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

23 replies

docinlr

Level 1

0 points

Jun 28, 2010 8:35 PM in response to DavidHeady

I haven't found the hard reset. Is it just to turn off the entire phone? This is my first iPhone and I am disappointed in the battery life like several others.
I appreciate all the advice and will follow the forum to see what else can be done to make the phone work like it is supposed to.
Thanks to all who offer suggestions.

Jun 28, 2010 8:50 PM in response to docinlr

Hold the power button and home screen button at the same time for at least 7 seconds until the Apple logo appears. Then let go and the phone will come back up. Apple actually recommends doing this a few times a week to ensure apps running in the background are completely closed. It won't change any of your settings or anything........

cedr8

Level 1

0 points

Jun 28, 2010 9:25 PM in response to DavidHeady

I am a new Iphone user and must say that I am very pleased with the battery life. I used to own a bb storm 9550 and the differance between bb and iphone are incredible! First let me say that I've managed to go 32 hours of moderate to heavy use without a charge. My settings are as follows: Notifications are off, Location services are off and the brightness is on auto. I have both the 3g and wifi on and have used them both extensively during the 32 hours. Read and send maybe 45 emails. Watched a couple you tube videos, download more than a dozen apps and used the phone to make at least a dozen calls and use facetime 4 or 5 times at maybe 15 minutes each. I've also used the phone in the car to listen to music to and from work which is about 25 minutes one way. All this within the 32 hours and the battery is showing 5%. I do make sure that all the apps are closed after using them though. My experience with the bb storm has shown me that your battery will go down the drain FAST if your not closing out your apps after use. I've read on a couple sites that the battery can surpass 36 hours easily with moderate use and I believe it!!! Try adjusting your settings. The user guide tells you also that when you first get the phone you should use it moderately to keep the electrons moving around efficiently later on. Hope this helps.

Jun 28, 2010 9:35 PM in response to sac79348

Sorry but clicking the - to close apps is going to have no effect on you battery life. Applications on the iPhone 4 do not run in the background other then applications that stream audio (Pandora, etc) or make VOIP calls (Skype at some point). The multitasking feature in iOS 4 keeps the applications in memory in a frozen state so when you switch back you don't have to wait for them to load again, that is all.

Apple purposely did not do real multitasking because poorly written apps kill the battery quickly, aka Android.

Jun 28, 2010 10:44 PM in response to Scott Hunter

Battery drain issues here too.

docinlr

Level 1

0 points

Jun 29, 2010 6:13 PM in response to lobsterghost1

Thanks for the info on the hard reset. I will try it next if the problem recurrs. Today, after shutting down all aps manually and turning off the gps and push feature last night, I have gotten 11 hours since turning it on and still have 70% battery life. I can live with that. I will turn on the gps function tomorrow and see what, if anything that does to my battery time.
I wonder where Apple has the info on resetting the phone on a regular basis? Do you know the web site?
Thanks again.
Bruce (aka "docinlr")

Jun 29, 2010 6:35 PM in response to docinlr

I also tried a few things. I reset my settings and made a few changes. I now have 7 hours of standby, 3 hours of usage and I'm done to 45% at 6:30 PM. My usuage was mostly email checking but some other apps as I was at the apple store following along for 30 min at the workshop. This is a big improvement.

DavidHeady Author

Level 2

320 points

Jun 30, 2010 6:44 AM in response to cedr8

From what I've gleaned from this thread and others is that out of the box the iPhone has enough charge to activate it and play for a bit. However, to realize the advertised battery life one should do the following:
1. Turn off Push if you don't need it
2. Turn off bluetooth if you don't need it
3. Turn off Location services that you aren't using
4. Adjust screen brightness to acceptable levels
5. Let iPhone charge overnight
6. Do a reboot (holding down off and home buttons till the shut down message appears)
7. Recharge again

All of this is pretty much common sense. Fresh from the factory no one should expect any electronic device to be 100% and ready to run, although Apple's 'magic' seems to have clouded this axiom a bit. I must admit I was one of the first to wonder why the magic didn't work right away, but on careful consideration it makes sense. So, best advice when confronted with a 'disaster' when an iDevice doesn't work..."...step away from the iDevice and take a deep breath."

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

New iPhone 4 battery life