Anyone jump ship after owning iPhone 5 due to battery?

[aphexacid]

Even though there is a massive thread, and this has been asked many many times, i will cooperate.

I had my i5 replaced a few times. the first replacement i received was an F2 serial. It had a flickering screen and terrible battery life. I never restore from a backup. I keep the screen brightness on 80%. i was getting just under 4 hours usage with the F2. I used it for 4 days. tried many things. No good.

I then got that replaced again because of the screen mostly. I got a DN serial.
Everything was just as it was on my original launch day i5. No screen flicker, and 7 hour battery life.

So, i believe you should swap your phone for a replacement before you "jump ship".

[Bahroo]

Originally Posted by ZZ Bottom

Hey all,

Appreciate the constructive comments. I have done all the usual, and have also held off from upgrading to 6.0.2 due to many reports of worse battery performance.

I don't have specific numbers, but under the exact same usage patterns my iPhone 4 would easily go twice as long before needing a charge. For most people charging daily isn't a big deal, but I feel that perhaps I was expecting to maintain similar habits as I had with the 4.

For the record I did not restore from a backup after upgrading. I only used iCloud to transfer contacts. I keep LTE disabled, bluetooth off, stripped out almost all apps from notification center, have limit ad tracking turned on, have iCloud backups disabled, have setting time zone, traffic, and location based iAds disabled in System Services. Long story short, I run it as minimalist as possible to extend battery life.

It's worth noting that I live in an area of spotty coverage (AT&T). I generally get 2-3 bars at home. However, this was the exact same for the iPhone 4 which faired much better. I use a Microcell at home, but have been told it likely makes no improvement on battery life vs. the poor tower reception; so basically I'm just insuring I don't get gurgled or dropped calls at home.

Bro theres obviously something wrong with the software on your phone. Do a full factory reset and update to the latest software.. Dont restore from your old backup because it will be there again..same thing happened to my brothers iphone 5, he came from a iphone 4 and transferred everything from the 4 to the 5 via iTunes and he was having problems in the beginning( most likely due to some iphone 4 files causing bugs on the iphone 5) but all he did was a factory reset and his phone is now flawless with great battery life. My iphone 5 has just a little bit more battery life then my old 4S and thats including a bigger brighter screen and LTE on so i am extremely satisfied

[ZZ Bottom]

Originally Posted by Zerilos

What's your brightness set at? I keep mine at about 33%. If you have set at over 50% then battery will drain very quickly. Ive heard that disabling LTE could cause battery problems as well since it will finish a task much faster than 3g.

Thanks for pointing out. My brightness is typically between 20-50%. Only time I crank it is when showing off a photo to someone. At 50% its almost always perfectly acceptable.

I will likely not make a move until January anyway, so I will wait to see if iOS 6 corrects this enough.

There are many of you expressing frustration. I am not advocating leaving the iPhone. I have found that for MY usage habits it falls short compared to my two year old iPhone 4 with identical settings tuned for best battery.

I realize that several people responded to my first post, but I assure you that better details of my corrective attempts were mentioned in later posts. My phone was not restored from the old one; not something I ever trust. Mail is on manual fetch, BT off, numerous settings disabled for optimal battery (probably some that make no improvement as well).

Bare in mind that I also mentioned that I receive poor cell coverage. Those of you getting average 3-5 bars aren't a decent comparison. I live in part of southern Illinois, a.k.a. The land that AT&T forgot. Average 1-3 bars; occasionally higher in certain patches.

[LaynieGorilla]

Have you thought about swapping for a new phone? I got a replacement for other reasons, but I realize I have longer battery life on my new phone. Similar to my old iPhone 4..and I'm hardly ever on wifi

[Zerilos]

I would definitely exchange it if the battery is that bad. Most people report decent battery life so it might be your particular phone.

