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Anyone else suddenly have great battery life on their 4S?

b166er

b166er

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 17, 2010
2,062
18
Philly
I have been using a 4S since launch. I am usually the first to complain about the battery life. It has been awful for me, no matter what I do. On a typical day I would be down to 10% by about 6pm. I usually keep a charger handy, but with the 4S it's been more of a necessity to have a charger or a mophie.

But the past two weeks, all of a sudden, my battery life is awesome. I can't explain it. I have not done anything to modify the phone, no restores, no updates, I haven't even messed with my apps. My usage has not changed at all, I tend to use my phone a lot for web browsing and facebook, etc while I'm at work. I took my phone off the charger yesterday around 10am. I haven't charged it since (now about 37 hours) and I still have 30% of my battery. And the icing on the cake is my phone is and has been jailbroken for several months now, which usually would have the opposite effect if anything.

I'm not complaining, but I am a little confused. Mostly I am just curious if this kind of drastic fluctuation has been experienced by anyone else?
 
FelixDerKater

FelixDerKater

macrumors 68040
Apr 12, 2002
3,621
2,188
Nirgendwo in Amerika
b166er said:
I have been using a 4S since launch. I am usually the first to complain about the battery life. It has been awful for me, no matter what I do. On a typical day I would be down to 10% by about 6pm. I usually keep a charger handy, but with the 4S it's been more of a necessity to have a charger or a mophie.

But the past two weeks, all of a sudden, my battery life is awesome. I can't explain it. I have not done anything to modify the phone, no restores, no updates, I haven't even messed with my apps. My usage has not changed at all, I tend to use my phone a lot for web browsing and facebook, etc while I'm at work. I took my phone off the charger yesterday around 10am. I haven't charged it since (now about 37 hours) and I still have 30% of my battery. And the icing on the cake is my phone is and has been jailbroken for several months now, which usually would have the opposite effect if anything.

I'm not complaining, but I am a little confused. Mostly I am just curious if this kind of drastic fluctuation has been experienced by anyone else?
Click to expand...

No.
 
T

takeshi74

macrumors 601
Feb 9, 2011
4,974
68
b166er said:
But the past two weeks, all of a sudden, my battery life is awesome. I can't explain it. I have not done anything to modify the phone, no restores, no updates, I haven't even messed with my apps. My usage has not changed at all, I tend to use my phone a lot for web browsing and facebook, etc while I'm at work. I took my phone off the charger yesterday around 10am. I haven't charged it since (now about 37 hours) and I still have 30% of my battery. And the icing on the cake is my phone is and has been jailbroken for several months now, which usually would have the opposite effect if anything.
Click to expand...
What about coverage?
 
macingman

macingman

macrumors 68020
Jan 2, 2011
2,147
3
After I turned of Siri my battery improved dramatically, like it used to turn of after 3 or 4 hours now it can last almost a day.
 
Z

zachnelson

macrumors 6502a
Oct 23, 2010
753
0
Mine lasts me like two days, albiet I'm not a power user. I send a few thousand texts/iMessages a month, few hundred minutes of calling a month, and sans WiFi, I use about 500mb of data a month.

On a regular day I'll make 1 phone call, send texts, browse reddit or a bit of the Internet. That's about it though, I don't play games or anything.

Sometimes stream Spotify.
 
A

astoxos

macrumors regular
Jul 18, 2012
183
40
My cent is that it really depends on how you use it. Some actions require much more energy than others.
I have managed to drain all battery in a few hours by playing games online.
On the other hand, my record is 4 days standby with 8 hours usage (mainly text messaging).
 
L

Leonard1818

macrumors 68020
Nov 15, 2011
2,460
403
yes!

I DID notice this. I couldn't explain it. The only thing I did different was that I used my dad's charger. Figured that couldn't matter at all... It was so good, I took a screenshot (but can't upload right now).

I got like 2.5 days with 6.5 hours of use which doesn't sound superb BUT the use was streaming pandora (constant for two periods of 2.5 hours) and using Waze -- both are huge battery drains. It was STILL at ~25%

I couldn't explain it...

I'm still keeping an eye on it.
 
N

noodile

macrumors regular
Aug 4, 2012
139
0
b166er said:
I'm not complaining, but I am a little confused. Mostly I am just curious if this kind of drastic fluctuation has been experienced by anyone else?
Click to expand...

Leonard1818 said:
yes!

