iOS 5.1 Released

[pianoman]

I follow too many threads to remember you stated OTA, my apologies.

Your condition then is actually close to optimal if you were on the charger and above 98%.

This is very odd. Now I am rather perplexed. Would you be so kind and try something that could be considered a scientific test?

Do not reboot, do a full charge and then double tap the home button and hold down an app in the task bar till they all shake. Click on the red minus of every app to unload them from the list. Then use the phone as normal EXCEPT after you are done with every app, do the unload procedure. Also don't hit the standby button with an App in use.

I would be very interested to see if that changes your battery life.

Where ya been Skull? Always good to have you around when there's a new software out! I've heard many contradictory things about whether or not apps are in RAM when they're in the double click home button bar at the bottom of the screen. I'm actually embarrassed to ask this to YOU of all people but are you really sure that those apps aren't just a list of recently used but not really still in ram?

When I get rid of all those apps in the app bar my ram use indicator in the status bar is unchanged.

 

[Yptcn]

Smoothe OTA update last night .Charged 100% , and when I woke up this morning it was still 100% !
After 22h30mn of standby and 2h35 of usage my phone is now 69% .
I never had a bad battery but this seems even better to me .
What do you guys think ?

 

[Skull One]

Where ya been Skull? Always good to have you around when there's a new software out! I've heard many contradictory things about whether or not apps are in RAM when they're in the double click home button bar at the bottom of the screen. I'm actually embarrassed to ask this to YOU of all people but are you really sure that those apps aren't just a list of recently used but not really still in ram?

Actually, you can perform the same exact test I did to prove exactly how iOS works

Launch 80 different apps (you can cheat and only do 20 if you want ) and then reboot the phone.

When the iPhone is done rebooting, unlock, double click the home button and surprise surprise all those apps are still listed. We both know they aren't in memory because you just rebooted. So there goes the first myth of "if it is in the task bar it is in memory".

NOW however is the next key for why I recommend the test. If you do one app at a time and then "kill them" it does unload it from memory. There is ONE exception though. Apps like Message, Phone and a few others are interfaces to a back end software. So while you are unloading the interface you aren't unloading all the memory associated with the back end apps usage. You can see that thru several memory and process viewers.

And now for my dirty little secret. The test I suggested is the very exact regiment I am doing as I type this. This is the first test I always run with a new iOS release.

Current stats:

80% battery remaining.
Usage: 2:08
Standby: 7:42

On par with getting 9 hours out of an iPhone 4S without charging for 24 hours.

 

[iHolophyte]

I've done this too and it's correct everything is still there. Same as the upgrade last night they were still there even after the update and reboot of the phone.


iHolophyte

 

[r1wonder]

i joined to read what you all thought, just like some of you my battery is even worse. i went to bed and it was at 95 so i woke up and within 4 hours it was down to 40 percent. i use it quite a bit for internet, pandora, and a small amount of texting and like 2 short phone calls. but nothing more then an average day and the battery seems to have gone about 20 percent more then it normally would

 

[HiddenPuppy]

I did the upgrade and was not having any battery problems before the update, I would get 16 hours of standby and 4-5 hours of use and be at 30% at the end of the day. After the update it seems about the same. Right now I am at 10 hours 46 minutes standby and 3 hours 3 minutes usage. Today was a busy day for my phone, heavy usage. Seems about the same to me, not better, not worse.

Have a nice day,
HiddenPuppy

 

[Yakuzagang5]

I follow too many threads to remember you stated OTA, my apologies.

Your condition then is actually close to optimal if you were on the charger and above 98%.

This is very odd. Now I am rather perplexed. Would you be so kind and try something that could be considered a scientific test?

Do not reboot, do a full charge and then double tap the home button and hold down an app in the task bar till they all shake. Click on the red minus of every app to unload them from the list. Then use the phone as normal EXCEPT after you are done with every app, do the unload procedure. Also don't hit the standby button with an App in use.

I would be very interested to see if that changes your battery life.

I would be glad to try this tomorrow, as if I did it now it would probably be pointless, as I wouldn't be able to drain the battery much for normal use.

I will let you know tomorrow how it's going though, thanks for the advice

 

[Horsehaulin]

Well I had another 250 mile round trip tow today and ran Waze from 93% to 5% with about thirty minutes of talk and the battery lasted 4 1/2 hours. I feel that is good, better than the last trip of only 3 hours.


