iPhone 3GS OS 3.1.3 Battery percentage fail?

My battery life seems to have stayed the same but the percentage looks a little erratic... for instance, it might stay on 30% for a few hours then lose 10% on a 1 minute call... Very strange.

lol so everyone's iphone on here is defective? all of us have hardware problems? oh please you haven't got a clue what firmware is then, you shouldn't be allowed to give people advice as you haven't got a clue.

I understand a lot of the hostility going on in this thread. Although unnecessary, it does show the frustration of some people who have gone to the Apple Genius many times and nothing ever solves the problem.

Last year, when the 3.1.2 OS came out, I had to take my phone to the Apple Genius 5 times within 2 weeks. They battery, the phone itself, the GPS, etc. was all funky and not working properly. I would have a 50% reduction in battery in mere hours. This was with wifi, location, notifications all off. The only solution the Genius gave me was to replace my phone under warranty. So I had them do that, I got a new phone, and viola.... still crappy battery life.

I then decided to get the Activity Monitor and guess what, sometimes programs are still running in the back and making the usage pattern go from 50% use to 5% use repeatedly.

The problem may be the accuracy of the battery metering, but MOST LIKELY it is the hanging programs causing the processor to over work and over heat, drastically reducing battery life.

If 3.2/4.0 OS doesn't fix this problem, i'm going to lose faith in Apple and Humanity. LOL

going to a genius bar will do nothing, they do not take note of everyone's problems they don't contact the developers of the firmware and tell them, you seriously have not got a clue about any of this have you..whether you like it or not it is the firmware, it acts differently on everyone's iphone.

could it be that on 3.1.3 the way of how the iphone connects to the internet has changed to "always on"?
just let me explain:

i sync my emails every 60minutes.
on 3.1.2 the iphone opened a new PDP session (visible because you get new IP address) before mail synching, afterwards the pdp session was closed (IP address released)

on 3.1.3 i see that the iphone opens pdp session (gets new IP address) and the ip address is used whole day. which means PDP session is never released.

of course if iphone is always having pdp session active , this will use lots of your battery power.

you can check this out by yourself ... just dial the number * 3001#12345# * ( leave the spaces out, i can not post this here because its always marking the text in bold then... finish with green button)
with this command you will see the so called "netmonitor"

in the field test menu, choose PDP conntext list,
there you see under "0" the first active PDP context , choose this and you will see the active IP address

Message was edited by: coralsnake78

Message was edited by: coralsnake78

The battery is not the problem in any of these cases, the battery is OK, the battery metering, on the other hand is wonky. Do this the next time you see the battery meter collapse: plug it into the charging cable for just a second, just long enough for it to make the chirp noise, then unplug it. The battery meter should now read the correct level. This has worked for me several times now.

Message was edited by: captainlarrydart

I will second what kangjins2 said. Buy System Activity Monitor and see what is happening. I run with wifi on, bluetooth on, location services on, push off, mail manual, notifications off. I get better battery life with 3.1.3 than with 3.1.2, but even then it was not bad.

Here are the things to try as others have said. See if it fixes it, then go on to the next.

1. Full battery cycle to off, do it by turning everything on, not locking the screen, turning the brightness up, and playing music into a headset.

2. Charge fully and beyond for 4 hours.

3. Restore as a new user, do not go from a backup.

4. Before you put any apps in, check the battery life.

5. Always monitor with System Activity Monitor - normal for me is 4-8% CPU.

I'll go ahead and join the list of iPhone firmware 3.1.3 has either killed battery life or metering. Frankly, I don't care which. The end result is my 3gs with wifi, push, and no bt used to last a day to a day and a half with normal usage; now it lasts less than 4 hours.

It is obviously a firmware issue. Hopefully someone at Apple is reading this thread.

JP try a restore as a new user.

JP@ITS wrote:
It is obviously a firmware issue. Hopefully someone at Apple is reading this thread.

If its firmware, why doesn't everyone have the problem ?

And Apple don't read these forums.

As in restore back to 3.1.2? I've already tried a full restore with 3.1.3 and it doesn't make a difference.

Thanks for the suggestion though!

There is likely a common thread between the ones that do have problems - that is why. For example - perhaps all who have problems use push, or all who have problems use WiFi. Or perhaps there's an internal component of these particular iPhone's that is affected.

If the only thing changed is updated firmware, then surely you can be suggesting that everyone's hardware just went belly up all of the sudden, and right after an upgrade. It's the firmware - it's up to Apple to figure out why not me.

I find it hard to believe Apple doesn't read their own forums. They might not actively monitor - but I'm sure an Apple tech has seen this thread.

Message was edited by: JP@ITS

JP no a restore in 3.1.3 but as a new user, not from your backup. You will lose network and other settings, and have to set up what to transfer over. Take screenshots of your screens cause you will lose that too.

The battery problem exists. EVERY 3G and 3GS user I have spoken to after updating is having the exact same problem.

One poster is providing information to have you do things that have nothing to do with a firmware change that was specifically addressing battery reporting issue in 3GS's.

The problem should be reported to Apple to ensure they are not being overlooked.

Apple monitors it's discussions.

In that case, I've done that - maybe not as a new user, but I have done it from two different computers which should be pretty much the same thing. Losing my settings in the least of my concerns right now!