Let me start by saying that “I love you iPhone, but your battery life totally sucks a big one when Bluetooth is turned on!”[MEDIA=55]I don’t know if it’s a bug or what, but when Bluetooth is turned on, it seems like my iPhone doesn’t know when to stop searching for new devices to pair up with. Consequently, this drains the battery life extremely fast.I started with a full charge less than seven hours ago. My settings consist of WiFi and Bluetooth turned on, it checks email every 30-min, brightness is set very low, I made two short phone calls, and yet my battery is now nearly 50% drained. Not to mention I haven’t even used the iPod feature to listen to music today.
I’m on my second iPhone now, and I really hate to have to take this back! Is anyone else experiencing the same problem? Please share with the community.[Update] Ewdi and Satsuki tells me they don’t use Bluetooth and getting about two days worth of battery life. What do they have on? WiFi enabled, it gets email every 15-minutes, and medium screen brightness.
Unpair the existing Bluetooth headset will leave iPhone on an infinite search!
I wonder if this has anything to do with the auto pairing with Apple’s branded Bluetooth headset?
[UPDATE 2:10 pm] Check out the screen shot of my iPhone only 2 hours since I originally posted the article. You’ll noticed that the battery meter drastically dropped!
[UPDATE 3:08 pm] Things are going south folks! Nearly an hour later, the battery is down to roughly 20%. All testing conditions remain the same. Just so we’re clear, I haven’t watched a single video or even listened to a single song. I talked on the phone for about 15-minutes. That’s it!
The total hours of usage is under 5 1/2 hours while standby is under 9 1/2 hours since the last full charge (roughly 6:30 am this morning).
[Final UPDATE for the night] At 5:35 pm, the iPhone gave a 5% battery remaining. It just died a minute ago at 5:42 pm.
The iPhone is technically out of commission for at least 6-hours since that’s how long it takes to fully charge up.
Paired it to my macbook pro, did not have the spinning wheel that long. I dont have bluetooth headset to pair it with right now
so it seems like it’s isolated to pairing with a headset. however, unpairing the existing headset still causes iPhone to search…
So all the headset pairing test you did gave the same result?
I was suspecting the same thing on my iPhone. I hardly get a day’s use out of my iPhone and I use it with Bluetooth turned on all the time. I use a Sony Ericsson (HBH-610a) Bluetooth headset with it.
Whenever I go to the Settings->General->Bluetooth page, I see the wheel spinning. I’m gonna try it tomorrow with Bluetooth turned off and see how long the battery lasts.
Is there a way we can report this as a bug to Apple?
Okay it happend to me this way. I paired it with MBP (btw pairing it gives not many functions, no file sync and etc – hope they add that to next firmware).
I disabled the macbook pro bluetooth after it was paired and the spinning wheels keeps going and searching on and on and on
maybe it only searches (spinning wheel) when you open that pane. I’m sure it isn’t always looking (when on other screens).
Bluetooth will drain the battery more if it’s on than when it’s off — that was a fact with every phone i have owned.
TW: My Bluetooth connection on the iPhone does disconnect and reconnect every so often — i’m thinking it’s due to some outside interference.
This is the explanation I’m getting — I just don’t buy it!
[Note:
That the "spinning" icon you're seeing in Bluetooth settings is there to
indicate that when that particular settings screen is open, your phone is
actively looking for Bluetooth devices; as I understand it, as soon as you
exit that screen, the iPhone stops searching.]
Vincent I think you are on to something. If the bluetooth control panel only searches when you launch the app then how does the iPhone pair with your headset when you turn the headset on? It is always in discovery mode case closed..
Apple needs to have a trusted pair selction in the panel.
Vincent,
I’ve noticed the same problem, now that you mention it. Think there is an easy solution?
I’m starting to think if i should return my iPhone.
I just got the Jawbone and Moto H9 Bluetooth headset in. Will them out with the iPhone tomorrow.
Vincent,
Both BT and Wifi should be left off if not in use. They both will drain the battery. Just think if Apple decides to add Stero BT in a firmware upgrade how fast the batteries will die. I’m sorry but phones need replaceable batteries.
