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Apple iPhone battery life, slowdown, and MobileMe sync

Recently my Apple iPhone 3GS with OS 3.1 started getting very warm in my pocket. And the battery life was very, very poor. It would be out of power after an hour or two. Huh? The battery life was fine one day, bad the next. What happened? How to fix iPhone poor battery life problems? How to fix iPhone slowdown problems?

I was able to figure out the reason for my problem and solve it. If you have similar problems, it may be the same, or it may be something different.

The Symptoms

The iPhone was too warm, like it had been running a graphics intensive game, even though it was doing nothing, sitting in my pocket. I suspected something in the iPhone that runs in the background was caught in some kind of loop, running constantly.

The Suspects

Well, there are lots of lesser system things but only only a few big system things that run in the background on an iPhone while it is just sitting at the Home screen sleeping: the phone software that keeps in touch with the cell towers, possibly the thing that looks for WiFi and Bluetooth wireless connections, the stuff that does ‘push’ – for application notifications and mail, and the thing that does ‘push’ with MobileMe services like the Calendar and Address Book.

The Investigation

My guess was that some software was hogging up all the computer time, heating the dev ice and using the battery. If this were a Macintosh, I’d just run the Activity Monitor utility and it would tell me what applications were using up all the CPU time. But the iPhone OS doesn’t have such a facility, so it was going to be a long hard slog.

Others who reported this kind of problem said things like turning off WiFi, syncing, Notifications helped. So I turned off one thing, then waited a while to see if the device didn’t get warm or chew up battery power. If it didn’t help, I tried another.

In the Settings app I tried turning off, one at a time: WiFi, Notifications, and in my Settings -> MobileMe mail account area, the Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Bookmarks, and Find My iPhone. And turning off one of these did solve the problem.

The Answer

Turning off Calendars in the Settings app in my MobileMe account did the trick.

Something was, it seemed, trying to constantly and endlessly sync the calendars in MobileMe with the iPhone. This constant communication and processing went on at all times, while I used the device, ran apps, even while the phone was sleeping.

I have three Macintosh computers that sync calendars with my MobileMe account, which is lepton@me.com. And of course the iPhone. The Macs and the MobileMe website all looked fine as far as calendars go. But when I checked closely into the Calendar app on the iPhone, I saw something unusual.

I went into Calendar and used the “Calendars” back button to get the screen (in OS 3.1) that lets you select what calendar to see. It had “All Calendars” at the top, and then the section named “lepton@me.com (MobileMe)” that listed the MobileMe calendars. That’s normal, but under that was a second “lepton@me.com (MobileMe)” section, and under that a third identical section.

OK, this messed up data must be the problem. And in fact, close checking confirmed this. These three entries had different sets of calendars, as I change them around from time to time. One set was the ‘right’ current set, the others were older sets.

As I looked at this screen with three sets, I saw it suddenly ‘jump’. These three sets were slowly, every five to ten seconds, rotating around in order. The ‘right’ set would be at top, then jump to the middle, then the bottom, back to top and so on. I could see right then and there that the system was constantly trying to update or get in sync these calendars. This was straining the system, slowing everything and ruining battery life.

The Solution Workaround

If this were not a System application, the solution would be easy. I would delete the application, and then re-install it. Doing this with any app deletes the app and all the data it has with it. Then reinstalling it gets you a fresh copy of the app, but without any data. Calendar could just sync once and get back the one and only proper set of calendars from MobileMe. This works with any app, if you don’t mind losing its settings and have a way to get back the data. But this is a System application. And you can’t delete a System application and therefore can’t delete the bogus extra data that was causing the problem.

So there is nothing you can do (with a stock, non-hacked iPhone). What I did was turn off MobileMe Calendar syncing in the Settings app of the iPhone. Then, on the Mac I physically sync with, in iTunes I turned on syncing with the calendars on that Mac. That Mac itself syncs with MobileMe. So everything is in sync. The Mac syncs with MobileMe and therefore the other two Macs, and the iPhone syncs with the Mac.

The drawback to this workaround is that the calendars on my iPhone only get updated when I physically sync with the Mac – calendars ‘push’ among the Macs, but not the iPhone. This is not a problem for me in my case.

And if I look at that screen in the Calendar app, I still see those extra bogus calendar sets. I had to go through and manually delete every calendar event in those calendars to get those duplicates out of the phone. Finally, everything is fine, with my calendars, battery life, and application speed.

The Aftermath

This is all a bug that is, in the end, up to Apple to fix. I have submitted a bug report and given additional information to Apple, so I expect at some point this problem will be addressed.

Maybe some readers have experienced the same problem, or perhaps a similar one. I hope what I learned and did can help you solve or workaround your problem – If you have a hot phone and low battery life, and sync with MobileMe, see if turning off one of the things you are syncing fix those symptoms.

Posted in Apple Inc., Macintosh, MobileMe, iPhone, iPod Touch.

5 comments

By lepton – October 11, 2009

Apple’s tablet computer – the “NetPad”

Most pundits agree that Apple is working on a tablet computer. What will it be like? Putting together all the information I have, none of it being from the inside, here is my latest prediction:

Third party rendition of something like I am describing here

A third-party rendition, similar to what I'm describing

Form Factor

It will not be a “book” but a “pad” like a tablet. It won’t be a scaled down Macintosh, but a scaled up iPod Touch, running the iPhone OS. Like the current devices, it will be all screen with almost no buttons or controls.