[QuarterSwede]

Originally Posted by ZZ Bottom

Bare in mind that I also mentioned that I receive poor cell coverage. Those of you getting average 3-5 bars aren't a decent comparison. I live in part of southern Illinois, a.k.a. The land that AT&T forgot. Average 1-3 bars; occasionally higher in certain patches.

Agreed. When I've got good reception (in town) my battery life is fantastic. However, when I'm out of town in a poor reception area battery life tanks. Lasts maybe 8 hours on standby with occasional use. Sometimes it outright dies before I leave work. This is on 4G mind you. No LTE where I work and travel for work yet.

[ZZ Bottom]

Originally Posted by LaynieGorilla

Have you thought about swapping for a new phone? I got a replacement for other reasons, but I realize I have longer battery life on my new phone. Similar to my old iPhone 4..and I'm hardly ever on wifi

I might consider if I didn't have to drive 2.5 hours each way for nearest Apple Store. My phone happens to be perfect in every other regard, and therefore I'd prefer not gamble on getting a blem refurb as a replacement. I have compared my statistics to others in battery threads, and I am not much different from many others on the low end.

And to all of those claiming better battery then their iPhone 4; I call BS. Even Apple's comparison page shows 300 vs 225 hr standby with ip4 vs ip5.

[bandofbrothers]

I achieve a full days use out of my 5.

Too many variables of each users usage to see why others usage time etc fluctuates unless your unlucky enough to have a bad battery.

[QuarterSwede]

Originally Posted by ZZ Bottom

And to all of those claiming better battery then their iPhone 4; I call BS. Even Apple's comparison page shows 300 vs 225 hr standby with ip4 vs ip5.

I don't know if it's better than the 4's but it's definitely not worse as long as the reception is good.

[unagimiyagi]

Disappointed with the iphone 5's battery life. It is no longer better than all Android phones. I also feel that it's not better than the iphone 4's battery life, but I can not prove that. It's more of a microcosm of iOS--Android has caught up more than iOS's battery life has gotten worse.

[ZZ Bottom]

Originally Posted by unagimiyagi

Disappointed with the iphone 5's battery life. It is no longer better than all Android phones. I also feel that it's not better than the iphone 4's battery life, but I can not prove that. It's more of a microcosm of iOS--Android has caught up more than iOS's battery life has gotten worse.

Agreed. It would have been so easy for Apple to pack in a more appropriate battery size to meet and exceed the performance of their previous phone of more than 2 years ago.

I guarantee if Apple decided to decrease the iPad 5 down from 10 hours to 8 hours for the sake of ultimate thinness, people would have a fit. I'm growing tired of making this exact concession with the iPhone 5. I honestly don't know what other handset I would want to switch to, which is why I made this thread and why I haven't rushed out to sell this one. My instinct is that Android 4.1 would be a more desirable alternative vs. WP8. However I have read equal dissapointment with the S3's battery and the Note 2 just seems too unwieldy for day to day usage.

[blackhand1001]

There are definitely phones out there with better battery life especially in low signal areas. Any of the snapdragon s4 phones do much better in low signal as they have the integrated radio and much larger batteries. The exynos phones also have excellent battery as well such as the note II. The battery in the iphone 5 is just too small and the browser battery benchmarks done by reviewers aren't reaslistic tests as they just refresh the same page over and over and the iphone probably doesn't actually reload everything hence why it barely drains any battery. The other phones may actually force the reload not to be drawn from cache to ensure the page is updated. On android phones turning off location history in maps makes a huge difference in battery. Doesn't effect anything but that feature. Apps can still use gps fine as can maps itself. Literally makes the idle drain like 1% per hour on mobile.

[Mr Hill]

Don't know what you plan on jumping ship to. iPhone 5 has better battery life than almost all of the alternative devices on the market.

[darster]

Originally Posted by ZZ Bottom

I'm convinced that the cell radio used in the 5 just performs much worse under poor reception conditions. It's quite amusing how often I have to recharge compared to my wife's iPhone 4 (which she's had since 2010). I even tried convincing her to take the 5 so I could use her available upgrade for something else, but she wants nothing to do with it. Guess she's heard me complain one too many times. I am of course going to use the upgrade if I decide to switch, but she'd prefer I just sell the iPhone 5.

