Today, I came across this article from CNET about how to preserve the battery life of the new iPhone. I typically just ignore these types of articles because they all offer the same old advice, which is pretty much to disable every feature on the iPhone, but I figured I would check it out to see if there is anything new related to the new iPhone 3GS.  The article started out a bit different than other articles and listed a few items that I would agree wtih, such as draining your battery completely and force quit applications.  After those, the article fell into the trap of every other article out there, including the ones from Apple Support which is disable every feature that made you want the iPhone in the first place.

It is suggested that you:

1. Minimize location services
2. Turn off push notifications
3. Fetch new data less frequently
4. Turn off push mail
5. Autocheck fewer accounts
6. Minimize 3rd party applications
7. Turn off Wi-fi
8. Turn off 3G
9. Turn off Bluetooth

Give me a break! Most of these options is why I bought the phone in the first place!  I typically get about 6 hours of usage and that is from using app, surfing, listening to music, texting, and making calls.  A full charge usually lasts me 2 days, unless I just get bored and play on my phone.  In that case, the phone will only last me a day.

Here are a few habits I have gotten into to help with my battery:

1. Turn off auto lock and get into a habit of locking the phone manually.  I don’t know how many times the phone would lock up while I am just reading stuff on the phone.  I thought about increasing the time on the autolock, but found out that I liked just locking the phone manually
2. Turn off “wifi ask to join networks”.  I would gest extra push notifications for having this on and found it annoying.  I also figured it would help with battery life since its sending out fewer notifications
3. Turn down the brightness on the phone.  Dont’ turn it down too much or else you won’t enjoy your apps very much, but the dimmer screen can help and is easier on the eyes.
4. When you do charge the battery, try your best to hold off as long as you can.  I try to make sure my battery if as low as possible before I charge it as it could help prolong the life of your battery.

As you can tell, my list is pretty weak and I am stretching it a bit, but that is because I don’t recommend removing all of the features that make the iPhone what it is.  I would recommend that you do play with some of the settings such as push and pull email, although when I played around with that I did not notice much of a difference at all, but your results may vary.  And if you are a power user, look at getting a rechargable battery case that can usually double your battery life.  I haven’t done this yet myself, but it is something I may consider if my needs ever increase

What do you find works the best to increase the life of your battery in your iPhone?

[CNET Article - Get the most out of your iPhone battery]