Q: iPhone 4s Battery Life?

I am pitiful that people in Russia dont have this battery worry - otherwise I could buy the iPhone from them. OS X is just superior tech, that's why people use it.

Nice one. BTW all I have stated is that not 80% of the iPhone's produce have problems. I have no idea how many do, I openly admit I do not have any inside info on that number, but I can logically assume that its not 80% of 37 million. enx23 on the other hand seems to have other knowledge from somewhere that I am not aware of.  He cant say how because of his NDA I suppose other than the 8 out of 10 folks interviewed in the Korean newspaper that said they had issues , hence 80%.

I just hate it when a user come to a support forum (yes support not complaint) already upset and all they hear instead of helpful advice is how device they just purchased are all broken, hasnt been fixed, will never be fixed, and Apple cant fix the phone or iOS (it even though they developed it from the beginning) Verses some information that could actually help them get a better experience.

Its really sad that this forum had degraded from support and help to as you say PR and namecalling. Somehow I have been named as Apple lover, fanboy, mindless, worshipper, etc due to my efforts of trying to remain positive and supply information to folks that help with battery. Its turned into I now have to defend myself at every turn and deal with name calling. That's ok as I am a big boy and will not loose sleep over it for sure. But being in IT support I much rather help folks solve problems while trying to remain positive than to scatter rederick about dooms day and how the iPhone 4s has destroyed lives. But at this point, my work here is done. I guess any new users can read back  through or look through some of the other more positive threads or take back their phones or become Apple haters or whatever they want. As for me, I will enjoy my iPhone 4s, and will remain hopeful that iOS 5.1 will bring some relief for most, exchanged devices will help others, and actually resetting,removing bad apps and optimizing as per Apple stated documentation will help even more.

I will 1000% agree with all here who say Apple is wrong in being so silent and not providing ANY information on their plans to address the remaining issues with  the 4s. Oh no, does that statement mean I loose my Apple fanboy-worshiper-lover status? Dang it! Oh well I do still like my iPhone over any other phone Iever had. even if I have to actually plug it in once in a while.

1AppleADayNoWay wrote:

 

.....How widespread the issues are is a matter for debate, to people like sbailey4 and enx23, and this has evolved over time, from 5.0 to 5.0.1 to now. But people coming here for support should get support and not PR. No one is neutral here. But I stand by the idea of support and not blaming the consumer for being very demanding - those people wait in line for hours at launch etc. They deserve total respect.

@flogger12345

Which iOS build do you recommend for 4S? 9A405 or 9A406?

Is it possible to break the loop of wifi constantly being polled? I noticed this on my 4S and a hard reset or switching off wifi doesn't break the loop.

flogger12345 wrote:

 

Make sure you have the most current iOS update.

 

Earlier builds of iOS 5 had some power consumption issues related to the phone being stuck in a loop of constantly polling for wifi, draining the power.

It's not the iPhone 4S itself that has terrible battery life. Trust me. Call AT&T or Verizon as your Carrier is. And tell them to see what's going on with the nearest Cell Towers most of the time of the day you spend on. Ask them to boost your Carrier Network for your phone numbers and see what a change you will notice. I'm pretty sure, your iPhone 4S is great but due to poor network cell-torwers, and switched network towers congestion, the power drains pretty fast.

Here's the trick: AT&T or Verizon will never accept this fact for sure. So what you have to trick is: let them know that you are having massive phone drop-calls. Once they try to look into it, here we go, you gonna have the improved reception corresponding improved network signals and capabilities dramatically sucking less juice from your iPhone 4S.

I have a question for the developers out there, does 5.1 with all it's betas actually work???

Does 5.1 fixes the battery issue?

Unfortunately, if you spend a little time reading this thread, you'll quickly see that the battery problem is worldwide and not limited to VZW or AT&T in the USA.........

