The iPhone 4S battery problems continue! Even a software update that was supposed to fix the problem couldn’t fix the problem. So what’s going on? Is it a software bug? Maybe. A hardware flaw? Probably not.
ZDNet had an app developer test out two different iPhone 4S devices, one with the battery problem — rapid drop in battery when the iPhone was idle — and one without the battery problem. They were both bought at the same time and both running iOS 5.0.1. They should both have the same battery life but why was one draining faster than the other?
The app developer wanted to see if it was a hardware issue so he backed up both phones and factory reset both of them. He then restored each device with the different backup. The phone that originally had the battery problem was restored with software from the phone that didn’t have a battery problem, the phone that didn’t have the battery problem was restored with software from the phone that did have the battery problem. If the battery problem was caused by hardware, the same phone that had the battery problem would still have the problem, right? That wasn’t the case. Instead, the battery problem jumped phones through software.
The phone that previously drained fast now showed excellent battery life and the phone that was previously excellent, now drained fast. The problem, according to this sample of one test, shows that the battery issue is in the software and not the hardware. Which means it should be fixable. So fix it Apple. [ZDNet]
Johnny P
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 7:54 AMWhat were the differences between the 2 versions of the backup. Were some features enable in one and not the other? Why not run both devices with the ‘good software’ then both devices with the ‘bad software’ and report the results
Wbcw
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 8:13 AMYeah Apple, fix it
moggyx
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 8:28 AMWhat an insightful article…. Just going to take a wild guess here, but I am guessing now that apple is adding similar features to that of android, they are running into similar issues. Update intervals, twitter integration, etc.. are probably all having an impact on the ability of the phone to enter a low power mode during periods of inactivity.
I used to complain that iOS actually “did nothing” as an OS, as it simply acted as an app launcher, but that was it’s beauty and what allowed it to perform as well as it did. I suspect the more OS level features that are added in, the more of these articles we will be seeing.
Johnny P
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 8:56 AMiOS as a glorified app launcher. Never thought of it like that but now that you mention it, early iOS iterations were little more than that.
olearymo
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 9:16 AMwhat an odd thing to say. All OSes are glorified app launchers. That’s… basically what they do.
wsDK_II
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 11:16 AMNot WP7
olearymo
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 12:16 PMOh? What does WP7 do, apart from launch apps? Don’t say it has integrated apps, because those are still apps.
James
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 8:34 AMIam so happy I didnt get the iphone 4.5. I think siri talks to her self killing the battery.
olearymo
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 9:16 AMI believe it’s 4S, not 4.5
Andrew
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 9:22 AMi dont have any issues with mine. im loving my 4S
pickledcass
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 1:49 PMSiri is able to be deactivated. Also the siri function is triggered either by talking into the phone or by holding the centre button ie: intentional activation.
BenDTU
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 8:49 AMSo in other words ZDNet have reported what users have been reporting?
Imagine that.
selwyn
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 8:58 AMthe apple fix will just be another cover
olearymo
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 9:12 AMSo it’s basically a problem with backups? Everything I’ve read seems to point to that. So if you buy a new iPhone 4S and just set it up new, it should work fine?
moloko
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 9:28 AMAnd yet tards are still buying them.
JonBOY
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 9:58 AMI had an iPhone 4 with great battery life and when the 4S was released I used a backup from my iPhone 4 to transfer all my data to my 4S, and my 4S now has terrible battery performance.
I wonder if people that are having battery issues all restored their phones from backups in order to transfer their info?
Maybe phones that are activated and used from a fresh install don’t have the battery issue….. To bad I need all my contacts etc so I cannot try it.
olearymo
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 12:18 PMYou haven’t thought of just putting your contacts as gmail contacts, or in icloud? then you could wipe the whole thing.
Seems a shame to be held back from doing something just because of the contacts. You could even just export them to a file then bring them back in.
Penmonicus
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 10:11 AM“Terrible battery performance” is highly subjective.
Can we get some stats here?
I work in an office underground, so my phone’s constantly searching for signal, and I keep forgetting to put it on Flight Mode [and occasionally I'll receive a text, so I tend to just leave it anyway] and it’ll normally last a day. There’s a fair chance I’ll be playing a game on it all day, too. And outside of this, I’m normally constantly checking my email/Facebook/Twitter – so battery drain isn’t entirely surprising to me.
Jack
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 10:23 AMHi guys, before saying about the battery problem, can I ask you guys a question? How long do you guys think a no-problem battery can capable? (I mean how long a good battery can live?) my iPhone 4S if I used it for whole day, making call, surfing internet, FB…It can work up to 10 hours. Im not sure is it in the battery problem?
Thanks
olearymo
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 12:20 PMdoing that stuff on-and-off over the day? That’s normal for any smartphone battery.
My mate has an iPhone 4 and I have a Google Nexus One (Android). We both spend a lot of time on twitter, play a few games, text, a few calls, email etc etc and it lasts probably 10-12 hours on average.
chojat
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 10:24 AMI had the same problem with my iPhone 4S. The battery was draining like crazy and i found something on the net to fix it.
in Settings>Location services>system services turn everything off in there.
I only charge my battery once per day and it never goes under 40%
these articles are flawed because they dont offer any solutions just problems to confuse people.
Joel
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 11:03 AMWhat I get from this article is, if you have this problem:
1. Redownload iOS 5.0.1
2. Start phone as new and reinstall everything/change settings.
If you don’t want to lose data:
1. Redownload iOS 5.0.1
2. Settings > General > Reset > Reset all settings
3. Back up phone
4. Restore from said back up
It’s obviously something in the back ups, whether changing iOS makes it faulty or not.
pickledcass
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 1:52 PMMy phone is fine as it happens. I think it’s fine anyway. The battery will last a whole work day and perhaps even into the 15-20 hour mark if I’m not stuffing around on it. I let it run down to 1% before recharging so the whole battery is being utilised and restored with each charge.
Data streams etc affect battery a lot.
I noticed that one night I had cell data/wi-fi and phone network active and in the morning (so post 8hours idle time) it had drained about 9% of the battery versus another night I had it on flight mode (no incoming/outgoing signal I guess) and battery life was still at 100% when I woke up with alarm after the same amount of time idling. Something to think about.
Sean
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 9:40 PMI have a 4s. And yes I had some problems with battery. but if you read forums there are things that work.
I used steps in this link combined with a good battery appn(free) and I am almost to 2 days on with normal use and Bluetooth at times, and still at 45%!
Read this : https://discussions.apple.com/message/16711029#16711029
It solved my issues
Sean