News

iPhone to Sport 8 Hour Battery, Glass Surface

Monday, June 18th, 2007 at 9:35 AM - by

Apple's iPhone doesn't ship for another 11 days, but it has already received its first upgrades: Improved battery life and a more durable multi-touch surface. The iPhone will support up to eight hours of talk time instead of the five hours originally announced at Macworld Expo 2007 last January.


Apple's iPhone

In addition to eight hours talk time, Apple claims the iPhone battery can also handle up to six hours of Internet use, seven hours of video playback, or 24 hours of audio playback. Standby time comes in at 250 hours.

Along with longer battery life, the iPhone top surface will be made from optical-quality glass instead of plastic - the material Apple originally intended to use. The glass surface should offer a higher scratch resistance as well as improved optical clarity.

The combination iPod and smartphone will be available at 6 p.m. local time on Friday, June 29, at Apple and AT&T retail stores. The iPhone will be priced at US$499 for the 4GB model, or $599 for the 8GB model.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:12 am

I don't think they're breaking open all their stockpiled iPhones to replace the batteries. This isn't an upgrade. It's a feature announcement that is part of a well-orchestrated plan to maximize iPhone hype prior to its retail debut. Expect a few more such 'upgrades' in the next 11 days.

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Engine Joe said:

member since 29 Jun 2004 with 412 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:18 am

On the other hand, guest, they could have figured out a way to improve the efficiency of the OS software, which would in turn increase battery life. No box-opening for that, just a quick software upgrade the first time you sync the phone.

No one said they were putting different batteries in.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:47 am

Doesn't a glass screen increase the possibility of a break when you inevitably drop the phone?

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:58 am

Note that the battery is lithium-ion. Even under the best conditions, those batteries degrade to 80% of their capacity in the first year and have a typical lifespan of only 2-3 years.

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Terrin said:

member since 29 Jan 2006 with 350 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jun 18, 2007 11:07 am

Sure it does. However, plastic scratches easily. So, Apple had to make a choice.

Quote
Guest wrote:
Doesn't a glass screen increase the possibility of a break when you inevitably drop the phone?

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jun 18, 2007 11:21 am

Quote
Engine Joe wrote:
On the other hand, guest, they could have figured out a way to improve the efficiency of the OS software, which would in turn increase battery life. No box-opening for that, just a quick software upgrade the first time you sync the phone.

No one said they were putting different batteries in.

They would have to break open the boxes for the glass screen however.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jun 18, 2007 11:31 am

Quote
Guest wrote:
Quote
Engine Joe wrote:
On the other hand, guest, they could have figured out a way to improve the efficiency of the OS software, which would in turn increase battery life. No box-opening for that, just a quick software upgrade the first time you sync the phone.

No one said they were putting different batteries in.

They would have to break open the boxes for the glass screen however.

I am willing to bet that at this time the product hasn't even been shipped to the stores, hasn't left the factory, so they have time to install glass screens. These are not real big items and for the relatively small number of units being available on the release date Apple can afford to air freight the shipments.

A glass screen is a real good idea. Remember the scratch fiasco on iPod screens? If the iPhone is to have a touch screen it is going to require frequent cleaning.

PS: I hope that iPodobserver and MacObserver get the browser cookie situation fixed. Logging in every time I visit is getting to be a chore.

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gslusher said:

member since 13 Nov 2002 with 2003 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jun 18, 2007 11:32 am

[quote="Anonymous"]

Quote
Engine Joe wrote:

They would have to break open the boxes for the glass screen however.

How do you know that they manufactured any iPhone with the plastic screen, at all? Just because Apple announced the glass screen now doesn't mean that they made the decision yesterday. It could have been made in January, before they started manufacturing any but the demonstrators.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jun 18, 2007 11:35 am

Quote
gslusher wrote:
[quote="Anonymous"]
Quote
Engine Joe wrote:

They would have to break open the boxes for the glass screen however.

How do you know that they manufactured any iPhone with the plastic screen, at all? Just because Apple announced the glass screen now doesn't mean that they made the decision yesterday. It could have been made in January, before they started manufacturing any but the demonstrators.

Which would make the first sentence of this article a lie.

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gslusher said:

member since 13 Nov 2002 with 2003 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jun 18, 2007 11:37 am

Quote
Anonymous wrote:
Note that the battery is lithium-ion. Even under the best conditions, those batteries degrade to 80% of their capacity in the first year and have a typical lifespan of only 2-3 years.

