This was supposed to be the “How could I have been so wrong about the iPhone post”
So I got a neverlocked iPhone 3GS a couple of weeks ago and have spent two weeks thinking about how am I going to tell everyone I was wrong.
The embarrassment, the shame, me the mobile guy got it completely wrong.
The always connected-check.
The incredible speed of opening and closing apps-check.
The exchange client-check.
The twitter clients- check.
The “this phone could really run my life”-check.
The response of the virtual keyboard to my typing-well almost check.
Until that is my day in Dublin Wednesday
The phone was fully charged 1 hour from Dublin, I attended the vodafone 360 launch (nice pic Johnny) and 4hrs later it was dead as a dodo.
No phone, no email, no effing way of getting the SIM out, no access to a charger and lots of missed calls.
I rushed back to the office dreaming of electricity for my paperweight, gave it a quick charge and my life was good again.
It was gone again 4hrs later, this resulted in a hilarious quest for a paper clip in the Mespil Hotel, (they dont do paper clips) got a result though, bought a packet of safety pins in a chemist and suddenly I was good to go in my E72.
Sorry fanboys I love it, I really do but to be always four hours from a power point is just not good enough for me. (and by the way dont tell me to turn off 3G, etc, etc, the Nokia doesnt ask me to do that)
You can get cases that can give you an extra 5 hours of battery life I believe
Again Tommy, I don’t need this for the Nokia or any other brand, all I get is excuses
Which do you find to be the better phone over all?
I’d bring it back if I were you. I’m a heavy user and usually get 2 days out of my battery (which isn’t as good as my brick in the 90s but that’s a whole other story…)
its not the better phone overall, a dead phone is of no use to me, so I find the one that’s working to be absolutely amazing
Do you use both devices in the same way though? i.e. apps, emai,l voice. Stating that the iPhone battery is poor when you need (I imagine) to spend hours on voice calls seems reasonable to me. If there’s no value to you in the enormous range of apps the iPhone has over the Nokia then you have the right device.
For lots of others though there’s great value in the App store
Battery life is a compromise lots of folks seem happy to live with.
@barrie
email, voice, twitter some pictures
that’s my total need to be honest
both are available on both phones
why should I compromise???
That’s crazy… I’d get a replacement. I’m a fairly heavy user of my 3GS and with 3G on I can last a day with it. 4 hours is very odd…
Turn off the push services, WIFI, bluetooth, stop using the apps, don’t make phone calls, don’t look at the screen.
I think if you follow these simple steps you can get 5 hours out of the buggers
If that’s what you need, I’d suggest there’s no value to you in the thousands of other apps available for iPhone. Therefore you already have the right device in the Nokia – so you don’t need to compromise at all
Liking the iPhone isn’t mandatory, right tool for the right job
Hearing things like ‘you can get a case that extends battery life’ reminds me of my friend who had the top of the line mac laptop a few versions back. He opened the lid and took a piece of A4 paper off the keyboard. I asked why that was there – he said well it protects the screen from getting marked by the keys, happens to all laptops.
In my naivete I assumed this to be true and started doing the same with my HP nc6000.
Later I found out that it doesn’t happen to all laptops, it was just a recognised design flaw.
I don’t know why, but for some reason a lot of users of Apple products don’t complain about issues with said products, instead they make excuses.
Battery life on the iphone is a bit of a lottery – it can go anywhere from a couple of hours to 3 days depending on usage and settings. It’s really easy to drain it just by leaving some app open or surfing or polling email. Bad signal will also kill it.
If you don’t need the apps then it’s not the phone for you.
But if you do get hooked on some app (and you probably will), then yes it’s a pain but it’s not that hard to keep it charged. I bring a usb cable everywhere and connect it to a computer any time I’m near one, which is most of the time. If push comes to shove I’ll charge it off my laptop or a powermonkey.
