New iPhone 4 battery life

Question

Level 2

320 points

New iPhone 4 battery life

After waiting in line at my local Apple store I got a shiny new iPhone to replace my 2 yr old 3G. I'm delighted with it on nearly every count. Speed, display, speed, design, and did I mention speed? That said, I'm disappointed in battery life. I used to carry my 3G around all day, take several calls, play solitaire a bit, surf a bit and barely **** the battery. I'd often go a couple of days without needing to charge it. In the few days I've had my new iPhone I've noticed that the battery life isn't nearly up to snuff. Granted the first day or so I played, surfed a bit more than normal, but not nearly enough to drain the battery down to less than a third of a charge in the course of a day.
I found out how to turn off 'background' processes only to also discover that when you get the list up by double clicking the home button it lists not only those apps that might be running in the background but also those most recently launched apps, whether they are running or not. Very confusing. Turning them all off constantly isn't a good user experience. Not knowing what is running or not isn't either. Is there a way to turn off multi tasking? And why is my battery not nearly as good as my 3G experience? Oh, and I can also drop my bars to nothing by holding my palm across the antenna break in the lower left hand corner of the phone. I can live with that, but the battery drain is not good.

iPhone 4g, iOS 4, Black

Posted on Jun 27, 2010 9:25 AM

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Answer 1

docs44

Level 1

71 points

Jun 27, 2010 9:30 AM in response to DavidHeady

My battery life is much more than my 3G. I had to buy a backup battery case for the 3G because It wouldn't last past late afternoon. On my 4 the first full day it lasted the whole day and got down to 15% by 7 pm. Yesterday I used it a little less and it was about 40% left. That's huge improvement for me. I'll still charge it every night. I could probably make it last 1 1/2 days but then I'd be charging it in the middle of the day and I wouldn't be giving it a full charge then.

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Answer 2

Jun 27, 2010 9:37 AM in response to docs44

It leads me to believe that you aren't charging your battery completely to be getting those results.

The iphone 4 has a bigger battery, just by physics alone, the battery would last longer.

My iphone 4's battery is amazing, barely ever even scratch the surface of the battery and I'm on my phone CONSTANTLY

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Answer 3

Jun 27, 2010 9:41 AM in response to DavidHeady

You arent crazy David, I have the same experience and so do countless others.

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Answer 4

Jun 27, 2010 9:53 AM in response to DavidHeady

I have the same issue.

I got a phone on thursday and battery sucked. It lost 1% almost every few minutes. I had that yellowish screen issues so I took it back on friday night just before close and got another one.

I charged it all night at least more than 12 hours. I used it yesterday and it drained rather quickly. I did not even use the phone that much.

I read that this maybe caused by when first using the phone it was a backup from previous phones. I am currently doing a phone restore and start from scratch. We will see if this helps.

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Answer 5

Jun 27, 2010 10:01 AM in response to DavidHeady

ive posted about this to. I loose about 2% per 40 mins in standby, aka 100% full charge dissipates to 74% within 9 hours standby (0 hours use)and when used lasts about 3 hours at most. I have reset network and turned off (even deleted) mail and 3g and wireless. Still the battery looses about 2% now every 40-50 mins (slight improvement) in standby. This is 10x less battery power then the claimed max of 300 hours standby. My signal strength is 5 bars, so that is not the issue (and i have turned off all notifications, basically my phone is an ipod touch that can call rather then a full on connected smart phone right now) If i cant solve the battery life problem, its going back and i will not be asking for a replacement until i can be guarantee this will be fixed. I will be looking for a complete and full refund as under two days of standby charge is to little for any phone, and no good for emergencies, festivals, holidays etc for important calls. Some people claim great battery life, so i think its either software issues or BAD quality control by FOXCON or whoever made my phone.

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Answer 6

Jun 27, 2010 10:09 AM in response to Foreverseeking

^^^^^
did you back up from previous phone???? or was this a new phone??

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Answer 7

Jun 27, 2010 10:19 AM in response to DavidHeady

I'm having the same problem. It is down to 40% battery life after only 2 hours and 55 minutes of use mostly on wi-fi. Most everything else is great. (except for the antenna issue.) Wicked fast and love the voice control feature. I think I'll be taking it to the Apple store in a week or so to have it checked.

