Apple iPhone

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Apple iPhone

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Anthony Fiti
Kurtis
N/A
Jul. 8, 2007

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User Experience - Battery Life

Battery life for music was around 18 hours, falling a bit short of the 24 hours published by Apple. This also included leaving the phone on and taking a few calls throughout the day, as well as having e-mail set to check every 15 minutes, with 8 of the 18 hours on EDGE and the other 10 hours on WiFi.

In the more practical realm of battery tests, I found that heavy daily usage (an hour of phone calls, e-mail checked every 15 minutes over EDGE and moderate internet browsing) would drain the battery over the course of the day to below 20%, requiring a recharge at night.

However, on a day of light usage (10 minutes of phone calls, email every 15 minutes over EDGE and about 30 minutes of web browsing) I could almost stretch two full days out of the phone's battery. I would charge it overnight, use it during the day, leave it on overnight, use it again the next day and charge it when I got home from work (a total of 35 hours). This includes very little Internet access and no video, YouTube or otherwise.

The importance of talking about how often the phone needs a recharge is related to the number of battery cycles the battery goes through before it is no longer holds a charge for a long time. If you recharge your phone every night, that's 365 cycles per year, and if the battery only lasts 400 cycles, that's 13 months of usage before you have to replace the non-user replaceable battery. And given Apple's $85 charge for battery replacement, plus a $29 loaner fee for an iPhone to use while yours is in the shop, it could be a very big issue in a year.

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Page 6 of 14

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: The Line
Page 3: What's In the Box & First Looks
Page 4: Plans and Activation
Page 5: User Experience - Interface
Page 6: User Experience - Battery Life
Page 7: User Experience - the Keyboard
Page 8: User Experience - Widescreen iPod
Page 9: User Experience - Mobile Phone and Text Messaging
Page 10: User Experience - Internet and Email
Page 11: User Experience - Widgets and Other Features
Page 12: AT&T's Network - From Fine Edge to Broken Edge
Page 13: Missing Features
Page 14: Conclusion

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5 User Comments

1 - Posted by ebernet on July 9, 2007 - 3:05 pm

Instead of buying another apple cable, I bought a car charger that included both a USB>Mini USB that works with my camera and will charge a blackberry, and a USB>Dock connector cable. Both cables AND the cigarette lighter dohicky were the same $20 as just the cable, AND they were black. I even bought it at the Apple store. It was made by Griffin, I am sure others do it.
Eytan

2 - Posted by ebernet on July 9, 2007 - 3:53 pm

Some more comments - Yahoo provides free push email, and will sync your address book up to Yahoo - a great feature and a way to get address book syncing between machines without paying the .mac tax.

As for the battery issue, a full charge cycle is a full discharge/charge, which I have had 2 so far. After the 350-450 FULL cycles you are at 80% of your battery.

As a longtime iPod owner, the battery has never been an issue for me. My hope is that by the time I need a battery replacement (2 years down the line or more) an after market of doing the installs will exist - and while it will not be 35 like it is now for the iPod, it will be a cheaper $50 or so then Apple's 80+, and by then the battery capacities will be higher. I think we need to wait and give the battery grief when the battery deserves grief, when problems start...

3 - Posted by Kurtis on July 9, 2007 - 7:37 pm

Thanks for the comments, ebernet. And welcome to TheTechLounge forums. :)

BTW, regarding battery life, I think it's a valid concern, considering that the brand new battery under heavy use only lasts a single day. 2 days tops for moderate-heavy use. My treo650 used to go for a week before I'd have to charge it, and after a year and a half or so, now it dies in 2 days. Of course, mine is easily replaceable, but the point is that if it has such short battery life NEW, any decrease in that battery life is going to be a big issue down the road, and that is inevitable.

4 - Posted by ynYmpmTbMbfl on December 3, 2007 - 9:57 pm

IXiMcB post, Thanks. That’s Ben. a super ,

5 - Posted by Max Slowik on December 3, 2007 - 11:02 pm

snorkt.

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