iPhone 3G review supplemental: battery life and MobileMe tests
By Ryan Block 
posted Jul 16th 2008 1:03PM
posted Jul 16th 2008 1:03PM
We spent most of the weekend putting the iPhone 3G's battery life (and to a lesser extent, MobileMe implementation) to the test, and we've got far more encouraging results to report back than we had on day one. Pretty much everything we've found thus far jibes with Apple's claims, if not exceeds them. (Our video results early on skewed low because we had mistakenly left on push and fetch data, which dropped the battery life by almost 25%. After re-testing, they're back up to spec.)All tested with 3G on, WiFi on (not connected), Bluetooth off, no data fetching enabled (unless specified otherwise). Media tested with stock headphones, medium volume, and medium screen brightness, auto-brightness disabled.
- Music (continuous playback, large library, occasionally turning on screen): 31h 23m
- Video (continuous playback, no push/fetch data): 7h 5m
- Video (continuous playback, with push and 15 minute fetch data): 5h 24m
- Daily data use (browsing, email, and GPS / maps): ~6h 30m
MobileMe
After nearly a week, we still haven't really had a positive experience with MobileMe among our editorial team. One editor, who had fewer issues than anyone else, still had difficulty syncing his 1,300+ contacts. MobileMe would choke on sync and require disabling / re-enabling to keep that sync moving. Another problem we saw was that email deletes weren't synced to other devices, requiring the same message be deleted in multiple locations. In some cases, a deleted email that wasn't properly synced would actually repropagate to back out other devices. Nothing better than zombie email.
Another thing we (and a lot of people noticed) is that MobileMe on the desktop is faux-push -- it only gets updates every 15 minutes because it's actually pulling them, unlike the iPhone's proper push. (We're, like, totally sure someone's going to sue.) You can edit a certain .pref file (details here) to make it fetch every minute -- but fetching every minute isn't push, now is it? Apple has since acknowledged this issue (among others).
We also noticed on the phone that if you have synced MobileMe calendars, your calendar subscriptions (like, say, shared iCal or Gcal or what have you) are disabled. Super lame that you keep having to choose between one thing or the other when syncing your data. Can't all our calendars and contact lists just play together on the same device? We think so.
All in all, right now our feeling is that MobileMe still feels like it's in beta -- when it's up -- and is generally falling way short of what was promised by Apple. We believe they're earnest when they say they're trying to get it all up and running to fulfill their commitments, but for the time being we think it's best to steer clear until they work out the kinks.
Some other enterprise bits
We came across a list of ActiveSync features not supported, many of which we already know. To recap, here are a few:
- Folder management
- Opening links in email to documents stored on Sharepoint
- Task sync
- Setting an out of office autoreply
- Creating meeting invitations
- Flagging messages for followup
I guess it would suck if I were unable to plug my phone in at work, but it doesn't bother me.
this is why i bought the extra USB cable so i can charge at home and work as necessary as a heavy enterprise user.
plus, when i'm not enterprising... i'm cro-mag rallying or aurora feinting... which really drains the battery...
of course, when you go into the woods for an overnight hike... it's important to remember to bring things you need like tools to hunt and make fires with...
but when you use an iphone all day, no one thinks to bring a spare USB cable to charge and your friendly easily accessible USB point on nearly any computer.
Well it sure would be nice when on travel if I could replace the battery.
I'm with Ted. Turns out i've had an iPhone charger in my car and at my work place for years before ever even owning an iPhone. ...because i use an iPod.
When i listen to music in the car, my iPhone is charging. when i plug my iPhone in at work and listen to podcasts or music, it's charging.
I literally have a dozen cables for my iPhone (remnants from other iPods) laying around my house. - and even if i didn't, i can grab one off ebay for $0.99 or monoprice for $4 shipped. ...and if i go to a friends house, and haven't charged my iPhone in too long, and don't have any cables, there's a damn good chance THEY have a cable i can use, because *everyone* owns an ipod.
...and that's all irrelevant, because i haven't yet needed to charge my iPhone other than the default over-night charge all my previous mobiles got.
iPhone kicks ass :)
Oh wait, how about the talk-time battery life? Didn't see that on here...maybe that's because it's only 4 and 1/2 hours...
@Dave:
I seem to be getting a fair bit more than that. Turn off "Wifi stumbling". Also, with 3G turned off, battery life is much better on this edition.
poor anti-apple fanboys :)
iPhone is the best mobile phone out. Checkmate
I've always found it interesting that the people that give facts to support their side always meet a response like:
'poor anti-apple fanboys :)
iPhone is the best mobile phone out. Checkmate'
I should do a case study, but my involment in science would most likely provoke 'poor atheist, burn in hell'
LOL iPhone is kickass :)
Looks like playing music on the new iPhone barely phases battery life. I've been playing a shuffled mix of songs for about 3 hours now (3G off), at a relatively low volume and my battery life is still completely full.
