Apple iPhone Battery Inconsistencies?

One question that loomed large before the Apple iPhone launched: Just how long will the battery last? After all, it's a slim device, and one that handles Web browsing (via EDGE and Wi-Fi), music, and video--oh, and voice conversations, too.

Well, so far, the results seem decidedly mixed. Wirelessinfo.com reports that it got two dramatically different results in its battery talk time tests of two different iPhone units. One unit lasted 4 hours, 11 minutes; the other managed to break just over 5 hours. That's a 25 percent difference between the two phones--and far less than Apple's own estimate, of up to 8 hours of talk time. This site's test plan uses the phone's default settings; Apple's own tests disable Wi-Fi scanning, for example.

Wirelessinfo's testing is continuing--as is PC World's own battery life testing. We'll post info on our results on this blog when our testing is complete.

I've experienced inconsistent battery life myself: I managed to drain the battery faster than I had expected in mixed use. My tests were not scientific, but they do reflect my typical smartphone usage (minus the Wi-Fi, which my Treo 650 and Treo 680 don't have).

In my unscientific tabulation of usage over the course of a full day out with an iPhone, I drained the battery to 10 percent (the first low-battery warning came at 20 percent, and I found it jumped to 10 percent from there fairly quickly). In that time, I spoke on the phone for less than two hours; browsed the Web over EDGE and Wi-Fi (it's hard to quantify exactly how much of each, but my educated guess is I spent about 45 noncontiguous minutes total); played one five minute YouTube video and five songs; and snapped about 60 pictures. After a few hours of being out and about with the phone, I disabled the feature for automatically sniffing out Wi-Fi networks to keep the battery from draining, and even turned off Wi-Fi entirely for half the day--enabling it again only when I needed it.

By contrast, other colleagues reported being satisfied with the battery life, though--which makes me wonder about the consistency of experience.

The battery issue is a big one to me: If this is to be my multipurpose, all-in-one device, then the battery needs to last through at least a day's worth of various tasks. This is even more important considering that the battery isn't removable (it's actually soldered into the circuit board inside the iPhone).

Apple's battery is rated for 300 to 400 charges; according to this Apple Battery Replacement Program page, you'll have to send the phone in to replace the battery, at $79 plus $6.95 for return shipping. Apple will replace the battery in warranty if it drops below 50 percent of its original capacity. Of course, determining the battery's capacity is a challenge--the iPhone only gives you a visual, not a numeric, reporting of battery life.

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