An undisclosed number of users who have posted on Apple’s discussion boards about poor battery life following the iPhone 3.1 software update are being contacted by AppleCare helpdesk with a hefty list of 11 follow-up questions. These questions focus primarily on the usual battery culprits, email (especially push), WiFi and Bluetooth, and App Store apps. Number 10, asking “When you notice a power drop, does it seem to be a legitimate power drop, or rather an issue with the battery icon indicator?”, is certainly interesting.
The note also contains an attachment which, when double-clicked, installs what looks like an unsigned profile, similar to what is provided (in signed form) by developers using Ad Hoc provisioning for beta testing. (We’re guessing there’s a reason for it not to be signed, but — note to Apple — signing would make us feel so much warmer and fuzzier about it). This profile enables Battery Life Logging on the iPhone.
Once enabled, the iPhone will sync power logs back via iTunes, and they ask that those logs be sent back to Apple. (Due to the size of the logs, they recommend users not go for a few days without syncing, and provide instructions on turning off Battery Life Logging once the information has been accumulated.
AppleCare as contacted Apple discussion board users in the past surrounding other issues, like the iPhone 3G ringer following 3.0, so hopefully this means Apple is continuing to look into all major issues surrounding iPhone 3.1, especially the random lock ups and shut downs (dubbed “coma”).

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