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Answer 8

DavidHeady Author

Level 2

320 points

Jun 27, 2010 12:56 PM in response to Susan Mraz

All good responses! Thanks.
To address some of the responses:
1. Push is off as are all notifications at this time.
2. After using apps I go to the 'dock' and 'turn them off' so there shouldn't be any open apps in the background. Is there a way of knowing if something is 'multi tasking' in the background?
3. This is a brand new iPhone. I had backed up my 3G on my Mac and then transferred my apps and settings, et al to the new iPhone. Not sure how this could be an issue, but what's my alternative?
4. Screen brightness is on automatic.
5. When I first took it out of the box it had about a 75% charge. That night I left it in the charger overnight, at least ten or more hours and it appeared fully charged in the morning. I have done this every night since acquiring the phone Thursday.
6. Someone suggested a 'hard reset'. Huh?
Again, thanks for the responses. I'll continue with this thread until we have some resolution as it appears I'm not alone in this issue.
David

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Answer 9

DavidHeady Author

Level 2

320 points

Jun 27, 2010 1:01 PM in response to DavidHeady

Ok I found the 'hard reset' and concur with the person who said that was a misnomer. A hard reset of a computer would involve hitting a button on the motherboard (coda?). I tried simply turning the iPhone off by shutting it down just now. We'll see on the morrow if that does the trick. I suspect I either have to do a deep cycle on the battery or there's a minor software glitch. I didn't think the LithiumIon batteries required deep cycling, but I'm open to other opinions.
Again, Thanks.

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Answer 10

Jun 27, 2010 1:19 PM in response to DavidHeady

I have more than double battery life now than I had with 3G. I have 3 back up batteries for 3G. I'd have to recharge my 3G at least twice during my 10hour work day. This new 4 battery lasted 11 hours yesterday before I let it die and ten recharged to 100%. Not sure how many times you're supposed to "callibrate" it like this. I've been playing with it for 6 hours now and am at 38%. Actually seems worse since I calibrated it. We'll see, but either way after six hours of consistent use I'd already be on my 2nd recharge with the 3G. I'd suggest doing what some of the others have suggested in otter posts to help the battery life. If that doesn't work..take it back and get another one cause yours may be defective. Good luck

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Answer 11

Iakona

Level 1

40 points

Jun 27, 2010 1:22 PM in response to DavidHeady

My Iphone 4 battery is so much better than any previous Iphone. I don't have to carry the charger anymore at work and I use it in 3g all day. Love this battery life!

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Answer 12

Jun 27, 2010 8:52 PM in response to DavidHeady

This is my second phone and both batteries are horrible. I can not explain in words how disappointed I am.

first phone lasted about 10 hours one day and 8 the second

second phone lasted 9 hours first day and 7.5 the second.

I even restored to factory settings and manually entered over 100 contacts today hoping that this would resolve the problem as mentioned in other post. NOPE it did nothing for me.

I will be taking this one back tomorrow!!!!

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Answer 13

sac79348

Level 1

15 points

Jun 27, 2010 8:58 PM in response to DavidHeady

My battery life is great as long as I actually close out my apps and do not leave them running in the background. Apparently the only way to do this is bring up the multitasking menu, push and hold on each app until a minus(-)sign appears and then hit the minus sign. Using the home button to close apps just pushes them to the background but still running and using power.

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Answer 14

Jun 28, 2010 10:28 AM in response to DavidHeady

Yes. There seems to be an issue that Apple needs to address with the battery life of the new iPhone 4. I figured maybe I needed to do a few full charges and discharges and it would get better but it hasn't. I charged the phone fully last night at 11pm and when I woke up at 6:30am the phone was already down to 85% just from being on standby. So far I'm getting a lot worse battery life than the 3g I upgraded from. When I got the phone it was completely dead. They had to plug it into the wall for 5 minutes before they could transfer my contacts onto the phone. Should I take the phone back? Apple we need answers!

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Answer 15

Jun 28, 2010 10:32 AM in response to Wasabijim

the problem seems intermittent though, with iphone users stating that leaving the phone on standby for 8-9 hours using 3% battery, which is what it should be close to if you have a reset phone, no push or apps etc like me. My phone uses 26% battery over the same time frame on standby. I am organising replacing my phone tomorrow, i PRAY that the next iphone wont loose so much charge in standby otherwise i'll be forced to ditch the nicest phone on the market for something usable.

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