the phone for 2 days without charging. Now I’m holding a charger around. Then I read how to make it long and it tells me to turn everything off? Everyone is paying ATT $30 a /month for data and it needs to be turned off? give me a break.
July 21st, 2009 at 3:36 am
Hi, i have jus orderd the new 16gb black iphone 3gs from the apple online store. And after i heard about the battey problems i’m thinking about cancelling my order. what do you recommend: buy it and wait for os 3.1 or cancel it and get something else???
July 21st, 2009 at 3:37 am
i live in oxford, uk.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:23 am
Recently upgraded from 2G to 3Gs. 2G battery lasted several days, but 3Gs wont make it thru the workday. Very frustrating. I also believe it has something to do with the firmware because friends with a 3G say battery life much worse after upgrading!
July 25th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
i concur with most people on here. 3gs battery life is horrible! I cant go the entire day without charging !
July 29th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
I bought an iphone 3G with firmware 2.2. Battery life was normal. Then i upgraded it to FW 3.0. Now battery life is horrible. I read somewhere that notifications (the new thing) is the culprit. I have turned it off and testing. Will update soon.
July 31st, 2009 at 1:25 pm
I had the 3g and then I got the 3gs and yes the battery is a little worse but I do have a lot of jailbroken apps and mobilesubstrate plugins running which I think is the problem. I did notice that 3.0 made y iPhones battery a lot worse then it should have been and was on 2.2.1 so I think it’s 3.0 it’s not a huge deal but still sucks. I love the 3gs though! The speed is ridiculous. I am typing this on my 3gs eight now and there is absolutely no keyboard lag and I would have lagged a couple letters behind on my 3g when I’d type on a web page for some reasonwhich made it very difficult but now it’s nice an easy
August 5th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
I just got the 3gs for me and the 3g for my wife. I have noticed the phone gets very hot and the battery is horrible. I turned off all the features like apple said….horse shit! I charged it at work to 100% unplugged it when I left. One hour later at home, I’m at 65% battery. No cracked apps, few free games from the app store and email. Not even talking on the phone.
I am bringing it back to at&t. I have 4 ipods and 4 mac computers. I have wanted this phone for a long time. I hope its a software issue or I’m going to go ape shit.
August 12th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Battery life sucks.left it on stanby mode with The 3g and all that shit off and in 23minutes it went dwn by 6percent.the next day I went to charge it and left it on stanby mode with 3g,location thingy and push all off went dwn by 20percent just on stanby mode the next morning
August 31st, 2009 at 10:38 am
Battery life sucks bad with the 3gs, turned off notifications, and it still sucks. Cmon apple, do a firmware fix!!!
September 6th, 2009 at 6:27 am
i was happy when i had my 3G and i heard the new 3GS had a better battery, so i went out and bought the new one, and the battery is actually rubbish
im well annoyed ! and iv turned like everything of to try and make it last longer i have to charge it liek every night
FIX it!!
September 9th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
My 3G’s Battery sucks. I can’t go through a whole day without chargin it, and I don’t even use 3G and GPS only once a day.
September 9th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
[...] and iTune Store as well. We’re hoping that they’ve also finally found a way to address the battery life problem on the iPhone 3G S through this firmware update, but that maybe a little bit too much to ask at the [...]
September 17th, 2009 at 7:14 am
I have a 3GS and my wife a 3G, both running 3.1. I had to turn off notifications and location services in the 3GS and only turn them back on sometimes, otherwise will drain the battery very quickly, it does not happen with the 3G, I can keep those features on all day long. It does not make any sense.
September 18th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Absolutely ridiculous. I’ve had the 3GS for about 3 weeks now and I am completely fed up with its ability to perform as a phone. My battery cannot even make it half way through the day even after my screen light is at about 20%, I check my email hourly, I have push data and WI-FI off and do little surfing, gaming, texting, talking. Granted, it is a brilliant piece of technology but if it is not reliable to make it past an 8 hour day I do not see it as being a practical piece of equipment.
November 2nd, 2009 at 3:44 pm
i have a BBcurve 8900, i was going to upgrade myself and the wife to 3gs’s, i tried one from applestore, i found it a greatphone, with the exception of battery life…one small complaint (allow the ability to put apps in folders for God’s sake!)
the batt life killed the deal though….im all apple in computers and ipods, and i was excited to switch to iphone…
i even sat watching videos on you tube of how to extend batt life and get thru a workday with an iphone by shutting off all the features that make the iphone awesome and thus turning it into a basic cellphone…i also looked at carrying cases that double as batteries but make the iphone the size of a hunk of 2×6 lumber…then i thought what the hell am i doing trying to work around this piece of shit (i returned it)…i hope apple gets smart and addresses basic concerns because i am anxious to switch,,,its tough though to go from blackberries that dont have the exciting apps but work 100%, messages are received instantly and reliably, the browsers not so good but you can use the phone all day aggressively and trust the phone batt wont die in a few hours…hopefully apple listens to people and makes the 4G next year a great phone and not a piece of shit like the 3gs….were upgrading to bold2-9700’s…
November 8th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Hello! A new guy who converted from Nokia to Apple. I have a Nokia E71 and just recently bought an iPhone 3GS. Man, talk about shitty battery. I mean i charge the phone to 100%, take it out and see its already 98% in less than a minute. WTF???
Apples support page sucks, turn of everything and then use it, yea, why did i paid thousands for all the features then??
Thank God, I didnt sold my Nokia E71. I chat and email on my Nokia E71 all day and even at night I chat on it for hours and the battery refuses to die. If i dont use it much I can get through almost a whole week. iPhone dies even if I am not using it. I have turned off everything and it still dies in less than a single day. I mean what the hell is that Apple?
I love my iPhone 3GS but this is the most ridiculous issue I have ever seen. I have seen phones with weaker batteries but this takes the prize….Fix it Apple!!