I have a 4S with ios 6.1.3 - should I update to 8.1.1?

yes.

no you can read about the update when you go to settings - general - update

Don't do it!!! I updated my 4s from 6 to 8.1.1 and wish I could go back. The phone eats battery life..I have tried all of the things recommended...power cycle, run the battery dead and recharge...turn off services...delete email accounts, etc etc etc. it says most of the usage is due to "mail"....but even with no email accounts it eats battery life so fast that the phone is always warm and goes to "red" in about 5-6 hours. I have done resets, restore from itune, etc no help. I believe I will now be forced to dump the phone and if so, I will go back to android.

Yes please do upgrade I just did mine, very cool new features and it is not slow, still functioning the same.

Frankgreving wrote:

Thanks. I guess I will go to an android. Too bad updates will screw up your phone

That sounds like you were just looking for any excuse to switch.

iOS updates do not screw up iPhones. Millions of iPhones have updated over the years, and the vast majority (and by that I mean in the 99.99%+ range) have never had an issue. That's less than one per 10,000. Usually, any issues after an iOS update are actually hardware related, something the user didn't notice.

Use whatever device you want, but if you're justifying it because you believe 'updates will screw up your phone', then that's totally faulty logic.

Every iPhone 4S unit I manage (over 25 units) runs iOS 8 (currently all but one updated to 8.1.1), without any issues whatsoever.

So, based solely on the anecdotal evidence in this thread; one iPhone 4S has had issue, but at least 25 have not. Even if you looked at just that data, then that's still a 96.2% success rate.

wantmyandroidback wrote:

Don't do it!!! I updated my 4s from 6 to 8.1.1 and wish I could go back. The phone eats battery life..I have tried all of the things recommended...power cycle, run the battery dead and recharge...turn off services...delete email accounts, etc etc etc. it says most of the usage is due to "mail"....but even with no email accounts it eats battery life so fast that the phone is always warm and goes to "red" in about 5-6 hours. I have done resets, restore from itune, etc no help. I believe I will now be forced to dump the phone and if so, I will go back to android.

And when did you restore the device as new and test your issues? Use iTunes to restore your iOS device to factory settings ...

Looks like you need to delete all content and set it up as new phone, dont restore your data.

thank you for the suggestion. I did another restore from itunes (latest version) and did a "new" phone with no restore of apps, etc. I then when all finished successfully I did NOT set up any new apps, nor any email accounts. The only thing I have done was made a phone call for 1 minute and left the phone set on the table for two hours...120 minutes and the battery charge went from 40% to 22%.

Previous to the 8.1.1 upgrade while running on iOS 6 since it was new 21 months ago, the phone would go 24-72 hours before needing a charge.....I am a light user of the phone.

Another restore as "new" last night and a full battery recharge overnight. The only things added to the phone this morning is an email account (exchange, for work...since they pay for the phone). So far the phone has been disconnected from the wall charger for 2 hours and 33 minutes and it is down 75% charged. now it indicates the phone has consumed 56% of the power consumed and mail only 4%. This is the first time mail has not been the major power consumer. Interesting the phone is using so much since I have made or received no phone calls since last night.

Also last night I found out a co-worker upgraded his 4S to 8 when it came out and since then 8.1.1 and has had the same battery consumption issues. He uses his phone a lot more than I so is required to charge is phone during the day any chance he gets to prevent it from dying in the middle of the day.

I would really like the phone to work like it has for the last 31 months but.....

Any other suggestions????