Battery life cycles.

[GatorDeb]

I heard the battery lasts 300 cycles before it having to be repaired. One could conceivable run through a cycle a day. Does this mean paying a replacement fee (or voiding the warranty by opening it) within 10 months?

 

[earnjam]

Do you have a source for this?

I know with the macbook and macbook pro battery issues, they were replacing defective batteries under the 300 cycle count. I had my MBP battery replaced at 293 when it only lasted 45 min.

I'm thinking you might have heard that number from there?

 

[roland.g]

According to the standard text on Apple's site, they are not saying anything special about the iPhone other than pointing to the normal battery disclaimer for iPods and notebooks which does state 300-400 cycles. However, with a phone that is for a lot of people 10-16 months of use.

 

[SirOmega]

I'm more worried about having to be without a cellphone for a week while I have to ship the phone to apple to have the battery replaced. Hopefully there is an in-store service for iPhone battery replacement.

 

[dagomike]

It's rated at 300-400 charges. No idea what a partial charge means to that number...

For repairs, keep your old phone and swap out the SIMM.

 

[SirOmega]

It's rated at 300-400 charges. No idea what a partial charge means to that number...

For repairs, keep your old phone and swap out the SIMM.

I was planning on selling my old phone for $25 to a friend of mine. D'oh.

Though the recent AT&T training docs show that you can take out the SIM from the iPhone and put it in an AT&T phone and it'll still work, just with the features of the old phone.

 

[GatorDeb]

Let's go with 400 cycles. That means that every 13 months there will be a charge to replace the battery?

 

[travishill]

Let's go with 400 cycles. That means that every 13 months there will be a charge to replace the battery?

That's assuming you completely charge & discharge the phone every single day. I use thousands of minutes a month on my Treo 700w and I probably average a half battery cycle each day, so that means it would last 26 months before losing a lot of capacity.

If you do notice your battery losing capacity, likely you'll take it into the store for battery replacement- or if the store does not have the proper tools, they'll exchange a loaner phone for you while your phone is shipped off- the SIM card goes right into the loaner and you don't have down time.

 

[roland.g]

Doesn't re-charging it from half-full most of the time rather than mostly depleted hurt the longevity/full-charge capacity of the battery.

 

[travishill]

Doesn't re-charging it from half-full most of the time rather than mostly depleted hurt the longevity/full-charge capacity of the battery.

Only on nickel-based batteries.

Lithium batteries do not have a memory effect- it is *better* for you to top off at the end of each day, rather than full discharge / recharge...

 

[GatorDeb]

That's assuming you completely charge & discharge the phone every single day. I use thousands of minutes a month on my Treo 700w and I probably average a half battery cycle each day, so that means it would last 26 months before losing a lot of capacity.

If you do notice your battery losing capacity, likely you'll take it into the store for battery replacement- or if the store does not have the proper tools, they'll exchange a loaner phone for you while your phone is shipped off- the SIM card goes right into the loaner and you don't have down time.

Since this phone does so much, it's not too hard to drain it in a day. You might not spend all day talking, but you might spend all day talking/texting/listening to music/browsing the web/emailing/looking for direction/watching videos/watching a movie/watching a TV show/viewing Word or PDF files, etc.

And it's not being without a phone, it's having to pay for it. Any thoughts about what iPhone Applecare might cost?

 

[travishill]

Since this phone does so much, it's not too hard to drain it in a day. You might not spend all day talking, but you might spend all day talking/texting/listening to music/browsing the web/emailing/looking for direction/watching videos/watching a movie/watching a TV show/viewing Word or PDF files, etc.

That's why I gave the example of my Treo 700w. It is rated worse in battery life than the iPhone, but I've used it to listen to music and watch video (most expensive battery task) as well. I've owned it for two years and have never changed the battery- the iPhone's battery life is rated better than that, so I don't think it will be much of an issue.

And it's not being without a phone, it's having to pay for it. Any thoughts about what iPhone Applecare might cost?

Two years for $69

http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0706freeiphone.html

 

[Briellz]

I'm more worried about having to be without a cellphone for a week while I have to ship the phone to apple to have the battery replaced. Hopefully there is an in-store service for iPhone battery replacement.

i thought they can replace the battery in the apple store for a small fee?