How good is the iphone battery? With all the Nokia phones i’ve had i’ve found that about 18-24 months old the battery starts to die and was just wondering if the Apple care is worth having to cover if this happens. I’ve never bothered with Apple care before (wish I did for my Mac Pro 😥 ) and was wondering if its worth having for this alone.

Anyone with any experience of Apple care?

It’s a bit crap in terms of how long it goes between charges but it’s like that from new. Can’t say I’ve noticed any deterioration though.

I haven’t gone for apple care – like pretty much all extended warrantys, it’s a bit of a con IMO.

Mine is coming up for 2 years old now and the battery is still fine.

You will need to charge everyday though (if not more).

yes if you don’t have it ensure that you have lots of followers on the interwebs, then throw all your toys out of the pram, slag off Apple’s elitist “deny everything” policies and berate their store/brand/etc and then out of the blue they’ll phone you up, ask “if we fix it will you be happy to use our products again?” say yes and then get a replacement macbookpro. Alternatively go into an apple reseller and they may suggest some kind of “accident” which is then covered by your home contents.

no one will have had an iPhone4 for long enough to know if the battery fails, I’ve a feeling apple care doesn’t cover batteries?

all in all the iPhone4 battery is pretty good, it lasts all day and thats using the phone a reasonable amount and using internet tethering. I always charge my phone over night.

Nokia lost me as a phone customer with the diabolical n97, quite possibly the most flawed “smartphone” I’ve ever had the inconvenience to own, the best thing I ever did with that phone was sell it for scrap to the catfoodwhorehouse.

No personal experience of the iPhone but I have had an original iPod Touch since Jan 2008. The battery life does not seem to have changed over the last 3 years, though of course it is hard to really gauge as use is so variable. I would stick my neck out and say that the battery will probably last as long the phone itself is useable before you want to change to whatever will come along in 2014. I’d save my money, or have a look round for companies who replace iPhone batteries and see how much they charge. Assume that you will get 24 months life at least from the battery and then work out which comes cheaper, Apple Care or replacement by a third party.

Battery on my original iPhone worked well for about two years, then took a distinct dive in the last six months I had it. Applecare will not cover you for this as it is wear-and-tear. They do however offer a replacement service which is about £60.

http://www.apple.com/uk/support/iphone/service/battery/

My 3G was still pretty much as new as 18 months old 🙂

Thanks for the replies I was just wondering longterm as stated in my op my experience with Nokia battery’s is not great. Apple iphone care does cover battery but is the same price as a battery replacement that they offer

1. iPhone comes with 90 days of technical support. AppleCare Protection Plan benefits are in addition to any legal rights provided by consumer protection laws in your jurisdiction. Service coverage may be subject to certain restrictions. Service coverage is available for battery depletion of 50 percent or more from the original specification. Products returned for service may be repaired or replaced with parts equivalent to new in performance and reliability. This plan extends your service coverage to two years from the date of your iPhone purchase. The plan must be purchased while your iPhone is still under its original one-year warranty.

Don’t think i’ll bother with it.

I don’t think Li-Pol batteries are too bad for degradation.

If/when the time comes I’ll just replace the battery myself. It doesn’t look too hard:
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAy3xgdci4s[/video]

Use battery doctor to keep it healthy. My iPhone 4 will currently go 3 to 4 days with little use, wifi on and push e-mail enabled. You need to do a full cycle charge once a month (start from below 20% charge).

You need to do a full cycle charge once a month (start from below 20% charge).

Why? And what exactly does Battery Doctor do? As I understand it Li-ion batteries have no memory effect. The best a full discharge/charge does is keep the battery gauge well calibrated.

Battery experts agree that the life of lithium-ion depends on other factors than charge and discharge rates…
Avoid frequent full discharges because this puts additional strain on the battery. Several partial discharges with frequent recharges are better for lithium-ion than one deep one. Recharging a partially charged lithium-ion does not cause harm because there is no memory.
..

Batteries with fuel gauge (laptops) should be calibrated by applying a deliberate full discharge once every 30 charges. Running the pack down in the equipment does this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less accurate and in some cases cut off the device prematurely. 

— http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

Iphone 4 battery much better. Having said that, I have to charge mine at least once a day as I am constantly on it.

No complaints with my iPhone 4 battery. It has the odd day when it eats reserves maybe twice as quickly as expected, but generally lasts 18-36hrs depending on use.

Usually carry a charger when I’m out and about for a day or so, but TBH it lasts better than expected.

<ducks> And the phone itself (with the App store of course) is still IMO miles ahead of the opposition </ducks>