Apple is aware of battery life problem on 4s and iphone 4

[DaveM]

From Apple:

iOS 5.0.1 beta contains improvements and other bug fixes including:
– Fixes bugs affecting battery life
– Adds Multitasking Gestures for original iPad
– Resolves bugs with Documents in the Cloud
– Improves voice recognition for Australian users using dictation
– Contains security improvements

iOS 5.0.1 beta introduces a new way for developers to specify files that should remain on device, even in low storage situations.

Thanks Skull. I'm sure there will be more to come.

 

[Rocko]

Skull, question from the other thread that is now closed. You say the double clicking home button simply reveals icons for switching task but some of these apps Could be in memory if they were recently used, correct? During my 15 min tech support call the tech suggested I close all the apps here to 'help' the battery. Do they not know about this?

 

[Skull One]

Skull, question from the other thread that is now closed. You say the double clicking home button simply reveals icons for switching task but some of these apps Could be in memory if they were recently used, correct? During my 15 min tech support call the tech suggested I close all the apps here to 'help' the battery. Do they not know about this?

I actually spent the last two hours thinking of a better answer than "No. They only repeat what they are told". And the reality is, they don't know the 100% facts about the device or the OS that device runs. Why should they? Would it provide better tech support? Probably not. Because the scripts they use are predetermined based on past trouble tickets. The odds of someone hitting them with something new will only happen at the first tier tech support level. Starting with tier two you will get better support that can handle "off script" support. But even they won't know what I can rattle off about their OS.

Their answer to you was very solid based on the last fact I listed. Some application developers DON'T do their job properly when coding suspend and unload events. That is why they tell you to kill off the apps. It is a catch all that probably solves 50% of their tech support issues.

Sadly no matter how solid they make iOS it is still a Unix based system that wants to run multiple tasks at once. And it will do it till the battery dies. Now could they rewrite part of iOS to fix this issue? Yes. But cost is now the issue. Apple is all about cutting cost to make the largest profit margin possible. Just look at their cash balance sheets on their last SEC filing.

 

[sekelani]

I heard the usage time has not been addressed, simply the large idle drain, what are your thoughts on this?

did you restore from back up or set up has a new phone when you downloaded ios5 to your 4s?

 

[Rocko]

I actually spent the last two hours thinking of a better answer than "No. They only repeat what they are told". And the reality is, they don't know the 100% facts about the device or the OS that device runs. Why should they? Would it provide better tech support? Probably not. Because the scripts they use are predetermined based on past trouble tickets. The odds of someone hitting them with something new will only happen at the first tier tech support level. Starting with tier two you will get better support that can handle "off script" support. But even they won't know what I can rattle off about their OS.

Their answer to you was very solid based on the last fact I listed. Some application developers DON'T do their job properly when coding suspend and unload events. That is why they tell you to kill off the apps. It is a catch all that probably solves 50% of their tech support issues.

Sadly no matter how solid they make iOS it is still a Unix based system that wants to run multiple tasks at once. And it will do it till the battery dies. Now could they rewrite part of iOS to fix this issue? Yes. But cost is now the issue. Apple is all about cutting cost to make the largest profit margin possible. Just look at their cash balance sheets on their last SEC filing.

Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Rocko]

did you restore from back up or set up has a new phone when you downloaded ios5 to your 4s?

Restored. Should have I setup as a new phone?

 

[Skull One]

To continue the "Where is the battery at" saga, I am happy to report some more good news.

Prior to this version of the iOS I am testing, I could expect to see roughly 10% battery with 6.5 hours of use and 18 hours of standby. I think those days are now behind me.

Right now I am at 62% battery. 3 hours and 19 minutes of usage with 12 hours and 51 minutes of standby.

This roughly equates to 8 hours and 45 minutes with 32 hours and 15 minutes of standby.

My hope is to see an average of 9 hours of use with 24 hours of standby. I think that is very doable now. And for the very first time, I believe I can let the phone stay unplugged overnight. And to test that theory I will do just that tonight.

 

[Rocko]

Nice, please report back your total usage time on this charge.

 

[sekelani]

So far I am on 1h 23 minutes usage with 70%.6hours of stand by. Pretty bad yeah? I'm going to do a full restore set up has anew iPhone.

 

[28offroader]

I don't think that the battery issue is only for the 4s. I have a year old 16gb iphone 4 and have noticed a battery drain since installing ios5. I'm now in the 3rd time tracking my battery and each result is very similar. The first 2 times I checked the usage it was checked with 2% battery left. Stats were,
Usage.. 6hrs-34min
Standby...12-26min
2nd
Usage..6hrs-33min
Standby...9hrs-44min
3rd time I'm now at 12%
Usage...6hrs-31min
Standby...11hrs-48min
It could be that my battery is a year old but it's almost too much of a coincidence in stats to other users reports on the 4s.


Sent from my iPhone 4 using Tapatalk

 

[rdfoster]

I want a new phone or I want an iPhone 4s that lasts all day long..........

 

[lukaret]

rdfoster, the iphone 4s is the one with battery issue, the battery power doesn't last long...i already bought one, the sad thing is we cannot question the inventor of this phone about it because he is already dead.

RIP Steve!,,

i complain at a verizon outlet near me but they said they cannot do anything about the battery dilema....grrr!

 

[Skull One]

I don't think that the battery issue is only for the 4s. I have a year old 16gb iphone 4 and have noticed a battery drain since installing ios5. I'm now in the 3rd time tracking my battery and each result is very similar. The first 2 times I checked the usage it was checked with 2% battery left. Stats were,
Usage.. 6hrs-34min
Standby...12-26min
2nd
Usage..6hrs-33min
Standby...9hrs-44min
3rd time I'm now at 12%
Usage...6hrs-31min
Standby...11hrs-48min
It could be that my battery is a year old but it's almost too much of a coincidence in stats to other users reports on the 4s.


Sent from my iPhone 4 using Tapatalk

If your numbers are credible, this is the first report I have seen of this that shows a similar baseline to what I have seen on my 4S. What is odd is, my 4S was a direct copy of my 4. And the 4 had been on iOS 5 for over 2 months with no issues. While it is possible the error is across iOS 5 on all models, it must be set off by something VERY ODD to not being showing up across all the news reports.

 

[Skull One]

Last post of the night. Numbers are still looking good.

Phone just hit 49%.
Usage is 4 hours and 29 minutes. This run has one hour of gaming now on it. So this number is very promising in my opinion.
Standby is 16 hours 41 minutes.

Projected is now roughly 8 hours 58 minutes for usage and 33 hours and 22 minutes standby.

Should be interesting to see what the percentage looks like when the alarm goes off 7 hours and 10 minutes from now.

 

[Col.bris]

Are you implying, ColBris, that Skull got his hands on a 'beta' version that isn't available to the rest of us? Your comment isn't connected to another poster's.

Please, everyone on this forum, start using your 'quote' button before you comment so we know whose comment you're responding to. Then your pronouns - 'you', 'he'.. will have a reference point.
Thanks!!

Scull is an authorized Apple iOS developer and yes he would receive any new updates prior to the general public. My comment was a general comment stating developers in general need to test the issue before Apple releases the update simple as that.