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iPhone 3G's battery fizzles in under 3 hours in real-world 3G web browsing
Now we see why the first iPhone didn’t have the much-faster 3G network inside. Although 3G web browsing is at least 7 to 10 times faster than the speed we got with the EDGE network on the old iPhone, it really sucks the battery dry so quickly that it’s downright disappointing. In our battery testing of the iPhone 3G, it ran out of juice at a mere 2:54:32. That’s way short of Apple’s quoted “up to 5 hours” of Internet use.
This is a real-world test, too. Just as Apple tested its iPhone 3G, I had Wi-Fi running but not associated with any network, call forwarding on, and “Ask to Join Networks” and Auto-Brightness were turned off. Then I just browsed from site to site as I would normally do, checking email and downloading a few apps from time to time. It was all 3G, all the time.
While 3G isn’t as fast as a Wi-Fi connection, it’s still satisfyingly quick. In my testing I saw it as roughly half as fast as Wi-Fi, and so much speedier than EDGE that there’s really no point in comparing the two. EDGE is so slow that I would rarely use it for web browsing — only if I was desperate. Yeah, 3G's the way to go, but too bad there’s no way to swap out the iPhone’s battery, because after, say, an airline delay's worth of web surfing, this phone could leave you dead in the water in under three hours.
Coming next: real world testing of battery life watching movies on iPhone 3G.
By coco at 5:44 AM ON 07/16/08
Sure the battery on iPhone 3G is not that great, but what can we do? We want small size phones, powerful features and lengthy battery life.
Just get a backup battery. I got mine from iPhoneck brands. Their new 3G backup battery is probably one of the better looking products in the market. Their website is www.iphoneck.com
By piet at 1:47 AM ON 07/17/08
Maybe you need to prime the battery. It's well-known that Lithium-Ion batteries need a few cycles with complete discharge before reaching their full potential. I doubt you had the time to do it so quickly after the release of the product.
By doh123 at 4:12 AM ON 07/19/08
up to 5 hours of web surfing, means it could be less. Not close to 5, or around 5, up to 5... 1 hour could still fit in up to 5.
You could have gotten a lot more time just turning off oyur wifi. Why have it on and sitting there draining the battery and not doing anything? Also depends where your screen brightness is. Some people turn their brightness up max, and will get a substantially different battery life. Under most indoor lighting, including airports and airplanes, i can keep mine at bare minimum brightness and see it just fine.... and getting close to 5 hours isn't too hard. Maybe the strength of the 3G connection, or any quality/interference effects it.
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up to 5 hours of web surfing, means it could be less. Not close to 5, or around 5, up to 5... 1 hour could still f...More »