Sent from my iPhone 4S.

 

[pianoman]

Actually, you can perform the same exact test I did to prove exactly how iOS works

Launch 80 different apps (you can cheat and only do 20 if you want ) and then reboot the phone.

When the iPhone is done rebooting, unlock, double click the home button and surprise surprise all those apps are still listed. We both know they aren't in memory because you just rebooted. So there goes the first myth of "if it is in the task bar it is in memory".

NOW however is the next key for why I recommend the test. If you do one app at a time and then "kill them" it does unload it from memory. There is ONE exception though. Apps like Message, Phone and a few others are interfaces to a back end software. So while you are unloading the interface you aren't unloading all the memory associated with the back end apps usage. You can see that thru several memory and process viewers.

And now for my dirty little secret. The test I suggested is the very exact regiment I am doing as I type this. This is the first test I always run with a new iOS release..

Well - still confused. I did exactly what you prescribe with the one at a time method (not with phone or message apps) and absolutely no difference whatsoever in RAM availability when I "force quit" the app the way you mention. I'm 99% convinced that status bar is simply a list of shortcuts to your most recently used apps. And I think that's what the help readme's tell us too. Been wrong before - but I don't think you can ever release from ram an app by using that "status bar" (as you aptly call it) force deletion method. Something else must explain your good results so far..

 

[Skull One]

Well - still confused. I did exactly what you prescribe with the one at a time method (not with phone or message apps) and absolutely no difference whatsoever in RAM availability when I "force quit" the app the way you mention. I'm 99% convinced that status bar is simply a list of shortcuts to your most recently used apps. And I think that's what the help readme's tell us too. Been wrong before - but I don't think you can ever release from ram an app by using that "status bar" (as you aptly call it) force deletion method. Something else must explain your good results so far..

Ok, I think I know what you are seeing. Time for a small write up.

There are five memory spaces for iOS and OSX. They are Wired (can't unload ever), Active (running code, don't unload until you signal the app that it is about to die, force it to inactive), Inactive (can unload if not hooked to certain API calls), Other (can unload at will), Free (the remainder of memory).

If you are only looking at overall memory and not each section directly you won't see any major changes. Now there is also the second rule of iOS; keep things in memory as much as possible to save battery life. There is actually a battery penalty from loading things from the disk memory to the CPU memory. So as you "kill off an app", iOS can decide to leave it in the "inactive" memory assignment.

The application I use to track this is called "System Status" by Techet. They usually run it on sale for 99 cents about 3 times a month. And it the description currently says it is on sale but I can't check the price since I already have it installed.

Now if you want to see it from an overall memory stand point, you have to reboot the phone and then load a big app and then kill it off to see any kind of dramatic change. Because those apps tend to load up the other segment with data that can be easily freed.

Hope that explains both what you are seeing and how iOS basically runs.

 

[pianoman]

Ok, I think I know what you are seeing. Time for a small write up.

There are five memory spaces for iOS and OSX. They are Wired (can't unload ever), Active (running code, don't unload until you signal the app that it is about to die, force it to inactive), Inactive (can unload if not hooked to certain API calls), Other (can unload at will), Free (the remainder of memory).

If you are only looking at overall memory and not each section directly you won't see any major changes. Now there is also the second rule of iOS; keep things in memory as much as possible to save battery life. There is actually a battery penalty from loading things from the disk memory to the CPU memory. So as you "kill off an app", iOS can decide to leave it in the "inactive" memory assignment.

The application I use to track this is called "System Status" by Techet. They usually run it on sale for 99 cents about 3 times a month. And it the description currently says it is on sale but I can't check the price since I already have it installed.

Now if you want to see it from an overall memory stand point, you have to reboot the phone and then load a big app and then kill it off to see any kind of dramatic change. Because those apps tend to load up the other segment with data that can be easily freed.

Hope that explains both what you are seeing and how iOS basically runs.

Umm.. a little bit. Thanks always for your detailed answers. So then it isn't proper to call it a myth that the status bars apps are active and thus eating away battery? Nothing in any of Apple's materials says anything about clearing that status bar to retain battery life. Not even when they were getting lambasted about the 4S battery problems. But to be sure - I am NOT going to consider a serious battery life solution being chasing after these apps. Apple needs to get their act together and give us great battery life with EVERY feature turned on and any amount of recently used apps in that status window. Not gonna become a technician to own an iPhone - I'll jump ship first. We should NOT have to jump thru such hoops.