The problem is the 3.1 update if you have it. The battery life sucks and Apple are asking customers about their issues and working on a fix.
Morning Pat,
I don’t normally get into the iPhone versus the world arguments becuase there is no point really.
But, this comment really made me laugh:
“Battery life is a compromise lots of folks seem happy to live with.”
WHAT THE FCUK is the point of having all the connectivity if you can use tha shaggin thing?!
Hea Apple: instead of doing the easy thing, and jamming 3G/HSDPA/GPS radios into it with cameras, do something REALLY innovative:
Do (or pay some Asian based electronics company to do it for you) some serious battery research, and blow everyone else away with a new battery that last longer than it would take me to drive from Dublin to Dingle.
Battery technology is SSSSSSOOOOOO old, they simply cannot keep up with technologies that can draw alot of battery power under certain circumstances:
a. you’re in a bad coverage area, your phone is going to use alot more battery for that all important phonecall,
b. possible more battery for that Twitter update
c. and more if the network tells it to up its power
If you’re not going to do that, at least allow the suckers who spent a months mortgage on the fecking thing to OPEN the case and put in a new battery.
Seriously, that it THE most retarded thing about the iPhone.
My better half has an iPhone, and I have played with it for the past year (when she lets me!), and I keep saying to myself, its a lovely phone, but I’d bounce it off the wall if what happened to Pat happened to me,
And I know it would.
I’d love to see iPhone user usage patterns and see how often they actually use data heavy services, AWAY from their desk/home/somewhere they can charge this bimbo.
bernard (putting on my flameretardent suit.)
Hey Pat,
Firstly I 100% agree, I’ve a brother in the same boat, absolutely loves his iPhone, but realistically just uses it as an iPod touch.
Secondly, as an aside, I’ve found the latest upgrade somehow increases battery life, not enough for your demands, but it’s just worth pointing out.
Des
It used to be a case that I’d worry about forgetting to bring my phone somewhere. Now I panic when I realise I haven’t brought a spare battery!
Frank,
Your completely right,
“Battery life on the iphone is a bit of a lottery – it can go anywhere from a couple of hours to 3 days depending on usage and settings.”
But the thing is, I can do, exactly the same type of usage on my phone, and I get 3-4 days from it. ANd you don’t want to see my data bills (thankfully I don’t pay one euro, of the hundreds that it costs).
But if Apple is going to cram all this technology into the device allow the poor bar’steward, who bought it, to use it.
Saying we don’t want you to pull the battery out because it goes against the design.
You know what you can do with your design…?
I feel the exact same way with the Airbook laptop, or whatever it’s called.
And before any says I hate Apple or something like that, yes I have been a Macbook user for the past 7 years.
Pat, switch off the iphone, it does wonders for the battery!
Bernard,
“But the thing is, I can do, exactly the same type of usage on my phone”
But I can’t do exactly the same type of usage on your phone, because your phone doesn’t run the apps I use. That’s why I have an iphone and not your phone.
Why do we put up with the crap battery life? Well, my iphone is so useful to me that most of the time I can leave my laptop in the bag or at home. Before I had the phone I had to charge my laptop just as much, but it didn’t fit in my pocket. And I put up with that instead of carrying a paper notebook and abacus that never needs charging because I found that computers were pretty useful even though they need charging.
And that is the proper comparison, not with some other phone that doesn’t do what I want but with a phone or computer that does.
Don’t get me wrong the battery design is still retarded and a huge usability failing – a classic example of Apple style over function. The phone could be twice as thick – it would then probably last 3 times as long and be 3 times as useful. Then people would say it was too big, plus the latte set would be ashamed to be seen with it in starbucks.
Frank
you just don’t seem to get it
I paid 1000 euro for a device that gives me four to five hours usage.
I love the thing but what do I do now?
tell em Frank told me I should have bought a phone that suits my “lifestyle”
I use no apps besides a twitter app, I use the voice/sms/data (by the way thats 99.9% of all phones users)
I am a convert, but if its out of power its not a whole lot of use to me.
you rant on about how useful it is to you but give me no information on what I could do to make it more useful to me.
