Q: iPhone 4s Battery Life?

Are apple actually working on anything?

I am kinda worried. Just got my phone yesterday

Usage - 3 hours

Standby 12 hour, 20 minutes

Battery percentage at the moment 56%

That is terrible. Should i take it back to Orange/Apple or should i just cope with it and charge it everyday?

boateng,

according to spec and assuming you split your data usage evenly between wifi and 3G, 12.33/200 -> 6% standby usage, 3/7.5 -> 40% data usage. 100 - (6+40) = 54%. this suggest that your phone @56% remaining is performing ~2% better than spec expectation. it seems your phone is likely functioning normally.   iPhone 4S battery spec listed below for reference. note, that those are up to (i.e max) conditions that are "or" scenarios.

Talk time: Up to 8 hours on 3G, up to 14 hours on 2G (GSM)

Standby time: Up to 200 hours

Internet use: Up to 6 hours on 3G, up to 9 hours on Wi-Fi

Video playback: Up to 10 hours

Audio playback: Up to 40 hours

First off, I am a long time Apple fan, have an iMac, Mac book pro, iPad and am a very very happy customer.

I bought my iPhone 4s on Nov 20th 2011 and returned it on Nov 30th 2011 due to the battery issues that at that time already filled the forums with similar issues as mine: I had 100% at home, started driving and after 2 hours had lost 30% of the charge and was down to 60% after 4 hours. This behavior was repeatable without any special hard-core use. The same use on my iPhone 4 would result in a max of 5% loss after 2 hours and maybe 15% after 4 hours, I usually have still 40% in my battery at the end of the day wheras the 4s died on my a couple of times. Bad phone, bad battery taken as a possibility, but the number of forum posts and the fact that it seems to be ongoing still shows me that there is a more systemic problem than just a few bad devices.

So, why not return my phone I thought... I can live another 6 month without Siri - even though it's hard - having a new phone with half the battery life didn't seem acceptable, i.e. for me it was a non-functioning product (the first one from Apple).

ps: If Apple let's me know this is fixed and the battery matches my good old iPhone 4, I will be first in line again.

sodascope wrote:

 

[...]I can live another 6 month without Siri - even though it's hard[...]

lollllllll. Please, I almost shed a tear seeing you'll be deprived of Siri's company for so long.

The 4 and 4S have different specifications so they can never be "the same" per se. The 4S is rated at 100 less standby hours than the 4 (200 vs. 300), while rated for an hour more call over 3G (8 vs. 7) and one hour less wifi internet use (9 vs. 10). So that seems to mean that for usage within a work day you should get similar usage out of it, but that usage can't be stretched as much  because the device is more hungry when just sitting around. A common pattern I've seen here has been 5-7hrs of mixed 3G use with 22 some hours of standby in practice - or one hour and some dust per day on 2-2.5 days of standby for the light not too social networking user. Most end up charging every day it seems. Of course all of this depends on mail, apps, notifications and other factors. On the other hand to be fair the type of drain that you had been experimenting back then is not necessarily commonplace at this point. Yet some people have it and wish they could fall back to the 4 like you did - and most of them would gladly trade Siri for that. It's a bit more complicated than how you put it. But that's the thing, when there's issues it becomes a bit complicated. Opinions may vary though and I'm no Apple fan. Apple won't tell you anything and of course they'll be improving their software over time - my opinion is that it's better to just look around and see some real usage statistics people get and put your fanboism aside and make an informed decision as a consumer... I guess that's what you did on Nov. 30th.

1AppleADayNoWay wrote:

 

@rphunte42 - You can't be shorter than me on the iPhone lolll. By the way, the other day I didn't mean "standby", I really meant status... as in the status of being at the top of the food chain. Such claims always make me laugh in an uncontrollable fashion, and there's always a bigger fish anyway. Nobody wants to eat a bowl of rice a day. Stuffing one self is what I was referring to. It's also about anti-oxydants... I recommend berries and maple syrup! Not too much though. It's a "balancing act". On the other hand I wouldn't want to live forever. In the end maybe that was Apple's reasonning with the 4S lolll. Tc.

