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What do you consider acceptable battery life for the iPhone 5?

  • 3 - 4 hours

    Votes: 4 1.8%
  • 5 - 6 hours

    Votes: 28 12.7%
  • 7 - 8 hours

    Votes: 80 36.4%
  • 8+ hours

    Votes: 108 49.1%

  • Total voters
    220

iPhoneApple

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 24, 2011
417
0
I've read many people complain about battery life on the new iPhone and talk about Apple replacing their phones, so I wanted to see what people here consider to be good/acceptable for battery life.
 

JonMPLS

macrumors 68000
May 23, 2010
1,671
242
MN
Poll is up now. I normally get 5-6 hours, but it sounds like that's really bad.

I also get 5-6, but is really depends on how you use it. Talking and also listening to music are low in drain rate. My usage is almost all Safari and email, which is moderate.

GPS (I use Navigon) drains it really fast.
 

QuasarZ

macrumors member
Oct 18, 2010
41
0
Also signal strength plays a big part. When I am at home I get pretty good battery life...all day for my usage. But when I travel to work several states away signal is worse and my battery suffers dramatically.
 

A420Turbo

macrumors member
Aug 17, 2010
49
0
NY
Glad to know 0 people agree ATM that my battery usage life is unacceptable lol .... I'd kill (almost) to get 7-8 hrs usage
 

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iPhoneApple

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 24, 2011
417
0
Also signal strength plays a big part. When I am at home I get pretty good battery life...all day for my usage. But when I travel to work several states away signal is worse and my battery suffers dramatically.

I'm noticing this too. I get about 2-3 bars and battery is really bad.
 

kappaknight

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2009
1,595
91
Atlanta, GA
My phone's battery can last 2 days - but then again, I don't use it constantly since I have my laptop with me most of the time.

For those that get 5-6 hours, are you just on it constantly?
 

iPhoneApple

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 24, 2011
417
0
I normally read this site, use Pulse, play Tiny Tower, and watch YouTube and get about 5.5 hours. Any tips on how to improve this or should I go to a Genius Bar?
 

sn0warmy

macrumors 6502a
Mar 26, 2009
630
75
Denver, CO
I use my iPhone no different than I did with my Galaxy SIII & Galaxy Nexus yet the battery on this iPhone drains about 2x faster than both those phones.

This isn't intended to start an Apple vs Android blow-up, but the quick battery drain is the first thing I noticed after making the switch to the iPhone 5.

I suspect that a software update can help remedy this since my previous Android phones had battery drain issues as well until Jelly Bean was released and the battery life improved due to the OS doing a better job of killing background processes.

My usage is typically...
1-3 phone calls a day
10-20 texts a day
50 minutes of listening to music while on the train to/from work

With my previous phones I could go 2 full days with the above usage without a charge before being left with ~10% battery remaining. With the iPhone 5 my phone has ~10%-20% left in it by the end of the day.
 

jlake02

macrumors 68020
Nov 2, 2008
2,259
1
L.A.
Poll is up now. I normally get 5-6 hours, but it sounds like that's really bad.

Same here but I have WiFi on all day.. Bluetooth on all day.. push email and Twitter... so I don't mind. I'm always close enough to a charger if I need it. :)
 

darkside flow

macrumors 6502
Aug 11, 2010
490
130
Toronto
I use my iPhone no different than I did with my Galaxy SIII & Galaxy Nexus yet the battery on this iPhone drains about 2x faster than both those phones.

This isn't intended to start an Apple vs Android blow-up, but the quick battery drain is the first thing I noticed after making the switch to the iPhone 5.

I suspect that a software update can help remedy this since my previous Android phones had battery drain issues as well until Jelly Bean was released and the battery life improved due to the OS doing a better job of killing background processes.

My usage is typically...
1-3 phone calls a day
10-20 texts a day
50 minutes of listening to music while on the train to/from work

With my previous phones I could go 2 full days with the above usage without a charge before being left with ~10% battery remaining. With the iPhone 5 my phone has ~10%-20% left in it by the end of the day.

This doesn't sound right at all. I get 7-8 hours usage with 2 days standby, mostly video streaming, audio streaming, web browsing and some 3D gaming.

I would try a restore on your phone, a couple full battery cycles and take it back if you see no improvement.

iPhone 5 battery when working properly will exceed the SIII and Nexus phones easily.
 

cababah

macrumors 68000
Jun 11, 2009
1,891
504
SF Bay Area, CA
At 88% with 37 minutes usage and 1 hour 36
Minutes standby. Is this good?

What kind of usage? For light usage, I would say no, definitely not.


Also, for all those that think they can just go back to Apple and show them the usage stats of the battery and get a new iPhone, you might be in for a surprise. Last time I took my 4S to a Genius to look at, they hook up a hardware diagnostic cable that runs a quick test on the battery and if it shows up green then they just say it is fine and give you tips to maximize the life.
 

dotme

macrumors 65816
Oct 18, 2011
1,185
244
Iowa
"Acceptable" battery life is not having to charge the phone during a normal day. If it makes it from wake-up time to bed time, I'm happy. I always charge my phone overnight.
 

QCassidy352

macrumors G5
Mar 20, 2003
12,028
6,036
Bay Area
For those with low battery life: did you restore your phone or set up as new? And if you restored, did you reset all settings? Some of these numbers are shockingly low.
 

iPhoneApple

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 24, 2011
417
0
What kind of usage? For light usage, I would say no, definitely not.


Also, for all those that think they can just go back to Apple and show them the usage stats of the battery and get a new iPhone, you might be in for a surprise. Last time I took my 4S to a Genius to look at, they hook up a hardware diagnostic cable that runs a quick test on the battery and if it shows up green then they just say it is fine and give you tips to maximize the life.

I just went through macrumors and watched some videos. I'll try a restore and see if it improves
 

CBSubliminal

macrumors 6502
Oct 10, 2012
388
40
Florida
I was getting 6 hours of usage on my 5 on a full battery. That was from a restore from iCloud. I reset all settings and restored from iTunes instead and now I am getting 8 hours plus. Acutally I got 9 hours and 56 minutes on my last cycle.
 

iPhoneApple

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 24, 2011
417
0
I was getting 6 hours of usage on my 5 on a full battery. That was from a restore from iCloud. I reset all settings and restored from iTunes instead and now I am getting 8 hours plus. Acutally I got 9 hours and 56 minutes on my last cycle.

Did you restore from a backup or set it up as new?
 

WesCole

macrumors 6502a
Jul 1, 2010
756
14
Texas
I usually take my phone off the charger around 8 am or so. I only get a couple of phone calls per day, maybe a handful of texts, a lot of emails, and several other notifications. I tend to play games about 45 minutes or so, remote into my home computer for a few minutes, almost always connected to a Bluetooth device, streaming pandora to Bluetooth earpiece at least 3 hours a day, and probably about 30 minutes more of just having the screen on messing around. I go to bed usually around 10:30 or 11:00 pm and normally have at least 10% battery left...usually closer to 20-25%. I consider this very acceptable.

Edit: I am probably forgetting a lot of usage throughout the day because I don't keep up with everything I do on my phone. I do get good battery life, though, and I use my phone a lot.
 

ZacT94

macrumors regular
Jun 25, 2012
196
0
The battery life on my iPhone 5 is excellent. Yesterday I spent 2 hours playing games on it and I only got down to 80% from full charge.
 
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