As a general practice regarding phone reviews I never start sharing my opinion until I have lived with the phone in the wild for at least a week. WIth the iPhone 3G I could have started commenting at launch with their launch strategy (thank goodness I went to an ATT store instead of the Apple store because apparently my plan needed a lot of upgrading).

But I could have also have started commenting by the end of the second day after my second recharge. But, I held back, thinking to myself that I am just overusing the phone because of all the new features. After day 3 and 4 and reading review after review I realized that the battery life of this device was indeed a problem and a big problem at that.

At some point, Steve Rubel pointed out a web page that Apple put up to help users “optimize” their iPhone 3G settings to improve what is evidently becoming an iPhone power failure.

While the tips are “commonsense” issue’s to a phone guy like me, to the average user they are pretty daunting.

Here are Apple’s iPhone 3G “optimizing” recommendations with my comments:

Turn off 3G: Using 3G cellular networks loads data faster, but may also decrease battery life, especially in areas with limited 3G coverage. To disable 3G, from the Home screen choose Settings > General > Network and set Enable 3G to Off. You will still be able to make and receive calls and access cellular data networks via EDGE or GPRS where available.

This is why I upgraded to 3G, to remember and reenact the iPhone’s lovely EDGE experience. As I understand it, one of the reason why the iPhone did not come out with 3G originally was because of problems with battery power. What changed here? Or did Apple just rush out a product to stay ahead of the iPhone-like competition. I will tell you this, turning 3G off has vastly improved my battery life. But, sometimes I yearn for that faster speed. So I go and get a little naughty and turn it on for a specific action or so. But to continuously turn it off and on again is a real pain. If they are going to tell me to turn 3G on and off they should not have made it 3 pushes and slides away. It should be more automagic. Essentially, My 3G iPhone is 3G no more.

Minimize use of location services: Applications that actively use location services such as Maps may reduce battery life. To disable location services, go to Settings > General > Location Services or use location services only when needed.

This is true. I was excited about the GPS (Location) feature of the phone and used it throughout the day, as anyone else would, to find directions from where I currently was or to Geo-tag pictures I have taken. While doing this I could literally watch my battery bar fade. Now, if I am traveling long distances or doing stuff where I know I wont be near an electrical socket in the next three hours I just avoid opening up LBS services all-together… which kinda of defeats the point of a “location” based service.

Fetch new data less frequently: Applications such as Mail can be set to fetch data wirelessly at specific intervals. The more frequently email or other data is fetched, the quicker your battery may drain. To fetch new data manually, from the Home screen choose Settings > Fetch New Data and tap Manually. To increase the fetch interval, go to Settings > Fetch New Data and tap Hourly. Note that this is a global setting and applies to all applications that do not support push services.

Yes, this was recommended for the iPhone 2G or iPhone 1.0. I personally had it fetching every 15 minutes for mail and my iPhone would last for the better part of the day. So far with 3G turned off this has not been a problem. Nevertheless, this is a disturbing recommendation for what is supposed to be the all purpose always on portable computer.

Turn off push mail: If you have a push mail account such as Yahoo!, MobileMe or Microsoft Exchange, turn off push mail when you don’t need it. Go to Settings > Fetch New Data and set Push to Off. Messages sent to your push email accounts will now be received on your phone based on the global Fetch setting rather than as they arrive.

Wait didn’t the above optimization hint tell me to fetch data less frequently? Also if I should turn off Push then why would I pay 99 bucks a month for MobileMe or use my iPhone an an Outlook enterprise device. Even without 3G i noticed that the Push was draining my battery a bit even on EDGE. By the way this also means turn off all of MobileMe’s other “push” capabilities for Calendar and contacts

Auto-check fewer email accounts: You can save power by checking fewer email accounts. This can be accomplished by turning off an email account or by deleting it. To turn off an account…

Well one thing is for sure, whatever account your left using will not be a Push email account and should only be checked every year or whenever they come out with a new iPhone. Because if you have multiple E-mail accounts thats your problem. Pick one, your others are not important.

Minimize use of third-party applications: Excessive use of applications such as games that prevent the screen from dimming or shutting off or applications that use location services can reduce battery life.

