I hate the Iphone Battery, make no mistake. The vast promise of the iPhone’s myriad of functions pales when you actually see them in action and watch the little battery logo in the top right corner of the phone visibly drain with every function. About two weeks ago I was simply fed up with the battery life all together and did some research on a few of the things I could cut to preserve the life of the phone. I was on a cycle of not being able to make it through a full day without a quick recharge, which is ridiculous for a phone that Apple touts as a serious “business ready” phone. That claim is laughable and until the battery life problem is fixed or batteries are replaceable at the very least, serious smartphone addicts simply aren’t going to be satisfied.

All that being said, here are five tips that have actually worked for me and haven’t killed the experience of having an iPhone, a tough balance to achieve. For the record, I have an iPhone 3G (not 3GS) and have used it for about a year.

Kill Your Microsoft Exchange “Push” Option
This has been the biggest help for me. I added my Microsoft Exchange email account to the phone (of which you’re only allotted one, which is a whole different gripe) and couldn’t make it through a work day. That is ridiculous and while it is nice to get your Exchange email the second it gets sent, setting it to a 15-minute cycle helps greatly. Your spam email and fantasy football aperts can wait those extra 14 minutes to be read. This applies to non-Exchange accounts as well as the more infrequently the iPhone checks email, the better your battery will fare.

Make Sparing Use of WiFi
The auto-scan feature of the iPhone’s WiFi connection is useful, to a point, but also kills battery life. Of course, if you’re like me and you get annoyed that when you’re driving the iPhone asks you every 10 minutes to connect to “Brian’s l337 Connection” or “Default SID”, you’ve already turned this off. Utilize the WiFi only when you need it and only when you know of the network you’re trying to connect with to save a little bit of gas.

Turn Off That Infernal Vibration
For a company built on intuitive user interfaces, I will be shocked if you found the setting to turn off vibration the first time you tried. It is ridiculously buried in Settings -> Sound and turning it off not only preserves your sanity (the email vibration alert on a desk every 15 minutes is enough to strangle a cubicle neighbor) but your battery as well.

Turn Down Screen Brightness
I wouldn’t say that you should turn down the brightness at all times, but when I go out at night and I know I don’t need a very bright screen to be able to see the phone, I turn the brightness down to almost nothing. This won’t prolong your battery for an extra day, but it will buy you a few extra hours of idle time when you’re waiting for that important late night text message. Enough said about that.

Succumb To Capitalism
There are quite a few third party products that you can bring with you to give your iPhone a quick boost when you’re not near a USB power source. You can do your own searching on USB chargers (there are hundreds of different types), but there are a few well-reviewed iPhone-specific charging devices that will get the job done. Check out the Amazon listings and reviews for these three items, all with decent reviews:

• Kensington Charging Dock with Mini Battery Pack (nice little dock)
• Energizer iPower Case with Built-In Rechargeable Battery (a pretty cool case + battery combo)
• Duracell Instant Power Charger for USB (a pretty cheap USB-compatible device with good reviews)

Hopefully one or two of these tips work for you and help extend the battery life. Even with them, I hate the iPhone battery for turning the many features of the phone into a giant cost vs. benefit game where I have to evaluate whether the 10 minutes of TweetDeck reading is worth the battery it chews up. Of course, if you’re using it to follow @covertnerd, more power to you.

For more in depth discussion of iPhone battery life, check out:

• Apple’s Battery Tips: http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html
• Gizmodo’s Longer List of Tips: http://gizmodo.com/5025150/how-to-maximize-your-iphone-3gs-questionably-adequate-battery-life