Q: Question to people with bad battery life on iPhone 4S
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Nov 26, 2011 4:25 PMby jmgs,Both my sims started 18014. Are they contract sims? My usage is still working great. Currently showing 1 Day 8 hrs standby with 4 hrs usage, 21% battery with most services on.
I would book yourself another appointment, and in the mean time see if the sim works in another iphone 4s. Three separate sims showing the same issue points me to the phone. It must be something specific with T-mobile sims and a defect in the phone you have.
Having said that, I had two phones which had rogue usage on the same sim. It's strange! I can't find many people complaining about this issue?
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Nov 26, 2011 4:49 PMby FiniteAffinity,Regarding my info earlier on flight mode, it seems I was wrong. I just put the phone into flight mode again, and the battery stops draining.
I might give Tmobile a ring in the morning, and see if they have had any reports of problems, and also to see if they are able to disable anything at their end that might stop the constant usage. I'm still curious as to why the draining stopped when they disabled my original SIM card, even though I was still connected to wifi all day. Suggests to me that it is a service running on the SIM...
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Nov 26, 2011 4:59 PMby FiniteAffinity,It certainly is a very strange problem. I am going to try my SIM in a friend's iPhone, one that has been working fine for him. Then I will book another appointment.
I can't even begin to explain how disappointed I was when I got home, to discover the problem was still there!
This is probably irrelevant, but one thing I have noticed, is that the SIMs starting 17 are matt plastic, whilst the one starting 18 is glossy, suggesting a possible slightly different manufacturing process? But all three SIMs give me problems, so this info doesn't help.
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Nov 28, 2011 4:00 PMby FiniteAffinity,OK, I have some more test results, and have now made a conclusion about this!
My friend also has an iPhone 4S, and he is on O2 UK.
His SIM works fine in my phone, the battery drain stops immediately.
But here is the catch - HIS phone does NOT drain when I put the TMobile SIM into it, unlike mine. The SIM Applications remain working all the time too, and the PIN code also works fine.
Apparently I have a defective iPhone, and need to get it replaced. But it only displays the problem with a TMobile SIM - WHY??
My conclusions from all this? It would appear that certain batches of iPhone 4S have a different SIM reader, which is having compatibility issues with certain network's SIMs, but not with others. The telltale signs are that sometimes you can remove the SIM and it still says your network at the top for quite some time before it realises you removed it - suggests something is hanging, maybe the baseband?
At the moment, the only solution for those affected seems to be to get a replacement phone, which seems quite drastic over a slight incompatibility. Maybe a baseband firmware update can fix it? who knows...
My advice now for anyone with the problem, is go to an apple store and keep getting replacements until the problem is fixed. Note this is only if you have SIM problems. I'm sure there are other problems which are causing some people's batteries to drain, that are not related to this.
Thanks to everyone on this thread for the helpful information. I will post again when I have a working iPhone, just to confirm.
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Nov 29, 2011 6:11 AMby jmgs,Based on what you are saying I would do three things.
(1) Get a new iPhone
(2) Get them to give you a spare simcard just in case (you can do another sim swap yourself if required).
(3) book an early appointment with a genius so you can test the phone out, and possibly go back if your issue is not resolved.
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Dec 2, 2011 1:08 PMby FiniteAffinity,@jmgs,
I've got an appointment tomorrow morning at the Trafford Centre, hopefully they can replace my iPhone with a working one.
Just out of interest - what is you iPhone's model number? You can find it in Settings -> General -> About.
Mine is MD235B. Don't know whether this relates to different batches or not. Interesting to see if your working one has the same model number or not.
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Dec 3, 2011 8:28 AMby FiniteAffinity,Update:
Went to Trafford Centre Genius Bar today. Explained my problems, and they said they had many people complaining about battery, but no-one had pointed out problems related to the SIM yet. But they believed what I told them, and accepted it could well be due to bad batches that are not compatible with all types of SIM. They did tell me that Apple uses several manufacturers for many of the components. So it is quite possible that one of those manufacturers is producing dodgy SIM readers.