I am sure this is exactly what the people who built those applications want to hear. Way to support them Apple. If I cant use them as much why would I pay $9.99 - $19.99 for an application I want to or need to use as part of my mobile lifestyle. So much for this revolutionarily open 2.0 platform. If you make me decide extra applications on a phone versus the ability to call my wife, while tempting, I will always prefer the latter.

With All these limitations why am I paying an extra 30 bucks a month for unlimited data?

Turn off Wi-Fi: If you rarely use Wi-Fi, you can turn it off to save power. Go to Settings > Wi-Fi and set Wi-Fi to Off. Note that if you frequently use your iPhone to browse the web, battery life may be improved by using Wi-Fi instead of cellular data networks.

Ah! Thats why! But also, how more confusing and burdensome can they make that for the average user? Turn off Wi-Fi so that your phone is not constantly scanning for Wifi networks thus draining the battery. But, Oh! using Data services on WiFi saves battery life. Searching for Wifi is a battery drain, doing all your data stuff on WiFi keeps the iPhone’s juices going longer. At least the ability to turn off and on Wifi is one push less than turning of 3G

Turn off Bluetooth: If you rarely use a Bluetooth headset or car kit, you can turn off Bluetooth to save power. Go to Settings > General > Bluetooth and set Bluetooth to Off.

This also is very true. The battery last much longer when you do not use bluetooth. Problem is, myself and many other savvy iPhone users do you use Bluetooth and would find, like i did, a suggestion like this to just be annoying. Maybe its a good thing they have not yet opened up the iPhones bluetooth for other purposes.

As I was reading this list, my always insightful wife cut me off saying “Basically, pretend its not an iPhone.” And that, it seems, is Apple’s own solution to their big battery problem.
Even if these tips are commonsense and work they just do not match the reasons why someone is supposed to buy this phone: WHy didn’t they just say:

Always be near a wall-socket or car charger: If you are near an electrical outlet you can also plug in and power up. Or to be Eco-Friendly try a solar charger.

Use as a paper-weight: Because just using the iPhone in its off state to make sure the fan doesn’t blow the papers of your desk doesn’t use any power at all.

In an earlier post-iPhone 3G Friendfeed post, Rubel amusingly quips “As the iPhone begins to resemble and be used like a computer, we will have to contend with challenges like crashing and battery life.”

This is true, but only if you focus on the glitz and glitter. Its important to point out that Apple is only making 3G, WiFi and GPS (Location services) on a phone popular. But other phone makers and carriers have been doing this all over the world (and even here in the States) for some time now.

MOpocket writer Mordy Gilden’s HTC Titan running Windows Mobile off the Sprint network has all the abilities the iPhone 3G does in terms of infrastructure, it runs tons of applications and, as Mordy pointed out to me this past Sunday (as I learned my old iPhone car charger was not compatible with the iPhone 3G) it will run all these services and last at least a full day if not longer.

There are many other phones out there with 3G, WiFi, Push, frequent data-syncs and whatever, that do not have these problems. Mordy complains about having to charge it every night, I worry about getting mine through the day.

Some reports are coming out saying that the iPhone 3G beats the competition in terms of battery life over 3G. These tests indicate talk time and not other phone usages.

But that is not really the point. its very much not like Apple to join the fray of building inferior (if they are inferior) products. And then have to make battery usage explanations like this? The iPhone 3G has been anything but Apple’s usual clean cut stylish goodness. Usually, they let everyone else try to surpass them while the technology and market is not ready. Then, when they see the magic formula they pounce. Its not like Apple to release a product till it works well. Apple fanboys know that and respect that.

Also, even if other 3G/GPS/WiFi devices are only marginally better in battery life, as some places are reporting, at least the other phones have replaceable batteries!

So I am sorry to say this, but the fault lies entirely with Apple. I am sure they will come out with a solution like, for example, a new better battery that they will replace for 39.99. In the meantime I think my iPhone playtime is over and its time to go back to Nokia.

Apple may have introduced the rest of America’s common (non-Sprint/Verizon) users to 3G. But with great power comes great responsibility. So far they are giving 3G a bad taste.

Nevertheless, there are many amazing things about the Phone that I will report on soon, as the “living with the iPhone 3G” series continues.

Here is an interesting link I just came across at posting time

Technorati Tags: 3g, apple, battery, battery life, iphone, iphone 3g, marketing, sprint, steve rubel

This entry was posted on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at 8:45 am and is filed under Apple Talk, WiFi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.