Oddly enough my non-iPhone (i'll speak in Apple-centric terms so you poor souls locked into proprietary hell will understand) gets a good 2 full days without being charged, could run VNC, AIM, plenty of games, over a year ago.
It's also 3G (EVDO to be specific, but I wouldn't want to confuse the Apple people with technology, so I'll just say 3G from now on) and has been for over a year. Nice of you guys to buy an outdated phone, only to turn around and buy another outdated phone a year later.
I love these posts touting how great a non-iPhone is for it's inclusion of missing features in the current device... You people don't get it. The whole revolutionary thing is the interaction design. Sure the thing is missing copy/paste (how often to I need this for casual browsing?) and MMS (my only real gripe, but fixable via software update), but those are nothing compared to lacking nature of archaic interaction restrictions such as chiclet keys and stubby navigation pointers.
You have fun twiddling your little stick or ball, trying to be precise enough to navigate a web page or use additional non-phone features (like maps)... I'll just be here enjoying the great UX design.
(PS: All this being said, STFU Apple fanboys. Just because the device is well made does not give you the right to be a snobby ass: it's just a freakin' phone)
can you be much douchier, Hold McGroin?
seriously.
I've had an EVDO phone for a few years. so what? i'll tell you right now my iPhone 3G is leaps and bounds better than my old EVDO device.
being so condescending isn't really helping your case: it just makes you look like an asshole.
You too.
Lack of the above enterprise features is enough to make me not buy an iPhone 3G. No task sync is unacceptable. Probably doable though with some 3rd party effort.
Also Folders in your email are expanded by default and there is no way to collapse them.
The Calendar exchange syncing in Calendar only seems to happen when you first set it up and when you get new invitations. When I create appointments on my computer they do not push to my iPhone and there isn't a manual sync button.
Invitations to calendar appointments show up as maybe on the iPhone unless you accepted them on the iPhone.
So far I'm disappointed with the iPhone's implementation of Active Sync. These problems are going to convince my IT department to stick with RIM.
With OmniFocus available the iPhone has some of the best task management and sync you're likely to see on a mobile device.
Here is a very detailed review on Exchange implementation. This guy isn’t very thrilled either.
http://www.robichaux.net/blog/2008/07/the-iphone-as-a-mail-device.php
I can understand why you don't like the implementation of Active sync on the iPhone but I really don't see why its unacceptable not to have the task sync... I seriously never use the tasks, what's it used for anyway? I just put what i have to do (aka my tasks) in my calendar and thats it. Still sad for some other features not available on the iPhone regarding Active Sync.
Its not like blackberry enterprise and therefore fails.
With business stuff just has to WORK. Activesync is not that.
A large reason for buying 2 newiPhones was that my wife and I could see our shared calendar subscriptions anywhere we were--on our phones. This does not work (hopefully that's not work YET). Additionally the me.com site itself also does not sync the calendars. Also, what happened to the tasks/to do in Mail? Also missing.
This morning my mac/me.com email was down for several hours. It's my primary email. I was not a happy chappy. Formerly, in mac.com, there was a running list of the staus of the system. That's also gone.
After 3+ years of having 2 subscriptions to mac.com (about $800 worth) I am beyond annoyed at this horrendous "upgrade'.
Turn off Wifi Stumbling (only connect to known networks). It seems to make a big difference, but most people don't know it.
@ Raheem: Indeed.
To fail.
And here I was, thinking that I had configured something wrong with MobileMe. I'd consider buying a subscription if they work the bugs out.
Its amusing how you guys are giving him or her exactly what they want...attention.
Even lowranking them feeds into this whole "FIRST" crap...
And really does it bother you THAT MUCH?
6.5 hours of daily data use isn't bad at all. I think this will be the kind of phone where, when I'm at my desk at work, I'll just drop it in the dock to make sure it's always getting juice (yeah, I'll likely pick up an extra dock).
IF YOU HATE APPLE SO MUCH, WHY DON'T DO GO OUT OF THE HOUSE AND FIND SOMETHING BETTER TO DO THAN BEING A TROLL WITH EVERY APPLE NEWS. IT'S NOT FUCKING HARD TO IGNORE THESE STORIES
I second that. If all of you prefer to use old tech(blackberry)
Then go use it and stop badmouthing a great device like iPhone :)
Jeez..... you dont have to yell!
No one said anything.
