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haaa

apple's recommendation on sms backup:

SMS

Copy and paste important SMS messages to the Notes app and Sync to your computer using iTunes (this method has limitations for some versions of windows).
Paste the SMS messages into an email and then email them to yourself.
 
hey folks....

16GB black iPhone 4S...Canadian provider Telus...serial #C39xxx series.

I, too, could literally watch the battery drop 1% every 5-ish minutes when I first got the phone. Even placing phone in Airplane mode caused the same swift drop of power. .. However, this happened -after- restoring from a backup of an iPhone 4.

I tried out the solution(s) provided here...which was to factory restore and turn off all System Services...iCloud (doesn't matter to me since everything I need is saved in iTunes anyway)...and charge the phone to 100% and then some using Battery Doctor.

After doing this, in Airplane mode..with approx. 40 minutes of basic usage (just moving around through menus, playing an audio book in iTunes..no other apps running..no surfing..still in airplane mode)...and just over 10 hours standby time...90% charge left...got to class, turned Airplane mode off..and could see the battery drop more quickly..but, then..around Noon-1pm..something happened..which was the battery reached around 65%..and has finally just now dropped to 64% 5 hours later. This was with using Siri 2-3x..sent about 4 texts..snapped several photos...and made a 5 minute phone call, checked Voice Mail a couple of times..and more iTunes use.

So, hmmm...maybe for some of us (at least me) the problem was just letting the battery stabilize (which doesn't make scientific sense to me) with time. Certainly, though, restoring from an old iPhone 4 backup f**'d my battery usage over! Won't be doing that again.

Good luck, everyone.

edit: it seems the (grudging?) consensus in the very long Apple support thread re: the battery issue is that one must drain battery, charge, drain, charge 2-3x for the "heat" issues and the short battery life problems to disappear.

Nice post!
I deleted my iCloud account, and i noticed a much better battery life. It took 30 mins of average usage to go from 100% to 99%, however it took only a few minutes after that to drop to 97%.
But i'll try the complete drain, charge, drain charge method a few times. I really hope that'll work, because this phone has been heating up in the most random moments. For example, when it charges, or when i'm on the App store etc.
 
Used 3g exclusively today with horrible results :(

- Brightness: 50% (no auto brightness)
- Email: No Push or Fetch (only manual which I didn't use)
- iCloud: Have never signed into it under settings so not applicable
- Bluetooth: Off
- WiFi: Off
- Location Services: Turned off everything except maps and siri but everything else... diagnostics, traffic, time zone, compass, apps are turned off
- Ping: turned off
- Cycling battery: Ran down to 0% and charged back up to 100% 5 times already
- Signal strength: Excellent (due to a microcell at home and having abundant coverage in SoCal)
- Carrier: Att

I ended up getting 4 hours of usage with 3g today. Breakdown of the usage was as follows:
- 6 minutes of music while in the car (screen off) but I found out this increases the usage time so I turned it off
- 33 minutes of using Waze (GPS turn by turn) which I killed off afterwards to ensure no battery drain from it
- ONLY 3 hours and 27 minutes of Web Browsing on 3G?! WTF?! :mad:

Based on past results I also get max 6 hours of usage if I use WiFi instead of 3g.

I've done the whole cycling the battery and turning off settings. Hell, I've never even used iCloud once and I am still getting ****** battery life with my 4s. This thing is going straight back for a replacement...
 

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Had my mind made up and out sim back in old 4 for half the day yesterday. Last night I decided to give the 4s one more go. Appears to be doing better today.

Stats:
Battery. 23%
Usage: 4:55
Standby: 18:39

Lots of texting, lurking in taptalk, couple photos, tweetbot, few phone calls, safari, facebook, downloaded 5 app updates, and email. Overall an improvement over a few days ago!
 
Mine today - This is the 2nd time I let it get this low and have it in the wall charger now.

56 minutes of call time.
A few texts/imessages
30min or so of surfing
Downloaded camera+ and a battery app (deleted)
About 1hr was Music

I did spend about 1.5hrs in a basement that gets poor reception
20 minutes of Contract Killer Zombies neted me a 10% drop...

The only locations services I have on is Cam, Cam+ Compass, Maps, Siri, Waze, and Weather (only 2 had the gray arrow)

I have 5 email accounts

icloud - Manual
Gmail - Manual
MSN - Fetch 1hr
Live - Push
Live #2 - Inactive (this is my iTunes login)

I will drain it tomorrow, and then charge again hopefully I will have better numbers. I am also turning off all iCloud services - I figure that once a week I can turn them on and upload.

The magic question should I call Apple Care tomorrow or drain and charge tomorrow and see how Saturday is, and then call for a replacement if there is no improvement.