Which, of course, is no different from almost any other cel phone battery, laptop battery, PDA battery, digital camera/camcorder battery. If one does a little research, it turns out that the numbers our guest has quoted are fraught with, "It all depends." For one thing, the 80% number 80% number reflects a battery kept at 100% charge at 25 deg C. It would be worse for higher temperatures, but is BETTER at lower temperatures and lower charge levels, so the guest was not correct when he/she wrote, "Even under the best conditions."

One of the problems with iPod battery life, I believe, is that people keep and use them at higher temperatures--in cars, next to their bodies (the human body is about 37 deg C), in the sun, etc.

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gslusher said:

member since 13 Nov 2002 with 2003 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jun 18, 2007 11:39 am

Quote
Guest wrote:

Which would make the first sentence of this article a lie.

Not necessarily. It's an upgrade from the original specifications. The article didn't say WHEN that upgrade occurred.

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boodle said:

member since 13 Jun 2004 with 42 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jun 18, 2007 12:31 pm

heart palpitations, what else can i say? i pray it works. if it does, my life may be turned upside down (not to mention my bank account).

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jun 18, 2007 12:42 pm

Come on, baby! Double that Flash RAM! Seal the deal!

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jun 18, 2007 1:59 pm

Quote
gslusher wrote:
Quote
Anonymous wrote:
Note that the battery is lithium-ion. Even under the best conditions, those batteries degrade to 80% of their capacity in the first year and have a typical lifespan of only 2-3 years.

Which, of course, is no different from almost any other cel phone battery, laptop battery, PDA battery, digital camera/camcorder battery. If one does a little research, it turns out that the numbers our guest has quoted are fraught with, "It all depends." For one thing, the 80% number 80% number reflects a battery kept at 100% charge at 25 deg C. It would be worse for higher temperatures, but is BETTER at lower temperatures and lower charge levels, so the guest was not correct when he/she wrote, "Even under the best conditions."

One of the problems with iPod battery life, I believe, is that people keep and use them at higher temperatures--in cars, next to their bodies (the human body is about 37 deg C), in the sun, etc.

The 80% number is almost never achieved by the typical user, who usually subjects the battery to worse conditions. Your iPod example is a perfect one. However, although the degradation of the battery is common to all li-ion batteries, the affect on the user is not the same with the iPhone as every other cell phone. With every other cell on the planet, you can use a spare battery. With the iPhone, when you battery degrades to the point that the performance is unacceptable, the user will have to use Apple’s battery replacement program. This requires either taking a trip out of your way if you are lucky enough to live near an Apple store that is convenient, or worse, being without a phone while you ship it back to Apple for a replacement. Almost every other phone you can order a spare battery online and have it delivered and it requires little effort to replace and absolutely no time without your phone.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jun 18, 2007 2:00 pm

Quote
gslusher wrote:
Quote
Guest wrote:

Which would make the first sentence of this article a lie.

Not necessarily. It's an upgrade from the original specifications. The article didn't say WHEN that upgrade occurred.

LOL, now that's some good spin. The truth is maleable when you support Apple.

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Biff said:

member since 08 Apr 2004 with 1479 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jun 18, 2007 2:38 pm

LOL. Come on guest, be honest. The problems you are mentioning aren't really what upsets you. It's the fact that, despite them, people will buy these things left and right.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:36 pm

Quote
Biff wrote:
LOL. Come on guest, be honest. The problems you are mentioning aren't really what upsets you. It's the fact that, despite them, people will buy these things left and right.

Nope, that doesn't bother me one bit. What bothers me is that I would buy one, but the non-swappable battery is a deal breaker. I'd even switch to AT&T for it were it not for that. I don't give a lick what other people do with their money. But thanks for calling me a liar, no accounting for class I see.

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deasys said:

member since 08 Apr 2003 with 243 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jun 18, 2007 4:25 pm

Quote
Guest wrote:
What bothers me is that I would buy one, but the non-swappable battery is a deal breaker.

Why? What's so important about a swappable battery?

(BTW, no one has said that the internal battery isn't replaceable.)

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:41 pm

I'm a road warrior. Even at 8 hours talk time, I would easily be at a point where I needed more talk/usage time while not have access or time to charge the internal battery. Or, perhaps the battery starts to fail, as these batteries are known to do. Try reading my original post about having to go without a phone when you want to replace the battery in the iPhone. It's the same thing as with iPods, and that's just not acceptable for me for a smartphone. If you don't understand the usefulness of a swappable battery, then it's not a deal breaker for you, great. But, it's a deal breaker for me as you cannot rely on it.

