View Full Version : 2.1 update: battery life update
vwTouaregMike
09-12-2008, 01:02 PM
I know it's too early to tell how the latest update has affected battery life, but the promise of a 'significant increase for most users' (whatever that means) was of particular interest to me.
the poor battery life was the main reason i was running my new iphone on the old network (and opting not to use 3G).
So for whoever those 'most users' are, post your impressions of the increased battery life that follows the update here...
take care,
Mike
vwTouaregMike
09-13-2008, 12:06 AM
I wish the details of the 'significant increase' for 'most users' was just a little more specific. I wonder if the increase is tailored for usage on the 3G network or if running it on the old network will see a significant increase as well.
very curious. maybe i'm the only one though.
Mike
wineman3067
09-13-2008, 12:18 AM
My battery life is greatly improved. Same level of usage and usually my battery hits the 20% warning...today the icon is fully green! Amazing
iPulse
09-13-2008, 01:52 AM
Sigh. No improvement for me.
I had wifi on for about 30 minutes doing some web browsing.
Now its on like 90%
Day commence: 10am
Time now: 2:52
I'm sure they were vague about it because they don't KNOW how it will specifically affect battery life across the board. Better not to make promises you can't keep I suppose.
I've personally noticed a slight improvement, but nothing big. I guess it can depend on one's usage patterns and location in the network, too.
wallisj
09-13-2008, 04:12 AM
They will have made improvements to the task management, power management and drivers controlling the hardware (both processors and various modem chips)
They'll say "most users" simply because if you are in a bad signal area then the phone will use more power anyway hunting for signals.
wineman3067
09-13-2008, 10:05 AM
My battery life is greatly improved. Same level of usage and usually my battery hits the 20% warning...today the icon is fully green! Amazing
Not 15 minutes after that post my phone switched itself off for low battery. So even though my icon showed full, it obviously wasn't anything like full charge--if anything it was worse than before.
I hope that Apple's solution to "increasing battery life" is more than simply making the indicator show full when it isn't. I don't need to be fooled about the state of my charge, I need a genuine improvement in power management. It seems reasonable to ask that of a cutting edge device like the iPhone.
Stay Alive 305
09-13-2008, 12:36 PM
The battery life is amazing now!
Hardware upgrades through Software updates FTW! ;)
Surf Monkey
09-13-2008, 12:41 PM
Mine seems somewhat better. I'm getting maybe a quarter more life out of the phone over the course of a day.
zardoz66
09-13-2008, 12:54 PM
I am going to guess it's about 10% in most cases.of course you mileage may very.
deftdrummer1
09-13-2008, 01:25 PM
I'm showing about 10% better battery life I think its safe to say.
Surf Monkey
09-13-2008, 01:43 PM
I'm showing about 10% better battery life I think its safe to say.
Yeah, my 25% comment may have been an exaggeration. 10 - 15% is probably more realistic.
Ed2020
09-13-2008, 01:57 PM
My battery life is definitely improved. Oddly charging times seem to be reduced as well. No idea how they could have achieved that (assuming it's not a figment of my imagination!).
I have a theory on how the battery life has been extended. I think they've made a change to how the GPS receiver is powered (or rather, when it's not powered). Under the previous firmware the GPS receiver had a significant impact on battery life when it was not actively being used by an application, unless the user turned it off under the Settings menu. This doesn't appear to be the case anymore... or at least certainly not to the same extent. My guess is that the GPS chip is powered down automatically when not being used by an app, or possibly it's put into a low-power state.
Ed.
GreenWings
09-13-2008, 06:50 PM
Not 15 minutes after that post my phone switched itself off for low battery. So even though my icon showed full, it obviously wasn't anything like full charge--if anything it was worse than before.
I hope that Apple's solution to "increasing battery life" is more than simply making the indicator show full when it isn't. I don't need to be fooled about the state of my charge, I need a genuine improvement in power management. It seems reasonable to ask that of a cutting edge device like the iPhone.
I am updating as I type. My iPhone did exactly what you've just described on the previous software version, I don't think it's necessarily a 'feature' of 2.1 It was bloody annoying though thinking I had a full day's worth of charge and when I went to use it, it had just switched itself off :o
Fingers crossed this 'improvement' in battery life is the real deal.
GW
eye-Fone
09-14-2008, 01:56 AM
Sigh. No improvement for me.
Same here. In fact, in my be a little worse. It could also be that I'm using it more to test out the new update, but still, it seems that I have to charge it late in the afternoon. It used to be I could go until well into the evening before the 20% warning.
I'll give it a week (especially during a normal work day, not the weekend) to see if I see a real difference. I'll report back then.