Q: iPhone 5 battery life is way worse than iPhone 4

Exactly the problem is cellular and specific to 3G/LTE. If you switch off the 3G, even then the usage time is great. Its just when the 3G is on, battery drain is out of control.

I mean, at least let us switch to EDGE or SOMETHING! How insane is that?? I want to switch to EDGE on my 2012 Smart phone because the battery literally can't handle 3G?

The problem is defintely LTE.  Had my iphone for 2 weeks or so.  I am usually on wifi and batetry seems acceptable.  Earlier today i decided to snap a bunch of pics and videos and post n facebook.  The phone immediately got very hot and battery was draining 1% every miute or so.  So i don't think its hardware related at all.  The phone can't seem to handle LTE.  I know LET is power hungery, but how does apple say that we can acheive up to 8 hours browsing n LTE.  Virtually impossible.

Well I had this phone for more than 2 months now .

I'm waiting for iOS 6.1 if it won't fix the battery problem .

I'm selling it on eBay for any price.

I'm getting sumsung note 2.

My friend got one and it's really nice.

Well i was scheduled to get an exchange for my phone tomorrow, but i am not even sure if its worth the trip.  Today was my first time experiencing the phone getting hot.  I guess it was a combination of heavy browsing and facebook on LTE while taking a bunch of pictures and videos and posting them.  But i dont think the phone should be doing.  All those are basic functions of the phone.  I dont want to waste my time getting a new phone, set up as new again to experience the same proble.  What do you think guys?

I've been following this forum and trying to see how to improve my battery life. It's not as bad as some others but still not excellent. When cellular is on battery drains fast!!, without even using it.

So I decided to do a test and see how long the phone would last, if I turn off cellular data, and just turn it on if I want to use it. If there was wifi available I would use that (home, Starbucks, etc) and turn off cellular. Then on the go, I'll just turn it on if I want to use data. I know this defeats the purpose of a smartphone, but I was still curious, and not to my surprise it lasted forever! Almost 2 days standby, and almost 10 hour usage This was moderate use, Facebook, safari, music, photo, texting. Pretty much how I use my phone normally. It sucked having to turn cellular data on and off, but I was pleased with the battery life I was getting. For those that have sucky battery life , try this out, I know it's not a "fix" but if you're desperate this will definitely help.

I've just started doing the same.. Same results.. So disgusted. 850 bucks. Listen if you're on this forum and asking our suggestions.. Mine is RETURN THE PHONE. get your money back. Buy another product! They are completely ignoring how HUGE this problem is (google, twitter, Facebook, etc) it's everywhere! I'd say 5% of those people have actually called apple or have said anything but TRUST AND BELIEVE, APPLE: those people will not be buying another apple product. If you THINK this is a tiny little issue that will go away. I believe that you will see what a MISTAKE you've made, ignoring an issue that interferes with my business and my life. For those of you who can't return your phones. eBay is amazing and a Samsung is staring you right in the eye with a smile!

FIX THIS!!!

45 mins of heavy usage WIFI: 98% battery. That'd be wonderful.... If this were an iPad!

Its a obvious problem that APPLE defintely knows about.  But they have no solution to fixing it.  Either its a software issue that Apple can't figure out how to resolve or they know the iphone 5's were released with sub-par batteries, but stil had to release due to deadlines.  But they don't want to admit or acknoledge that because most will return the phone or not buy it if this issue was brought out to the open.  They figure, most won't care and will still use the phone anyway, so lets just not even bother. 

Why advertise those specs if you know the majority of the customers are going to be upset when they can't even come close to it.  The phone on LTE is a joke, it gets hot and drains soooo ridiculously fast.  I really don't want a smart phone that I paid so much money for and it requires me to turn everything off.  The purpose of a smart phone is convenience and efficiency, it's suppose to make our every day tasks a bit easier, not make us do more just so our phones will last us during the day.  I will keep exchanging the phone until i get one that works appropriately, if not, i will just keep taking a new phone from apple.   There is a store close by work, I have no problems pooping in and just keep exchanging the phone.  If I can't come close to those advertise specs, I will keep taking a new device until I can.  Thats what everyone should do... just keep exchanging for phones and make apple keep giving us new phones. 

Having same issues - 2 year old iphone 4 (with poor battery life) is outlasting the iphone 5 with LTE turned off.

So went to apple store and the 'lead genius' told me the reason why I am experiencing battery problems is to do with restoring from iCloud. "Apparently' there is a bug they cant find which is draining the battery (but not from restoring from Computer. He said to fix:

A. back up to computer and restore to new iPhone 5.

B. recalibrate the battery (please explain????!) - said to do this everyday for 2 weeks. drain it completely and then charge. (common mate just spent $900 on a phone and you want me to do what?)

I cant see how it will happen  - but he said if done the phone will work easily for 24-48hrs even when using LTE  (bit of BS i think).

Anyone had any experience or exposure to this?

No doubt why Apple is going down hill. When I went for my 1st replacement, Genius told me that I must be using iCloud to restore as iTunes is old fashioned and that puts back all the system problems back on to my iphone.. Simply the opposite of what you have been told. lies lies lies. just running away from the actual problem. Fact is the BATTERY DRAINS either restored or set as a new phone. I dont know why these idiots call them GENIUS, what an insult to the word GENIUS.

Recalibrate for 2 weeks? That'll probably damage your battery. What geniuses

The only way I can get close to advertised usage is by disabling push for email and using fetch 30 minutes. also disabling location services for passbook is key too.. disabling a lot of other features and generally trying not to use the phone.. i can make it through the day.

***** I have to cripple a phone to make it last long enough to make it somewhat useful..

this was even on wifi for an hour or 3 while on standby.

Quick one:

If Settings >  location services is turned off. Does that mean that everything under Settings > location services >  System services are turned off as well? I'm talking about the "Diagnostics and Usage" "Genius for programs" "Traffic" and those. Maybe anyone of those is draining a lot?

My battery didn't improve until I turned off the "system services" individually. Since I have I get pretty great battery life, far improved from my iphone 4. I think it's one of those that is constantly using GPS making the phone hit and draining battery and data!