They replaced the handset - and it WORKS! I'm really happy now! No battery drainage any more, it drops at less than 1% per hour now. And the SIM Applications all work perfectly every time, and the SIM PIN also works too.
Interestingly, the model number of the replacement is still MD235B, just like the faulty one I had - so it doesn't seem to be related to that at all.
Thanks for all the info everyone!
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Jan 5, 2012 7:57 AMby marc-man,Im on Vodafone UK. I have poor battery performance and lots of 'phantom usage'. For every hour of standby, I get approx 30 mins of phantom usage reported. I have the SIM Application menu and most of the time the options do not work. Occassionaly they do though, but once loaded I get a message saying 'service unavailable in this handset'.
I think I've now worked out that the SIM Applications menu only works when on 3G not when on 2G.
I've ordered a new SIM from Vodafone and I have a Genius appointment with Apple next week.
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by Pete from Switzerland,Jan 5, 2012 9:17 AM
Pete from Switzerland
Jan 5, 2012 9:17 AM
in response to FiniteAffinity
Level 1
(4 points)
NotebooksI have only one SIM app there, it's the hotline to the carrier, and working.
However, I had no battery drain for the first few weeks. It started only after moving from MobileMe to iCloud. This does not support yout theory.
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Jan 5, 2012 11:06 AMby bleepingApple,Hi FiniteAffinity
Not been on the main discussion since I got my replacement phone, mainly because it's become such a bun fight on that thread.
I saw you'd started this one and I wanted to share what happened with my new phone, in a hope it would be useful to you and the other readers here.
I had a 4s 64Gb, 02 UK, that had poor battery life caused by heavy background processes persistently taxing the system. I think it was you or bright raven that pointed me to the Sim Applications bit where I found that I too had trouble getting anything to happen inside that setting's options.
I found that my phone's usage was drastically improved in Air Plane Mode but not by either WiFi off or Mobile Data off, separately or combined. So I decided to follow through on the theory that the sim or its reader may be faulting.
First off I got a new Sim from O2. that made singularly no difference in a week's worth of trials. Next step was to have Apple replace the phone. [which they did happily when I showed them all my homework on overnight testing]
Immediately on this new phone I had much better battery usage and much less phantom usage. It had been, on the old handset, that usage was always at least half the standby time, no matter what I turned on or off in all the usual areas. On the new phone it is roughly a 5th of the standby time [1.5hrs Usage/8.5hrs standby, kind of thing]. Hence, I guess, the better battery usage.
So I'm happier with the new handset and I firmly believe that the sim reader was the issue [or the way the sim was handled by hardware in some way, perhaps via its relationship with the antenna, don't know the full details but I'm sure it was partly hardware specific in my case]
I have noticed in the month that I've had this new phone that it has slipped back a little and the battery isn't as good as it was, though it's vastly better than the old handset. I have started regularly hard-resetting it and feel there is improvement from doing this. In my mind some persistent apps only get killed this way but that's a layman's observation only!
Now here's the bit that will interest you the most. On this new phone, I don't get a 'Sim Applications' option at all, no button for it under Settings>Phone. I just have 'Sim Pin'. I find this curious and am wondering if that option not being there is a component to why I'm enjoying a better phone? Perhaps the whole Sim Applications setting is a relic option and isn't meant to be there any longer?
I'm still not convinced that all the reasons for poor battery life are fixed by changing the handset, however. I still have almost everything turned off on my phone [Siri, all system location services, Diagnostics, iCloud, WiFi Sync, Blue Tooth] but I do keep WiFi on all the time and my 3 emails fetch at 15min intervals. I reckon there are still perforations in the iOS making it leaky and overly busy and I think certain 3rd party Apps drain resources more than is helpful. I'm hopeful that as Apple improve iOS5x and developers make apps compatible, the usage will creep down to a more acceptable level. For now I can live with what I've got and what I have to choke back to get it. That might not be the case for everyone but as a heavy work-based user, I'm happy enough with things as they are now.