At home my LTE reception on Verizon is generally -105 dBm, which is not as good as my 3G reception. However, I leave LTE on all the time and get better battery life than I did with my 4 on 3G.

[maxosx]

My 4S was by far the best iPhone of all. But hey, Apple can't get them all right.

My 5 is not bad, just not the superior phone the 4S was. I get decent battery life, but as others have suggested you have to stay on top of all updates & such since iOS 6 is not as good as iOS 5 was.

That's progress Apple style. Eventually they'll get it right, they usually do. Besides if rumors pan out the 5S is not that far away. The S models are usually far better.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by blackhand1001

There are definitely phones out there with better battery life especially in low signal areas. Any of the snapdragon s4 phones do much better in low signal as they have the integrated radio and much larger batteries. The exynos phones also have excellent battery as well such as the note II. The battery in the iphone 5 is just too small and the browser battery benchmarks done by reviewers aren't reaslistic tests as they just refresh the same page over and over and the iphone probably doesn't actually reload everything hence why it barely drains any battery. The other phones may actually force the reload not to be drawn from cache to ensure the page is updated. On android phones turning off location history in maps makes a huge difference in battery. Doesn't effect anything but that feature. Apps can still use gps fine as can maps itself. Literally makes the idle drain like 1% per hour on mobile.

Benchmarks done by Anandtech are designed to minimize caching on both platforms, and yet the iPhones are still at or near the top in almost all categories.

My idle drain is less than 1%/hr fwiw - and that's with everything on.

[kadillac]

You sound stubborn, ridiculous and like a troll. What was the point in posting if you're going to insist that the 5's battery is garbage and that you don't have the anomaly? With the exception of the Maxx, 5 has the best battery...hands down.

[ZZ Bottom]

Originally Posted by kadillac

You sound stubborn, ridiculous and like a troll. What was the point in posting if you're going to insist that the 5's battery is garbage and that you don't have the anomaly? With the exception of the Maxx, 5 has the best battery...hands down.

Sure I'm a troll that's made 522 posts since April 2010, many of which are constructive troubleshooting comments to help other members...

The lower battery performance compared to iPhone 4 has been witnessed by many others. As someone else mentioned, there's doubt as to whether there's a great alternative on the market.

Those of you that are Apple apologists and believe they can do no wrong, you can't possibly contribute so don't waste the time. I love Apple's products compared to the competition, but I'm dissappointed that they chose form over function in this regard (lightness vs larger battery).

And to reiterate again, I'm not saying the phone is terrible, but simply that it is below the standards that Apple set with the iPhone 4. Was I spoiled with that one? Perhaps.

[SnowLeopard OSX]

Originally Posted by maxosx

My 4S was by far the best iPhone of all. But hey, Apple can't get them all right.

My 5 is not bad, just not the superior phone the 4S was. I get decent battery life, but as others have suggested you have to stay on top of all updates & such since iOS 6 is not as good as iOS 5 was.

That's progress Apple style. Eventually they'll get it right, they usually do. Besides if rumors pan out the 5S is not that far away. The S models are usually far better.

100 times agree with you on this one. The only thing the 5 has is LTE, which isn't that big of a deal for me since the 4S is used mostly for web browsing, text, talk, and email. Even video streaming/downloading speeds are nothing to complain about.

[Random 995K]

Lets cut the BS and look at some tests...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6330/t...ne-5-review/13
iPhone 5 has the best battery life apart from the motorola (and a few others in talk time) by FAR. I have personally experienced these times with my iPhone 5 and recommend you to take yours back and try another one. You won't be finding better battery life easily. Especially in wifi or LTE web browsing. Yes it gets beaten in talk time by other models but comes out on top (or near top) in most of the other tests.