Is iPhone firmware 2.1 Playing Tricks with Battery and Wifi Indicators?
September 15th, 2008 by iPhoneTechZone
As you all know by now The iPhone 2.1 firmware update is out! Two of the most talked about enhancements are the enhanced battery life and the enhanced signal boost. However some have cast doubts on the effectiveness and the credibility of Apple’s latest claims. Did Apple really put an effort to improve these problems? Or did Apple just cosmetically tweak the indicators, making battery and signal seem longer and stronger than they really are?
Battery Indicator
Many have claimed that the battery indicator goes from near 100% to under 10% in just minutes. I have experience the same phenomenon as well. It was a thrill to see the battery stays at near 100% after 2 hours of continuous heavy mobile Safari use. However at about 6 hours after a full charge, the battery indicator suddenly showed that battery level is less than 10%! This has been reported by many other people. Some have suggested to completely let the battery drain off and then give it a full charge to solve this problem. This phenomenon may have also give people a false idea that the iPhone really does improve battery life by quite a bit as suggested by polls. However there are many people who reported the 2.1 iphone software update actually made their battery drain faster. Of course there are many people who also stated the firmware boosted battery.
Wireless Signal Indicator
Apple has stated in their release that the new firmware update “improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display.” The question is, did Apple add any enhancements to get better reception or did they simply enhance the signal bar cosmetically? Many people have reported that their signal bar went up 2-3 bars after the update. If solving the reception problem is as simple as adding more bars, changing the 3G, EDGE icons to blue, shouldn’t all carriers learn from this?
Controlled Testing Needed
With so many claims of Apple not really fixing the battery life and wireless signal in the 2.1 firmware update. We really need a good controlled experiment to test battery life and wireless signal reception. Give us 10 NEW iPhone 3G’s (Or iPhone 3G with new battery). Have people surf websites heavy content until the battery is completely drained so we can test for true battery life (also measure Safari’s crash rate).
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iPhone battery gets more and more criticism about its bad performance
August 29th, 2008 by iPhoneTechZone
Putting together everything that was said from 11 July to today on 3G iPhone, Chapter battery is certainly what he does discuss more users.
The consumption of the device and the ability accumulator have attracted numerous criticisms, but what leaves more perplexing is the swing of data that can be found online: the experiences reported by users, more or less known, are incredibly variable.
For example Guy Kawasaki, legendary Apple Evangelist says to be able to obtain almost 3 days of standby and on his blog provides some tips to move closer to its benefits; Walt Mossberg, on the other hand, says it barely lasts the day, while acknowledging intense use of the device.
The iPhone seems to suffer much more than other devices use intense, perhaps the accomplice is it’s wide screen and the power required to chip processor and radio.
Best way is to do without WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G and lowering the backlight to get more out of the device.
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Kensington Mini Battery Extender and Charger for the iPhone
August 26th, 2008 by iPhoneTechZone
I’ve had the Kensington Mini Battery Extender and Charger since the first week I had my iPhone 3G and it’s become a very handy accessory for me. There are many ways to save battery life on the iPhone 3G and first generation iPhone, but lets face it: eventually, you will have a day where you’ve used all of your iPhone’s juice and you’ll have no way to plug it in to recharge. Apple’s design doesn’t allow for a user replaceable battery, so until they design an iPhone with one, this is probably one of your best bets.
The Kensington Mini Battery Extender is a very nice size and matches the iPhone 3G or original iPhone in width. The case is made of metal, not plastic which is nice. It gives you confidence that this battery is well made. It also has 3 battery level lights (blue LED) and a low power warning/charging light that shows red when low and green when the iPhone is fully charged.
The Kensington Mini Battery comes with a retractable mini USB to standard USB plug for charging but little else. The manual is confusing to read with the various languages grouped on each page. Reading through it gave me very little information aside from some of the strange rules about storing the battery. First of all, they ask you to try not to store your Mini Battery Pack fully charged or discharged. They claim it’s best to store it at 60% charge remaining. Exactly how you’re supposed to do this isn’t explained but I can assume when they say “store” they mean not use for a long period of time.
The manual also warns to avoid frequent full discharges, and to charge the battery pack even if it isn’t fully discharged. That said, it takes approximately 2.5 - 3 hours to fully charge the Kensington Mini Battery Extender. The battery does seem to lose charge if you don’t use it after charging. Leaving the battery in my bag for a few days produced a battery indicator that showed only halfway charged. Still it was enough juice to recharge my iPhone to full charge from half charged. Not bad.
If the mini battery isn’t good enough for you (and it might not be), Kensington also makes a larger battery that will probably last you for at least a couple of days. We don’t need that much power nor the extra weight. The biggest plus of the mini battery is the size and the fact that I can carry it easily with me. It’s already saved me during days of heavy iPhone usage and I’m sure it will continue to prove valuable in the future. This is one investment I’m glad I made.
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How to get your iPhone 3G Battery to last longer
August 11th, 2008 by iPhoneTechZone
So what’s going on? Why did my previous iPhone get such great battery life and my brand spankin’ new iPhone gets lousy battery life? The answer is quite simple, and I might add, it’s just as it should be: 3G sucks power.
Their conclusions were as follows:
- 3G is faster but at the price of higher power consumption
- 3G gave about 25% less battery life compared to edge in standard web browsing
- Wifi gave the best battery life compared to 3G and Edge
- Leaving 3G enabled during talk time had the biggest impact: a 52% reduction on battery life
How can I get better life from my iPhone 3G battery?
Go to Settings > General > Network > Enable 3G and set this to OFF.
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