Hello everyone,
I have an iPhone 4S black 16 GB. I leave it in Airplane Mode during the night and charging. I start using it around 7:30 AM with 100% and around 11:00 PM I have less than 10% remaining, which would be pretty standard... except my usage is usually around 4 hours of use and 12/13 hours of standby with the following configuration:
- WiFi is off all day long (no WiFi at work);
- Bluetooth is always off;
- Location Services are off;
- iCloud is on for Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Bookmarks and Documents & Data;
- iCloud backup is off;
- Push is off (Fetch everything MANUALLY);
- Brightness is always at 50% or less (auto-brightness on);
- I always lock it when not using it, I never forget, so no need for auto-lock.
- I have notifications on for Phone, Viber, Messages, Mail, Calendar, Reminders, Occasions, Facebook, Google+, eBuddy Pro, Angry Birds and Game Center;
- Finally, the place I work at has great cell coverage, so I have full bars all day long, or one bar missing at most.
Most people may say that this is standard and acceptable but I disagree. I can even tolerate having the location services off, but seriously, no push for email? What's the point of having a smartphone, then? Today I tried turning push on for email (MS Exchange) and, WHILE LOCKED, it drained 10% in 20 minutes!
I have installed iOS 5.0.1 (OTA) and although I haven't yet tested a full day of use (I will tomorrow), I have noticed that the battery is draining at the same rhythm while not doing virtually anything.
As most of you might know, some carriers have decided not to include the "Enable 3G" button in the Network menu. This is the case of my carrier (Vodafone Portugal). I believe that this decision might be affecting my battery life because as we all know, 3G drains battery faster. "Back in the old days", I could disable 3G and only use it at particular times, but now it's constantly on, unless it can't find any 3G coverage - then it changes to GPRS/EDGE. I would like to have the ability to choose whether to have 3G on or off.
Assuming that my iPhone isn't malfunctioning, and assuming that this update does indeed correct a lot of battery related bugs, I believe that this fact - 3G always on - may be the reason why so many people are seeing their batteries drain so rapidly. And I would really really like to know whether those who claim not to have any battery problems with the 4S / iOS 5 have the ability to control their 3G connection.
Cheers,
dcol
