Q: iPhone 4s Battery Life?

My 4S standy-by times seem to be very consistent and stable over the last 5 to 6 weeks.  I let it sit idle during the weekend and at this pace, it would roughly yield 7 days of stand-by time.  Not bad considering I had between 3% to 8% battery drain per hour in stand-by with my initial set-up on this phone.  I have almost everything turned on except iCloud which I don't use and emails are set to manually fetch.  Time Zones and Siri Raise to Speak are also turned off.   I believe I still have a couple of apps that are incompatible with O/S 5.0.x that create excessive battery drain but outside of that, my battery has been great.  I hope they improve the email performance - iphones have historically had issues with MS Exchange servers.  However, I can easily live with a manual fetch set-up.

1AppleADayNoWay wrote:

 

It's a boring video with tiny humor at best. All of this for suggesting to "return the phone and get a replacement".

Hummm.  Three identical messages, all to the first message in the thread, I didn't have to see the video to identify a troll.

Think different. There is such a thing as "stammering" too!

I also read your second comment on maple syrup. Again you were wrong. In the US they've always been allowed to mix a bit of this and that and still call it maple syrup - it's heresy - or you were just fed some pancake syrup made from corn or something. It is more liquid than liquid honey. Of course, you get what you pay for as far as maple syrup goes - just go for the real thing, Canada #1 Grade AA or A is the only way to go, and preferably from Quebec. Enjoy!

Just so that we get to the bottom of this and end some of the myths that have been spread:

1) You CANNOT fix this problem by doing a complete restore. I already did that even without restoring from back-up. Doing a complete restore is a waste of time and would not fix the battery problem. Those who say 5.01 miraculously fixed it for them are delusional! Those who say they can improve the battery life by disabling things like iCloud, Siri, and a whole bunch of other things are quite foolish because these services are what makes iOS5 unique. Why on earth would you want to disable these features?

2) Apple employees at Apple store can't help you. Been there yesterday, spent nearly 2 hours at the genius bar with a senior technician. Even he admits he can't explain some of these problems.

3) If you've had enough of this, go for another phone. Don't wait for Apple because this could be a long wait.

Just as a follow up to my earlier post, there's a workaround for the wifi hotspot problem:

Symptoms: you can't tether your iPhone (i.e. set it up as a wifi hotspot) because the phone doesn't show up as a wireless network on another device (i.e. laptop, iPod), the connection is dropped as soon as another device connects to your iPhone via wifi, no Internet traffic between the two devices, etc.

Workaround: change the password of the hotspot on the iPhone. It will make the SSID appear again. Internet connection is still off and on. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Yes - don't wait for Apple. The iOS 5.1 is for the new ipad 3 to collect the next amount of cash.

Yes, I second you!

People posting here thier screenshots claiming to have fixed the battery problem by turning off everything are lying to themselves.

The 4S clearly has some problems with software and also the antenna setup for 3G.

PS. How di you get through to the forum, I posted a response similar to yours(about the myths people are going on about) and it was removed immediately by the mods.

There are people on this forum who are encouraging and forcing troubled users to turn off this or that e.g rpunte42.

The phone should be left as it when taken out of the box! Don't try to re engineer or complete the manufacturign process, Apple should have done that for you.

I *think* I'm getting pretty good battery life with my 4s.  I'm running the second 5.0.1 build as I had issues with my cell signal dropping for no apparent reason.  That second build seemed to solve that.  I do have iCloud turned off.  And have my email send to manual, same as with my 4. 

As you share your usage results here, please include a qualification of the use as I'm sure you're aware that 5 hours of mp3 playback and 5 hours of internet use are always 5 hours but don't weight the same in context. Good luck!

