Well, I repeated the entire process of checking batter life of the 4s after I had re-set it up new phone (factory restore), only in addition to turning off time zone and the other commonly implicated functions, I also completely turned off iCloud, turned off all location services, turned off sending diagnostics data to Apple, and turned off all notifications. I turned off the sending of diagnostics data to Apple because one of the Apple geniuses at the store suggested that some people had success turning this off. Still, the problem did not go away. The phone still spends 80 - 90 % of its time in "Usage", without using the phone for anything at all.
I'm not saying that this isn't a problem that Apple couldn't fix with a software update. I'm just saying, hardware-wise, there should be something different about the hardware in my 4s as compared to some of the other 4s's out there (either the way the chips were sourced or something wrong in the manufacture). Or else, how can this phone be so screwed up after wiping with newly installed 5.0.1 and all relevant services turned off, when other phones work completely fine? This is a completely fresh install with no third-party software.
I suppose it's possible there is something screwy about Sprint coverage in the area surrounding my place, but I have been seeing 4 + bars here every time I looked at it, I have had no dropped calls, and the battery problem only seems to get worse when I take the phone elsewhere with me. So I don't think that explains it either.
That, plus, as I posted elsewhere (https://discussions.apple.com/message/16579989#16579989), the batteries still drop rapidly under iOS 5.0 when the phone was in airplane mode, with all ancillary services off, and in this case the phone was *still* spending 80 - 90 % of the time in "Usage", as opposed to in "Standby." What the heck is this phone doing?
Anyhow, I was nearing the end of the 30-day period, so I just returned the dang thing. I may wait this out, to see if the battery problems are fixed by Apple. I couldn't afford to hang on though, not when I hear (secondhand I admit) some people being told by Apple employees that they should be satisfied with 20 - 30 hours of standby time. I'd be willing to settle for 100 hours standby time (less if I were to use the phone a lot) for a phone without third-party apps, which is still half of what Apple has advertised for the 4x. I thought the whole purpose of sticking with 3g was because the 4g chips out suck too much power and can't provide enough battery life? *sigh*
MeMeMeMeMe wrote:
Still no success on my 4S after an update to 5.0.1 last night.
1. I performed a clean install of 5.0.1, setting up as a new phone.
2. Turned off location settings for "setting time zone" and iAds.
3. Turned off iCloud for e-mail, photostream and documents & data.
4. Turned off "Ask to Join Networks" under Wi-Fi as specified in Apple description of settings during battery life tests for the 4S.
5. No installed third-party Apps.
6. No e-mail servers or other 3rd party servers set up (iCloud only).
7. Set "battery percentage" to On.
After a couple hours, I then charged the phone up to 100%, then placed it down on the table overnight, with the screen off, about 3 feet from my WiFi router.
After 15 hours with no use whatsoever, the battery is at 20 %.
Paradoxically, under "usage" in general settings, I have "standby" time of 15 hours, 3 minutes, and "usage" time of 13 hours, 7 minutes. So, once again, if you look up Apple's definitions of "standby" and "usage", this phone has not really been off overnight, despite the fact that it has been sitting on the table doing nothing.
It's been "in use" the entire time. Doing what? Expending batteries, one would presume.
Looking in "diagnostics and usage data", I have what looks like thousands of entries titled approximately "awdd_2011-11-10-17-51-39_9…" with the last 9 digits different according to the time of entry. These appear in the log approximately 3 times per minute (once every 20 -30 seconds). They look something like this (an example):
deviceid: "…"
isAnonymous: True
deviceConfigId: 101
triggertime: 1320969099175
triggerId: 589831
profileId: 10105
investigationId: 0
wifiMetricIPv4DHCPLatency {
dhcpLatencyMilliSecs:1527
securityType: 2
timestamp: 1320969099174
}
Using Google, I tried looking up the triggerId (which seems invariant among the many log entries), but this was not helpful.
Stopped by the Apple store today, and the Geniuses were not very helpful -- did not think that the entries in the data log were anything needed any addressing (which may be true).
I'm just about fed up. I will turn off the rest of iCloud and turn off sending diagnostics and usage data to Apple, then I'll try one more time. But it looks like I will end up returning this phone at the Apple store and go back to my old phone. The store offered to switch out the phone with one that could be either new or refurbished, but I was told that would mean that the phone could no longer be returned. Given so many posts from people telling me their phone was switched out but the problems remained, I will probably return it. At this point, I have no indication that I will end up with a phone that works satisfactorily.
Scarface.
Level 1
(86 points)
Jason L
Community Specialists
