I 'm not so sure that it is. Beeping as a low battery warning was something my old (dumb) cellphones did, but neither my wife or I’s new Android phones (I have a Motorola Droid X, she has an HTC Incredible) seem to do so. And it’s not in either of their menus as an option.
My guess at their thinking is that if your cellphone lasts a week or more before a battery charge you might need a warning when it gets low, but if you’re going to recharge it every night then an audible low battery indicator is of little value.
BTW, if you put the iPhone in “Airplane Mode”, the battery will last for many days. Unless you really want to be woken up by calls in the middle of the night.
Apple neglects a lot of basic features without giving a reason, I doubt you’ll find an answer for something like this.
But a phone with the display off takes a long time to die. My iPhone 3G would only lose a couple percent overnight, for example. If it’s low enough to die overnight, how much battery is left when you go to bed?
Really? Some people complain that the Incredible’s battery alert is annoying. The Droid had it, but they went with the popup on the X. My Nexus One vibrates, can’t recall if it beeps.
How about this: As you retire to your bedroom, iPhone in hand, press the home button and glance at the power level icon before you place it on your bedside table. If the level is under 25%, plug it in. if it is over that, don’t worry about it.
Any one who uses a smart phone knows how long the battery lasts for them. If I barely touch my iPhone, I know it loses 5-10% charge every day. If I do a lot of work with it, I know that I need to charge it every other day at least. You should have a pretty good idea about how long your battery will last under any circumstance, assuming you pay minimal attention to the battery level.
How about this: When someone complains about a flaw in an Apple product, people don’t have to come up and defend the company? Why should the consumer have to change their habits to use a product, rather than the designer meeting the consumer’s needs?
Then again, you shouldn’t complain when you buy from someone who has a repeated history of doing this. And, if it’s at all possible, there’s probably already an app for this–you just have to throw off the shackles of Jobs’s religious level of control on the devices he makes.
Considering the amount of time I spend on various iPhone forums reading complaints and feature requests, and given the fact that this is the first I’ve even seen mention of this feature being missing, I’d hardly call it a “flaw.” As pointed out above, I think the OP is in a tiny minority that feels that this feature is a necessity.
There are plenty of things you can harp on the iPhone for; or any phone, for that matter. On the list of “flaws,” or even “egregious oversights,” this one falls flat.
Sorry to be so fussy - but I don’t like plugging the phone in before the battery has fully drained. It’s part of not trusting claims about the way these batteries can be used in ways that don’t shorten their life. Whenever I’ve plugged the phone in at 20% the resulting charge last a LOT less long than when it’s had a charge from fully drained.
I spent a lot of money on this phone, and it doesn’t have a replaceable battery, so I hope you can understand why I am being this way.
Yes but your tone reads like this is a flaw and that there needs to be an “official excuse” when the truth is that they don’t have it because the overwhelming majority of their users don’t want or need such a feature.
I don’t think anyone at Apple considered that someone would not believe their claims about how best to charge batteries. Basically, Apple assumed that you would be recharging your iPhone on a daily basis and not letting it get to 0%, so they didn’t put in a feature that would audibly warn you. Nor did other smartphone makers, judging by previous responses to this thread. I think Apple would tell you that, regardless of what you think is the best way to charge your iPhone, they think the best way is to charge it on a nightly basis.
The iPhone battery graphic turns red at 20%. That doesn’t help Lobsang because he doesn’t always look at it when it gets that low and it could go down to nothing.
Do most people really like constant alerts, warnings and error messages? I just don’t get that psychology. Charge your phone every night and there are no problems. Don’t want to charge your phone every night? That’s your problem. Your belief that letting the battery drain completely giving you a longer charge is in your head.
Ok my psychologist. It’s in my head. When’s my next appointment? I’m starting to hear the bad voices again.
Joking aside - my phone battery really does run out much quicker if I give it a full charge before it has run out - Case in point: It was down to 15percent at 12am one night. I stuck it on charge. When it got to 100% I unplugged it. by 2pm the next day it was down to about 15 percent again. It had lost 75% of its charge in 14 hours. The battery was fully drained by about 5pm. When I resumed my habit of drain-fully-then-charge-fully the phone’s battery resumed it’s full lifespan.
(A typical full charge will last about 2.5 days)
And just to point out - I’m asking about ONE audible alarm - for when the phone actually runs out. One of my previous (recent) phones made a discreet ‘ting’ sound JUST before it switched itself off. It was a useful little cue to tell me to plug my phone in. Or that I won’t receive calls or alarms.
It starts using battery power as soon as to unplug it. If you leave it plugged in until you’re ready to be in motion, it will charge up the battery then start using power from the house circuit.
Look. Why is it so hard for you people to understand…
I want to charge my phone when it’s run out. That’s my choice. I believe that prolongs battery longevity. I could be wrong, but devices I’ve owned have so far not been consistent with the official line on battery usage, so given that I spent a lot of money on the device I want to ensure it lasts a long time.
Therefore
I charge it when it switches off.
Therefore
A sound for when it switches off would be useful so that I don’t have to take phone out of pocket, bring off standby, look, put back in standby, repeat x20 times.
Make sense???
So does the battery lose any charge at all while it’s plugged in?
I once read an article that stated that ‘constant trickle charge’ is bad for this type of battery. And I could be wrong but doesn’t the iphone get the ‘trickle charge’ when it reaches 100%
So… If both of the following conditions are met, then leaving the phone plugged in will fit with my battery charge method.
The phone does not get a trickle charge when it reaches 100%
The battery does not drain while the phone is plugged in.