As always thanks for the feedback,

K
 

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HUGE UPDATE FOR ME:

1. Was having horrific battery life (dead nearly twice a day) with normal usage.
2. Drained it completely, next day- nothing.
3. Today, two days after draining, I am now at:

Usage: 4 hours, 52 minutes.
Standby: 15 hours, 54 minutes.

45% battery left!!!!!

Wifi/3G on all day. Nothing special turned off, 3 push email accounts. iCloud syncing still on.

I'm cured, but it just happened overnight for no apparent reason!
 
haaa

apple's recommendation on sms backup:

SMS

Copy and paste important SMS messages to the Notes app and Sync to your computer using iTunes (this method has limitations for some versions of windows).
Paste the SMS messages into an email and then email them to yourself.

I love how they have the nerve to criticize windows.

----------

Today I was using the Telenav app and I noticed it continued using GPS even after I exited out of it. Make sure to kill it in the task switcher if you use it.

I used navigation for about an hour today. Got 16 hours standby, 3.5 hours of usage. Not good, IMO, although in the future I will plug the phone in when I'm in the car, and that would completely solve the problem. I just wish I didn't have to.
 
HUGE UPDATE FOR ME:

1. Was having horrific battery life (dead nearly twice a day) with normal usage.
2. Drained it completely, next day- nothing.
3. Today, two days after draining, I am now at:

Usage: 4 hours, 52 minutes.
Standby: 15 hours, 54 minutes.

45% battery left!!!!!

Wifi/3G on all day. Nothing special turned off, 3 push email accounts. iCloud syncing still on.

I'm cured, but it just happened overnight for no apparent reason!


Whats your S/N start with, Mine is a C39...
 
Turned off some iCloud sync stuff and my battery is doing a lot better now.
Before this I wasn't able to get to 4pm without it dropping to around 10 percent. Now at 4pm it was at around 45 percent. I'll post the usage/standby stuff soon when my phone gets down to under 3 percent. It's taking a while this time to drain the phone haha.
 
Battery life is getting better, much better actually.

I was at 80% today, after 1hr and 30mins of straight YouTube. So extrapolating from this, if i kept watching YouTube at that rate, i would get roughly 7.5hours of video.

Hmm..or this might've been a fluke. Will keep updating!
 
tumblr_ltem2h1fVS1qdpgsjo1_1280.png


Here we go. And this was with pretty heavy usage. Twitter, iMessage, FB, some GPS, alot of siri, around 30 min of phone calls, taking notes, around an hour of web browsing, downloaded 10 updates and 2 apps. Took a lot of pictures and took around 5 minutes of video. Took it out of the charger at around 8am. Pretty happy about this. Before this it sucked epic balls.
 
Decided to leave it on all night since I don't need to leave the house til the afternoon. Mostly texting/inessaging with about 30 mins of wifi web. Now 28% at 8:14 lol.

Overnight it did drop 10% in 7 and a half hours.

---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.745439,-1.205263
 

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Charged mine up to 100% last night before bed then unplugged it. Woke up this morning with 98% battery. 2% drop in over 9 hours of standby. Easily comparable to iPhone 4. I was expecting to wake up with about 60%.

Battery still ticks down ridiculously fast when I use it though, particularly on 3G.
 
I've been dealing with this too. I shut down everything I've seen so far as a cure. It's helped a little. Last night I charged the 4S to 100 percent and decided to test it overnight with wifi shut off. the battery barely moved. Is this a new wifi board in this phone? My 4 never had this problem and I kept wifi on all the time.
 
Battery Possible Fix

Any one having battery issues please try going into

Settings > Mail,Contacts, Calenders > Fetch New Data > Turn Push Off.

Then, continue and go into advanced, then turn off any other push services.

This should return your battery to normal.
 
Any one having battery issues please try going into

Settings > Mail,Contacts, Calenders > Fetch New Data > Turn Push Off.

Then, continue and go into advanced, then turn off any other push services.

This should return your battery to normal.

One of the first things i did.

Ive got an appointment with the genius bar on Monday. Will post the outcome.
 
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On way to Apple store now, spoke over AppleCare and they recommended a replacement too. Lost 42% last night in 6 hours doing absolutely nothing. Horrendous battery life.

I just hope they have new ones or spares in stock!

Also hoping I get a screen like mine. Touch wood this one really is perfect, no tinting, yellowing of any sort. Just perfect.
 
Any one having battery issues please try going into

Settings > Mail,Contacts, Calenders > Fetch New Data > Turn Push Off.

Then, continue and go into advanced, then turn off any other push services.

This should return your battery to normal.

If it were that easy, this thread wouldn't be as long as it is.
 
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