Quote
deasys wrote:
Quote
Guest wrote:
What bothers me is that I would buy one, but the non-swappable battery is a deal breaker.

Why? What's so important about a swappable battery?

(BTW, no one has said that the internal battery isn't replaceable.)

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acdc1174 said:

member since 16 Apr 2004 with 668 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jun 18, 2007 8:48 pm

This has been one gripe that kills me. All these "road warriors" who apparently are doing business in the Mojave keep complaining about battery life as if there is just no way to charge it. ANY USB port will do it. Pack your half-ounce iPod cable in your bag and quit complaining. Didn't bring your laptop to plug it into? (Which doesn't make much sense if you are a road warrior) Then take that SAME CABLE and plug it into an ipod charging adapter and find a wall socket. No wall socket in that rental car? I bet it has a cigarette lighter. Put a CLA charger in your bag. Heck get one that is a charger/FM transmitter like the one Monster makes and then you can enjoy your tunes on the road too noble road warriors! And when you get back to the office, pop your iPhone into your (insert brand here) speaker system with its dock connector...again charging AND enjoying all at once.

For crying out loud. 8 hours talk time is easily TWICE what ANY Windows mobile Smartphone or Treo will give you on a single charge (closer to 3 times). I know this from years of personal experience including the last year plus with a PPC-6700. Turn on the WiFi and it becomes FOUR TIMES as much. Which means that these same griping road warriors who had to carry all these extra batteries (I am envisioning a bandolier for some reason) now don't need to worry about it.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Jun 19, 2007 4:36 am

acdc1174: hear, hear!

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Jun 19, 2007 11:59 am

Well, it's easy to say that it's more than double when you aren't educated on the numerous devices out there that are rated over 5 hours of talk time already. It's also easy to quote the talk time of a two year old phone to compare to the iPhone to make your case seem realistic. Oh well...

acdc still missed the point of having to give up your phone in order to replace the battery after it degrades significantly in one year. sigh. macheads unite in defense of usage scenarios that don't fit the apple plan!

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Jun 19, 2007 1:27 pm

It's really bad that you have to go without a phone in order to "replace" your battery. The iPod model that Apple uses for battery replacements is not acceptable for a phone.

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acdc1174 said:

member since 16 Apr 2004 with 668 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Jun 21, 2007 1:41 pm

Quote
Anonymous wrote:
Well, it's easy to say that it's more than double when you aren't educated on the numerous devices out there that are rated over 5 hours of talk time already. It's also easy to quote the talk time of a two year old phone to compare to the iPhone to make your case seem realistic. Oh well...

acdc still missed the point of having to give up your phone in order to replace the battery after it degrades significantly in one year. sigh. macheads unite in defense of usage scenarios that don't fit the apple plan!

First ofall, having been a"smartphone" user since their inception, I am more than just a little educated about the various devices available and their various battery life ratings. I have at one time or another carried Palm, Windows Mobile (CE, PocketPC, and Smartphone flavors), and Symbian devices. I am also very much aware that 'ratings" NEVER translate into real world performance....I get that. That was not the point I was making or the problem being addressed.

Second, I was not quoting the talk time of a two year old phone, or more specifically a two year old BATTERY. I replace my phone batteries every year to 18 months and in every "Smartphone" I have ever had, 4 hours is the upper limit of real world heavy mixed use, ESPECIALLY if you use bluetooth and wifi.

Third, the idea of being without your phone while the battery gets replaced is not lost on me. Yes, after a year, you likely won't get all that original battery life goodness of the new one...I get that too. However, this is an infrequent inconvenience iPhone users wil have to endure ( and FWIW, Apple and other companies do 24 hour turnaround battery replacement)and STILL not what we were talking about. The complaint was that Road warriors would have difficulty using this because they can't swap batteries. It is THIS point on which I call BS (for all of the various reasons I mentioned in my previous post).

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Jun 21, 2007 4:06 pm

I'm another road warrior and I have to agree that it is not always possible to charge when you need it. After a 10 hour work day spending much if it on conference/sales calls, you're about to hit the road. That's when I take out the low battery and put in a fresh one. Even though I have a laptop on me, it's not practical to use that as a source for charging. Despite what the previous poster says or thinks, this is not BS, it's a real issue and a real problem with the iPhone (just one of the many I personally have with this device as advertised).