[quote comment="5281"]Vincent,
Both BT and Wifi should be left off if not in use. They both will drain the battery. Just think if Apple decides to add Stero BT in a firmware upgrade how fast the batteries will die. I’m sorry but phones need replaceable batteries.[/quote]
I agree, wifi should be turned off when not used. But Bluetooth? I don’t think so. It’s not like you can predict when a call comes in. Have you tried to turn on Bluetooth and get your iPhone connected to a Bluetooth headset while a call is coming in? It doesn’t work. That being said, I should be able to keep the Bluetooth on and connected to a headset without worrying that it’s going to drain the battery super fast. I’m sorry but, I get better battery performance on a Nokia, HTC or even Samsung phone with Bluetooth on all day long! I expect better results from the iPhone —- especially when the battery is ball and chain to the device!!!
I’m sorry but Bluetooth does continue to ‘search for connectivity’ continiously. I don’t have a BT headset and the battery still is at 80% since this morning and it’s almost 10pm where I’m at. And that’s with Wifi on all day. Actually this is my wife’s iPhone but it becomes mine when she comes home from work!!
I am waiting for the 3g version to come out. It’s funny Vincent but I bought a Nokia E61 because of you. Funny story, I googled the Nokia E61 and clicked on a link of you actually being introduced to it when you were working with Aradus and the Digital lifestyle network. I thought it was amazing because of the browser and you were going gaga over it much the same as you are now with the iPhone.
Now the iPhone has even a better browser, I love surfing and looking at YouTube and movie trailers in Wifi but Edge really sucks. This has kept me from purchasing one, for now. I still love playing with my wife’s though.
[quote comment="5286"]I’m sorry but Bluetooth does continue to ‘search for connectivity’ continiously. I don’t have a BT headset and the battery still is at 80% since this morning and it’s almost 10pm where I’m at. And that’s with Wifi on all day. Actually this is my wife’s iPhone but it becomes mine when she comes home from work!!
I am waiting for the 3g version to come out. It’s funny Vincent but I bought a Nokia E61 because of you. Funny story, I googled the Nokia E61 and clicked on a link of you actually being introduced to it when you were working with Aradus and the Digital lifestyle network. I thought it was amazing because of the browser and you were going gaga over it much the same as you are now with the iPhone.
Now the iPhone has even a better browser, I love surfing and looking at YouTube and movie trailers in Wifi but Edge really sucks. This has kept me from purchasing one, for now. I still love playing with my wife’s though.[/quote]
Thanks! Well actually I started Aradius, Inc. nearly 6 years back. DLMAG.com was one of the site launched a while back – now morphed into slashgear.com.
You’re right, the Nokia E61 “was” one of the better business phones with a solid OS and very comfortable QWERTY Keyboard to use. Matter of fact, I just got the E61i in from Nokia. I’m trying to get some additional energy and a quick break away from the iPhone to review it.
Sadly enough, I have a slight feeling of guilt for neglecting my other children (phones).
Hands down, the iPhone is the most revolutionary hand on the market. I just cannot get over this whole battery issue. I guess we just have to wait and see what Apple has to say about it. Their usual style is to deny, deny and deny some more until more people come forward.
I’m impressed. I think you will be best known as a Apple iPhone Fan Boy now with all the exposure you got at the Apple store on fifth avenue. I sure hope Apple opens this thing up so that we can get Skype and all the cool apps for this thing Plus cool website apps.
Skype? never, ATT will never allow it. I doubt the exposure from the Cube still will do much :). Gotta keep plugging away the old fashion way — blog, blog and blog some more.
I bought a Iphone 2 days ago. I paired it with a Jawbone i had, and it worked great. When i turned the jawbone off, it went south. I have done everything I can think of and it still doesnt pair again, doesnt even see the jawbone….just keeps searching. Now i cant pair my jawbone with any other phone. Worked fine before Iphone. Did manage to pair a Jabra JX10, then unpair it, and re-pair it. Tried re-pair the jawbone again…………no dice. So does this make it a Jawbone flaw or Iphone flaw
Nice new toy but it does seem to eat battery life awfully fast. That $85 replacement is going to come sooner than we want it to. I did some looking around though and found that ipodjuice.com already is offering a replacement iPhone battery for less than apple. Nice to know there will be options.
