iPhone 5 Battery Life May Be Impacted Greatly by Cellular Signal Strength

[MacRumors]

Deep in its lengthy review of the iPhone 5, iLounge has performed an analysis on the battery life of the iPhone 5. The site tested the device under a number of conditions, including both cellular and Wi-Fi web browsing, voice calls, FaceTime calls, video recording, and video and audio playback.




The phone performed fairly well but iLounge found battery life struggled when transferring cellular data or making voice calls, which they speculated was due to a weak signal:

if you're using your iPhone 5 in places a with a very strong (4- to 5-bar) LTE or 3G signal, your cellular battery life may approach that number, but if not, the cellular antenna will struggle to maintain a signal, and fall well short. Because LTE and 3G/4G towers are in a state of build-out flux right now, our tests suggest that many LTE users won't come close to Apple's promised numbers.

iLounge has the detailed results on its battery testing in its iPhone 5 review, but unsurprisingly, mileage will vary greatly depending on a number of factors including health of the battery, signal strength, screen brightness, and other considerations.

Article Link: iPhone 5 Battery Life May Be Impacted Greatly by Cellular Signal Strength

[technopimp]

Even doing "nothing" (phone is locked, etc.) on AT&T's 4G network (no LTE here yet) I've been losing 1-2% every few minutes. Once I switch to WiFi it goes back to normal. Hope this improves.

[Prof.]

Another reason why I'm waiting 'til the end of 2013 to get the iPhone 5S.

[wlossw]

Battery life is definitely worse than my iPhone 4 for comparable usage. I am on Rogers in Montreal, quebec, and am often on 2-3 LTE bars.

Hopefully the run time will improve as network coverage is expanded, and hopefully that will be soon.

[bushido]

lol what is LTE? i'm getting 2 bars of edge at my parents place if i'm lucky cannot wait to go back to uni and the real world soon

[G51989]

Newsflash.

ALL Cellphones, even dumbphones are affected by signal strength, the weaker the signal, the phone has to boost power to the radio to maintain a connection.

Turn on Airplane mode on pretty much any dumb or smart phone, you'd be amazed how long the battery lasts without having to power the radio, I did that with my old Samsung Replenish Android Phone after I got my S3, I think with airplane mode on, it lasted almost a week before it died, my old 3GS would go almost a week to.

In other news, the pope is catholic.

[StealthGhost]

Manufacturers love to BS the numbers

Little over 4 hours seems pretty poor, but obviously you'd have to compare it to other devices. Maybe WiMax takes less power or something because there's no way I could kill my phone in 4 hours, even HBO 4g streaming I watched 3 hours and still had 40% one time.

[CIA]

This might explain my battery issue. While home ("4G" AT&T, not LTE area) I get full signal and the battery (now conditioned twice) works great finally.

This past weekend I was hiking all day Sunday in a marginal coverage area and the phone barely lasted 6 hours.

Home (good signal) it's gone 2 days now without needing a charge.

[BMNB1tch]

can't you see
whats the point of LTE if
you dont have a Battery
will software fix this
broken technology?

[adcx64]

This is my first iPhone, and I'm really satisfied with my battery life. Albeit I'm on WiFi most of the time, I managed 12 hours on and off. LTE somewhat degrades my battery life, but it is by no means bad. Props to Apple.

[FSMBP]

Originally Posted by technopimp

Even doing "nothing" (phone is locked, etc.) on AT&T's 4G network (no LTE here yet) I've been losing 1-2% every few minutes. Once I switch to WiFi it goes back to normal. Hope this improves.

That's weird. Doesn't iPhone switch to cellular data when locked, regardless if Wi-Fi is enabled (when all background tasks are complete that is)?

[koppie644]

Of course. The signal is displayed as weak when you are relatively far from the base station or subject to shadowing. At the same time, your cell phone has to transmit more power to upload any information, which leads to lower battery life.

[StellarZ]

I've been exactly opposite. I switched from an iPhone 4 and with my use I was getting around 8 hours. Been approaching upwards of 15 with the iPhone 5. I do stream music and video via Airplay for around 50% of my daily use.

[iapplelove]

The good news is it charges fast.

[TimAlia]

Faster things download, faster we'll put our phones down. Boom. Won't even notice.

[DirtySocks85]

Is anyone surprised here? I've seen dramatic differences in battery life correlating to cell signal since I got my iPhone 3G in '08. For that matter, cell radios working harder significantly reduced batteries in old basic Nokia phones 15 years ago. Something about mountains being made of molehills comes to
mind.

[kas23]

Originally Posted by Prof.

Another reason why I'm waiting 'til the end of 2013 to get the iPhone 5S.

Remember, it was the iPhone 4S that was plagued with battery problems, not the iPhone 4.

[TG1]

Even my Razr Maxx will peter out around lunch time because our signal strength is absolutely atrocious at work (constantly waffles between 0 and 1 bar). Phones boost power whenever signal strength is poor. Nothing new here.

[2bikes]

My iPhone5 battery lasts much longer than my 4S. And my usage location, times and style has not changed.

[GFLPraxis]

My battery life on my iPhone 5 has been incredibly poor. I even turned LTE off yesterday and fully charged it overnight, and I'm halfway through my work day and down to 47%. I have only done texting and Facebook messenger.

[realeric]

My battery is fine.

[kas23]

Originally Posted by BMNB1tch

can't you see
whats the point of LTE if
you dont have a Battery
will software fix this
broken technology?

Is this supposed to be a poem?

[Chris Blount]

This is nothing new folks. All cell phones have this issue. I don't understand the big deal.

[technopimp]

Originally Posted by FSMBP

That's weird. Doesn't iPhone switch to cellular data when locked, regardless if Wi-Fi is enabled (when all background tasks are complete that is)?

The example I'm giving is when I am on cellular data (not on a WiFi network). At lunch, in a so-so coverage area, I lost 15% in an hour. It was locked in my pocket. At home, overnight, I lose about 3%.

[ECUpirate44]

Originally Posted by realeric

My battery is fine.

Mine too. Much improved over my iPhone 4.