- iPone 4s 64gb black. On 02 in UK. In London [England, for those accross the pond]
- Upgraded from 3Gs. Used back-up of that device to get new phone up and running via PC USB and iTunes
- Running latest iTunes 10 on Windows 7.
I noticed early on that the new 4s was draining way more quickly than my 3Gs that was 2.5yrs old. I started to look more carefully and, by yesterday morning, I was losing about 15% per hour and not using the thing very much. I'm freelance so I don't have a pattern to my work and I have to be careful not to jump to conclusions here: it's easy for the variables of use to be a big factor in my perception of this battery drain. What I can say is that the 3Gs certainly didn't need a top up by lunchtime each day!
I've read all 68 pages here. I can confirm that much of what folk are suggesting we turn off was already off in my case. Hopefully this helps narrow down certain fixes for some of you. Here's what was not a factor for me:
- iCloud: already OFF
- Diagnostics: already OFF
- VPN: already OFF
- Bluetooth: already OFF
- Hotspot: already OFF
I did have the following though:
- 3 e-mail accounts. 2x POP; 1x Exchange [Google]
- Location Services: ALL ON
- Siri: ON with all whistles and bells
- Brightness: 60% ish [Auto-Brightness: ON]
- Mobile Data: ON
- Wifi: ON all of the time, whether hooked up or not. I found with my 3Gs that turning it off made no real battery difference in my world.
So I read all the pages here and decided to do some of the common things suggested:
- I limited location services to just Compass on System settings but let all apps have access. I turned on the little icon dart thingy and I can see location comes on very rarely.
- I deleted all my email accounts and then reinstated them
- I deleted all my Network Settings. About time I did really, if only for security.
- I took Siri off waiting for me to put it to my ear but kept the core feature on. [Siri is bobbins, by the way, so I might dump it altogether...]
I did the above and didn't really notice very much improvement, if any.
I then found the post that linked to this:
http://speakspress.net/miscellany/an-unbiased-review-of-the-iphone-4s-or-how-i-f ixed-my-poor-battery-performance-life/
[Thanks to that poster, it was a really useful]
To save you reading it all, the bottom line was that is suggests resetting all settings. [Settings>General>Reset>RESET ALL SETTINGS]
The advantage here is that all your data is preserved but all other user choices revert to factory default. It only takes a couple of minutes to put it all back.
Today I took the thing off charge at 09:00 today and noticed through the morning that I was seeing much more expected battery readings. It is now 19:30 and I'm on 38%. Yesterday I was on that by 15:00. Today I've made several calls; listened to at least 1.5hrs podcast; been in and out of Wifi signal; sent and received about 20 emails; used a map; read the news on BBC app and I've been in and out of good and poor reception all day. Basically I've hammered my phone as I always do.
Now, I still think that on my 3Gs I would have 50% at this point in the same parallel day, but naturally I can't prove that...
So If I were you and you don't fancy wiping the thing completely, I'd try the settings reset first and see how it works for you.
In general I'm not seeing many clear patterns in this whole saga by reading all the posts so far. For some a fix like mine works well, for others location, iCloud, wifi sync, Siri etc all seem to give results. For others too, the whole clear-it-out-and-load-it-all-up-again seems to work well. Also we have to assume that many users of the 4 million or so handsets sold are not seeing this issue at all, and that fact should be born in mind as it shows it is unlikely to be as basic as a major hardware flaw. Equally those that have had exchanges aren't all that happy still. I take some encouragement from that alone.
To my mind I think were looking at basic iOS and 3rd party software issues and I think each fix suggested here, and all over the wibbly-wobbly-way, does something towards a better battery life. I also think that until all apps get a full iOS5 compatibility update, each might leak a bit, with some probably noticeably worse than others. [E.g, FMF seems a culprit. As I don't have it I can't test with that on or off but it crops up on this thread many times]. So some of us might be unlucky enough to have all the bad eggs, while others only have apps that are working well in the new OS. I also suspect that the OS itself is probably in need of a bit of tightening. I can't fault Apple here: they need 4million phones in proper use before they can see all the glitches on all the networks in all the diverse a hands that this device gets put. You may not agree and that's fine.
Lastly, I do remember that my 3Gs was a little rubbish at the very beginning. Lithium batteries do need breaking in and heavy use and full charges do help them settle into life. And no doubt Apple snuck a few memory leak bungs into the early updates, all that time ago.
Personally, having got myself from 15% drainage an hour down to just 5%, I'm happy enough to see what happens in the next few weeks. Developers will issue updates to apps, Apple will no doubt have an iOS5.1 out and my battery will have had a couple of months to bed in. If it's no better by then, that's when I'll get down to the 'Genius Bar' and start making a stink.
The hardest problem to fix is one with many causes and that's what we're surely seeing here. However, those that feel this isn't good enough should certainly exercise their consumer rights and demand attention, refunds or exchanges. Those squeaky wheels will help us all get oiled in time. Whatever works for you, well, works for you... So good luck.
Message was edited by: bleepingApple [edited a few silly misteaks]
Scarface.
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Jason L
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