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iPhone OS 3.1 brings battery life issues

Published on 22nd September 2009 by Gareth Halfacree

Apple is currently investigating reports that the iPhone firmware 3.1 drastically reduces battery life.

The latest firmware update for the iPhone - version 3.1 - might bring some shiny new features, but they may come at a cost: your battery life.

According to rumblings on The iPhone Blog - via MacRumours - users are posting on the official Apple discussion boards in droves complaining of suddenly - and dramatically - dropping battery life compared to the same device running firmware 3.0.

Those who have registered a complaint are receiving a selection of questions regarding precisely what is running on their iPhone, along with the question "when you notice a power drop, does it seem to be a legitimate power drop, or rather an issue with the battery icon indicator?" Whether this indicates that the problem might be simpler than something having gone into power-sucking overdrive mode as a result of the update won't be known until Apple releases a fix.

Users complaining of the problem are also being asked to install and run an application which monitors the power usage of the device before dumping its logfiles to iTunes at the next sync. Apple is then asking for these logs so it can better investigate the issue.

The iPhone Blog's informal poll shows that the battery dip isn't a rare phenomenon under firmware 3.1: while 61 percent reported roughly the same battery life as with firmware 3.0, a whopping 24 percent indicated that they were experiencing a marked decrease in battery life since updating the firmware.

Are you an iPhone user experiencing this particular issue, or does it just make you glad that you didn't buy the JesusPhone? Share your thoughts over in the forums.

23 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

cjoyce1980 22nd September 2009, 11:17

google phone looks better each day

rollo 22nd September 2009, 11:26

Never really notice it, listen to music all day and play games still got 40-50 % battery and it's charged every night

AshT 22nd September 2009, 12:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by rollo
Never really notice it, listen to music all day and play games still got 40-50 % battery and it's charged every night

Same here. I use it all the time and can't tell a difference.

Floyd 22nd September 2009, 12:23

Takes about 5-7 days before I have to charge my Dare ;) If I give it heavy use maybe 3 days.

mi1ez 22nd September 2009, 12:45

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

As much I hate many Sony Ericsson, I'm so glad I don't have an iphone!

p3n 22nd September 2009, 12:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by mi1ez
HAHAHAHAHAHA!

As much I hate many Sony Ericsson, I'm so glad I don't have an iphone!

uhuh...

mine is fine as far as I can tell, does need topping up most nights since I use wifi all day and bluetooth in my car

GreatOldOne 22nd September 2009, 13:40

No probs here - And I use mine all day and it gets charged overnight.

I wonder if this might be a 3G vs 3GS issue? (I still have a 3G)

Zippy 22nd September 2009, 13:50

This all sounds very vague and subjective. My iPhone batteries are drained by heavy/light use. What exactly is 'heavy/light'? Most smartphones drains the batteries 'significantly'. I have a touch diamond 2 and I need to charge it every 2-3 days depending on how many times I tap on the screen.

l3v1ck 22nd September 2009, 14:41

Does anyone know how long until O2's exclusivity deal ends? I want an iPhone but don't want to switch network.

wuyanxu 22nd September 2009, 14:50

noticed BETTER battery life on 3.1.

Apple hasn't got their restore-from-backup sorted out, going from 2.2.1 to 3.0 saw a HUGE dip in battery life, but once i cleared all my settings and started as a fresh phone, battery life sees a large improvement.

AshT 22nd September 2009, 15:16

Thats intersting to know wuyanxu. Did you have to lose all your apps to do that or did they restore from iTunes? I would be gutted to lose all my ToDo entries as I live my life in that app.

DarkLord7854 22nd September 2009, 16:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by cjoyce1980
google phone looks better each day

Yep.. just gotta get myself that Motorola Cliq now..

Quote:

Originally Posted by rollo
Never really notice it, listen to music all day and play games still got 40-50 % battery and it's charged every night

Same, however, I haven't updated.. because 3.0 works fine for me and I know Apple's track record with updates on the iPhone..

kingred 22nd September 2009, 16:31

iUpdate: Degreasing function for more widgets.

wuyanxu 22nd September 2009, 17:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by wuyanxu
noticed BETTER battery life on 3.1.

Apple hasn't got their restore-from-backup sorted out, going from 2.2.1 to 3.0 saw a HUGE dip in battery life, but once i cleared all my settings and started as a fresh phone, battery life sees a large improvement.

lost in-app saved games. but apps and music can be synced back to the phone easily.

if your phone is jailbroken, simply go into the app directory and backup the important Documents folder, did that with a few games such as Fieldrunner and after a clean restore, it's still there.

Fod 22nd September 2009, 17:40

lots of schadenfreude from jealous non-iphone owners in this thread :p

Jokkocze 22nd September 2009, 17:55

That explains why the battery time is so rubbish. Got the phone and updated to 3.1 without really using it, and the battery goes flat in just a few hours..

Psy-UK 22nd September 2009, 18:49

My phone which is about 3 - maybe 4 - years old lasts over 7 days.

Higson92 22nd September 2009, 19:51

"lots of schadenfreude from jealous non-iphone owners in this thread :p"

are you for real ? how could anyone be jealous of getting shafted by a 24 month contract on the 3gs ? no video calling ? i could go on but i can't be botherd. im happy with my e71 and with the extra cash i can spend it on doing up my pc to back chat twats like you.............

wuyanxu 22nd September 2009, 20:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Higson92
"lots of schadenfreude from jealous non-iphone owners in this thread :p"

are you for real ? how could anyone be jealous of getting shafted by a 24 month contract on the 3gs ? no video calling ? i could go on but i can't be botherd. im happy with my e71 and with the extra cash i can spend it on doing up my pc to back chat twats like you.............

now, now. let's not start a flame war before you've used the phone.

RichCreedy 22nd September 2009, 21:26

and back on topic, my battery has always needed charging every night, again use wifi and some apps like playing games, uses battery.

samkiller42 22nd September 2009, 23:39

What is battery life like on an iphone. I know with my HTC Hero i can go from 100% Battery to 25% in just 9 hours, and the next day, only use 40%. I know with the Hero, i find it's how much i have HSDPA/3g or Wifi and the screen that kills mine.

Sam

AshT 23rd September 2009, 07:08

samkiller42 - the iPhones performance varies a lot. Earlier Psy-UK said he gets 7 days of use. Another said 2-3 days. I religiously charge mine every night because I can be away from power points all day and don't want to risk losing access to vital stuff.

As for Higson92 - you can tell a lot about someone by the content of their posts and the picture they choose to add to their profile page. Ya get me sweetheart?

rollo 23rd September 2009, 15:23

Really depends wat you doing in general 3 g usage I've used it for hrs and battery still on 80% now if I game on it
that
would be alot dif