I DID notice this. I couldn't explain it.

I'm still keeping an eye on it.
Click to expand...


IIRC, last week or the week before that was the launch of the "new" facebook app which was supposed to use less memory and stuff when its running in the background. So if you use facebook, then this might explain.
 
L

Leonard1818

macrumors 68020
Nov 15, 2011
2,460
403
noodile said:
IIRC, last week or the week before that was the launch of the "new" facebook app which was supposed to use less memory and stuff when its running in the background. So if you use facebook, then this might explain.
Click to expand...

Ah, good point

Alas -- I am one of the few that does not use facebook (I have an account but facebook has not ever been on my phone).

More than likely mine was due to having a better signal. The actual "signal bars" (which we all know are coded by the devs for the specific os/device and therefore are not always 100% accurate) were the same as they always are but my guess is that I was actually catching a better signal than usual.

That's really all I've got to explain... I could be wrong.
 
iceterminal

iceterminal

macrumors 68000
May 25, 2008
1,870
27
Dallas Tx.
Sounds more like a rogue app finally shut down, that was using some or part of your power.

When ever I get the feeling my iPhone is acting rather un-normal the first thing I do is close down all of my apps that are suspended (no, not multitasking).
Usually I'll see the issues clear up.
 
L

Leonard1818

macrumors 68020
Nov 15, 2011
2,460
403
I should qualify my reply:

I have NEVER gotten poor battery life on my 4S. It varies depending on what I'm doing (obviously) and the majority of the time I'm doing things like reading, watching news/funny videos, or streaming pandora/music local on my phone via bluetooth to the home speakers.

It's usually pretty good... can probably go 2 days+ with all of that use but I charge it pretty frequently since I have a desk job and my charger is just sitting there. I will usually let it go to ~60% before just plugging it in.

Recently however, I noticed a cycle or two that were above what I would have expected based on my observations over the last year (almost).
 
b166er

b166er

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 17, 2010
2,062
18
Philly
My usage has not changed. At all. I routinely close all apps just because it's a habit.

The new Facebook app theory is a good one. That could be it for sure. It's one of the only app updates I've had recently, and it was pretty bad before the update.
 
P

PerplexShyt

macrumors 6502
Sep 1, 2011
320
0
b166er said:
I have been using a 4S since launch. I am usually the first to complain about the battery life. It has been awful for me, no matter what I do. On a typical day I would be down to 10% by about 6pm. I usually keep a charger handy, but with the 4S it's been more of a necessity to have a charger or a mophie.

But the past two weeks, all of a sudden, my battery life is awesome. I can't explain it. I have not done anything to modify the phone, no restores, no updates, I haven't even messed with my apps. My usage has not changed at all, I tend to use my phone a lot for web browsing and facebook, etc while I'm at work. I took my phone off the charger yesterday around 10am. I haven't charged it since (now about 37 hours) and I still have 30% of my battery. And the icing on the cake is my phone is and has been jailbroken for several months now, which usually would have the opposite effect if anything.

I'm not complaining, but I am a little confused. Mostly I am just curious if this kind of drastic fluctuation has been experienced by anyone else?
Click to expand...


wtf.
Seriously bro. Seriously. I've been experiencing the same thing. It didn't really hit me until you pointed it out.

My phone use to die before I got home from work, and now its lasts throughout the night. Also, If I didn't charge my phone during the night, it would be almost dead by morning, i still have like 85% of my charge from the night prior.

What the hell is going on?
 
T

Terrified

macrumors regular
Nov 22, 2010
156
0
Same thing here, although only for the last 3 or 4 days - battery is a good 20% above where it would normally be for this time of the day, same usage, same charging patterns.
 
akdj

akdj

macrumors 65816
Mar 10, 2008
1,186
86
62.88°N/-151.28°W
Leonard1818 said:
Ah, good point

Alas -- I am one of the few that does not use facebook (I have an account but facebook has not ever been on my phone).

More than likely mine was due to having a better signal. The actual "signal bars" (which we all know are coded by the devs for the specific os/device and therefore are not always 100% accurate) were the same as they always are but my guess is that I was actually catching a better signal than usual.

That's really all I've got to explain... I could be wrong.
Click to expand...

Definitely COULD have to do with a better signal. This can be a big battery hog, if you've got poor signal on 3/4g. If they put up a new tower closer to your main usage area, that may be a significant factor in longer battery life.

J
 
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