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iPhone 4 Battery Big Survey

V

vslo

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 9, 2010
179
0
Ok, I think we can get a good estimate of iphone 4 battery life in general doing this. Some claim that 4.1 has improved their battery, others say that it declined the total battery life.

Test every aspect for about 10-15 min each. Brightness in 50% (Auto Off). All notifications off. when using wi-fi, turn the 3G off and vice-versa. Don't multitask while making the tests and shut down every other app in background.
How long it takes to drop 1% in:

3g navigation:
Wi-fi Navigation:
Recording a video:
Listening to music:
watching youtube video:

Lets test and get a good estimate, so people who thinks that has a battery problem can compare with others.

Mine:
3g navigation:3 min 10 s
Wi-fi Navigation: 5 min
Recording a video:0.8 min
Listening to music: 24 min
watching 360p youtube video in 3G: 2 min 56 s
 
forcetactic said:
It would be better to test the full 100% for more accurate results. The battery % is not linear
Click to expand...

I think its quite linear actually. I've been making those types of tests for the past 2 days and it turned to be quite linear.
 
I'm doing the battery test with different brightness settings, which is the part that no one seems to be sure about how much it affects battery life.

What I'm doing is turn off 3G, push, fetch, notifications, etc., and leave the iPhone for 1 hour in the selected brightness and see how much the battery decreases.

I would do the full charge if I had the time, but no time for that.
 
it actually isnt linear. It takes longer to go from 100-99 then it takes to go from 99-98. Which means its not linear.

it would make more sense to go from 100%-0% and check how long that last.
 
I place very little importance on smartphone battery life. No matter if its my iPhone, or my Droid X, I have car chargers, and plenty of A/C outlets wherever I go.
 
rk1991 said:
it actually isnt linear. It takes longer to go from 100-99 then it takes to go from 99-98. Which means its not linear.

it would make more sense to go from 100%-0% and check how long that last.
Click to expand...

But you do get a general idea of how things affect the battery life.
 
I tested in the last couple of days too.

My average is 10%/ 25-30mins of real bonafied usage.

If I surf, post to forums, watch you tube, take pics and videos in constant non stop for 25-30 mins my battery will drain 10%'ish on wifi.

Marc
 
Hi my point is how much I can get out of my iPhone until 20%.

The way I use and analyzing it for the past week, I can get anywhere average 4.5'ish hrs until 20% the way I use it, bonafied real usage consists of 4.5'ish hrs until 20%.

Marc
 
rk1991 said:
it actually isnt linear. It takes longer to go from 100-99 then it takes to go from 99-98. Which means its not linear.

it would make more sense to go from 100%-0% and check how long that last.
Click to expand...

Ok, but after it drops to 99%, it gets QUITE linear. I can assure that mine does.

HarryPot said:
I'm doing the battery test with different brightness settings, which is the part that no one seems to be sure about how much it affects battery life.

What I'm doing is turn off 3G, push, fetch, notifications, etc., and leave the iPhone for 1 hour in the selected brightness and see how much the battery decreases.

I would do the full charge if I had the time, but no time for that.
Click to expand...

Doing those tests I discovered that the brightness does affect a LOT. i.e., I was getting 5min/% on wi-fi in 50% brightness. Turning it down to 30% gave me 1,5 min more, meaning that I was getting 6.5min/% browsing in safari in wi-fi.


Here's a sc from my iphone. Took it now. It's just 1 week old, so his battery might get a little improvement. I got almost 6 hours of use( most of them 3g/wi-fi browsing, twiiter, organizing my stuff, some photos, app store, and some pdf reading). 45 Hours of stand-by, and still got 14% left. Didn't charged during the process. I am quite satisfied with this, considering that more than 50% of those 6 hours where in safari making tests and etc.. ( Sorry its in portuguese, I'm from Brazil )
 

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vslo said:
Ok, but after it drops to 99%, it gets QUITE linear. I can assure that mine does.



