First Charge for iPhone 3G

Does anyone how long the first battery charge should be for the iPhone 3G?

 

Around 3-4 hours for a full charge cycle, I think. With the wall charger, it's around 2-3. Make sure to do between three to five full charge cycles when you first get it to get better battery life, which is running the battery down until the iPhone shuts itself off, then charge it fully. Battery life gets much better after the first few full charges. After that, I can get around four and four and a half hours of battery life on average with brightness between 40%-70% and 3G on the whole time.

 

^ Got a source? I don't think Li-ion batteries like to get drained to the point of shutting off.

 

Apple says on their site to do that. It's called a "battery calibration". I've read on MacRumors that it's best to do it around 3-5 times when you first get it for the best battery life, then do it every few charge cycles. It doesn't actually drain it down to the point that the batteries force the device off, but the iPhone shuts itself off to protect the batteries from draining themselves all the way down. It stimulates all of the cells in the battery so you get more battery info (how much of a charge is left) and also helps max out the battery life. It definitely worked for me, and brought up my battery life by at least a hour.

Apple mentions it here:

http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html

 

So all i need for the very first charge is 3-4 hours? that's it? and then let it turn off by itself and repeat 4 more times?

thanks for the quick response

+ rep for both of you

 

Thanks for the rep ! All of the full charges take around 3-4 hours. Make sure to let it reach 100%. There's a battery icon on the home screen that fills up as it charges to show you its' progress, make sure to charge it until 100% the first few times. It takes a while to reach 100% from 90%, so make sure not to mistake them. The battery icon glows brighter once it reaches 100%.

Did you already run down the battery?

 

thanks for info. i think that at 100% the battery icon in the top right corner turns from an energy sign to a plug sign. lol, i just got the phone at 7pm so its going for its first full charge. i will let it run down tomorrow as i use it.

 

How do you like it so far? Did yours come with any defects? Mine came out of the box with some cosmetic problems, but other than that, it's been great.

 

Ever consider that Apple says that to ensure your battery will wear down sooner so that they can make more money? Li-Ion batteries don't like being fully drained. And to calibrate the battery is to make sure the gauge reads the battery health correctly. It doesn't need 5 cycles for you to do that. A cycle can be achieved in another way as well. Just simply use the battery to (for instance) half health, charge it up, then drain to half health, then charge... ten times, that will do the EXACT same thing without risking your battery life.

Check out the Battery Guide and take a look at how to maintain your batteries yourself. I urge both of you to. And I am definitely skeptical about what Apple says on its site. I wouldn't even calibrate my battery at all if I were in the OP's position.

Edit: I don't own an iPhone, so I do not know when it stops the battery from fully draining but if its anywhere below 10% health there will be some issues. And every 30 cycles is when you are supposed to do a calibration. I don't bother, I use it and if it happens to get fully drained accidentally, that serves as the battery's calibration. The way I am doing it is working great for me, hopefully it will work for you too.

 

heres some important info, once in a while, drain your iphone's battery to none. keep it on during night or something. this will help stabilize the iphone's batt life. if you dont, soon enough the indicator will detect 100% battery life, but for real, you have 98% battery life. it gets worse and worse

 

5 cycles isn't that big a deal one way or another. don't just burn it through 5 cycles without using it. just start using it and every once in a while make sure that it discharges fully (shuts down) before recharging.

 

I love it. No probelms so far. I had the original iPhone but could not use it becuase iTunes did not support Vista 64 at that time.


Some of you were right; with the new battery, the whole business with running the battery down doesnt really matter. I do appreciate for all the feedback.

 

The gauge is not what is of the highest concern, its the battery. Only do it once every 30 charge cycles which is awhile... Otherwise you risk harming the battery. It only took me about 10-20 times of full draining on my T60's 10 month old battery to have it degrade to half its total life.

 

As a rule of thumb i drain my batteries once a month, both MBP and iPhone.