Pokharel wrote:

 

It's not the iPhone 4S itself that has terrible battery life. Trust me. Call AT&T or Verizon as your Carrier is. And tell them to see what's going on with the nearest Cell Towers most of the time of the day you spend on. Ask them to boost your Carrier Network for your phone numbers and see what a change you will notice. I'm pretty sure, your iPhone 4S is great but due to poor network cell-torwers, and switched network towers congestion, the power drains pretty fast.

 

Here's the trick: AT&T or Verizon will never accept this fact for sure. So what you have to trick is: let them know that you are having massive phone drop-calls. Once they try to look into it, here we go, you gonna have the improved reception corresponding improved network signals and capabilities dramatically sucking less juice from your iPhone 4S.

Uhu, yes. Widespread

Yes. Mine runs out of juice in one and a half day in airplane mode.

after doing your restore download "Kingsoft Battery Doctor" from the appstore , i find it very easy to use it has loads of tips and has a "full charge cycle" feature which has definitly improed my ipods battery life.

Wanted to chime in with something else that might help to decrease battery drain on the iPhone 4S (sorry if this has already been mentioned--I don't have time to scan 10,454 replies right now!):

According to iFixit, the 4S has an additional infrared sensor not found in previous generations that assists the Siri "raise to speak" feature. If raise to speak is on, that sensor will remain on at all times waiting for your face to come near it:

http://www.ifixit.com/blog/2011/11/09/little-sister-siri/

So, try turning the "raise to speak" feature off, and see if it helps your battery drain issue. I, for one, never use that feature, anyway. You can still press the Home button or the button on your headphones to activate Siri.

snif123 wrote:

 

FACT! The 4S performace is nothing special. Apple products have always been a cut above the rest. The 4S is not. This is not a support forum, Apple is not supporting anyone on this forum, the support is being got from guesswork and speculation given by some users. This is a complaints forum. If you use the 4S out of the box, it will NEVER go beyond 20hrs of standby with light or no usage!

Some users e.g sbailey should STOP trying to defend Apple and 4S! The phone/software is below par! I bought the 4S believing I would get best of class service but I have not been impressed even after exchanging it in store.

Ios5.1 will be a turning point, if it's a hardware problem, it will persist after 5.1 and our fate will be have been sealed.:(

My iPhone 4S would routinely go beyond a day with only light usage. The only thing I've turned off is diagnostics. Everything else was on. Siri? On with raise to speak enabled.

After 2 weeks of troublefree operation somehow my phone starting sucking down 2-3% of battery power per hour.  How did I "fix" the problem? Deleted all settings and set up as a new phone after the reboot. All data was intact and this was only a minor inconvenience.

ClayG wrote:

 

Wanted to chime in with something else that might help to decrease battery drain on the iPhone 4S (sorry if this has already been mentioned--I don't have time to scan 10,454 replies right now!):

 

According to iFixit, the 4S has an additional infrared sensor not found in previous generations that assists the Siri "raise to speak" feature. If raise to speak is on, that sensor will remain on at all times waiting for your face to come near it:

 

http://www.ifixit.com/blog/2011/11/09/little-sister-siri/

 

So, try turning the "raise to speak" feature off, and see if it helps your battery drain issue. I, for one, never use that feature, anyway. You can still press the Home button or the button on your headphones to activate Siri.

Been there, done that...but also remind to reboot the phone. Until you do, the sensor will continue to be ON (even if you turned it off in the settings - check with a webcam).

Cheers

One can guess that someone who has bought the 4S has restored from a prior device before coming here. Taking that into account, and building on stuff I've read here recently - like EdiMC's shopping list of tweaks (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3391947?start=10470&tstart=0) and davidch's reset steps (it appears in the current thread very often and it's also archived here along with other stuff - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3526981?start=0&tstart=0), I've tried to imagine a full circle and more aggressive debug procedure for the new user which builds upon common verifications first, then down to a reset and then to a full reinstall if necessary - something the new buyer can implement rapidly before deciding if the seller's input is required for support or exchange/refund, as time is of the essence. It is just a DRAFT. I claim no credit for the content of the steps, it's just it's slightly aggravating to see the wheel being reinvented all the time... Good luck!

