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Something very interesting I just found out.

A

Apollo 13

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 29, 2010
679
16
So I kept seeing threads with Android users saying that iphone users don't really get 6-8hrs of usage time on their iphones, and that the usage on the iPhone doesn't necessarily mean the screen is on. Well I decided to charge my phone to 100% and leave the display on the whole time. I tried to do all the things I normally do but ended up doing more just to kill the battery faster. I was on Wifi most of the time since my job also has wifi. Well here's my results from my iphone 5s


This is about what I normally get
zam7.png



This is with the display on all day at 50% battery
ua8q.png



This is with the diplay on all day at 1% battery
chz0.png


Things I did on phone:
talked for 30mins
texted
twitter
used Find my Friends
Played a couple of games
browsed the Net a lot
watched youtube videos (don't remember count)
watched a episode of Family Guy on Netflix
played music for about 10mins
checked weather
read email and sent email
opened apps and to read content

So my battery usage lasted about 4hrs more with the display on the whole time. I don't even know how that is even possible, and I did more stuff then normal. My display brightness is at 30% if anyone wants to know.
 
Looks like screen on = usage. Even if the CPU is idle.

Very interesting though, and promising. Despite everything else I dislike about iOS7, it does seem to be quite energy efficient.
 
oneMadRssn said:
Looks like screen on = usage. Even if the CPU is idle.

Very interesting though, and promising. Despite everything else I dislike about iOS7, it does seem to be quite energy efficient.
Click to expand...

yeah but I want that usage all the time. What makes it get less usage when the display is off? I already changed my auto lock from 1min to 5min since doing this.
 
That's impressive if true! That looks exactly like my usage with the screen off listening to music all day. Screen on I can manage 4-5 hours of usage pretty easily, some of that is notification and email with the screen off though.
 
Android can measure the screen-on time in settings.

With iOS 7, I wonder if it counts background app refreshing as 'usage'. I haven't done any actual testing, but the usage numbers seem higher in iOS 7.

At the end of the day, I often see numbers in the 7-8 hours of usage time, but I find it hard to believe I have had the screen on for 7-8 hours throughout the course of the day when I'm in class, at work, etc.
 
I felt like I could had got a couple more hours maybe even hit 14hrs if I didn't play any games.
 
NikFinn said:
Android can measure the screen-on time in settings.

With iOS 7, I wonder if it counts background app refreshing as 'usage'. I haven't done any actual testing, but the usage numbers seem higher in iOS 7.

At the end of the day, I often see numbers in the 7-8 hours of usage time, but I find it hard to believe I have had the screen on for 7-8 hours throughout the course of the day when I'm in class, at work, etc.
Click to expand...

if you have wifi available and the reception is good you could get away with it. I was shocked when I checked the usage when it hit 50%.
 
Apollo 13 said:
if you have wifi available and the reception is good you could get away with it. I was shocked when I checked the usage when it hit 50%.
Click to expand...
It's not that I didn't believe that battery could last that long, it's that I didn't believe I had actually had the screen on for that amount of time. However, if what jalopybox said (below) is true, than it makes much more sense. As I use it as my iPod in the car, and frequently listening to music or podcasts with the screen off throughout the day.
Jalopybox said:
Not entirely true. Listening to music/podcast w/ screen off registers as usage.
Click to expand...
 
Troneas said:
and there is the fine-print.


no one uses 30% brightness in normal circumstances. you operating your phone from a cave?
Click to expand...

That can be normal. I keep my phone set too auto brightness. I'm in an average lit room and my iPhone is automatically adjusting to about 25%

uje4abur.jpg


Cranking it up much higher hurts my eyes.
 
Jalopybox said:
Not entirely true. Listening to music/podcast w/ screen off registers as usage.
Click to expand...

If I remember back to my logic games exercises, what I said is correct. Tiny nit-pick, but why not, it's a slow day. :)

Statement: Screen on = usage.

Converse of statement: Not usage = Screen off.

It does not imply anything else. Thus: Screen off ≠ Not usage, and Usage ≠ Screen on

So, your example of listening to music/podcast with the screen off registering as usage does not contradict my statement. ;)

Yay logic games! :D
 
Apollo 13 said:
yeah but I want that usage all the time. What makes it get less usage when the display is off? I already changed my auto lock from 1min to 5min since doing this.
Click to expand...

I could be wrong, but I suspect iOS just has a list of things that count as "usage". I bet that list includes app running in background doing something (audio, location, etc.), being on a call, etc. As a catch-all, I bet they count as screen-on time as usage because in most real world scenarios it is. If the screen is on, odds are you're doing something, even if that something is merely staring at the icons.

I wouldn't structure my settings around this one stat though. Your experiment has shown a few things to me: (1) the iphone screen is actually quite energy efficient and doesn't contribute to energy usage in quite the dramatic amount that some imply, and (2) the "Usage" stat isn't too useful and easily manipulated.
 
oneMadRssn said:
I could be wrong, but I suspect iOS just has a list of things that count as "usage". I bet that list includes app running in background doing something (audio, location, etc.), being on a call, etc. As a catch-all, I bet they count as screen-on time as usage because in most real world scenarios it is. If the screen is on, odds are you're doing something, even if that something is merely staring at the icons.