I would not say that the iPhone is "newer tech" than the Blackberry. The only real substantive feature the iPhone has over a Blackberry is the touchscreen, which has been around for years on other phones so isn't really "new tech."
oh come on. these people are not bad mouthing Apple. They are giving objective opinions.
Even I who love Apples am finding that I am swayed by their comments. I don't think that I will buy an iPhone now.
It seems that the battery life is not good. The whole purpose of this phone is to use 3G, but the battery life is terrible with 3G. I don't want to have to switch it on and off all the time.
I think that having weighed up all the facts, and I have done a lot of research, I will skip that iPhone and go for an Android based phone or a Blackberry.
I need a phone that works. It seems that the iPhone doe not work.
All Bob is saying is that Apple fans don't leave the house.
He's actually saying that Apple haters don't go out of the house
I just got the white iPhone 3G and did not own the previous iPhone. My one criticism is the battery life. I would have been fine with a thicker and heavier device (maybe 60% thicker, 30% heavier) in exchange for 50 to 100% more battery life. Five hours of 3G or wifi surfing could have been 7 to 10; and that would have put the iPhone's functionality off the chart.
Yeah, they definitely should have made it a bit thicker and given it better battery life... people would have been OK with that. Apple doesn't always do the right thing though...
it would also make it morbidly obese... another example of 'off the charts'. just not in a good way.
we're fat enough as it is in america... we don't need fatter phones to compliment.
I don't agree with 60% thicker... but a bit thicker (maybe 25%) would have been fine... 25% thickness increase probably would have resulted in 50% battery life increase, as not all the space is used up by the battery anyways.
If it's true that the iPhone 3G beats most other 3G phones in battery life, then it seems a reasonable assumption that the battery life is good enough. Now, some might argue that the iPhone needs better life to compensate for the non-removable battery, but in my experience people don't carry a second battery just to make it thru the day. They're more often used for travel.
I still have my first-gen and noticed a HUGE hit in battery life once I installed the 2.0SW. Most of it was due to my 15 minute mail check interval, but even with it on 1 hour the battery life seems less than I would have expected. It makes it thru the day, but it used to make it almost 3 days. I'll have to keep playing with the settings to see how I feel about the battery life. I wonder how the 3G compares; does it have a larger battery to compensate for the 3G power draw?
I specifically bought the iphone because it isn't thick - gave up a nice keyboard and tethering (among other sacrifices) for that.
iphone is not as capable as my broken HTC Mogul, but its more elegant and I gained an impressive screen and GPS.
Everything is a tradeoff.
In addition to battery life, I want to know about how good 3g coverage is. Ive heard that 3g coverage/signal is very spotty especially here in Atlanta where I live. Whats the point of upgrading to iPhone 3g and paying $15 more per month if 36 coverage/signal sucks.
I definitely notice the battery life on the iphone 3g. at 2pm yesterday my phone was already dead after being fully charged in the morning ~_~
Turn your brightness down as far as you are comfortable with, set fetch to "manually", and disable 3G until you decide you want to use it. Just those things will double your battery life during normal use.
Fifteenth! Die Slow BB, Die Slow, iPhone3G FTW! BlackBerry Boldless = Colossal, Epic FAIL!!!!
Is there some reason you guys aren't doing a test with 3G turned OFF? I mean, who in their right mind is going to leave 3G on while they are watching video or listening to music? You might turn it on when you want to browse, off when you don't. Can you guys do some tests without 3G and give me the results I'm actually looking for?
Because 3G is not trivial to turn off. Yes, it's not exactly brain surgery, but the control is buried deep enough that to go in and do it every time you start watching video and turn it off aftewards is gonna get old. Fast. So a fair test is not to assume most users are going to go to that trouble most of the time.
Thanks Ryan. Can you please share what you think the optimal settings for battery life are?
Turn it off. The battery will last for days and days and days.
Would turning the Wi-Fi off save battery compared to leaving it on while not connected to a network?
Exactly. I'd like to see an Airplane Mode video test. One long flights (like to Tokyo) I've run my iPhone classic for 6 hours of movies and still had 1/3 battery left.
I own at least three cables already, not including the one I'll get with my iPhone 3G, I should be able to charge wherever I am... plus I don't like leaving Wi-Fi on when I'm not near a hotspot I know I have access to.
It's not amazing battery life, but it won't hinder me in my daily life.
so, you need to turn off a bunch of radios/features to get the advertised time (or push settings or whatever...)
I don't have an iPhone 3G, is it like a laptop and you can choose a power mode really simply? or do you have to go through settings every time to turn off everything so you can watch a movie?
Its not like a laptop where you can save or use preset power modes. You have to go and turn off each individual setting to get battery life that is tolerable for movies.