I remember when you could buy maple syrup that took half a minute to pour some out of the bottle.  I guess if you want that now you have to buy property with maple trees, and make your own syrup.  Sigh.

Being diabetic, I am very conscious of what to eat, and how much.  Maybe that is why I am always looking for things on my phone I don't need/use that are using battery power, and not returning value in MY USAGE. 

I ended the day yesterday with 75% battery life left.  I think my usage was under 2 hours.  This works well for me, but I still put it on the charger before I went to bed.  One never knows what a new day may bring, so I want to start each day with 100% charge.  OCD?  Maybe, but then I grew up in the 1940's and 1950's.

AliAR wrote:

 

I had a few calls, text messages, and had cellular data on for probably 15 minutes and used Safari. So I didn't really keep my iPhone in my drawer and didn't use it. I took photos today of the beautiful Burj Khalifa and attempted to take a photo of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President of the UAE and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, who was at the Dubai Mall most probably 'shopping.' I'm grateful I have such a great leader.

 

Anyways, my final results is 3% battery remaining with a total of 3 days, 3 hours standby and an estimated 1 hour 30 minutes usage. I didn't charge it at all.  I am currently charging my iPhone.

Well, after going from totally disgusted, and considering returning your phone, it is good to see that you managed to get your battery drain problems under control.  Good luck in the future.

I think some people just give up too easily.

boateng wrote:

 

Are apple actually working on anything?

 

I am kinda worried. Just got my phone yesterday

 

Usage - 3 hours

 

Standby 12 hour, 20 minutes

 

Battery percentage at the moment 56%

 

That is terrible. Should i take it back to Orange/Apple or should i just cope with it and charge it everyday?

You should take the steps outlined in this forum, relative to what to turn off, leaving only those feature on that you need, and, yes, charge every day.  Don't be like the guy who said he couldn't charge at night because he needed the phone for an alarm.  Doesn't he have a power outlet near his bed?  Maybe he doesn't, but to use an expensive smartphone for a alarm clock isn't good economics!

boateng wrote:

 

Are apple actually working on anything?

 

I am kinda worried. Just got my phone yesterday

 

Usage - 3 hours

 

Standby 12 hour, 20 minutes

 

Battery percentage at the moment 56%

 

That is terrible. Should i take it back to Orange/Apple or should i just cope with it and charge it everyday?

They've not said there's any fix coming. And to be honest, your usage looks actually pretty good and quite close to their published max specs.

If it's not what you need, best bet is just to add it to the increasing piles of returned iPhones at Orange.

After charging it fully to 100%, my usage time now shows. I don't have any phantom usage problem. When I didn't use it at all for 1 hour, it said 0 minutes. I'm glad I solved the problem and didn't give up.

rphunte42 wrote:

 

AliAR wrote:

 

I had a few calls, text messages, and had cellular data on for probably 15 minutes and used Safari. So I didn't really keep my iPhone in my drawer and didn't use it. I took photos today of the beautiful Burj Khalifa and attempted to take a photo of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President of the UAE and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, who was at the Dubai Mall most probably 'shopping.' I'm grateful I have such a great leader.

 

Anyways, my final results is 3% battery remaining with a total of 3 days, 3 hours standby and an estimated 1 hour 30 minutes usage. I didn't charge it at all.  I am currently charging my iPhone.

Well, after going from totally disgusted, and considering returning your phone, it is good to see that you managed to get your battery drain problems under control.  Good luck in the future.

I think some people just give up too easily.

This specification provided by apple for their iphone 4s battery is really a ******** in my experience. Just recently I bought this phone and changed it twice with apple for battery and heat problem. Even though problem i faced the same after changing it. I think there is manufacture problem with this phone. I am tired of resetting all the setting and waiting to be fully drained until the wheel icon appears and shuts off and disabling the location services, Iads, etc. The standby is normal after the resetting but when ever I use this phone for surfing the Internet checking emails, chatting, calling the battery percentage dies soon. 5% of battery died while typing this reply. Everybody assumes that this problem will be fixed as soon the apple updates iOS to 5.0.2 .is this true? If its true than why arent they updating there ios and give me some tips to relief from this draining problem even in normal use if you have.