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-="Seeking full value or mitigating the damages for iP4S" procedure=-

I- Pre-reset verifications-

A. Remove all apps from the switcher:

-Press the home button twice and you will see "the switcher" with all the applications in low power state/recently used

-Press on any of them and hold until icons start shaking, once they start moving you will see Red band circle thingy on top left of the application; remove them all

-Remove all opened pages in Safari before exiting if you use it

-Reboot (holding the Home button and Top button down, ignoring the slider, until the phone shut down, wait a couple of minutes, then turn on the phone)

B. If you're still experiencing some drain, check if you have any sim related issues:

-Shut down the phone, remove the sim, start the phone and see if you have any drain - if not, think about trying version 9A406 of 5.0.1 once you reinstall your sim (see http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4148)

C. If you're still experiencing some drain, remove any configured mail account, reboot your phone and reconfigure your email accounts

D. If you're still experiencing some drain, and you're using iCloud or syncing with iTunes, make sure none of your media files(music, video) is incomplete, cut or corrupted - in general pay attention to the integrity of all backed data

If none of these verifications allow you to isolate the issue, try resetting the phone...

II - Reset and options trim (trying to reach a compromise from the full immature feature set - EdiMC's post contains further stuff, see top of post for the link)-

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. In Settings>Location services>System Services ... Disable Setting Time zone, location based iAds, Diagnostic & Usage

4. Set emails and calendars to fetch 30 mins or manual

5. In restrictions set Ping to OFF

6. Disable Automatic Downloads in your App Store setting

7. Set Siri raise-to-speak to OFF and reboot

8. Remove iCloud, then reset network settings (?? will this form of reset undo any of the prior settings)

9. Reduce screen brightness to 40% and turn off bluetooth if you don't use it

10. Fully discharge battery (till it shuts off with the spinning wheel)

11. Fully recharge battery (overnight if possible)

12. Use your phone from full charge to shutoff and take note of your usage time and activities as the battery meter may not be linear and accurate

If you're still experiencing some drain after some time, repeat this procedure down the road or if the reset didn't solve your issue and symptoms reappear immediately, try a fresh reinstall of the OS - note that all your device content will be erased...

III - Reinstall iOS and setup as new-

1. Plug your iPhone to PC/Mac and launch iTunes 10.5.1 or the latest current version for your platform

2. Click Restore. It will automatically initiate a download of iOS 5.0.1 ipsw for iPhone 4S. Wait for the whole process to finish, ie. download, restore software/firmware.

3. Setup your phone as new without using your old restore, download updated apps from the handset and sync your media from your PC/Mac

4. Implement steps 3-12 of part II

If you still experience issues with your rebuilt from scratch handset, seek support from your seller/Apple and ask for a replacement unit or a refund - or take your chance and wait for the next iOS release.

_______

Your 4S goes more than a day with light usage! So do other smartphones for half the price, as I said, the 4S has no edge over other competitor products on the market.

With your light usage, do you think you should be able to get atleast 2-3 days without charge? The 4S is supposed to be an improvement to the IP4 but in the battery category it's a big loss.

I use my phone lightly I believe, and it has never hit the 2 Days mark, many times it has died on me during the day when I have forgotten to charge overnight, I think this is not value for money. The 4S should be able to easily go 2.5~3 Days with my usage pattern, I KNOW this.

Every 2-3 times a month, I have to reset all settings/content when the phantom usage somehow creeps up again.

I have the static issue, this is my 2nd 4S.

Overall, the 4S battery is poor and the APPLE advertising/marketing is misleading and false, most consumers/owners don't realise this because they believe "it's a smartphone, smartphones use a lot of power, they must be charged atleast daily".