I really wanted to test this battery out in a real situation. I took the phone up to full charge last night and left it in the charger until I was heading out to the mall.
In my car, I do not have a charger that works. I played music from my library on the way to the mall. I sent a few text messages here and there and also made a few phone calls.
To the surprise of no one, stores like Target, FYE, and the AT&T store did not have any updated 3G ready branded car chargers. On the way home I listened to Last.fm over 3G in the car. The day started around 2pm. Then, when I got home, I did my regular browsing, app, gaming on the unit before and after taking a nap. By the end of my use, it was about 6pm. At this point, I was already down below 50% battery.
With my first gen iPhone, I was very preventative with battery life and it was always a non factor. I charge overnight, I charge at work if necessary, and I charge whenever in the car. I never had to think about my battery. Now, with this new 3G version sucking down more juice, I think I just have to follow the same routine. The only missing piece is a car charger, which there seems to be a lack of and also a lack of a web page or list that states which chargers are compatible.
One positive thing I noticed is the 3G iPhone wifi signal seems to be a tad better. In a couple spots in my house, the 3g gets a bar or two more than the first gen iPhone.
On a side note, while in Radioshack looking at their iPod accessories, an employee there saw my white iPhone and said “Is that a white iPhone?” And I said “Yeah.” And he said “Oh, I never seen one of those.” I said “It’s new.” I thought everyone was at least aware of what was going on with the iPhone, especially someone who works for a store that sells competing products and accessories for the iPhone.