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4 day old iPhone - is this poor battery performance normal?

G

GilesM

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 17, 2008
323
0
Hello all,

I have had my first iPhone since Thursday of last week. I am finding the battery performance is not good. For an example, yesterday afternoon my battery level was at 100%. This morning it's at 32%. My activity is low, I sent one text, sent 2 iMessages, browsed 1 web site (amazon.co.uk) very briefly.

Location services are off, auto lock set to one minute, auto brightness activated. Wi-Fi was off overnight.

I have not made or taken any phone calls.


I do use the phone as an alarm clock, and as a reminder to take medications 3 times a day.

Is this poor battery performance normal? :confused:
 
G

GilesM

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 17, 2008
323
0
Thanks for the replies.

to answer the Q's.

CYKS : Signal is variable, upstairs in the house 2-3 bars, downstairs 0-2 bars.

ziatiklover : firmware is the latest, I did the upgrade as soon as I had the phone. No Jailbreaks applied.

So, if I let it drain until the phone turns off, then charge 100% plus 2 hours charge after that... ok I might give it a try.

Am also going to call my provider (Orange) and see what they have to say.

Thx guys,,,
 
w00t951

w00t951

macrumors 68000
Jan 6, 2009
1,834
53
Pittsburgh, PA
GilesM said:
Thanks for the replies.

to answer the Q's.

CYKS : Signal is variable, upstairs in the house 2-3 bars, downstairs 0-2 bars.

ziatiklover : firmware is the latest, I did the upgrade as soon as I had the phone. No Jailbreaks applied.

So, if I let it drain until the phone turns off, then charge 100% plus 2 hours charge after that... ok I might give it a try.

Am also going to call my provider (Orange) and see what they have to say.

Thx guys,,,
Click to expand...

Your signal is definitely a significant, if not only, factor in your battery life.
 
mrsir2009

mrsir2009

macrumors 604
Sep 17, 2009
7,505
156
Melbourne, Australia
GilesM said:
Thanks for the replies.

to answer the Q's.

CYKS : Signal is variable, upstairs in the house 2-3 bars, downstairs 0-2 bars.

ziatiklover : firmware is the latest, I did the upgrade as soon as I had the phone. No Jailbreaks applied.

So, if I let it drain until the phone turns off, then charge 100% plus 2 hours charge after that... ok I might give it a try.

Am also going to call my provider (Orange) and see what they have to say.

Thx guys,,,
Click to expand...

Yeah it's probably your signal. Is bluetooth turned off?
 
G

GilesM

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 17, 2008
323
0
mrsir2009, in reply to your Q... Bluetooth is off.

I talked to my provider, they told me to do the battery run dun and charge for 12 hours routine. The staff member who did the contract for me was supposed to advise me to do this routine when I took the phone home, but as they failed to do so the manager will have words with them.

So, I am going to try that and see how I go. According to the manager, charging an iPhone every night when your asleep is quite a common practice.

We will see... thanks for all the replies. I will feedback here either way.

May have to get one of those battery booster devices. Ideally I would like to get a GSM signal booster. Apparently it's legal to sell them but illegal to use them according to OFCOM the UK telecom regulator.... ggrrr...
 
mabaker

mabaker

macrumors 65816
Jan 19, 2008
1,209
566
Turn off 3G toggle in the Settings//General//Network pane. It will help a great deal.

Also turn off Push for Exchange if you have it enabled - set it to "fetch every xx minutes". Basically the same functionality but it doesn't retain the connection all the time.
 
I

ipboy

macrumors newbie
Jun 6, 2012
11
0
mrsir2009 said:
Yeah it is, I do it and my iPhone gets pretty good battery life.
Click to expand...

True, compared to my dad. He religously charge his iphone, while me i just let it charge til i wake up in the morning. Haha the difference of our battery life is noticeable, mine is longer.
Turn off push notifs in email( if you dont usually use it, then turn off some in location svcs > network servces, that ought to lenghten your battery life

Plus a new battery requires the electrons to keep moving, so after maybe a couple of charge cycles your battery would last longer, just keep the electrons moving haha :)
 
gngan

gngan

macrumors 68000
Jan 1, 2009
1,829
72
MacWorld
GilesM said:
mrsir2009, in reply to your Q... Bluetooth is off.

I talked to my provider, they told me to do the battery run dun and charge for 12 hours routine. The staff member who did the contract for me was supposed to advise me to do this routine when I took the phone home, but as they failed to do so the manager will have words with them.

So, I am going to try that and see how I go. According to the manager, charging an iPhone every night when your asleep is quite a common practice.
Click to expand...

That is very normal and i do it to all my new electronics. I am surprise that you don't know.:D
 
G

GilesM

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 17, 2008
323
0
gmgan,

yes, I seem to recall something about this from when I bout my ipod, I guess it's the same thing...
 
chambone

chambone

macrumors 6502a
Dec 24, 2011
969
25
Netherlands
That 12 hour story is BS. Once a li-ion battery reaches 4.2 volts (which happens after a couple of hours) it doesn't matter if you leave it on the charger for 12 minutes or 12 months. It won't get any more topped off. It will not make any difference.
 
S

Shadowbech

macrumors G3
Oct 18, 2011
9,038
5,894
Also when the phone is fully charged, charging stops. So it's not necessary to leave it on charge for more than 12 hours at a time.
 
G

GilesM

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 17, 2008
323
0
So, the old 'leave it charging over night' is BS... interesting, I guess it can do no harm to try it. After all, I seldom use the phone while I am asleep, do not often manage to sleep for 12 hours though!:)
I guess 9 hours will have to do...
 
