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I charged mine to 100% last night, and left it plugged in at 100% for a couple hours before disconnecting and going to bed. That said, I have NOT calibrated the battery yet, nor have I let it get below 75% since I got it. When I woke up nearly 11 hours later, I was still at 99%.

I had bluetooth off, iCloud off, push on, wifi on, siri on, location based services on, notification center on (though I don't turn on apps for that, just mail/messages/calls/voicemails/weather).

Though, for whatever reason, it says I have 13 minutes of usage and 10 hours, 47 minutes of standby. The standby sounds fine, but I should have 0-1 minute of usage...didn't touch it at all after I unplugged it and went to bed until I pressed the home button to check the battery this morning.

One thing though--if you are going to test the battery, it would be a good idea to actually power the phone off completely and then back on at night right before you are about to test it to kill any background apps. I did this since there doesn't seem to be any real way to tell what apps are or aren't running in the background (double tapping the home button just shows you recent apps that have been used, not the ones running), so this way I knew I had no extraneous background processes running overnight.

Can't you just kill the background apps by closing everything in multi-tasking?

Nevermind. Looks like they are completely different.
 
Can't you just kill the background apps by closing everything in multi-tasking?

Nevermind. Looks like they are completely different.

No. The bar at the bottom has closed apps as well. You have no idea which are running and which aren't.
 
This is not needed; the memory management in iOS does not require open apps to close. When memory is needed it automatically closes unused applications based on time last used.

yes but didn't 'they' say that one of the reasons they don't have a gig of ram is because memory in ram takes up battery? But i know, how do you know how much you are using and does it really matter. think this is all solvable on software. But there must be one key feature that you turn off that will significantly increase batt life, we will soon know.
 
I may have an interesting usage case to share with you all. I'll need to set up the devices tonight to do it properly.

My wife and I have 16 GB Sprint 4Ss, both set up as new device. Her usage and battery drain seem normal; mine does not.

Here's what I can rule out for my 4S:

--It's not the battery itself. I tested it in Airplane Mode and the battery lost no power. However, in stand-by with the device configured any way I try (see below), I lose 1% every 10 minutes.

--The tricks other folks are suggesting don't work for me. Location Services off? No change. No push e-mail? No change. No 3G data connection? No change. iCloud removal and hard reset? No change. It's still 1% every 10 minutes. I tried these as independent tests to see if I could isolate one task

So, I plan on setting up both our family's 4Ss exactly the same, running the exact same processes, and post battery results. I am leaning toward a bad iOS 5 install or some other hung background process on my phone in particular, and I may just reset the whole thing all together.

Also to note, my work 3GS is running iOS 5 as well, and the battery life is the same, if not slightly better.

--
 
I didn't read the whole thread so forgive me if this was mentioned, but some battery drain I had with both my 4 and my 4S had to do with the following:

1. iTunes wifi sync was enabled
2. iPhones had the "open iTunes when this device is attached" checkbox enabled in iTunes
3. In the iTunes preferences under devices, the "prevent devices from automatically syncing with iTunes" was unchecked
4. The computer running iTunes was on and iTunes was open, and both iPhones were on the wifi network

When the above was the case, even when the phones weren't plugged in and weren't syncing, iTunes was somehow causing them to not sleep fully, and their wifi would never disconnect after the phone was locked for a few minutes (as it usually does to save battery) so I was seeing the battery drop around 10%-15% in an hour. In the span of four hours, the battery went down to about 50% with just VERY light usage on my part. The only solutions are to either a) close iTunes or b) check the box that prevents devices from syncing automatically. The first option is inconvenient for those that rely on home sharing (Apple TV 2) and both suck because you have to manually sync the phones from then on and may require you to go back to the computer, defeating the whole purpose of wifi sync. But this was the only way to fix my battery drain. When I did this, the phones would sleep properly, disabling wifi, and my battery life went back to normal. Alternatively you could also disable wifi sync but then you cant even do a manual sync on wifi. Seems like Apple has a bug to fix somewhere...