I wouldn't structure my settings around this one stat though. Your experiment has shown a few things to me: (1) the iphone screen is actually quite energy efficient and doesn't contribute to energy usage in quite the dramatic amount that some imply, and (2) the "Usage" stat isn't too useful and easily manipulated.
Click to expand...

Your points are contradicting each other. If the usage stat isn't useful and easily manipulated (which I agree) then how can anyone say the screen is efficient or not by using that stat?

I don't think the screen is anymore more or less efficient then any other mobile LCD screen. Apple reports upto 10 hours of usage, with audio playback (screen off) of 40 hours and standby (screen off) of 250 hours. Seems significant to me.
 
cynics said:
Your points are contradicting each other. If the usage stat isn't useful and easily manipulated (which I agree) then how can anyone say the screen is efficient or not by using that stat?

I don't think the screen is anymore more or less efficient then any other mobile LCD screen. Apple reports upto 10 hours of usage, with audio playback (screen off) of 40 hours and standby (screen off) of 250 hours. Seems significant to me.
Click to expand...

They're not contradicting. I'm saying the screen is efficient because the OP got over 11 hours of screen-on time, in addition to the other stuff he claims to have been doing; That's clear from both the "usage" stat, as well as implied from the clock in his screenshots. We can speculate that the screen would have remained on for 12 hours if he just left it idle? 13 maybe? That's a long time. I'm away from a charger for over 12 hours at a time maybe only once a week.

Only anecdotaly, but I'm sure none of my previous smartphones could handle 11+ hours of screentime. My older Samsung Galaxy S 4G would last about 16 hours of my regular day-to-day use, but I could almost watch the battery % count down while the screen was on. I never tested it like this, but I am very confident that it would not have lasted even 5 hours.

More speculation: This might not be a function of the LCD module itself. Perhaps iOS is able to put the CPU and GPU in idle with the screen on, and my old Samsung had to keep the CPU/GPU alive during all times the screen was on. Conversely, maybe the Samsung just had a smaller battery and was ultra-efficient with all other processes in CPU/GPU, thereby making the screen seem like less efficient by comparison when it really wasn't inefficient at all.

I'm speaking merely about perceptions. The iphone can keep the screen on for 11 hours, that's impressive as compared to my previous perceptions.
 
oneMadRssn said:
They're not contradicting. I'm saying the screen is efficient because the OP got over 11 hours of screen-on time, in addition to the other stuff he claims to have been doing; That's clear from both the "usage" stat, as well as implied from the clock in his screenshots. We can speculate that the screen would have remained on for 12 hours if he just left it idle? 13 maybe? That's a long time. I'm away from a charger for over 12 hours at a time maybe only once a week.

Only anecdotaly, but I'm sure none of my previous smartphones could handle 11+ hours of screentime. My older Samsung Galaxy S 4G would last about 16 hours of my regular day-to-day use, but I could almost watch the battery % count down while the screen was on. I never tested it like this, but I am very confident that it would not have lasted even 5 hours.

More speculation: This might not be a function of the LCD module itself. Perhaps iOS is able to put the CPU and GPU in idle with the screen on, and my old Samsung had to keep the CPU/GPU alive during all times the screen was on. Conversely, maybe the Samsung just had a smaller battery and was ultra-efficient with all other processes in CPU/GPU, thereby making the screen seem like less efficient by comparison when it really wasn't inefficient at all.

I'm speaking merely about perceptions. The iphone can keep the screen on for 11 hours, that's impressive as compared to my previous perceptions.
Click to expand...

Didn't you say the stat could be easily manipulated?

That could be 11 hours of listening to music with the screen off? That's nearly identical to what I get listening to DI radio all day on wifi with the screen off, like I mentioned already.

That's what I mean by contradiction. You basing fact off something you know and said can be easily manipulated.

I'm not saying that's impossible but it's extremely rare.
 
cynics said:
Didn't you say the stat could be easily manipulated?

That could be 11 hours of listening to music with the screen off?
Click to expand...

See the OPs post:
Apollo 13 said:
Well I decided to charge my phone to 100% and leave the display on the whole time.
[...]
This is with the display on all day at 50% battery
[...]
This is with the diplay on all day at 1% battery
Click to expand...

So the "usage" stat, supported by the OPs description of what he did, is what I am basing it on.
 
cambookpro said:
Must be something wrong with my eyes, 30% is horrible when trying to see anything outside/under lights.

100% all the time except at night is what I do.
Click to expand...

The Sun in England you actually get light? nah just joking:). I actually tried at 100% and it hurts my eyes and is way to bright. I don't know what my iphone goes up to in the sunlight since it's on auto brightness, but for normal viewing I like it at 30%.
 
I don't see how this is weird at all. I always average around 10 hours of usage and about 24-30 hrs of standby. 99% of my usage comes from screen on time as I have things like background refresh and push disabled, my usage never increases unless I'm actually using the phone. 10 hrs is great considering the standby time and had I not wasted the other 14-20 hrs on standby I could have easily squeezed about 11-12 hrs standby.
 
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