3GS vs 3G Battery?

Chris344

Chris344

Chris344

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Bexleyheath, London.
I am considering the new 3GS 16GB version. The only reason I am slightly put off is the battery life on my 3G was terrible in terms of requiring charging everyday sometimes twice a day which was very inconvenient.

I may send around 15 texts per day and make about 1 hour of calls (give or take 20 minutes) and email fetched every hour sometimes more at weekends.

I remember every time being on the train between London - Manchester, playing music and surfing the internet, I would have to stop as my battery would be ready to die!

Typical settings would be:

Screen on about 70%
Location services off
Wifi off

But my battery would still not last that long, where as my Nokia I would get two or three days before it required a recharge, ok granted it didn’t have the amazing screen and I wasn’t using it for mp3’s, video and internet as much but if I did I could still get a day and a half out of it.

So, having had your 3GS for a while, how are you guys finding your batteries? What type of standby battery life are you getting with minimum use; a few calls, texts and email?

Currently got an Ipod touch 2nd gen and a Nokia N86 8MP.

Many thanks.
 
With my 3GS 32GB I am finding that I need to recharge every night as I am down to about 10-30% of battery life when I go to bed. Thats with wifi off, and MP3 usage twice a day, potentially some gaming on the train, and then emails throughout the day.

It's not as good as my old blackberry used to be (~7 days on one recharge), but as such a feature rich phone, I'm happy with it. Although if the battery drops below one day then I won't be quite as happy.
 
My battery lasts just fine, I had about 6 hours of usage (mostly on 3G internet based stuff) and 20 hours or so standby and was only down to 30-40 percent.

Music playback uses barely any battery so that shouldn't be an issue.
 
I've found that the battery on the 3GS is better than the 3G but not by much. One of my colleagues reckons it's worse.

Delphi-uk mentioned his Blackberry - My Curve would last over a week but my Bold barely does a couple of days, it's obviously down to the fact that it has 3G and Wi-Fi which the Curve didn't have. The more you add to these devices, the less the battery will last.

I just ensure that I have chargers in convenient places, I can charge my iPhone both at home and at work and I have a car charger for a top up in case I need it.
 
Had them replace my 3Gs as it was lasting around 5 hours on wi-fi browsing (when the specs say almost double that at 9 hours). He was quite shocked to see that the longest I'd gone between two charges was 9 hours. Unfortunately, need to swap this as it has a wierd screen colour tint going on...oh well.
 
Feek said:
I've found that the battery on the 3GS is better than the 3G but not by much. One of my colleagues reckons it's worse.

Delphi-uk mentioned his Blackberry - My Curve would last over a week but my Bold barely does a couple of days, it's obviously down to the fact that it has 3G and Wi-Fi which the Curve didn't have. The more you add to these devices, the less the battery will last.

I just ensure that I have chargers in convenient places, I can charge my iPhone both at home and at work and I have a car charger for a top up in case I need it.
Click to expand...

How do you feel the iphone and bold compare? Could you do a little mini comparison for me? I can't find any real head to head real world reviews. I heard the blackeberrys are rock solid.
 
Chris344 said:
I am considering the new 3GS 16GB version. The only reason I am slightly put off is the battery life on my 3G was terrible in terms of requiring charging everyday sometimes twice a day which was very inconvenient.

I may send around 15 texts per day and make about 1 hour of calls (give or take 20 minutes) and email fetched every hour sometimes more at weekends.

I remember every time being on the train between London - Manchester, playing music and surfing the internet, I would have to stop as my battery would be ready to die!

Typical settings would be:

Screen on about 70%
Location services off
Wifi off

But my battery would still not last that long, where as my Nokia I would get two or three days before it required a recharge, ok granted it didn’t have the amazing screen and I wasn’t using it for mp3’s, video and internet as much but if I did I could still get a day and a half out of it.

So, having had your 3GS for a while, how are you guys finding your batteries? What type of standby battery life are you getting with minimum use; a few calls, texts and email?

Currently got an Ipod touch 2nd gen and a Nokia N86 8MP.

Many thanks.
Click to expand...

I had the same issue with my iphone 3G. I performed a full wipe and restore and it fixed the issue. I now only recharge every two days, though my usage is quite light. If you've not tried it, it might be worth a go.