Ah good to see Bernard in action
Frank,
Ok, firstly, I am not commenting on the iPhone Appstore thing, because, yes Apple have made a good product there: they have lots and lots of useful (and useless) apps that you can purchase.
Unless you have an application for time-space continum distortion, your phone AND my phone _do_exactly_the_same_thing:
1. download/upload packet data from somewhere,
2. make voicecalls over the same type of mobile network
3. send and receive SMS messages
4. send and receive MMS (though only recently on the iPhone)
5. Copy and paste from an APP1 to APP2 (though only recently on the iPhone)
Your data downloads smell exactly same as my data downloads.
So now, whats different between the iPhone and any other phone?
Pat,
“you rant on about how useful it is to you ”
Eh? Where’s the rant? I said the battery life was a pan in the arse and if you don’t need/want the apps it’s not the phone for you.
“but give me no information on what I could do to make it more useful to me.”
Jeepers. Well, in my experience it is more useful if you charge it. Like I said, I routinely plug it into something to top it up pretty much whenever I can. But as I said, I’m putting up with that because I view it as a laptop (+ ipod) substitute, and I’d have to charge that anyway. I never said you had to put up with it
The only saving grace is that it charges off usb, which is ubiquitous (charge it off a desktop, the cigarette lighter in your car, a wall socket, dock it, a backup battery, your laptop), and it charges to 90% pretty fast. If it wasn’t for that it really would be totally useless.
I just read this bit:
“The phone could be twice as thick – it would then probably last 3 times as long and be 3 times as useful.”
What? The? Fcuk?
Because they put a depress button on the bottom that unlatched 4/6 hooks on the sides of the device?
Because they went to their Chinese/Japanese battery supplier and forced them to supply user installable batteries? While probably still getting the poor fecker to pay a premium for said battery? (Nothing wrong with that, that’s business..)
Come on Frank, now your just making excuses, like Alex mentioned above..
I’ve an iPhone 3G and get days out of my battery, doing exactly what you do (some calls, lots of e-mail, bit of texting & a whole lot of twitter).
3G is always on. WiFi is always off, contrast is set low and on “auto”. I also use push mail on my mobile me account.
Maybe the 3GS is different, but 4 hours seems a little odd to me. I never have to worry about charging mine up and well… you know how much I tweet and most of that is done on the iPhone…
this is a fair enough criticism.
great phone, battery is kinda poo.
the person who cracks the battery thing will be the richer than the 5 richest monarchs of europe combined.
and they might just save the world.
I have a similar experience to Kevin with my 3GS. I don’t get “days.” I get maybe a day / day and a half depending on how many calls I make.
Any phone that has a battery that lasts a day is fine by me. Less than that is a big problem though, and would make it unusable so if you’re getting only 4 hours I would agree that the phone is pretty much useless to you.
I’d like to hear more about your usage patterns though. I don’t even know how I’d run my battery down in four hours.
Pat I get a full 24 hours out of the battery SO LONG AS I TURN OFF PUSH services. The Exchange push client seems to have a bug that drains the battery (see http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=525293 and many others)… and I live on my phone all day long. I can’t understand why this bug has not been addressed.
Hey Marcus,
Is 24 hours good? I think I ran the E71 for about 6 days when I was at a festival on Rathlin
(although granted I wasn’t using any data due to roaming charges)
Say hi to Danielle from me
Alex
Bernard,
“Come on Frank, now your just making excuses, like Alex mentioned above”
I’m not sure which part of ‘the battery design is still retarded and a huge usability failing – a classic example of Apple style over function’ wasn’t clear.
“your phone AND my phone _do_exactly_the_same_thing:
1. download/upload packet data from somewhere,[...]”