But thanks again.

 

[Skull One]

Umm.. a little bit. Thanks always for your detailed answers. So then it isn't proper to call it a myth that the status bars apps are active and thus eating away battery? Nothing in any of Apple's materials says anything about clearing that status bar to retain battery life. Not even when they were getting lambasted about the 4S battery problems. But to be sure - I am NOT going to consider a serious battery life solution being chasing after these apps. Apple needs to get their act together and give us great battery life with EVERY feature turned on and any amount of recently used apps in that status window. Not gonna become a technician to own an iPhone - I'll jump ship first. We should NOT have to jump thru such hoops.

But thanks again.

Basically the task bar is a dual edged sword. It contains your last 80 apps accessed in order. And some of those apps may still be in memory under various states of operation. You can just about bet the bank though, the last 4 apps you accessed are still in memory in some form. The key is if they are in Active or Wired memory vs the other slots. If in Active or Wired, you can assume they are taking up CPU time in some fashion.

Now I already have a list of apps that I feel break Apple's rules when it comes to background processing. As well as how to take a properly written app and put it in a bad state thru no fault of your own. But I can't prove it factually yet. This is a project I have been working on since the first iOS 5.1 beta came out. Once I can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt what I suspect, I will publish the findings on iPhoneForums.

 

[prawns]

I intstalled "springtomize" to help end the confusion with the app switcher for me

It hides all apps from the app switcher unless they are actually active (ignores the apps history and only shows apps that are actually running in the background)

in springtomize--->app switcher--->Inactive apps handling----> change it to read "hide from switcher" or you can just have it dim the inactive icons instead

 

[pianoman]

Basically the task bar is a dual edged sword. It contains your last 80 apps accessed in order. And some of those apps may still be in memory under various states of operation. You can just about bet the bank though, the last 4 apps you accessed are still in memory in some form. The key is if they are in Active or Wired memory vs the other slots. If in Active or Wired, you can assume they are taking up CPU time in some fashion.

Now I already have a list of apps that I feel break Apple's rules when it comes to background processing. As well as how to take a properly written app and put it in a bad state thru no fault of your own. But I can't prove it factually yet. This is a project I have been working on since the first iOS 5.1 beta came out. Once I can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt what I suspect, I will publish the findings on iPhoneForums.

as always thanks, Skull. I know you don't live in the jailbroken world. But those of us who live in the jailbroken world have a constant readout of all memory usage through a status bar we can engage called "SBS Settings". I am regularly emptying ram down to its bare bones. So I'm quite sure that has nothing to do with my battery issue personally. It's just in the jailbroken world it's way easier to keep control of your RAM usage than it is in the un-jailbroken world.

It's with that same app from Cydia that I can tell for 99% sure that none of the apps I use regularly are releasable from ram by using the status bar wiggly icon removal technique you refer to. After a couple of hours of testing today I verified that it has no effect on emptying the ram. SBS settings "free up memory" subroutine clears all processes, wired or otherwise, that you've been referring to.

But I am eager to discover your findings when you wish to share them. And, again, thank you for your always clear and detailed answers.

 

[Skull One]

as always thanks, Skull. I know you don't live in the jailbroken world. But those of us who live in the jailbroken world have a constant readout of all memory usage through a status bar we can engage called "SBS Settings". I am regularly emptying ram down to its bare bones. So I'm quite sure that has nothing to do with my battery issue personally. It's just in the jailbroken world it's way easier to keep control of your RAM usage than it is in the un-jailbroken world.

It's with that same app from Cydia that I can tell for 99% sure that none of the apps I use regularly are releasable from ram by using the status bar wiggly icon removal technique you refer to. After a couple of hours of testing today I verified that it has no effect on emptying the ram. SBS settings "free up memory" subroutine clears all processes, wired or otherwise, that you've been referring to.

But I am eager to discover your findings when you wish to share them. And, again, thank you for your always clear and detailed answers.

Very interesting. I may have to acquire a device to jailbreak then. Because after dissecting Android down to the kernel, it has been rather frustrating trying to troubleshoot a closed system.

Oh and keeping the RAM cleared at all times actually does cause battery drain. The penalty for constantly having to rotate things into memory can be steep.