The best form factor is 7.75″ by 4.5″ by 0.4″. This is just about the biggest thing you can jam in a pants pocket. It fits well in a suit jacket pocket.

Screen

In a break from the 16:10 ratio Apple usually uses, this will be a 16:9 HD screen, 7.75″ diagonal, 1280 by 720, at a very dense 190 pixels per inch.

The screen will be AMOLED. The OLED screens can reach this density, use less power than an LCD backlit screen, and are thinner, allowing more room in the case for the electronics and battery.

That is a very high density screen. The current iPhone is 160 pixels per inch, 640×320. The higher density 720p HD screen will be beautiful for watching movies, and beautiful as a book reader.

Human Interface

One of the bigger breakthroughs necessary for this kind of device is “Palm Rejection”. On a device as small as an iPhone, you hold it in your hand, fingers curled around it, and none of your fingers touch the screen. But think of how you hold a bigger flat thing like a notebook. You have to put your fingers around the front of it, your thumb or part of your palm against the front side, your fingers around the back. Touch screen software has to detect and reject the part of your hand just holding the screen, while honoring your fingers giving touch commands to the screen.

When you put a pad down on the table and start writing on it with a stylus, the side of your hand will be on the screen and must be rejected, while the stylus input is accepted.

Yes, I believe the NetPad will accept a stylus a well as finger touches. The stylus will allow you to point with great precision, to draw, and to write. I believe Apple’s “Ink” technology from OS X will be added to the system.

I don’t see much more for I/O. A standard iPod connector, audio in and out, volume, power, and a Home button, all on the sides. Perhaps a mini USB connector for standardized charging.

Keyboard

In addition to the on screen keyboard, I believe you will be able to use a Bluetooth keyboard. And a Bluetooth mouse, which will work similar to the stylus.

Though any Bluetooth keyboard should work, I believe Apple may sell a special Bluetooth keyboard that matches the size and style of the NetPad. In fact, it may attach or clip on to the NetPad, face to face, making it easy to carry and protecting both the screen and keyboard keys. Actually, the clips may have some sort of hinge arrangement, making the whole assembly sort of… book-like.

Communication

Wi-Fi “n” will be built in of course. In addition to that, there will be a slot on the side, similar to an Express Card slot. This will accept cards from a number of data carriers like AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and so on. These cards will enable data-only connections to the carrier’s 3G or 4G networks. No voice, just data. The cards will fit fully into the NetPad, attaching to internal antennas.

The NetPad can be used without a card, connecting to the world through WiFi. But with a card, you are tethered to a wireless carrier, letting you use the pad anywhere.

Apple will sell the stand alone NetPad without a card. But the device will be available to be sold by any and all wireless carriers, bundled with a card, and a contract for tethered data. Since the connection is data-only and not voice, AT&T keeps its exclusive on Apple iPhones, while other carriers can join in the fun selling data for the NetPad.

The Killer App

Sometimes I ask myself: “Self, WHY would Apple make such a device? What would be the killer app?” The answer is that the killer app will be Apple Remote Desktop. Huh?

Imagine being at home and having a NetPad being a second, totally portable screen for your Mac. Imagine taking it out to the patio and touch-controlling Front Row on it. Keep all your movies on your desktop hard disks, and view them wherever you are.

Or, imagine being at work and having a portable second screen on your office Mac you can take to a meeting, or to lunch. Or maybe you must oversee a lot of servers, or you do support for every computer in the building, and you can quickly connect and share the screen with any other computer.

Having a streamlined screen sharing remote desktop built into this device is killer! Great for work and for play.

That’s not the only great app for the NetPad. It’s going to be a great book reader. Full color and high density makes it perfect for viewing textbooks. And magazines, and newspapers, and just for plain web browsing.

And what a gaming device! The small devices already have great games. They can only be better on bigger screens with more powerful CPU and graphics and better peripherals.

Posted in Apple Inc., iPhone, iPod Touch.

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By lepton – August 9, 2009

No iPhone for Verizon, but… A Data-Only Tablet?

Apple is not talking with Verizon about the iPhone – AT&T will keep its exclusive deal for a while. But their new tablet (see my post “Apple’s Next New Device – the NetPad!“) is another story.

I believe the tablet, or NetPad, as I call it, is like a larger iPod Touch, with one major difference. It will have the ability to connect to various cellular data services like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile to transfer data across the Internet. Like Amazon’s Kindle, will not make voice calls, just transfer data. AT&T will keep it’s exclusive for voice, and therefore for the iPhone. But the data-only NetPad, that’s a new ball game.

With this in place, the NetPad, like the iPhone, will be able to connect to the Internet over WiFi where available, and the cellular network everywhere else.

So, no voice calls over the NetPad. But what about VOIP calls over the Internet? Well, Apple currently allows VOIP only over WiFi, and not over the cellular network. I expect this will continue.

That’s why Apple is talking to Verizon. The GSM version of the NetPad will connect with most carriers including AT&T and T-Mobile, while the CDMA version will connect to Verizon. I expect Apple might be talking to T-Mobile soon, and all these talks are to set up data-only connection rate packages for the NetPad.

Posted in Apple Inc., iPhone, iPod Touch.

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1 comment

By lepton – April 28, 2009