Has Apple acknowledged the battery problem with new 3Gs?

OrangeMarlin wrote:
BTW, Allan Sampson has been contributing to these forums for six years (starting within days of my starting here). He has the right to be snarky to individuals who come to this forum making claims that based on their n=1 experience (or even less logically, the number of views) they can conclude that Apple has "lied" about the battery life. Give me a break.

I don't care if he's been posting since the dawn of time. Rude is rude.

lookn4wifi wrote:
Perception is reality. I think I perceive my battery drains faster when I have the % indicator on. I can watch the percentage drain from 100% to 90% and think how I have already used 10% of the juice. If I just look at the green battery icon, it looks as if I have just a small dent in the stored power.

A friend said the same -- and has disabled the % indicator: Ignorance is peace of mind 🙂

Phil

So is claiming or insinuating that Apple has lied or has provided a completely false claim, or doesn't do or does very little research or testing whatsoever.

EVERY manufactured product will have a percentage of the product fail, or will have components fail, which is what the warranty is for.

.. harsh, maybe not, but certainly unhelpful.

.. considering the mass market and manufacturing products exhibited by consumer electronic gear today, I suspect the original poster just has a bum battery.. try a restore or hard restart first though, then leave it charging over night.. then take it/send it in for repair.

Good luck.

Baloney.

I didn't become the highest rated user in the iPhone discussions area by accident, which is determined by other users. I'm not an Apple employee, so I'm certainly not obligated to be nice or helpful to someone here no matter what who decides to include additional unnecessary inaccurate or incorrect statements instead of just stating their problem or asking their technical support question.

The following was copied from my original post in this thread.

*Possible there is something wrong with your iPhone or with your iPhone's battery. If you are in the U.S., you can call AppleCare at (800) 694-7466, or make an appointment at an Apple store if there is one nearby.*

I'm curious to know what was "certainly unhelpful" about this.

Allan Sampson wrote:
So is claiming or insinuating that Apple has lied or has provided a completely false claim, or doesn't do or does very little research or testing whatsoever.

EVERY manufactured product will have a percentage of the product fail, or will have components fail, which is what the warranty is for.

Have a look back. Neither the OP or I said anything about false claims or telling lies. The OP was commenting on his battery experience. I was commenting on your terse response to him.

Allan, I've seen your posts on here for over 5 years, and I don't know how many times I read something you wrote and fixed one issue or another. Your advise here was sound. I don't know how you're supposed to cure their problem, but I guess going to Apple because they may have a 1 in 10,000 problem is too mean.

What people have to realize is that this thread has maybe 5 people with battery problems. I believe I read over 1 million iPhone 3G S were sold over the weekend. Granted, many people with battery problems probably went to see an Apple Genius, got their issues resolved, and did not have to whine here. But 5 out of 1,000,000 is not a problem where Apple MUST ACKNOWLEDGE the problem.

What product in the world is manufactured to 100% perfection????

Tamara wrote:
I would make an appointment at the Genius Bar to have your phone checked. You may have a problem with your unit.

Not really a convenient solution for those of us who live 1+ hours away from the nearest "Genius" Bar.

My 3G S battery is absolutely trash compared to my 3G. I'm about ready to ask for my old 3G back that I exchanged for this...at least I could go a full day without fear of running out of power

Have a look back.

I think I will.

Copied from the OP's original post.

They state that the new phone's battery is supposed to be better and yet so many people (including myself) see that it is far worse than the old 3G!

I wasn't the only who participated in this thread who read this initially as Apple has made a false claim or statement about the battery. It is possible to read this either way, especially with the additional statements included. And I didn't direct any such thing at you.

Apple really struggle when they come to the battery performance in their products! I wish they would spend more money in research for better longer lasting ones!

I explained that Apple is using the same type of battery that all cell phones and most, if not all portable devices are using, which is the latest battery technology with such portable devices. Obviously Apple has done some research working with Lithium-ion battery manufacturers since Apple has stated that the battery included with 3GS is better and lasts somewhat longer than the battery included with the 3G, unless Apple has made a false claim about the 3GS battery. It is either a false claim, or there were some 3GSs that shipped with a defective battery, which can happen.

I was commenting on your terse response to him.

I am direct and to the point, but there is a difference between being direct and to the point, and being rude.

Not really a convenient solution for those of us who live 1+ hours away from the nearest "Genius" Bar.

If you are in the U.S., you can call AppleCare at (800) 694-7466, or make an appointment at an Apple store if there is one nearby.

I too am experiencing what appear to be significant battery issues with my new 3G S. Although this is my first iPhone (can't compare to the 3G), I can only compare to the stated claims by Apple on what to expect regarding battery life. Today, as an example, I was explaining the issues to a co-worker during lunch. At the time the phone was at 32%. I navigated the screen, played a two-player tap tap revenge song with her, and received one puch msg from Yahoo.com. Within 15 minutes the batter had dropped to 10%. That seems absolute horrible. Yesterday I did the full cycle (charge/discharge to 0), but it didn't seem to help. So today, I made an appt with the Apple Store for this Friday. I also called Apple and spoke with technical support. The gentleman mentioned that he had heard of a few other complaints about batter life on the new 3G S' and asked me to try something. He said that the other customer was able to resolve the issue by deleting all of their email accouns and setting them back up. Seemed a little odd, but I complied anyway. We will see. The problem I have with that "solution" is what is to stop the problem e-mail setting from coming back again later?

On a constructive note, I have done the conditioning full discharge and charge two times and may be having longer battery life. Not sure how much of the improvement is due to the reduction of the novelty factor.

The reason I tend to believe there is a software firmware issue is that 1st gen and 3G owners are also reporting reduced battery life.

I have had my phone on all day and have used it a few times. It shows I am down to 60%. Is this reasonable or not? I did a full recharge after draining fully. I can't get my money back at this point and the genius has told me it is within specs and they will do nothing.

That doesn't seem unreasonable. I've been experimenting this week: If I'm fully charged at 7 am, and I use the phone heavily by 7 pm, I'm down to 30% or so. If I have a lighter day (like today), it might be down to 55-60%. It all depends on how many radios (BlueTooth, 3G, Edge, WiFi) are on, whether Push is on, how bright your screen is set, and other variables like that.

I'm having the same problem like the OP. My battery just literally dropped 4% and died while i was trying to write a post to this forum, it wasn't long by any means. I am using wifi, have 3g and push off. And it has been running out quick since i got it. I never have 3g and push on. The most I ever use apps at one time is like 3 min, and the most i've been on the phone all day is 20 min. And I am getting 4 1/2 hours life time. That is half of what is supposed to be clocked for wifi web browsing. I am not accusing apple of lying, I just want it to be fixed. It is a problem, and it most definitely is not just overuse and not having settings right. I have read the battery thing on this website, and i have done the full dead/recharge thing since i got it, to no prevail

If the battery logger thing is actually real, can someone from apple please send it to me.

Thanks