Err..HELP my phone is dead

[Jrolls]

So,
I got my iPhone (4gb) about a week ago and I am very impressed with it, and was growing to love it more every day, though I was a little nervous about my battery life (I had to charge it pretty much every night, was getting nowhere near the standby/usage specs that I have heard about). Tonight, I was sitting in the library listening to music on it and doing homework, with probably a fourth or so of my battery remaining. My music suddenly stopped, but since it was between tracks I did not notice right away. I soon found that my iPhone had completely shut off...I figured that the battery had died.
When I got home and plugged it in to charge, there was no response! I tried the wall charger as well as charging it through my computer, and there is no recognition or response anywhere. It is sitting next to me right now, completely silent and seemingly dead.
Clearly I need to take this in to the apple store, which I plan to do tomorrow.
Is there any precedent of anything like this happening to anyone out there? Any advice or information on what I should expect from the apple store or how they should be expected to handle it for me?
Thanks...
John

 

[synth3tik]

Have you tried to restart it. Hold down the Home button and the hold button for about 5 seconds. Also when it's plugged into your computer can iTunes see it? if so you can do a software restore.

 

[Jrolls]

Well, Well

So, the reset (which I did not know about) did work after all. Thanks!
Still, should I be worried about this apparent freeze/shutoff that occurred with a good 20% of battery life still in the phone? Is this common?? At what point should I start getting worried about my battery... anyone willing to post their real-life battery stats? Sorry if there is already one of those threads floating out there.
John

 

[beginner0]

I am not sure about the 20%, but I think when you try to restart the phone after it shuts down from battery drain, or if you leave it for longer, then it might take a while of charging before the phone can be turned on. Not completely sure though, but my old phone if I run out of battery and it takes me a while to get home, it takes about 5 minutes or so of charging before the phone can start again.

 

[unity]

I am not sure about the 20%, but I think when you try to restart the phone after it shuts down from battery drain, or if you leave it for longer, then it might take a while of charging before the phone can be turned on. Not completely sure though, but my old phone if I run out of battery and it takes me a while to get home, it takes about 5 minutes or so of charging before the phone can start again.

Bingo. And from 20% to 0 takes little time. These batteries provide steady current til drop off where ther drop quick unlike regular alkaline cells that slowly drain and lower voltage over the charge life.

And if you want to know your real stats, dont charge it so much. Keep bluetooth and wifi off if your not using it and i get better results charging via USB.

 

[junker]

recharge

I let me iphone, just recently, fully drain out as well... to calibrate.

I noticed that it was at 20% this morning. I started to check it out a little and suddenly it was at 10% within just a few minutes. A few more minutes of fiddling 10%, a few more and it just shut off. So, yeah - it has a quick drain down at the end.

My only concern though is this: I had the phone connected overnight via usb. So it was a bit surprising to see the phone at 20% this morning. Not sure what happened... maybe it was turned off or something (I was a bit fuzzy with allergies...so it's hard to remember this morning clearly)

It's now re-charging, albeit a bit slowly.

But your situation is a bit strange.