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:26 pm

Quote
Anonymous wrote:
I'm another road warrior and I have to agree that it is not always possible to charge when you need it. After a 10 hour work day spending much if it on conference/sales calls, you're about to hit the road. That's when I take out the low battery and put in a fresh one. Even though I have a laptop on me, it's not practical to use that as a source for charging. Despite what the previous poster says or thinks, this is not BS, it's a real issue and a real problem with the iPhone (just one of the many I personally have with this device as advertised).

Agreed. It isn't always possible to charge ANY phone when you need to. Many people are used to having the ability of swapping batteries on an as-needed basis and as such the mindset is "swap as necessary, charge when you need to." Well, the iPhone is a few days away from launch. We all know (or think we know) that the battery is not user swappable. So, road warriors who plan on using this phone are probably not the ones complaining. Realizing the design of the phone prohibits the traditional method, they will adapt a "charge when you want to, NOT when you HAVE to" mentality. With the plethora of charging options the dock connector allows, the "iPhone is unusable for road warriors" argument just seems weak. Hey it isn't for everyone. It may not even be for me. I am going to wear one out for 14 days and see. My guess is, that if it works like my macs do, I will be able to tell you all where to get a good deal on a used, but like-new PocketPC.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Jun 22, 2007 2:09 pm

>the design of the phone prohibits the traditional method, they will adapt a "charge when you want to, NOT when you HAVE to" mentality.

No, just the opposite. Without the ability to swap in a fresh battery, users will be FORCED to charge not when they WANT to, but when they HAVE access. And as those of us who travel frequently with lots of calls to make, you don't always HAVE access at the same time that your battery is getting low, and you can't always sit with the phone connected to external power while doing your work. When you have several spare batteries, you can just charge them up whenever you want, and not have to every worry about what the battery meter reads.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:57 pm

The iPhone is a GREAT product in virtually every respect, save one. I'd be in line on Friday to buy one, but the battery is a FATAL flaw. In my current phone, if I suspect I'll need more talk time than my battery allows, I simply carry an extra battery with me. No problem. I always keep 2 extras charged. Not possible with the iPhone. Yes, there are external batteries that could be carried for those occasions. They're bulky and inconvenient, but I'd be willing to do that so I could have an iPhone. The real problem for me is that the battery will be charge daily, or at most every other day, which means it will last between 1 and 2 years max. At that point I'll have to ship it off for a battery swap. I can't even be without my phone a couple of hours, let alone however long that would take. I predict that the second generation of the iPhone will have a user-swapable battery, because this problem will kill a big part of their potential market and you're going to see a LOT of blogs complaining about this.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Aug 31, 2007 10:10 am

Logs of 'guests' posting complaints.

If you don't like it or there is a "deal breaker" for your "situation/business," don't buy the phone.

Don't say it is required or necessary. While it may be "wrong" for you, it is "right" for lots of other people.

It is very subjective people, and our opinions can differ. Sheesh, don't get so touchy because someone disagrees...

We are all over 5 right?

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Sep 07, 2007 3:40 pm

Well, the glass front of the iPhone played up to my worst fear. It cracked. I was sitting on a bench at a playground with my wife. I pulled out the iPhone to show her a new kid video I downloaded for the kids. It slipped out of my hand (which is enormously easy to do when your hands are dry) and fell about 3 feet face down into the dirt. To my complete SHOCK and DISMAY, the glass was cracked. Love this device, but it is WAY TOO FRAGILE. And the scary thing is that for the $600 price I had to pay, and no warranty to coverage accidental use, Apple is just plain ripping people off.

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Intruder said:

member since 07 Jul 2004 with 2840 posts, TMO Mac Specialist, send him a message or view his profile

Sun Sep 09, 2007 1:49 pm

If you bought it with a credit card, check to see what their coverage is.

Got news for you, almost every warranty doesn't cover accidental damage.

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DaiMac said:

member since 29 Jun 2001 with 952 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Sun Sep 09, 2007 3:40 pm

Yeah, I can second what Intruder said, my GF bought a camera on a friday, the LCD cracked inside her purse between friday afternoon and saturday afternoon, and even with a basic warranty they wouldn't accept it back, said it was damaged by her carelessness (which is kinda true, but then why sell her a warranty at all?), and gave us nothing. If you drop stuff, its your responsibility to

A) Catch it

B) Have it in a case that protects it

C) Deal with your own clumsiness.

Harsh but true....

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