Q: iPhone 4s Battery Life?

1AppleADayNoWay wrote:

 

You didn't mention if you have any apps installed. Or if you're sure about your SIM sanity.

 

You might try cellular data off or airplane mode while you sleep and compare. And - don't laugh - leaving the phone close to a window. Yes, it goes that far with such a phone.

 

Good luck!

No apps installed. Got a new SIM two days ago, just to be sure. I've left Mobile Data off while testing overnight but that makes no difference. I've tried Flight Mode and have had mixed results - sometimes it will still rack up hours of usage other times only about 1.5 hours. Not tried leaving it by a window overnight but it is left in a spot that has 5 bars on 2G. 3G is very weak in my immediate area. In my workplace during the week 3G reception is very good, usually 5 bars, but still I can leave the phone on my desk in standby all day and it will still report hours worth of usage. It seems the only time I can leave it overnight without it reporting any significant usage is with the SIM removed. There's been word of certain phones (DN serial #) not playing nicely with certain SIM cards, and Im now convinced that that is the case with mine.

Glad to know I'm not the only one experiencing such crappy battery life but it's getting out of hand.  I purchased my 4s in October and did all the recommended tips to no avail.  Ended up getting a replacement phone this last Friday and still encountering the battery life issue, even worse than before!  When given the replacement phone, it had 4% battery and I charged it to 100% before uploading any apps.  I drained the battery and recharged it, thinking it needed a fresh charge cycle.  Still *****.  Last night, I went to bed with a 100% charge and when I woke up two hours later, I was down to 86%.   I never have Siri or location services on, have mail and calendars set to manual, don't allow notifications of any kind.  What's the point in paying over $200 for a new phone if the old phone works best?  And what are the odds of having the same issue on two separate devices?

If I didn't have to break the contract to get out of this phone, I would do it in a heartbeat.

I noticed today that the iPhone 4S generates half of the standby.

For example, I took out my phone about 1 hour 20 minutes ago from the charge and this is its readings:

Usage: 40 minutes

Standby: 1 hour 20 minues

(Note: I did not open my phone during standby. I only checked the time once on the lock screen.)

Obviously, 80/2 is 40 so the phone uses half of the standby time, from the readings I got. That is why many people, including me, reported extra usage time when they didn't even touch their phone.

what does your serial# start with - DN by any chance?

Why does all this matter when we bought the Phone we purchased NEW phones. That we are suppose to be able to use just like others before hand. The problem is not the consumer who purchased a defective product but rather Apples who sold them and continues to sell a product they know is defective and has serious problems. Why can't they just come out admit they have a serious problem that they cannot fix....They have had ample time to fix this.....Buy all of them back and offer a deal on the 5's when they come out providing they work correctly......I know of no other manufacturer of phones telling you to turn off all the functions of the phone and do not use this or that to save your battery, which by the way turn everything off you want and you still have the same problem I am just thankful I was able to get my money back for the one I had

i bought my ip4s 11 days ago.i gave it back today and got a new one.

ip4s 16gb 9A406

usage:4 hours and 50 minutes

stand by:2 days and 4 hours

battery 1%

previous ip4s results.

my first ip4s lost 25% battery  today in one hour.i hope ios 5.1 is a solution for our problem.

I installed ios 5 on my 3Gs.  Everything works fine except battery.  Same thing, lasts 4-5 hours even if no telephone calls.  Have turned off everything I am aware of that could be draining it.

Before the upgrade I did not have a problem.

Vomgottsland wrote:

 

The problem is not the consumer who purchased a defective product but rather Apples who sold them and continues to sell a product they know is defective and has serious problems. Why can't they just come out admit they have a serious problem that they cannot fix....They have had ample time to fix this.....

They are releasing updates and trying to fix this... and not everyone's affected so there's no reason for them to stop selling it.

OK, clearly, the standby time is NOT what it implies, but rather 'Time since last full charge'.

And everyone with a smartphone should understand that the phone is always 'doing something'.  It checks for incoming calls, checks for contact with the cell, checks to see if you have alarms (each minute), checks to see if you have reminders set by time, and/or location (if location is on), and does other things typical for computers, such as memory management, updates the clock, etc.  Exactly what increments this time counting for 'usage' is pretty hard to define.  All of this takes CPU action, so it eats some battery power. 

Those who have usage numbers equal to their standby numbers should consider having someone check the phone for tasks running in the background that shouldn't be there.  My usage numbers are reasonable, given the time I actually have the phone in use in some way, and the aforementioned basic functions.  Really high usage numbers should be suspect. 

Not all 4S phones have a problem with battery life.  It may be that there was a bad run of some chip in the phones, or some other 'production run' problem.  Nailing it down may take some time.  I am just happy I am not one of the 'victims'.  Note that the 4S is not the only smartphone with battery life complaints, the Galaxy Nexus has a problem as well.

OK.  As long as the phone is ready when you are, you are happy?  Then charge it every night, and you will be pretty sure it will be ready, unless you use it in your sleep.  Grin.

owh786 wrote:

 

@ rphunte42

 

Yes but a feature phone is not a smartphone and moreover is not an iPhone!!