Well, I'm using it like I used my iPhone 4...and I think I'm in the same ballpark in terms of battery life.  Probably not quite as good, but it's hard to know without serious side by side testing.  But in terms of usage, it's a misture of talking on it, using some apps, checking email.  When I listen to music, I'm usually at my desk at work and I have my phone plugged in.  When I first got the phone, it did seem like there was an issue.  Along the way I upgraded firmware, ditched a couple of apps that weren't critical but used the GPS in the background.  I still use apps a lot, much more than talk on it as a phone.  I always have wifi on and a lot of the data traffic goes over wifi (either at home or at work.)  But it's still connecting to the cell network.

In any case I doubt my post is very helpful.  For those having problems, it doesn't rule out software issues or hardware issues. 

This mimics my experience right from Day One of the 4s release.   Being on wifi for most of my day, I see no battery drain issues on my phone.   As soon as I get away from wifi and am connected using 3G data, the battery begins to drop quickly.

I've said it before and will say it again......  This is a problem with how iOS5 was designed to work with the new Dual Antenna system in the 4s.   The big question will be if APPLE can correct the battery drain problem without creating a bunch of other performance problems, like poor reception...........

tsdevine wrote:

 

Well, I'm using it like I used my iPhone 4...and I think I'm in the same ballpark in terms of battery life.  Probably not quite as good, but it's hard to know without serious side by side testing.  But in terms of usage, it's a misture of talking on it, using some apps, checking email.  When I listen to music, I'm usually at my desk at work and I have my phone plugged in.  When I first got the phone, it did seem like there was an issue.  Along the way I upgraded firmware, ditched a couple of apps that weren't critical but used the GPS in the background.  I still use apps a lot, much more than talk on it as a phone.  I always have wifi on and a lot of the data traffic goes over wifi (either at home or at work.)  But it's still connecting to the cell network.

 

In any case I doubt my post is very helpful.  For those having problems, it doesn't rule out software issues or hardware issues. 

After reading here X posts and some experiments i want to share my experience and opinion:

1. Shutting off functions is not "fixing the battery", it is just less consumption in same time. The consumption during using this functions if needed is always the same. 

2. The file and memory system of iOS 5.0.x is corrupt,  also system settings and variables and need restore from time to time.

3. The new modem GSM and CDMA "all in one chip" = world phone has only advantage for apple - they have to manufacture only one board.

4. The so called "static noise" is the resonance of electric lines caused by the pulsing and power modulations of the modem chip during data transmissions. It can't be changed by modem firmware because the modulation is given by the GSM/CDMA norm - so there will be no improve, it is impossible. Resonances always cause consumption and are a sign for bad efficiency and quick (and dirty) design.

5. The "phantom usage" and iCloud are in the  most of the cases the same - maybe you take a picture and this will be uploaded in the backround - think about how long it takes to upload 3-4 MB over 3G/CDMA (with a bad efficiency and low signal) / or to download it if you add a picture or docs in your PC/Mac iCloud. (JPEG can't be compressed anymore, their size will be not chaniging during transmission)

6. The IR Sensor works also if you shut off "SIRI raise to speak" - during a call it measures the distance to the head to shut off the display.

Last but not least: all the 4s are the same like they are (+1%/-1%) only the usage and the type of usage are different. All of them have the same battery capacity, if we would switch the users the problems would switch also.

This all are the reasons why there will be NO fix by software - the 2G/3G toggle is also only for changing the type usage, not to "improve" consumption.(In iOS5 it was taken out for SIRI which works over internet - slow connection=slow reaction from SIRI)

I regret because it is good a phone, but with this consumption it is not convenient. All the users which have now the 4s will not switch immediatly to the iPhone 5 (omg 4G needs more energy) - they will wait more than one month to see reviews.

Tamarillo wrote:

 

After reading here X posts and some experiments i want to share my experience and opinion:

 

1. Shutting off functions is not "fixing the battery", it is just less consumption in same time. The consumption during using this functions if needed is always the same. 

2. The file and memory system of iOS 5.0.x is corrupt,  also system settings and variables and need restore from time to time.

3. The new modem GSM and CDMA "all in one chip" = world phone has only advantage for apple - they have to manufacture only one board.

