Living Beyond Tomorrow's Technology: Apple's iPhone will have a long-lasting battery

Apple Inc.'s iPhone will have a longer-lasting battery than it originally expected, exceeding those in rival phones, the company release said. The company put to rest two of several concerns about the iPhone, which combines a music player and cell phone. It is due to hit stores on June 29.

Apple said the iPhone would provide up to eight hours of talk time, or six hours of Internet use. In January, it said the battery would last as long as five hours of talk time. Apple also said the top surface of the touch-screen phone, which will sell for about US$500 to US$600 through a subscription with AT&T Inc., has been upgraded from plastic to optical-quality glass, making it more resistant to scratches. Because users will control the phone by moving their fingers across its screen, the materials used could be crucial to the acceptance and durability of the phone, analysts said.

AT&T, the biggest U.S. wireless provider, has an exclusive agreement to sell the phone in the United States for at least two years. The company has said that more than a million people have inquired about the phone via e-mail. But wireless experts have questioned whether Apple's first phone, built off the success of its iPod music and video player, will live up to the industry hype ahead of its launch.

"It all depends what (consumers) use it for, but I think it would make quite a bit of difference ... versus traditional smartphone talk times," Yankee Group analyst Lauren Cotes said, comparing the iPhone's eight hours of talk time to rival devices with four or five hours. The iPhone battery cannot be easily removed, unlike those of traditional cell phones, so power efficiency is an even more important feature in this device, Cotes said.

Shaw Wu of American Technology Research questioned whether the phone would live up to its claims. "We hope those times are accurate, but our sources have indicated iPhone's active use battery life may be closer to around 4-5 hours for heavy use, similar to other smart phones," Wu said in a note to clients.

Manufacturers are always battling to improve the battery life of cell phones, as constant communication with radio broadcast towers tends to drain power more quickly than unconnected consumer electronics devices. Smartphones such as the iPhone also need lots of power as they also aim to handle Web browsing, personal data storage and music and video playback. Apple said its battery claims are dependent upon specific configurations and "many other factors."

Apple spokeswoman Jennifer Bowcock said the January battery-life estimate was based on a pre-production model of the iPhone. Analysts said Apple had likely kept power management as a priority in writing the phone's operating software and used the best available battery technology for the device. "I think it's a combination of factors, better battery technology, more efficient software and also hardware, such as power management chips," said Wu.

Apple said all told, the iPhone can support up to eight hours of talk time, seven hours of video playback, or 24 hours of audio playback.

Source: China Post

Technical specifications are subject to change.

1GB = 1 billion bytes; actual formatted capacity less.
Talk Time: Testing conducted by Apple in May and June 2007 using preproduction iPhones and software. All talk time testing was done connected to a 1900MHz network. All settings were default except: Call Forwarding was turned on; the WiFi feature Ask to Join Networks was turned off. Battery life depends on the cellular network, location, signal strength, feature configuration, usage, and many other factors. Battery tests are conducted using specific iPhone units; actual results may vary.
Standby: Testing conducted by Apple in May and June 2007 using preproduction iPhones and software. All settings were default except: Call Forwarding was turned on; the WiFi feature Ask to Join Networks was turned off. Battery life depends on the cellular network, location, signal strength, feature configuration, usage, and many other factors. Battery tests are conducted using specific iPhone units; actual results may vary.
Internet over WiFi: Testing conducted by Apple in May and June 2007 using preproduction iPhones and software. Internet over WiFi testing conducted using a closed network and dedicated web and mail server, simulating browsing to 20 popular URLs and checking mail once an hour. All settings were default except: Call Forwarding was turned on; the WiFi feature Ask to Join Networks and Auto-Brightness were turned off; WPA2 encryption was enabled. Battery life depends on the cellular network, location, signal strength, WiFi connectivity, feature configuration, usage, and many other factors. Battery tests are conducted using specific iPhone units; actual results may vary. Internet over EDGE: Testing conducted by Apple in May and June 2007 using preproduction iPhones and software. Internet over EDGE testing conducted over a 1900 MHz EDGE, using a dedicated web and mail server, simulating browsing to 20 popular URLs and checking mail once an hour. All settings were default except: Call Forwarding was turned on; the WiFi feature Ask to Join Networks and Auto-Brightness were turned off. Battery life depends on the cellular network, location, signal strength, EDGE connectivity, feature configuration, usage, and many other factors. Battery tests are conducted using specific iPhone units; actual results may vary.
Video Playback: Testing conducted by Apple in May and June 2007 using preproduction iPhones and software. Video content was a repeated 2 hour 23 minute movie purchased from the iTunes Store. All settings were default except: Call Forwarding was turned on; the WiFi feature Ask to Join Networks and Auto-Brightness were turned off. Battery life depends on the cellular network, location, signal strength, feature configuration, usage, and many other factors. Battery tests are conducted using specific iPhone units; actual results may vary.
Audio Playback: Testing conducted by Apple in May and June 2007 using preproduction iPhones and software. The playlist consisted of 358 unique audio tracks, a combination of content imported from CDs using iTunes (128-Kbps AAC encoding) and content purchased from the iTunes Store (128-Kbps AAC encoding). All settings were default except: Call Forwarding was turned on; the WiFi feature Ask to Join Networks was turned off. Battery life depends on the cellular network, location, signal strength, feature configuration, usage, and many other factors. Battery tests are conducted using specific iPhone units; actual results may vary.

iPhone

A Closer Look At The iPhone