Edit: to clarify, I have no idea why the "prevent from syncing automatically" checkbox would fix this, when the devices weren't even plugged into power and therefore would not sync (I also confirmed that they did not) but this did fix the battery issue while allowing me to leave iTunes open for my Apple TV...
 
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Kind of the opposite of this thread... but I noticed my phone charged from 3% last night to 20% within 15 minutes. That seems too quick almost to me?
 
Kind of the opposite of this thread... but I noticed my phone charged from 3% last night to 20% within 15 minutes. That seems too quick almost to me?

I did notice that the 4S charged VERY quickly on my iPad charger to about 85-90% and then it slowed down from there. Compared to my 4, it seemed fast. Maybe the power management circuitry and battery have been improved.
 
I ventured to view some videos, and my battery life has cut even more.

I'm losing 25% every 2 hours.

And Apple says for the iPhone 4S:

Talk time: Up to 8 hours on 3G, up to 14 hours on 2G (GSM)
Standby time: Up to 200 hours
Internet use: Up to 6 hours on 3G, up to 9 hours on Wi-Fi
Video playback: Up to 10 hours
Audio playback: Up to 40 hours

I'm not getting near any of these hours, and i have Siri, iCloud and a number of battery hogging apps off.

I should be able to easily use my iPhone for the day (normal usage) and have at least 30% left over by the time i go to sleep.

Has anyone contacted technical support?

-edit-
I'm trying a factory settings restore, will update if battery life is better this way or not.
 
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There is so much "urban legend" floating around about battery usage and charging... e.g. drain it to zero then charge, use it down to 50% before charging, don't let it sit connected to the charger after reaching 100%, etc.

I would love to have the definitive FACT from someone trained in electrical engineering who KNOWS the scoop on Lithium Ion batteries... not based on "I read" or "I heard" or "I got divine inspiration"...

Come on, there must be at least one forum member who KNOWS rather than just THINKS THEY KNOW.
 
There is so much "urban legend" floating around about battery usage and charging... e.g. drain it to zero then charge, use it down to 50% before charging, don't let it sit connected to the charger after reaching 100%, etc.

I would love to have the definitive FACT from someone trained in electrical engineering who KNOWS the scoop on Lithium Ion batteries... not based on "I read" or "I heard" or "I got divine inspiration"...

Come on, there must be at least one forum member who KNOWS rather than just THINKS THEY KNOW.

Just taking a guess here, but I think these guys have a few of those facts.
 
Okay, here is my usage so far today. I took it off charge at 10AM UK time and it was at 100%.

My usage is now at
Usage: 3hours37minutes.
Standby:7hours13minutes.

Battery left is 55%. I've been connected to wifi for 5 of those 7hours and been using it to check twitter a few times, check my emails and used find my friends twice. I also have been sending a lot of texts and imessages (probably sent about 140 in total and received roughly the same). I used the camera for about a minute as well.
Also had a location based reminder on for 30minutes.

So battery seems pretty good for me today.

Edit: I have an unlocked 64GB white btw.

Update about this. The stats now are:
Usage: 5Hours11Minutes.
Standby: 10Hours19Minutes.

Can't believe how high my usage is! I've basically just done more texting and twitter checking since last time. Also I tried to sync some movies over wifi for a few minutes (like 10) and after I realised how slow it was I cancelled it, but it went down 2% during that time. Also had a 2 minute phone call.

Currently at 30%. Going really well I think.
 
On my lunch break I watched a movie saved to my phone, not even streaming. 1 episode of TV that was 22 minutes long and my battery went from 65% to 55%. That definitely can't be normal right?

My 5 year old Ipod video that I listened to music on for 4.5 hours on today now has more battery that my brand new 4S, makes a ton of sense, huh?
 
There is so much "urban legend" floating around about battery usage and charging... e.g. drain it to zero then charge, use it down to 50% before charging, don't let it sit connected to the charger after reaching 100%, etc.

I would love to have the definitive FACT from someone trained in electrical engineering who KNOWS the scoop on Lithium Ion batteries... not based on "I read" or "I heard" or "I got divine inspiration"...

