I recently posted about seeing my iPhone battery nearly full after a day of heavy use. I really wanted to believe it. I did. There are times in life, however, when you realize that what you are experiencing is too good to be true. You wake up and find it was all a dream. This, my friends, was one of those times. Except there was no waking up. I wasn’t asleep, you see, it was just that the 3G’s battery indicator was lying to me. Not in a malicious way, mind you, but in the way a friend might lie to help you feel better. Like “hey, your blog posts are really funny” or “I always look forward to new additions to your blog.” You get the idea. The 3G wanted me to believe it had endless battery life because it knew I would feel better about the world.

I was tipped off when I looked closely at the little green icon and saw that it wasn’t just close to full. It was full. Completely full. Nothing could phase it. Not frequently turning off and on, loading large web pages, or even GPS. I knew what I had to do. Gently, but firmly, I held down the home and sleep buttons on the phone and watched the screen fade into blackness as the phone reset. Most of you have seen those events on medical TV shows or movies where they yell “clear” and shock the patient and then there’s an intense silence while they watch to see what happens. It was like that. Only with a phone. And there was no need to yell “clear” (though maybe I should try that next time for dramatic effect).

When the phone recovered, I saw that the battery was about half empty. Turns out this battery meter mischief has been reported elsewhere on the internet as well.

The good news? I’m still getting considerably better battery life than I experienced the first day or two. At least, I think I am.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 4:59 am and is filed under apple. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.