So develop a phone that just ‘downloads packet data from somewhere’ and tell us how you get on. If you’re right it will be just like an iPhone so you could be the next Apple !
Although if I’m using Ovi Maps GPS, 3G, and other background apps I’d only get a day and a bit.
Biggest drainer – Joikuspot – boy does that suck out juice.
What’s the mAh rating on the iPhone battery?
Here says 1400mAh: http://www.phonegg.com/Apple/iPhone-3G/Apple-iPhone-3G.html
I think the E71 is 1500mAh – guess the iPhone screen must be the big drainer?
Bottom line is if you go anywhere with an iphone you either need to take a power monkey or a usb to be on the sfe side. E71 will tweet, call, text, mail and sing for at least 2 days solo. What wins the one that functions of course.
Frank,
Your first point, about you making excuses, what is this comment here then:
“Then people would say it was too big, plus the latte set would be ashamed to be seen with it in starbucks.”
To me that is an excuse that the “people, and the latte set” would not want to buy it.
Combined with your previous comments of:
The only saving grace is that it charges off usb, which is ubiquitous (charge it off a desktop, the cigarette lighter in your car, a wall socket, dock it, a backup battery, your laptop), and it charges to 90% pretty fast. If it wasn’t for that it really would be totally useless.
The real important words for me were:
only saving grace, usb, and totally useless.
In affect what you’re saying is, you paid almost 1,000 euro for a USB chargable device. If it didn’t have that, it’d be useless.
Your words.
Is that not an excuse?
Ok, now your second point..
Where do you think your e-mail comes from?
E-mail, Web, youtube video, Twitter traffic, Qik video streaming, podcast downloads are all:
Packets. Bits. DATA.
Unless your e-mail, Twitter traffic, video streaming, youtube traffic come via a different route.
So, yes, you’re phone does the same thing as mine does.
See, this is why I don’t discuss these things anymore…
In its current form it is not a heavy duty device
I like the iPhone, I really do. But it’s been industrial designed wrong.
That’s weird. I made a Google Sidewiki entry here but it has disappeared – I wonder why?
Bernard,
“To me that is an excuse that the “people, and the latte set” would not want to buy it.”
Eh? An excuse for what. All I meant is that I personally would have preferred it if they’d made it an inch thick like a treo 650, if that is what it took to give it extended battery life when using it full on. I just understand why they didn’t. I wasn’t complimenting them.
As it is I use it flat out, all the time – I’m talking video playing, wifi, push email, polling email, gps on, streaming music over spotify while cycling in and out of coverage, web browsing, feed reading, twitter. Hours of screen-on active usage every day during my commute and during the day. I don’t turn off push email or 3G or wifi or anything else that I use. I don’t give minimising battery usage a thought. I just use it and I keep it charged. That means I need to charge it twice a day, though in practice what I do is top it up whenever I’m near a computer.
“If it didn’t have that, it’d be useless.”
But as it does have that, it isn’t. Hence my purchase
“So, yes, you’re phone does the same thing as mine does.”
A mad argument that could be used to claim that anything that sends packet data (whether it is an iphone, your phone, a laptop or a cisco router) is basically the same thing.
It is possible to ‘send packet data’ with smoke signals and morse code too, but it’s not very convenient on the tube.
At least we agree on one thing
The Treo 650 was a great phone, except for the lack of WiFi. I loved that phone.
The problem is, like you also said (I guess we agree on that too) is that they have designed it incorrectly: they focused on style over function way too much.
That seems to be a big problem with Apple, and I think its something that you’ll see more often. Maybe it all happened when they became “Apple Inc.”, from “Apple Computers Inc”.
Obviously we are not going to agree that your iPhone and my phone serve the same purpose: being a phone.
As you’ll see I compared your phone and my phone in 4 main ways, see the comment above. I never mentioned a Cisco router, or a laptop.
So, you’re wrong in what you said there.