My advice to anyone here with a UK provider is to try a new Sim first and if that fails get a refurbished phone from Apple. If you do, some folks suggest that handsets with a serial starting C3 seem better with respect to battery than those with serials beginning 'D'. Who knows, it could be true or it may just be straw-clutching. I persuaded the Genius to get me one starting C3 just to be safe...
Good luck everyone...
Here's my post from 'that' thread to give more details to the background of my experiences [this relates to previous handset, prior to exchanging]...
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Jan 5, 2012 11:38 AMby marc-man,I think I've now worked out that the SIM Applications menu only works when on 3G not when on 2G.
actually, ignore that statement - im on 3G right now but the SIM Applications menu is dead!
@bleepingApple - Maybe the service providers (o2, Vodafone etc) hardcode this SIM Application menu into the phone themselves? Maybe the replacement phone you have is network unlocked, meaning that the SIM Applications menu has never been put onto it? Just a thought - I don't really know how these things work...
I'm going to see if I can insist on a 'c3' serial number replacement when I see the Genius next week - thanks for the heads-up.
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Jan 5, 2012 11:49 AMby FiniteAffinity,Thanks for the replies everyone. My problem is now solved as far as I'm concerned, but here is some new info for you that may help you:
@Pete from Switzerland, There are several reasons why your battery may drain, but the reason I am focussing on here is the problem with certain SIM cards, which is a definite problem for some people (that was definitely my problem).
So far as I know, DN serials have problem talking to certain SIM cards (in particular, vodafone and TMobile in the UK, and also some O2 cards but not all, not sure about other countries). C3 serials apparently don't have this problem.
SIM Applications are coded into the SIM, not the phone. Apple don't allow any form of carrier branding on their products (hurray!). However, they have recently very quietly released a new firmware build, which updates your baseband such that DN phones can now communicate properly with previously incompatible SIMs. I can't verify myself that this works, because I got mine replaced with a C3 long before they released this update. The new update is still iOS 5.0.1, but it is build 9A406 instead of 9A405. The only way to install this is to do a complete restore of your phone through iTunes, to factory settings. It will then put the latest build on your phone. You can then restore your apps and settings etc afterwards, so you don't lose anything.
That said, although my battery life is considerably better than before, it still isn't exactly good. It is OK though, I would now at least call it acceptable. Lose about 1.5% per hour on standby, before it was closer to 8%. So there are still problems, probably something to do with push or with iCloud, but who knows? But anyway, if you have problems with SIM cards, try that new firmware first, then get a replacement.
Finally, just for the info, my C3 from the Apple shop still shows the SIM Applications menu, but this time they all work fine.
Hope the info helps.
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Jan 5, 2012 11:56 AMby bleepingApple,Hi @marc-man
I hadn't considred that and you're probably correct. Given the repalcement came from Apple and not O2, it probably is unlocked. Well that's another bonus and maybe a great reason for anyone to get a replacement!
[Though I wish I'd thought of that when I was in Oz recently, I didn't even bother getting a PAYG sim as I assumed the phone was locked... Assumption: the mother of all #£&%-ups...]
Next time I can get someone to agree to me trying it, I'll test their sim in my phone and see if I can get it to work.
@AliAR
Am happy to give that a go, its turned off in Locations anyway so pretty redundant [and I have insurance!] If I get better stats from doing so, I'll let you know...
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Jan 5, 2012 12:09 PMby rphunte42,Just another data point. When I got my 4S, I was using a 4, and I went into an AT&T store to get the 4S, and rather than switching the SIM from the 4 they put a new one in. I asked about it, and they said the old ones wouldn't work properly. I have NO battery issues. Currently I am at 2 days, with light usage (4 1/2 hours), and 37% battery remaining. Surely it can't be that simple.....
