3GS & OS4 - Battery Drain

[GovtLawyer]

Since I upgraded my 3Gs to OS4, I notice that the battery drains much faster than before. It was quite evident when I used a Golf GPS program I had used before. On the same course, using the same settings, the battery drained to almost zero; whereas, before it only went down to around 20%. With my normal use, same as before, it almost seems to drain 30% faster.

Does anyone else have this problem? Perhaps there is an issue with multi tasking. Maybe I think I'm turning a program off, but it is staying on in the background. Any suggestions?

Thanks - Steven

 

[eckomania]

This is happening to me too since the upgrade to iOS 4. There is a lengthy thread on this over at the Apple iPhone 3GS support forums.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2469566&tstart=0

It also appears to be happening to iPod Touches that have upgraded to iOS 4, as seen in another thread in the Apple support forums.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2474499&tstart=0

PC World is calling it The Power Vampire.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscent...ttery_bummer_the_power_vampire.html?tk=hp_new

To be honest, between the iPhone 4 problems and the the power issues with iOS 4, I'm pretty shocked at the poor quality Apple is putting out there right now.

These don't appear to be minor issues but fairly systematic ones. The worst part about it is that due to Apple's tight grip over their user environment, there really is no official way to downgrade your operating system on older iPhones and iPod Touches. Of course you can do it but Apple doesn't support it which is a shame.

 

[thor79]

Also happening with mine...I upgraded from 3.1.2 to 4.0 last week and ever since I have had battery issues. The most noticeable difference is when I go to work. Before I could take it off charger in the morning just before leaving at around 7:45am...and through normal use throughout the day it would drain down to around 30-40%...enough so when I got home I could do my workout and then put it on a charger for overnight (usually around 7:30-8:00pm).

Now the thing can't survive until lunch before it needs to hit a charger...(meaning it's at 20% or lower)

I'm having to turn off stuff I would normally leave on, just so I don't have to plug it in. I used to have bluetooth on all the time just out of conveinence since it didn't drain the battery that much, now I turn it off when not in use. I use push email for my main gmail account, and fetch for the other 3. Before that was set to every 30 minutes, now I have it set to every hour.

I suspect this is all thanks to the background processes that iOS4 has...but the implementation sucks compared to the true background processes that I had with 3.1.2 jailbroken. With no ability to control what apps are running (like I could with the jailbroken version of multitasking, ie the process control within SBSettings) in the background I suspect they just sit back there draining my battery the whole time they really aren't doing anything.

 

[Gin Gin]

Yeah I've noticed it too, and I just got my 3GS replaced under warranty a couple of weeks ago so I've got a brand new battery.

 

[rKunda]

Strange. My 3GS battery life is better than 3.1.3. Not significantly, but a few % by the end of the day.

 

[thor79]

Ok...it happens off and on. After a reboot the other day...my battery life is great...maybe 30% battery used after a day's use. I experienced this great battery life shortly after installing iOS4...then the "vampire" started happening. As this is happening to more than just people with multi-tasking...it's gotta be something else (or could be a combination of things).

 

[Caliber26]

I upgraded to iOS 4 on day one and absolutely loved it. Worked flawlessly. However, as of yesterday, I've had some really funky issues with my 3GS. The camera app launches then freezes up before the shutter graphic has a chance to disappear (two occasions so far). I powered it off and then back on and it seemed to take care of it. Also, on three occasions since that, while my phone was in sleep mode and I tried to unlock by swiping the unlock 'button', it just freezes up right before my home-screen pops up. I had to do a hard reset and it's okay, but it's three times now and getting REALLY annoying.

Anyone else experiencing these issues, or know of any suggestions that might correct this?