Sending packet data via smoke signal is possible but there is way too much packet loss.
Sending via morse code, not really. You could also try IPoverAvian Carrier, but I’d love to see Apple stick a pigeon in an iPhone!
Sounds like a dud device. First such 3GS complaint I’ve heard.
Pat- ppl defending the 3Gs are same ones that were saying iPhone 2G was best ever device.
No memory card
No mini USB standard plug
No battery swapping
No easy way to remove SIM
No voip
No standard unlock
No way to install alternative browser
Yes iPhone is a great phone but nothing more.
But it’s coooool to have an iPhone.
And here you have why Europreans sometimes do not like the iphone
Im with you Pat, they even fixed contacts etc with OS3.0. So thats that. But I cant nor wont forgive them for making me carry a plug, or extra battery pack everywhere I go.. Back to my trusty blackberry for now, but iPhone – you are close – very close…
Wow, I think I just lost some braincells reading the comments here. Congrats on getting the YouTube crowd Pat!
There was one day (after installing a bunch of apps) where my battery experience on my 3GS was like yours: 4 hours tops. A power cycle seemed to fix it. Semi-regular power cycles don’t hurt. I don’t do push email, I only refresh hourly, I don’t need email on my phone the moment it comes in
I do turn off 3G only because I drop calls at home like mad if I don’t.
Note that the Nokia E71 doesn’t fare any better for me, except maybe in battery life. However, it’s difficult to do an apples to apples comparison since I use both phones differently.
The major hard-on I had for the iPhone is now a mere semi.
It’s flawed and overly protected by excuses. It needs major competition. I’m also sick of people coming to me with their touch phones and commenting “It’s just like the iPhone except…”
Hopefully the 360 range of phones will actually compete. I for one am ready to move on now.
Pat, an experiment for you. If you put a “home” network sim in your 3GS, be it any of the irish networks, do you get better battery life? I just wonder if the phone is continually searching for Maxroam’s home network, and this is affecting the battery life?
Ps not an apple fan boy, the iPhone has a number of “features” which make me want to hop it off the nearest wall but I still have great respect for what apple have done in their field…
I only just checked back here now and see my comment about iPeople being happy to compromise on battery life seems to have lit the touch paper.
Should point out I don’t have an iPhone. I trialled one for my employer – albeit 3G not 3GS – and rejected it as a business device for a Blackberry Bold – which I still use and like. Battery life and email client were main reasons.
However, Apple have sold a shedload of the things. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to assume that a good deal of their customers seem happy to compromise regards battery life. I wasn’t willing to make that compromise myself and the comment wasn’t made in defence of Apple.
Its not a crap battery, its actually a very good battery. The problem is the amount of power the phones uses. It seems your phone is faulty, i’m a heavy user and its lasts a fully day, not great but not too bad. I’m in the compromise boat, I think its a small price to pay. I have yet to see a phone thats half way close to the slickness of the iPhone. If i got a phone with a long battery life i’d be compromising on features and ease of use.
My gues is that it is the screen that is killing the battery life.
With my E90 with a new battery, i can get 1.5-2 days with various apps running over 3G constantly *IF* I only use the low resoultion external screen (it’s QVGA), once i start using the hifgher resolution internal screen (800×352) a lot, that drops to about a full day.
Not to stir, Pat, but I’ve had an iPhone 3GS for a week now and have had no issues with the battery as you report – and I use it like a fiend. Again, sounds like you got a dud device. Did it fall off the back of a lorry? Del Boy doesn’t have a distribution deal with Cupertino, you know.
I have the exact same experience. I have my iPhone plugged into my laptop all the time as the battery is so shocking. I’ve found that the push email kills the battery – how ever that’s why I bought the damn thing so why would I turn it off.
I think another big problem is that people use their iPhones a lot more than they’d have use previous phones (did you listen to music on your previous phone) so it’s a lose lose situation regarding the battery life.