The reason why I bought an iPhone after having an android is battery life + ease of use.

The way I use my iPhone is: it will be on standby most of the time until I need it for its smartphone features e.g apps, safari and to a certain extent even the text messaging is easier on an iPhone!!!

I wrote you, if you don't have problems (lol not a victim) why do you spam here? Retired - what about some golf? Nobody wants to know about galaxy s battery issues, the users here have problems with the iphone! Accept it!

I am sad to report that there is not new solution to the battery problem with the iphone 4S. Today I visited, the Apple Store and their only response to the problem "we are working on it". To tell you the truth this make me even more mad. I had to leave work, and go to the store for what an answer that I was able to obtain online via the Internet. When you spend so much money on your phone. You do not expect sorry we don't know what is the problem. It is pretty sad that apple only response is we are working on it.The new upgrade in the software did not solve the problem at all. My recommendation to Apple is to recal all the preview iphone 4s, and replaced them with the new model coming soon. 

I intend to bring mine back when Apple have a soloution to the problem. I don't think a software update will fix my phone, because the static noise, and the noise I can hear coming from my phone using cellular data.

Here are some news that may make some people happy:

http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=19234

I understand a lot of people are expecting more battery life out of the iphone 4s.

A lot of people just do not understand that a dual core processor uses a lot of battery life.

Also just like another user already posted , the phone always checks the time of day , reminders , etc.

All of these people who are getting a new phone are just getting the phone for no reason what so ever!

The new features of the operating system along with the dual core processor and some other upgrades is the reason why your phone does not have the battery life that your older iphone has. 

I posted some tips before about how to save battery life.  One user posted it back along with some other tips from other users as the best advice to save battery life.  I will post them again and tell u a couple of new things that I discovered while using my iphone.  I just want to tell everyone that this is my first iphone.  I was an android user and had a Droid X.  The Android phone died after about 4 hours of use and sometimes used 40 percent in one hour.

Here are some good random tips.  But I have one tip that Most People Don't Realize.  Keep Reading

1. There is definately a drain issue with the time zone setting.  I tested it myself and watched it closely and it does use a lot more battery life with the option ON.  So if you turn this option OFF , you will save some battery life.

2. Siri uses data.  Data is collected through 3g.  3g uses a lot of battery life.  ( I turned Siri Off Completely )

3. Location Services!  When you open apps that require the gps built into the phone , this will use a lot more data.  Think about it !  The Gps Reciever needs power , then the app is also using data from 3g , and the display at the same time.  Just make sure that you turn off location services if you really don't need it.  I only use it for Google Maps and I turn it off after that.

NOW I WANT TO USE BOLD ON THESE LAST 2 TIPS BECAUSE THEY ARE IMPORTANT.

1. When You charge your phone ....   Plug your phone into the wall and look and make sure it is charging.  When you see that your telephone is charging... TURN THE TELEPHONE OFF BY HOLDING DOWN THE POWER BUTTON.  After the phone is off.... Let it charge.  It will charge like this.  I tried this and found that It helped a lot. 

( I know that sometimes you need a quick charge and need to leave the phone on.  This is okay sometimes but for maximum use ...  Plug the phone into the wall with the phone on.  Look and make sure it is charging on the battery icon.  Then Turn The Phone Off and let it charge.  You will not know when it get's to 100 percent because the screen will be off.  You can turn it on to check but make sure u turn it right back off while it is plugged in.  Charge it to 100 percent and get more battery life )

2. HOW YOU USE YOUR PHONE IS IMPORTANT.  When you Open and Close an App , That uses battery life.  In my opinion , closing an app uses more battery life than opening one.  So you must get in a habit of not running through program after program after program ... touch after touch after touch ...

Find the program that you want to use...   Use It....  And Do not switch through everything so fast.

Make sure you are not constantly closing down programs every 2 or 3 minutes.  REMEMBER......

THIS IS A TELEPHONE AND NOT A DESKTOP COMPUTER.  REMEMBER.... IT IS A PHONE AND NOT A PLAYSTATION 3!!!!!!       Do NOT FORGET THAT THIS IS A PHONE! 

I know these tips may seem lame but they work.  They are tried... tested... and 100 percent sure to save you some battery life.  I read most of the tips from this site except the last 2. 

The Issue with charging the phone with the phone off really helped me a lot.  I hope it helps you all to.   The Iphone 4s is a really nice phone and you should enjoy it. 

@enx23: my fix is still working, my 4S's battery drain is no longer worse than that of my 4 or my 3GS.

Oh, and reading all those recommendations like turn this off and that off and reading how we are arguing against each other instead of trying to help each other, I got a great Idea for THE SOLUTION to the 4S's battery drain:

do not turn off anything like wifi, mobile data, location services, etc. That is only fighting the symptoms. From a holistic point of view that best solution is: turn your iPhone off... It's useless without all these features anyway.