Come on, there must be at least one forum member who KNOWS rather than just THINKS THEY KNOW.

I'm not an EE so this will probably fall on deaf ears.

Read this...

http://batteryuniversity.com/

Especially this...

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

or make life simple and just plug the darn thing in before you go to sleep, which is basically what they are saying.
 
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There is so much "urban legend" floating around about battery usage and charging... e.g. drain it to zero then charge, use it down to 50% before charging, don't let it sit connected to the charger after reaching 100%, etc.

I would love to have the definitive FACT from someone trained in electrical engineering who KNOWS the scoop on Lithium Ion batteries... not based on "I read" or "I heard" or "I got divine inspiration"...

Come on, there must be at least one forum member who KNOWS rather than just THINKS THEY KNOW.

Or maybe read Apple's battery page. Too lazy to go look it up for you.
 
+1000

With normal use, this phone will last an entire day for most users. Plug it in at night and you will rarely have to worry about battery life with an iPhone.

My 4S was plugged in over night and was charged to 100%. Reading about 10 emails and replying to a dozen or so text messages and 5 mins of phones calls 6 hours later my phone is down to 22%. My 4 would normally be at around 80% at this time of the day with a lot more use than what I did today. I have turned off all that I can and still have a somewhat functioning device.
 
My 4S was plugged in over night and was charged to 100%. Reading about 10 emails and replying to a dozen or so text messages and 5 mins of phones calls 6 hours later my phone is down to 22%. My 4 would normally be at around 80% at this time of the day with a lot more use than what I did today. I have turned off all that I can and still have a somewhat functioning device.

That's what I am seeing. I've turned Bluetooth and Location Services off, as well as other tricks listed here.

A log I was keeping and some things I tried..

Off-Charger at 9am, 100%. With only light usage, by 11:20am: 83%.

Decided to let it sleep and test various things.
11:27am: 82%
11:35am: 81%
11:40am: 80% (Turned Airplane Mode on to check if it was the physical battery)
11:50am: 80% (Ok, not the battery. Now, I turn it off Cellular Data)
11:54am: 80%
12:01pm: 79% (so, with data off and WiFi on, rate of descent slowed. Back to base configuration)
12:48pm: 72%
1:30pm: 63%, with iMessage going for ~20 minutes.
2:51pm: 39%
3:28pm: 22%

So with the screen on, and mostly text messaging as the main use, my battery went from ~70% to 22% in the span of 2.5 hours. For reference, my "base configuration" is WiFi, Cell Data On, Location Services Off, Brightness at ~60%, Bluetooth off, Mail to fetch.
 
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My 4S was plugged in over night and was charged to 100%. Reading about 10 emails and replying to a dozen or so text messages and 5 mins of phones calls 6 hours later my phone is down to 22%. My 4 would normally be at around 80% at this time of the day with a lot more use than what I did today. I have turned off all that I can and still have a somewhat functioning device.

yeah agree that is troubling. on the 4 it would be 80% on the 4S probably around 70-75% not 22%. curious, are you on wifi mostly or 3G?
 
I'll apologize in advance that I didn't read every single page in this article. But I think it's important to note that it should be kept in mind that iOS 5.0 is a '.0' release. These comments were roughly the same that came when the iPhone 4 came out and iOS 4.0 also came out. The software is still relative new and it's being used on hardware that has only been in the public's hands for a few days. I'm sure that with subsequent updates to the software the power efficiency will become better and better.

Also a quick point, I find it surprising the number of people that don't plug their phones in at night. I plug mine in and let it charge every night too 100%. Once in a blue moon I can't make it through the day but that is a ver rare day. Not only that but plugging it in further away from my bed is the perfect way to get up cause I have to get out of my bed to get out of my bed when my phone alarm goes off in the morning hah. :p
 
I still think the issue is a dual core chip and in fact the phones are losing battery power at a "normal" rate due to the extra processor load.

Apple needs to embed software to switch between single and dual cores on certain apps.
 
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