May Return my 4S Due to Battery Life

[Pseudo-Fed]

With my 4, I kept bluetooth on so it would find my truck when I entered it, WIFI on so it would find my hotspots. I kept EDGE on rather than 3G unless I needed faster data. Off charger at 5:00 am, moderate use, at 60% at 9:00 pm. With light use I could be above 80% at 9:00 pm. Brightness at 50%, etc.

With the 4S, with Siri disabled, Cellular data OFF (there appears to be no EDGE option to get data), WIFI OFF, Bluetooth OFF, and off charger at 5:00 am, NO use, and at 80% by 8:00 am. WOW! I actually bought a Mophie charger-case but may be returning all this stuff and go back to my 4. I don't want to be tethered to a charger or have to worry that sudden necessary use will leave me stranded.....

 

[Skull One]

I have been in iOS 5 for iPhone 4 for over 2 months. I have been on my iPhone 4S for 3 days now. I am seeing the EXACT same battery drain rate under the same exact usage conditions.

If I may recommend, do a factory reset and manually restore your apps/contacts/settings and then test the battery drain. Also, how many full discharge and full recharges have you done? I did two deep cycle charges before I started worrying about a comparison.

 

[Pseudo-Fed]

Hmmm. I was on IOS 4.3 on my 4. I only did one 100% to 18% drain on the first day. How do I do the factory reset? Steps? I presume backup first, then do something with the phone, or is it through iTunes? Thanks.

 

[Skull One]

Factory reset is under Settings -> General. Scroll to the bottom and you will find Reset.

I highly recommend you do a forced backup from within iTunes before doing this. But you don't want to restore the backup until you have tested the phone without your data. This will see if the issue is related to carrying data over from your iOS 4 load out into iOS 5.

 

[Pseudo-Fed]

I see, thanks. And what is a deep cycle charge? I presume 100% down to close to zero?

 

[Skull One]

Correct. I tend to do one every 60 days.

 

[Pseudo-Fed]

Thanks. What do you think about external battery packs--case type like Mophie (convenient) or external like New Trent, etc?

 

[Skull One]

I don't use them and hence have no experience with them since I am not seeing any issues with my battery life. So I can't even offer an opinion.

 

[kingnba6]

thanks for the great info. but the iphone 4s has a faster and better processor so it is going to take up more battery no matter what.

 

[Skull One]

thanks for the great info. but the iphone 4s has a faster and better processor so it is going to take up more battery no matter what.

That is 100% incorrect. The A5 uses a smaller micron design than the A4. The A5 is also clocked to 800 Mhz like the A4. It is technically possible to pull more power, but with iOS 5 and the new chip design, it is probably on par if not a little lower.

In fact I believe both ARM and Intel have posted white papers on this subject matter.

 

[kingnba6]

interesting. so i was misinformed. thanks for the clarification

 

[Pseudo-Fed]

Update: Exchanged my 32GB for a 64GB due to the battery (helpful AT&T store), and good excuse to get the bigger one, which I almost did anyway--plan to take and keep alot of videos. Turned on the new phone at 3:20 pm and it had 74% charge. Saw it drop to 73% while the ATT guy worked on it. Thought "Uh oh". Have not restored it. It was on 3G for most of the last 3 hours, but I turned off cell data about 45 mins ago. Turned bluetooth, location services and wifi on immediately (of course none of my apps are on the phone). Took a couple pics. Googled a couple of things. Played with a couple settings. Otherwise, in my pocket. 3 Hours later it's down to 66%, or about 9% loss. This is MUCH better than I was experiencing with the last phone on mostly standby. I'll probably complete the day and tomorrow without installing anything to see how it does. Then maybe restore from my backup to see if I can tank the battery again.....

 

[Bluering]

Thanks. What do you think about external battery packs--case type like Mophie (convenient) or external like New Trent, etc?

I have the Mophie battery pack for over a year now; it stays on my phone all the time. I had recourse to it just a few times as the battery life on my iphone 4 is not bad and I charge every night. Also I have noticed battery life improvement with the iOS5, I listen to overseas streaming radio at night and very often I fall asleep and the radio stays on all night, before I always ended up with 20 to 30% of battery juice in the morning, now with the iOS5 upgrade I am left with 67% in the morning and my Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are always on.
The Mophie battery pack is worth having according to me as you will never be caught out ofpower.

 

[spatriarco]

What battery doctor apps would anyone recommend. I am having major battery drain issues with my new 4s.

 

[Skull One]

There are no battery app doctors for iOS. All they can do is tell you when to charge, when the phone is fully charged and your cycle lifetime with some "Predictions". Android does have those types of Apps but Apple won't alone anything but a "reporter" app. So basically anything you pay for on iOS is a ripoff since you can do it all yourself.