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What is the single biggest battery drainer in the iPhone 5?

5

50548

Guest
Original poster
Apr 17, 2005
5,039
2
Currently in Switzerland
I've just got a brand new iPhone 5 (my first), after years and years using a crappy Motorola RAZR - I am thoroughly enjoying it, of course, and haven't encountered any problems so far.

Battery life seems in line with Apple's estimates, although I am still testing it. So my question is: WHAT is the biggest battery drainer in the iPhone 5?

My impression so far is that the biggest drainer would be Location Services, followed perhaps by the 3G cellular option. I can only get some three or four days of standby/light usage when these options are used.

What is your opinion on this? Any additional tips?
 
M-5

M-5

macrumors 65816
Jan 4, 2008
1,100
93
My battery seems to drain considerably faster while on Bluetooth, so that's my guess.
 
M

Megalobyte

macrumors 6502a
Dec 30, 2007
690
119
Florida
Taking lots of pictures eats up battery pretty fast. As does a lot of 4g/LTE downloading/intensive surfing. Of course games do too.
 
PNutts

PNutts

macrumors 601
Jul 24, 2008
4,874
357
Pacific Northwest, US
Having everything turned on. ;) Poor cellular signal, GPS, Bluetooth, screen (especially playing games or CPU intensive activities). Glad you are happy with the battery life!
 
5

50548

Guest
Original poster
Apr 17, 2005
5,039
2
Currently in Switzerland
Let me quaiify my question a little better: I am not worried about app usage draining battery, I just wanted to know what kind of "active" or "permanent" setting leads to more battery drain, such as 3G data, Bluetooth, Brightness, Location Services etc.

My initial feeling was that Location Services is the main culprit when it's always on (because of its use in background processes)...what do you think?
 
Prime85

Prime85

macrumors 6502a
Mar 1, 2012
652
0
BRLawyer said:
Let me quaiify my question a little better: I am not worried about app usage draining battery, I just wanted to know what kind of "active" or "permanent" setting leads to more battery drain, such as 3G data, Bluetooth, Brightness, Location Services etc.

My initial feeling was that Location Services is the main culprit when it's always on (because of its use in background processes)...what do you think?
Click to expand...

I agree that it would be location services since that will constantly turn on and off the GPS. Don't forget about the hidden location services settings as well. Also having bad signal can be a major drain on the battery, but for me the iPhone 5 seems to have the best battery out of any smartphone I have owned and that includes the older iPhones. For everyone else I believe he means when the phone is not in use and on standby so that means screen is off and no videos and apps are up.
 
pgiguere1

pgiguere1

macrumors 68020
May 28, 2009
2,167
1,200
Montreal, Canada
1. CPU/GPU at full load. Don't play 3D games or use Maps navigation if you need your battery to last.
2. Cellular radio. If you are making a call or downloading while you have bad reception, this will drain your battery super fast.
3. Screen. Your brightness has a large influence on how fast your battery drains.

If your battery is about to die and your need your phone to last a little longer, go into Airplane mode (until you need to make a call), don't open any game or 3D app and put your screen brightness at a very low setting.
 
D

DotCom2

macrumors 603
Feb 22, 2009
6,165
5,435
Having Cellular Data on when I don't need it, as well as the screen brightness over 50% seems to drain my battery much faster. YMMV
 
tymaster50

tymaster50

Suspended
Oct 3, 2012
2,833
58
Oregon
just having the celluar radio active drains battery, especially if it's below 3 bars, 3G drains faster than LTE somehow and you can't turn 3G off. Screen brightness, bluetooth/wifi etc... all the usual stuff
 
5

50548

Guest
Original poster
Apr 17, 2005
5,039
2
Currently in Switzerland
Thanks for the answers - my point was exactly as said above: what kind of options drain the battery more quickly when the iPhone is NOT being used (i.e., just sitting around)...I still have the impression Location Services followed by 3G are the worst factors.

What about Siri (I've never used it) - does it drain battery even when inactive?
 
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