4. The so called "static noise" is the resonance of electric lines caused by the pulsing and power modulations of the modem chip during data transmissions. It can't be changed by modem firmware because the modulation is given by the GSM/CDMA norm - so there will be no improve, it is impossible. Resonances always cause consumption and are a sign for bad efficiency and quick (and dirty) design.

5. The "phantom usage" and iCloud are in the  most of the cases the same - maybe you take a picture and this will be uploaded in the backround - think about how long it takes to upload 3-4 MB over 3G/CDMA (with a bad efficiency and low signal) / or to download it if you add a picture or docs in your PC/Mac iCloud. (JPEG can't be compressed anymore, their size will be not chaniging during transmission)

6. The IR Sensor works also if you shut off "SIRI raise to speak" - during a call it measures the distance to the head to shut off the display.

 

Last but not least: all the 4s are the same like they are (+1%/-1%) only the usage and the type of usage are different. All of them have the same battery capacity, if we would switch the users the problems would switch also.

This all are the reasons why there will be NO fix by software - the 2G/3G toggle is also only for changing the type usage, not to "improve" consumption.(In iOS5 it was taken out for SIRI which works over internet - slow connection=slow reaction from SIRI)

I regret because it is good a phone, but with this consumption it is not convenient. All the users which have now the 4s will not switch immediatly to the iPhone 5 (omg 4G needs more energy) - they will wait more than one month to see reviews.

You are mostly wrong.

1. Yes, this is only completely right.

2. If you are right here, and most probably, more or less, you are, this is software patch deal.

3. It's obvious.

4. This is wrong. NOISE doesnt always mean RESONANCE. Most often it means PICKUP and PICKUP doesnt mean CONSUMPTION. If your radio station is listened by 10 receivers, and then 100 this doesn't mean you transmitter now eating 10 times more power.

5. There are no synch over 3G otherwise many people went to misery due to cell bills.

6. Yes, but only during conversation and this is the part of consumption during talking time.

And the last - I have exchanged 4 iphones and all of them was restored by the same settings and same way. 1st - OCNA, 2nd - BATERRY, 3rg now - no issues, no OCNA, no drains, very miserable and rare static.

So - small part of the units are defective and cannot be improved. Many units are to be fixed by 5.1 as reports here said. And many units are OK from the box.

But anyway - its a following of big rush of launching new model (remember what Obama said?) and it's not good for such manufacturer.

I still think Apple put the screws to us and now are hiding. No fix in site and how is another software fix going to fix a faulty battery, since most everyone on here agrees its a hardware problem not a software one.Apple has and is letting its followers down except for the few blind sheep who are willing to turn everything off and use it as a paperweight just so they can say they have a new 4s....It is hilarious

Most everyone agrees?   Who is "most everyone"?   Why is it that updating a 3Gs or iPhone 4 to iOS5 still creates battery drain issues, but you claim this is a hardware problem?   IMO, it is a firmware problem.   Now that firmware problem may be due to the need to manage the 4s dual antenna system differently, but it is still a firmware problem.

My only real concern is if APPLE can fix that 3G data management problem without casuing other (reception?) problems in the new setup.........

I have turned NOTHING off except for Siri Rais to activate.  Everything else is running, including push email for exchange and Yahoo mail.   BT on.   Wifi on.   Location servcies and notifications on.....  

As long as I'm on wifi, I have no battery issues.   Fortunately for me, I'm on wifi at home and at the office.  For those few times when I'm away from wifi for all day, I have a charger handy for the car or a wall plug.

Vomgottsland wrote:

 

I still think Apple put the screws to us and now are hiding. No fix in site and how is another software fix going to fix a faulty battery, since most everyone on here agrees its a hardware problem not a software one.Apple has and is letting its followers down except for the few blind sheep who are willing to turn everything off and use it as a paperweight just so they can say they have a new 4s....It is hilarious