You can turn on "airplane mode" which will disable all communication, phone calls, texts, data, email or you can disable the settings individually. If you were on a long flight wanting to save battery, you should just throw airplane mode on.
True, you can turn airplane mode on but if you aren't actually on a plane it defeats the purpose of buying the iPhone. You can turn off 3G and Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Push and fetch data and various other settings that would save you tons of battery life while still keeping the phone functioning as a phone.
This is CRYING out for an app to manage power profiles easily. Just CRYING out for it.
This would make a sweet one button widget though for the iphone....Have each desired setting create a new button on your screen...
This would make a sweet one button widget though for the
iphone....Have each desired setting create a new button on your
screen...
No soup for me!
What about games and application usage? I'm sure that drops the battery waaay down
The battery life on the iPhone is a real concern. 6.5 hours available in a 12 hour work day as a professional? The iPhone isn't ready asa primary business phone unless you have a spare charger in your office.
My BlackBerry Curve 8310 kicks it ass.
"The battery life on the iPhone is a real concern. 6.5 hours available in a 12 hour work day as a professional?"
There are a few things wrong with that statement. First, it's 6.5 hours if you're continuously using it for daily use activities (data, browsing, email.) If you are a "professional" why would you be browsing the internet for 6.5 hours straight?
Secondly, if you are a "professional" you SHOULD always have access to USB ports or if in the car a cigarette adapter. If you are on a plane, turn your phone off or set it to airplane mode.
"Battery life is a real concern" Are you serious?
PC World just conducted its smartphone battery tests and the iPhone beat most other phones with its battery life.
The Blackberry 8130 & 8830 beat the iPhone by a mere 4 minutes. The Curve 8330 by 30 minutes.
Not a huge real-world difference. Besides Sprint/Verizon's 3G networks don't support simultaneous Data/Voice traffic, which for a device like the iPhone is much more important than the 4-30 minutes extra battery life...
Ooops.
Correction.. Sprint & Verizon networks can only carry data traffic. Voice traffic is provided via the old CDMA network.
But it seems that the voice quality via the AT&T's 3G network is one of the biggest benefits of the new iPhone :)
Also, your 8310 has a tiny screen, no wifi, and no 3G.
And a replaceable battery.
@Wolf - Actually Verizon/Sprint use a CDMA air interface for both data (EVDO) and voice (1xRTT)
Likewise, AT&T's 3G network also uses a CDMA air interface (W-CDMA). Basically, the physical layer of AT&T's new 3G network is very similar to the 'old CDMA' network used by Verizon/Sprint. It's all old technology now; OFDMA is where it's at.
With all the "do dads" and such being put into phones, well you need charger and that should be a norm. You need one at home, one in the car and one at the place work. If you don't have one at work, then you can charge on the way home. Plus the iphone's charge cable for the pc that is usb is cheap:
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-iPod-Data-Charger-Cable/dp/B000CFQFG6
Just a couple bucks you have 3 places to charge.
Has anyone noticed that the battery meter is bogus on the iPhone Classic? It says pretty much full for probably 80% of its battery life and then just speeds through the meter in about five seconds. When it finally DOES throw you that 20% warning, the thing is ABOUT to die! Has this been fixed in 3G?
Gary Krakow's key tech experience strikes again!
http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/newsanalysis/technology-update/10426319.html
Jeez...
Hope Apple jumps down TheStreet.com's throat...
Anyone else have problems with ActiveSync where if someone sends you an e-mail with a large attachment and you want to forward it to someone else, the iPhone tries to DL the whole thing and then reattach it to the new e-mail you're sending. With my WinMo phone, I could tell it not to DL any attachments larger than a certain size and if I forwarded it, it would still have the attachment.
JESUS! If they had shown the results to be 10-12hours, people would still be complaining they should have made it thicker to make it 15-16 hours! Seriously, people with never be 100% happy with any phone!
Anyone got data to compare this with old iPhone?
Best of all: There is still no way to sync delegated calendars from Apples own iCal Server - and mobileme doesn't even see my own iCal Server based calendar.
Wow, using the Apple iPhone I am better of switching to a Microsoft Server - Well done.
Thanks for the data engadget!
Is there anyway you could run a similar audio and video test with 3G and wi-fi completely off in airplane mode? Pretty please. :)
I often use my iPhone in airplane mode for the iPod when I'm in the mountains and don't have cell coverage. I'd love to see those numbers.
Probably asking too much but a comparison of these numbers between 1st gen and 2nd gen would be cool too!