I am having the same problem. the phone keeps seaching for device. its killing my battery life. IS there a solution for this yet?
On Bluetooth my iPhone keeps searching, and not allowing other devices to connect to it when it’s searching. It’s a bugger for trying to get contacts/music/pictures off my old phone before I can sell it. is there something I am doing wrong, or, is it just a one problem with this “superior” phone?
Give me a physical break. I bought a jawbone headset two days ago. Fully charged my iphone and headset overnight. Paired the two and started using it yesterday morning around 5:00am. No wifi all day. No music all day. No video all day. No browsing all day. Just proudly wore my new headset. Spent approximately 2-3 hours on calls. By 6:00pm my iphone let me know that I had used 80% of a full charge doing basically nothing all day.
This is unacceptable. Apple must fix this auto-searching feature.
I did notice that even wifi appears to auto-search, though there is a time interval of apprx 9 seconds between searches for available networks.
Has anyone been able to contact Apple and get even an “unofficial” response relative to this issue?
I’ve accidentally done a little more testing. It appears that is not the perpetual “discovery” of the bluetooth service on the iphone that drains the battery, but rather the actual connection to the headset. I discovered this when I turned off my headset overnight, yet left the bluetooth feature enabled on the iphone. The phone and headset were left in this state for approximately 13 hours and the was near zero drain on the phone battery.
To that end, I simply turn off my bluetooth headset when I know I don’t really need it, then turn it on when I do. This works for me, but probably won’t work for others. I gues the trick for people who must have their headsets on at all times, would be to make sure the phone is charging also. :-(
Can someone else conduct a similar test and let the board know your findings??
Thanks in advance,
~Sh
I’ve got a Jawbone that I’m trying to pair with an iPhone and the iPhone just continually searches. Powered off each and tried again, but no luck. Any ideas?
Nevermind… Just figured it out. Found a video on YouTube that showed me the correct way of doing it. I had been pressing and holding the Jawbone gray shield button for three seconds until I heard a beep and saw a white flash. I should have been holding down the *black* part of the Jawbone (pressing down on the engraved “Jawbone” logo) for three seconds until it blinked red and white. Once I did this, it worked like a charm and pairing took 5 seconds.
Here is my dilema. I had my Jawbone stolen. SO now I am trying to pair another bluetooth headset with my phone, when I went to unpair the Jawbone it went into an infinate search. Apparantly u need the old bluetooth switched on for it to unpair. The problem is I DONT HAVE THE OLD BLUE TOOTH! IT WAS STOLEN> so now what do I do, I tried the total reset of the phone, nothing. Now I lost a lot of my info for wireless, etc…… how do I reset the bluetooth? anyone had this problem????
I think this has been issue for long time, now 3GS also have same issue, what is the point of switch off wifi, switch off Bluetooth. How come other phone companies are figured out the issue and not apple? Is there any way we check devices manually instead of continuous Bluetooth check?
Me too the same issue, I am thinking to return back my iPhone, its so much expensive and not to use just because of bugs and battery problems. Bluetooth, wifi is very basic issues, Apple can not fix these? Its so frustrating.
Why Bluetooth is continuously searching for devices and how come we switch Bluetooth off and Bluetooth on when we needed that ridiculous and recommending wifi off for battery ( they can have search schedule instead of continuous search ). At least Apple should start free battery replacement or life time battery replace plan.
for aall those reporting lots battery usage, have you tried turning off the apps running in the back ground,
to do this,
get to main app screen,
double click the O button,
you will see a list of all apps running
then press and hold on one app
this will make these apps have a red – in the corner
press to turn off
now ure battery will last for ages
myself i still havent solved that stupid bluetooth problem and i dont think apple have, going to store to try to get fixed