Q: iPhone 4s Battery Life?

Pichu21 - I wish I believed that - I really do. However, they released this and there is no conceiveable way they could have been unaware of the issues. Testing is serious with Apple - they are no small outfit with a couple of employees trying the product for a few hours in a back room.

I admire your faith but I do not share it.

Shareholders income and the upgrade cycle took priority over customer. I do not believe that is entirely cynical.

Going to try a couple of things, maybe wait for 5.1

But if its not solved by then, i'm off to another OS too.

I really like the iPhone, but this lack of information from Apple is annoying.

But until then, i'll try about everything i can. As i want to keep my 4s.

Should not introduce this to this topic, I am not trying to hijack it, but...

My iPhone also starts to sound like it is underwater and cuts out after not much more than a minute or two of phone calls. It happened when I was speaking to the O2 phone support this morning. The engineer called back and advised me to do a backup and then a full system restore.

They are not still having signal drop out issues are they!?

Anyway - that is a different thread...   ;-)

Yes robrobedin,  the location based reminders are known to cause excessive drain due to the continuous polling  of GPS. The iOS 5.1 update is supposed to address that as well from what I read. So for time being maybe set the reminder for a specific time and turn off the location to help with the battery issue. Or you could plug in your phone while at work to keep your battey up until a fix is released. Also you said you restored  from your 3GS backup? Did you happen to do the reset process from the other thread? https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3484755 And drain the battery all the way then charge it? If you restored from a previous iPhone that is HIGHLY recommended.

Chris, have you seen or tried the reset mentioned in another thread?

iPhone 4S 5.0.1 Update Improves Battery w/ Settings Reset  That seems to really help  a lot. Certainly you should try it. I have copied the process below:

[Credit to Davidch for this fix]

For anyone new to the thread be sure to go through these steps to address the battery after updating to iOS 5.0.1:

1. Reset all settings (settings app-> general-> reset)

2 a. Go through initial setup steps (lang, wifi, siri, enable location, etc) and choose setup as new phone (don't worry your apps, data, contacts, mail will still be there). Do NOT restore from iCloud or iTunes (It can copy back corrupt settings)

2 b. If you do not get the complete new setup screen with language setup and setup as new phone or restore from iTune/iCloud backup, be sure to go back to #1 and reset all settings again (it should happen the second time)

3. Turn off system location services timezone and iAd (settings -> location services -> system services)

4. Fully discharge battery (until you get the spinning wheel and it shuts off)

5. Fully recharge battery (overnight if possible)

In my experience this improves the Standby battery drain issue significantly in most cases.  It reduces drain from 2-4% or more per hr to 0.5% or less. It has worked for many, many users now. If it does not work after a few try's you may have a real battery or hardware issue and should contact Apple.  Good Luck!

Agreed! well put. Apple wont just let this go. Thats not who they are. They ARE however always silent about releases and fixes and new items etc so its no suprise they are not chiming in.

I know - the features and design of the iPhone are good and they are what attracted me to it.

I would stick it out but - and it's a big but - I rely on my phone a good deal. I already carry a lot of stuff and I don't want to be in the silly position of carrying a second phone because my "good" one might not manage to stay charged.

Something makes me a bit uneasy, however. That is the fact that we should all see these symptoms - every iPhone user with 5.0.1 and an iPhone 4s - they should all be giving problems.

My reasoning is that there is nothing "different" with my phone. I am assured it works fine physically and that the problem is recognised as a OS issue by the engineers. So, if that is the case, how do some people not have the problem?

That makes no sense to me.

It is currently 14.16 in the UK where I live. I charged my phone overnight and I am now charging again.

That cannot simply be an OS issue - surely? I have almost every service turned off except for when I charge the phone!

Chris you certainly make good points. And if you are that dissatisfied you are very well within your rights to return the phone and move on. And really no one would blame you. However I will say that whats failed to be considered here is the fact that there are millions of iPhone 4s out there that are working perfectly, so did Apple test it, well of course they did. And suppose they tested 20,000 units before they went out the door. With the millions of phones sold there is a good change no issue was seen on those 20,000. Add to it the fact that folks are restoring from old 3g and older 4 phones and all the different 3rd party apps people have installed and well you can see how maybe this issue was not discovered until several million units were in the hands of the average consumer. Anyway I am not "ok" that there are phones out there not getting the stated specs (I  am not either BTW but I am getting acceptable results and love the phone) but I feel confident that Apple is working on it because they have produced some of the best devices to date.  However as I said I hear you and you certainly have a valid point. I replied to you with the reset process that could help if you want to consider doing it. It would be interesting to see if it helps you as well. Good luck with whatever decision you make!

sbailey4 - many thanks for the details.

I have followed the steps you included and shall now let it drain completely.

I shall try the service over the coming weekend and if I can at least be assured of making/receiving a decent number of calls and also of receiving a good number of sms in a daily period - I will be ok with that and then hope for an improvement with iOS updates. I shall continue resisting using the iTunes or Twitter client and Mail sync over mobile data throughout that period of time. Much as I grudge it...

I just realised - I have diagnostic data being returned in the setup, anyway. My experience is surely already being recorded somewhere, already.

I hope to become friends with this phone. I am trying to avoid being sceptical but the amount the phone is falling short of an acceptable level is worrying me.

There is no "hate", just annoyed people who want their money's worth, and understandably so. Not everyone will have faith until the end of days and that's just normal...

Scarface. wrote:

[...]

I have been fiddling around on the main menu, settings, etc and it's still at the same percentage! [...]

That sort of enthusiastic rambling is just useless - it's really that sort of behavior that creates a distortion and gives some Apple users a bad name. Don't make the mistake of simply reacting to complaints. Test your stuff methodically and then you can make a real convincing case. Tons of people have put their hands on 5.1 and I haven't seen one of them coming here and making any magic claims. You yourself not long ago said you had bad news about this. As the topic creator you should have known by now that the battery indicator is not the most reliable. And you gave yourself points for that? lollll

1apple,  Actually not here but there are other forums I have seen that indicate that 5.1 has helped. Some say not but several say "remarkable". And yes it does take a tad more testing to know BUT any positive hope is welcome'd!  Oh and 5.1 is in its first beta so the final could change dramatically.  I am sorta shocked that there is no beta2 by now but maybe Apple is really taking their time on this one. Hopefully soon we will know for sure.

Scarface keep us posted on your results!

to add to my testing I turned siri back on with location services on everything I would want to have on except for reminders and guess what....   83% usage 54 minutes stand by 11 hours, 34 minutes. 

So... my testing shows its reminders that is draining my battery.  BUT.... it does drop about 1% every 3-4 minutes while in use ie: news app, safari or email

Gives me hope!!! I will wait patiently if it means getting an update that actually FIXES the issue. As to 1Apple, that's quite a response for a post we've all been waiting for. I am amazed.

@Scarface

This sounds good but it is first when I hear or read that actually iOS 5.1 beta fixes the phantom battery drain. I actually read only the opposite. Could you point to any links (forums?) which show that also others have had the same experience like you with iOS 5.1 beta?