Thank you

http_bikki wrote:

 

This specification provided by apple for their iphone 4s battery is really a ******** in my experience. Just recently I bought this phone and changed it twice with apple for battery and heat problem. Even though problem i faced the same after changing it. I think there is manufacture problem with this phone. I am tired of resetting all the setting and waiting to be fully drained until the wheel icon appears and shuts off and disabling the location services, Iads, etc. The standby is normal after the resetting but when ever I use this phone for surfing the Internet checking emails, chatting, calling the battery percentage dies soon. 5% of battery died while typing this reply. Everybody assumes that this problem will be fixed as soon the apple updates iOS to 5.0.2 .is this true? If its true than why arent they updating there ios and give me some tips to relief from this draining problem even in normal use if you have.

Thank you

There is no 5.0.2, just a 5.1 which should be out soon.  If you will read through 20 or 30 pages of messages here, you will find some of the solutions other users have found effective.  Basically, if you go through the settings carefully and turn off things that you don't need, and won't use, then adjust other settings to reasonably limit battery use, you should be able to get two days or more of use between charging.  When I put it on the charger last night, I was at 75%, with light usage.  You should be able to manage something near this.

yes, we have a same situation here. it was really bad and disappoint to all of my friends user because all of my friends have the same situation too. i was trying to cut off all the data connection and use it as PRACTICALLY procedure.

one day, i was already make a fully charge on my iPhone 4S and use it for messaging only. nothing else. already setup all settings to low mode like a "super saving energy" mode. all from high to low and from 100 to 0. saving enough right?

what else can i do besides that?

and finally, it has a same quickly drain before 20 hours! honestly to say, it really make my day feel so badly. i have a lot of business things to do such like email and calling. but the iPhone really make my day ruins and failed just because the "superstition" battery.

seriously to say, i'm gonna sell back this device and buy a new Galaxy Note. really disappoint because i didn't get for what i paying off for the iPhone 4S. it is very detrimental. everyday need to charge. while the other product can stand for 2 or 3 days. but this is not the Amazing iPhone yet like battery weaknesses.

i love Apple product. but for the smallest thing like this would never happen again as a high priority company. this is NOT PROFESSIONAL since antenna problems. now? battery? oh my god. what a shame problems. nothing to say.

regards, from Malaysia.

rphunte42 wrote:

 

I remember when you could buy maple syrup that took half a minute to pour some out of the bottle.  I guess if you want that now you have to buy property with maple trees, and make your own syrup.  Sigh.

[...]

lollll. That was simply overboiled - it shouldn't be like liquid honey. A good syrup is not "that" thick, it's closer to maple water, and has to be light in color - dark is always of a lesser quality. What you describe is more akin to what you may know as "sugar on snow", some kind of toffee if you want. If that's what you want, you may find it under that category. It glues your teeth together in no time, so make sure to have a warm beverage nearby lollll.

Once again I am trying to help out here but not getting too many responses to this. Back on Nov. 20th one of the guys on the discussion posted this YouTube video of what is to believed part of the battery drain issue. I have posted a few times also about this without seeing his post. I experienced this first hand and check this "ir sensor" for Siri from time to time to make sure its not running. Please check this short video out and try it on your iPhone 4s. I would like to hear how your results are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqcwVGW_-n0

How many people on here are Apple engineers? If not then where are they. You can not tell me that Apple is working on a fix for this. No word from them and just the Apple worshipers on here wanting you to turn every thing off and use your smart phone as an idiot phone. Apple has left everyone who purchased a 4s to do it on their own.  They are working on a 5 I am sure so they can get a new phone out which in turn means higher profit and better stock revenue. They have abandon the 4s and all of the suckers that fell prey to them by purchasing the faulty phones which they continue to sell knowing there is a problem that they are ignoring. Apple makes the auto industry look like the honest ones at least the auto industry will announce a recall and stop sales until the problem is fixed .......