Doing those tests I discovered that the brightness does affect a LOT. i.e., I was getting 5min/% on wi-fi in 50% brightness. Turning it down to 30% gave me 1,5 min more, meaning that I was getting 6.5min/% browsing in safari in wi-fi.
Click to expand...

What do you mean linear?

Marc
 
vslo said:
Ok, but after it drops to 99%, it gets QUITE linear. I can assure that mine does.



Doing those tests I discovered that the brightness does affect a LOT. i.e., I was getting 5min/% on wi-fi in 50% brightness. Turning it down to 30% gave me 1,5 min more, meaning that I was getting 6.5min/% browsing in safari in wi-fi.


Here's a sc from my iphone. Took it now. It's just 1 week old, so his battery might get a little improvement. I got almost 6 hours of use( most of them 3g/wi-fi browsing, twiiter, organizing my stuff, some photos, app store, and some pdf reading). 45 Hours of stand-by, and still got 14% left. Didn't charged during the process. I am quite satisfied with this, considering that more than 50% of those 6 hours where in safari making tests and etc.. ( Sorry its in portuguese, I'm from Brazil )
Click to expand...

So you have 3 hrs of real bonafied usage? 50% of 6 hrs.

Marc
 
mpossoff said:
So you have 3 hrs of real bonafied usage? 50% of 6 hrs.

Marc
Click to expand...

What I was trying to say is that of those 6 hours, at least 3 of them , if not more, were heavy battery testing in 3G and wifi navigation. The rest of them were normal usage... Probably, if I wasnt testing, it would last much longer.
 
vslo said:
What I was trying to say is that of those 6 hours, at least 3 of them , if not more, were heavy battery testing in 3G and wifi navigation. The rest of them were normal usage... Probably, if I wasnt testing, it would last much longer.
Click to expand...

I call normal usage texting and phone calls. Heavy usage I call surfing on the net, posting to forums, watching you tube, taking pics and videos.

I would say if I started at 100% with heavy usage of 3 hrs and 3 hrs of light usage then stopped and didn't use it anymore it's possible I would have same numbers as you.

I have used my iPhone for 4.5-5.5 of heavy usage within an 8 hr period on wifi and it was at around 10%.

Marc
 
mpossoff said:
I call normal usage texting and phone calls. Heavy usage I call surfing on the net, posting to forums, watching you tube, taking pics and videos.

I would say if I started at 100% with heavy usage of 3 hrs and 3 hrs of light usage then stopped and didn't use it anymore it's possible I would have same numbers as you.

I have used my iPhone for 4.5-5.5 of heavy usage within an 8 hr period on wifi and it was at around 10%.

Marc
Click to expand...

Ok, understood. So, in my 6 hours period, I made about 5 hours of heavy usage. The 1 hours was listening to music and texting. I almost dont make calls from it. Still, its a good result for me. Thank you !
 
Original iPhone (old school model) at work listening to music I had about 80-85% battery life remaining at the end of the day. This was with BT on, and wifi - but not using any feature whatsoever.

Both IP4s I've had - the same usage, music, headphones and location had 60-70% battery life remaining at the end of the day.

This is years of data for the launch unit, and ~4 weeks (combined) for the IP4.

The location services were off, and 3G was on (but again, not fetching data or surfing the web) - so I'm a little unimpressed overall.
 
Big-TDI-Guy said:
Original iPhone (old school model) at work listening to music I had about 80-85% battery life remaining at the end of the day. This was with BT on, and wifi - but not using any feature whatsoever.

Both IP4s I've had - the same usage, music, headphones and location had 60-70% battery life remaining at the end of the day.

This is years of data for the launch unit, and ~4 weeks (combined) for the IP4.

The location services were off, and 3G was on (but again, not fetching data or surfing the web) - so I'm a little unimpressed overall.
Click to expand...

Hi the 4 definately offers better battery life but I was expecting a huge increase from the 3GS.

I use 4 hrs within an 8 hr time period of real bonafied usage on my iPhone, not light usage like texting and phone calls. I do see better battery. With my 3GS I needed a battery extender, with the 4 I don't.

Marc
 
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