I would love to give the iPhone a chance and I'm not hating on Apple more AT&T Because they don't offer service in my state...blah hopefully in the future either when AT&T moves out here or when their contract comes up on the iPhone...
If Apple wants the iPhone to compete in the enterprise market, they need to man up and get things done. If MobileMe is going to challenge ActiveSync's or Blackberry's services, it's going to need to be fixed and made proper.
what about talk time? this is a phone too you know...
Raheem! You're fornicating with the enemy!
Yeah, excuse poor design by turning the only new feature off. You know, the feature that you're testing.
Also, turning it off doesn't do any good, it's sitting idle when you're not using data and if it isn't, it's even worse design. I don't expect you to understand the technology behind the white plastic though, you're Apple people and being trendy is too time consuming to learn anything.
Can anyone shed some light on battery charging practices?? I've been told that for optimal battery life you should allow the battery to drain to almost empty, charge it to full, and don't leave it plugged in once its fully charged. Is there any truth to that?
What exactly is the point of these "tests" other than to justify your existence as a tech site? People aren't buying iPhones because of battery life, they're buying them because it's a fad. If you came back and reported that battery life is half what Apple claims it to be, do you think people would stop buying them?
You shouldn't be low ranked, as it really doesn't matter. People blindly take what they get from Apple.
I don't think the push email is that much of a step up from IMAP which gmail provides for free. $99 subscription fee for mobileme is a complete waste of money. I can live with emails coming in every 15mins. Guess, apple fan boys are just plain impatient and have plenty of money to give to Apple.
2 questions:
1) What does "folder management" mean? Can you move an e-mail to an already existing folder? Does this just mean you can't create/rename/delete folders?
2) Does it support HTML e-mail through ActiveSync?
Apple needs to create a setting that allows you to choose radios. 3G sucks more power, but when 3G is enabled, EDGE is also still active. You would see better battery life if you were able to lock it to just 3G, as you are able to do with EDGE by disabling 3G.
It seems pretty easy that if in the app iCal you can "Publish" calendars instantaneously, then you should be able to update the "Cloud" in MobileMe instantly, too. I suspect it is only a question of time and it will happen. The calendars I publish for others to share change in seconds.
If battery power is still a concern for users, you can certainly buy another battery. Just like your previous devices, but better.
Kensington Mini Battery pack is an elegant solution. Its not bulky at all, and you can charge both at the same time.
http://us.kensington.com/html/15462.html
This is all about convergence. Buying a third party battery is BULLSHIT.
@Jubei you are a joke.
apple come out with a decent product that works as a phone.
@kccboy2004
Ahahaha, your powers of observation rivals your powers of reasoning.
"This is all about convergence. Buying a third party battery is BULLSHIT."
You do know that there are many more 3rd party batteries for said competition with better performance from the stock right? You do know many users buy from 3rd party batteries to get better performance right? ahahaha.... Your so funny. Keep up the great work of being the jester of this place.
can engadget do a 3G iPhone performance test??
i upgraded from original iphone and i feel the 3g one is a lot slower....
anyone have the same experience?
I never used the original but my 3G definitely feels a little sluggish. It also has a tendancy to crash/hard lock - and not just when running App Store apps (but email, Safari, and the photo viewer too). I may have just got a bunk phone, though.
At&T is having trouble with their 3G network after all the iphone mania... It should be faster as the week goes
Engadget should start enforcing some comment moderation against uselessness already. Hell, it's not that hard to write an algorithm to auto-detect posts containing only "first" and optional punctuation marks and an optional "post" or "comment", and simply not publish said comment.
Shuts up both the idiots who think it's anything other than stupid to post comments like that, but also the people who feel the need to complain every time someone does so and push actual comments even further down the screen away from initial view.
is it sitting idle if your using the push feature with exchange. Im turning 3G off presently as its not really needed for email push.
I have noticed that there is a slight time difference in push email when not in 3G, but its only a matter of seconds.
Tried to make a call yesterday - no service, then turned 3G on and had "more bars"
Definitley not bad??? Have we forgetten that EVERY other phone in the world goes DAYS without charging?? DAYS.
"EVERY other phone in the world goes DAYS without charging"
You're joking right? Or perhaps you're just talking about phones that do nothing other than make calls and send/receive the occasional sms?
If you know of a smartphone with 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, media capabilities and brilliant 3.5" screen of the iPhone that can go for DAYS without charging then please let me know what it is because I've never seen or heard of it.
is it the push or the 15 minute fetch that is draining the battery life?
i think this is a major distinction. i would not be expecting the push to be using all that much battery, unless you are reciving data through it frequently. right now mine is on, but as gmail does not support push yet, i would not expect it to drain any battery life. am i wrong to think this?