G

GilesM

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 17, 2008
323
0
thank you all for the advice. I am now charging having run the battery down until the phone turned itself off.
So, I have adjusted quite a few settings on your advice, so hoping for better results now.
Thanks again.
 
D

DroidConvert

macrumors regular
May 15, 2012
107
0
GilesM said:
Hello all,

I have had my first iPhone since Thursday of last week. I am finding the battery performance is not good. For an example, yesterday afternoon my battery level was at 100%. This morning it's at 32%. My activity is low, I sent one text, sent 2 iMessages, browsed 1 web site (amazon.co.uk) very briefly.

Location services are off, auto lock set to one minute, auto brightness activated. Wi-Fi was off overnight.

I have not made or taken any phone calls.


I do use the phone as an alarm clock, and as a reminder to take medications 3 times a day.

Is this poor battery performance normal? :confused:
Click to expand...

What phone are you coming from? If you had a feature phone (dumb phone), getting 2-3 days from a charge just isn't a reality with a smart phone. If you're coming from Android, you'll be lucky to get a day out of one of those without rooting, custom ROMing, etc.
 
G

GilesM

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 17, 2008
323
0
DroidConvert

I also have just switched from an android phone. I used to get a least a week between charges from my android phone, but then I did not do very much with it, just the occasional text messaging.
The iPhone however is full integrated with my iMac, my email, iMessage, calendar, reminders, so it is doing a lot more for me than the old android ever did or was asked to do. I guess I was having trouble adjusting from one world to another!
The android phone is being passed to my mother who has asked me to help her with as she calls it 'this texting thing'. She found it impossible to text on her old phone, the type with just numbers on the pad, she just did not get it. So I saw this as justification for changing phones. Was tempted by the Samsung Galaxy SIII but I really wanted full integration with my iMac world, so iPhone was really the only choice.
 
D

DroidConvert

macrumors regular
May 15, 2012
107
0
GilesM said:
DroidConvert

I also have just switched from an android phone. I used to get a least a week between charges from my android phone, but then I did not do very much with it, just the occasional text messaging.
The iPhone however is full integrated with my iMac, my email, iMessage, calendar, reminders, so it is doing a lot more for me than the old android ever did or was asked to do. I guess I was having trouble adjusting from one world to another!
The android phone is being passed to my mother who has asked me to help her with as she calls it 'this texting thing'. She found it impossible to text on her old phone, the type with just numbers on the pad, she just did not get it. So I saw this as justification for changing phones. Was tempted by the Samsung Galaxy SIII but I really wanted full integration with my iMac world, so iPhone was really the only choice.
Click to expand...

A WEEK!??! I must say that in all of the forums in whcih I participate, I have nbever, ever, heard that long of battery life from an Android device. EVER!

You must never use the phone and turn the data off, that is the only way to achieve a week, if that's even possible. I'm not calling you a liar, I just don't believe the claim. Sorry in advance for that, but to get a week out of an Adnroid phone with data on and even one phone call per day is impossible.
 
T

takeshi74

macrumors 601
Feb 9, 2011
4,974
68
w00t951 said:
Your signal is definitely a significant, if not only, factor in your battery life.
Click to expand...
It's significant but certainly not the only factor. There are a number of factors involved which is why the "Is this normal battery life?" threads are fairly pointless. What's normal depends heavily on usage (whether the user is aware of it or not).

GilesM said:
So, I am going to try that and see how I go. According to the manager, charging an iPhone every night when your asleep is quite a common practice.
Click to expand...
Unless you need to use it when you're asleep then charge it. It doesn't need to charge for 12 hours but you might as well charge it while you're asleep.

mabaker said:
Also turn off Push for Exchange if you have it enabled - set it to "fetch every xx minutes". Basically the same functionality but it doesn't retain the connection all the time.
Click to expand...
Common misconception. Polling wastes battery. Push only uses power when needed to transfer mail.
 
Bswartz95

Bswartz95

macrumors 6502a
Feb 3, 2011
550
107
Cleveland , OH
sim667 said:
Auto brightness absolutely kills battery life on mine, so does bluetooth.
Click to expand...


This.

I was shocked at how much brightness plays with battery life. Auto-brightness, for me is the worst. I turned it off and immediately had better life. I then adjusted the brightness from 80% down to about 40% - added two hours of usage!

It took a little getting used to, but I now get about 6-7 hours of usage each day. I use it mainly for internet and messaging (not much voice), so my usage suffers compared to some people.
 
D

DroidConvert

macrumors regular
May 15, 2012
107
0
GilesM said:
DroidConvert

I also have just switched from an android phone. I used to get a least a week between charges from my android phone, but then I did not do very much with it, just the occasional text messaging.
The iPhone however is full integrated with my iMac, my email, iMessage, calendar, reminders, so it is doing a lot more for me than the old android ever did or was asked to do. I guess I was having trouble adjusting from one world to another!
The android phone is being passed to my mother who has asked me to help her with as she calls it 'this texting thing'. She found it impossible to text on her old phone, the type with just numbers on the pad, she just did not get it. So I saw this as justification for changing phones. Was tempted by the Samsung Galaxy SIII but I really wanted full integration with my iMac world, so iPhone was really the only choice.
Click to expand...

I just talked to a friend of mine who is fairly well known Android developer and he is interested in buying your old Android and studying the software configuration. He feels that if he can find out how you are getting that much life from a single charge he can make some nice money. Which Android phone is it?

I'm sure making an offer in a post is against the TOS for the site, but the amount he is willing to offer will allow you to buy the Android phone of your choice at the off contract price to replace the phone for your mother. Please PM me if you're interested.
 
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