July 10th, 2009
Battery percentage indicator for all iPhones
Easily the most under-publicized new feature in the iPhone 3GS is the ability to view the amount of charge remaining in a numerical percentage in addition to the visual indicator that appears on the battery icon. To enable the feature, simply tap:
Settings > General > Usage > Battery Percentage
The problem is that the feature is only available on the iPhone 3GS hardware, as is not a feature available on iPhone OS 3.0 as I originally thought. As I commented on PowerPage Podcast Episode 114, this seems bogus to me. I understand how Apple wants to upsell people to the 3GS, but isn’t that what the video camera, voice control and the compass are for?
You can’t tell me that Apple couldn’t easily have enabled the simple battery percentage indicator in software for all iPhones. The are several applications for jailbroken iPhones that do just that. Reader Brian Murray notes that a solution exists for other iPhone models, albeit without the top bar integration:
Although this doesn’t sit in the top bar of the iPhone, the app FreeMemory (pictured, right) has a percentage battery indicator and you don’t need to jailbreak your iPhone to use it. I’ve also found this app handy when memory gets tight and avoids resetting the phone.
The fact that Apple restricts Voice Control to the iPhone 3GS smells a little fishy too. Especially when you consider that apps like Google Mobile and Vlingo have voice control now for all iPhone models — not just the 3GS.
Isn’t voice control a safety issue? Could a case be made that Apple’s removal of voice control from the original iPhone and iPhone 3G puts its customers at an unnecessary risk? I bet there are a lot of attorneys that would take the case.
Jason D. O'Grady is the editor of PowerPage.org, which has been publishing daily mobile technology news since December 1995. For disclosures on Jason's industry affiliations, click here or to view Jason's full profile click here.
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