Pete
 
My batt life used to be fine, but recently ive noticed its not lasting as long anymore at all. I used to be just touching the red after 39 hours (2 normal days off the charger). But now its down to 33-34 hours.
 
doublehelix2 said:
How do you feel the iphone and bold compare? Could you do a little mini comparison for me? I can't find any real head to head real world reviews. I heard the blackeberrys are rock solid.
Click to expand...

The Blackberry is great as a work tool for email. The browser is awful. I'd not want a Blackberry for anything other than email. I'd not want an iPhone for lots of emails.

Each device has it's niche and fills it well.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
My batt life used to be fine, but recently ive noticed its not lasting as long anymore at all. I used to be just touching the red after 39 hours (2 normal days off the charger). But now its down to 33-34 hours.
Click to expand...

What type of use are you covering to get that sort of battery life?

So mixed results then, this is now the only reason stopping me from getting the 3GS.

Pete, if the handset is brand new then a full wipe and reset shouldn’t make any difference?

For those who have upgraded from the 3G, personally on average how much better is the 3GS battery compared to the 3G?

Thanks everyone
 
My own view is that neither the 3G or the 3GS can be relied upon to last 24 hours, if I need to be contactable then I take my work blackberry because I know it's good for a few days at least.

That said the iphone is actually OK day to day at the moment, a few hours of music and maybe some browsing on the train in the morning and afternoon, push email coming in all day and maybe 5 minutes browsing at lunch and it's usually still above 30% when I go to bed.

But if I go out in an evening, maybe check some things on google maps, send some texts, update facebook a few times and then don't make it home it's a fair bet it'll be as good as flat the next morning - one of the various external battery packs which will charge it back up is a good buy, if I expect not to be back home I just chuck that in my bag and it's been a lifesaver a few times.

But the bottom line for me is if I need to be contactable, then I need to have another phone with me...
 
Had mine on all day (lots of standby time, some phonecalls, some music, some internet) and then later on I went out till around 3am after using lots of Facebook and taking/uploading pictures.

Lasted perfectly fine, didn't even go to critical level. Left it on all night and woke up at around 10am battery still had a good chunk left.

Can rely on them for 24 hours, of course not 24 hours of internet usage but I don't think any phone is going to last doing that...

I have a 3GS.
 
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bigredshark said:
My own view is that neither the 3G or the 3GS can be relied upon to last 24 hours, if I need to be contactable then I take my work blackberry because I know it's good for a few days at least.

That said the iphone is actually OK day to day at the moment, a few hours of music and maybe some browsing on the train in the morning and afternoon, push email coming in all day and maybe 5 minutes browsing at lunch and it's usually still above 30% when I go to bed.

But if I go out in an evening, maybe check some things on google maps, send some texts, update facebook a few times and then don't make it home it's a fair bet it'll be as good as flat the next morning - one of the various external battery packs which will charge it back up is a good buy, if I expect not to be back home I just chuck that in my bag and it's been a lifesaver a few times.

But the bottom line for me is if I need to be contactable, then I need to have another phone with me...
Click to expand...

OT, but how are you doing BRS? Haven't seen you posting much lately.
 
Concorde Rules said:
4/5 hours constant GPS is the best ud get tbh.
Click to expand...

Not sure how much GPS uses compared to internet browsing via 3G/WiFi but browsing is quoted as 5-6 hours wouldn't GPS be less intensive?

But then again, TomTom probably uses quite a bit of processing power. Definitely best of having the thing plugged in if using as a satnav.
 
Margaret said:
Not sure how much GPS uses compared to internet browsing via 3G/WiFi but browsing is quoted as 5-6 hours wouldn't GPS be less intensive?

But then again, TomTom probably uses quite a bit of processing power. Definitely best of having the thing plugged in if using as a satnav.
Click to expand...

My 3GS battery drops like a stone with just GPS on... I had my iPhone on while crossing the channel and the battery % dropped a % point literally every 3/4 mins.

I think its more the fact to have a constant GPS lock the screen needs to be on too.
 
I'm starting to find that my battery is getting better after 2 weeks of having my iPhone 3gs. I can get about 2 days of normal use now which is pretty cool. Only thing that drains it quick is when using gps, but now I have a car charger that's not really a problem.
 
Best way to get battery is to disable 3G. Quite frankly most of the time it doesn't make a difference anyway...

And on my 3G(disabled) I get -easily- 5 days on a battery charge. Thats with bluetooth on (car handsfree), wifi on, and moderate usage.
 
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