Battery won't fully charge sometimes (96-98%then stops)-Plus for the first time, when it did reach 100% when I unplugged it instantly went to 98%

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Level 1

8 points

Battery won't fully charge sometimes (96-98%then stops)-Plus for the first time, when it did reach 100% when I unplugged it instantly went to 98%

Well, I am totally knew to Iphones, and I must say I love it. BUT, I am having major issues with the reliability of the battery metre. OK here goes, sometimes when I plug it in over night, it just won't charge to 100%, it will stick at 96-98%. If I unplug it and then plug it back in, it will go up to 100% (kind of annoying for a £700+ brand new 4s(2months old)).

OK, another issue, the scale of which the batter depletes is totally wrong- in standby or basic use, with nothing working in the background it can stay on 100% for 30 odd minutes, maybe longer-BUT sometimes doing exactly the same thing it will drop within a couple of minutes......the rate of decline seems to be totally random..????!!!????

Today was the final straw, it got to 100% overnight and when i unplugged it, it instantly went down to 98%!!!!!!

The battery life of the device seems good to me, but i can only compare to my previous phone that was very bad. It's not amazing, but it's not bad.

What I have done to try to remedy the situation:

1) I have tried to recalibrate the battery twice-where you let it run down, then charge back to 100%- that hasn't worked.

2) I went to the Apple shop, and told one of the tech guys my problem, he gave me a face like he had heard of it before and suggested (I think it was) a restore. which I haven't done, as I don't really know how to do-and don't want to lose all my ap's and music.

In conclusion, I'm happy with the phone, but just don't trust it anymore, and when you buy a top of the range product, the least you should expect is confidence in the battery and what the metre is telling you that it is, and the basic concept that every phone that has ever been made, that if you plug it in at night, in the morning you have a fully charged phone?????

Is this too much to ask of apple products? I think not!

Any suggestions of what I should do would be much appreciated-is it worth doing a restore for instance?

Thanks for your time guys!

iPhone 4S, iOS 5.0.1

Posted on Jan 6, 2012 5:32 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 6, 2012 5:38 AM in response to ianbr999

Have you done a reset, which doesn't remove any data, by holding both the power and home buttons until the apple logo appears and the iPhone restarts?

When you say you did the calibration, you did run it down until it shuts off by itself, usually abour 1% charge, and then fullly recharge before using again?

It is not unusual to have the charge drop from 100% to 99% when the charger is disconnected if it has just hit 100%, at least that has been my experience...plugging it in again and letting it continue to charge for several more minutes seems to correct that behavior.

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Answer 2

ianbr999 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 6, 2012 5:44 AM in response to Ralph Landry1

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Yes I have done the reset-didn't work.

Yeh, the calibration was done so the phone turned off, then plugged back in to charge back to 100%!

The iphone4s was connected to the charger outlet, the second I unplugged the phone the battery percentage went from 100% to 98%.

AS we speak my phone is now on 100%, after 10 mins usage and 33 minutes standby. This just doesn't correlate with the decrease in battery life associated with every other number (e.g 99,98,97%) apart from when it is on 100%.

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Answer 3

ianbr999 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 6, 2012 5:55 AM in response to ianbr999

so the phone was on 100%,for 37mins standby and 14mins usage. It is now on 98% on 41mins standby and 17 mins usage. so (99-98%)= 4 mins standby and 2 mins usage, compared (100%-99%) = 37mins standby and 14 mins usage. How can this be?

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Answer 4

Jan 6, 2012 6:00 AM in response to ianbr999

You could try some of the usual tricks like turn Bluetooth off, Settings > General > Bluetooth so that doesn't sue any battery power if you don't use Bluetooth. Kill any apps you are not using soon by doublle clicking the home button, then hold an app until the start to shake and tap the minus sign in the red circle in the upper left corner of each app...that makes sure none are quietly running in the background and saves a little power.

Other than that, it sounds like it is behaving ok, mine does a lot of the same things, sort of erratic on charge behavior. If it starts NOT holding charge it would be good to hit the Apple store again and press them to test it out for you.

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