Do you feel the iPhone battery life restricts how you use the phone?

[KittyKatta]

This isn't a slam on the iPhone because I've been using every model one for several generations and I love it. But after several years of micromanaging my battery usage then I've noticed that I dont come close to using the phone to its potential because if I did I'd run out of battery by noon.

I just came back from a Disney trip and it was pretty disappointing to look back at all the things I could NOT do nearly as much as I planned because of paranoid/real battery drain concerns.
- Find my Friends
- GPS based apps
- Shooting and sharing iMovie compilation videos (Video is a battery hog)
- Light iPhoto editing apps
- Social Media sharing apps (Vine, Instagram etc)
- Geofencing features (Passbook/Shopkick/Siri location reminders)
- Games (I'm scared to death of firing up a game because battery usage is so random).

Again, its not a slam because I understand and accept that, around here, running out of battery is 100% user error. But I'm just wondering if anyone else feels that their iPhone feels a bit wasted because of battery constraints.


[Sidenote: On a 3 day trip I ran out of battery by 5P twice. I usually drop off my phone at the camera shop for an hour to recharge but they only allow that for cameras now and instead have pay-per-use charging lockers in the locker room. So I had to randomly find outlets in the restaurants which was nice, but also a bit of a time killer.]

 

[Fattytail]

Why don't you just bring along an external battery? I don't travel anywhere without my Anker external battery. The iphone battery is woefully inadequate otherwise. All smartphone batteries are woefully inadequate for that matter.

 

[GoCubsGo]

I never really thought about it but now that you mention it, while traveling by plane, I tend to limit what I do on my phone. Often the power stations are filled up with other iPhone owners and I don't care to wander around looking for a plug. So yeah, in that respect I tend to limit my activities and shut down certain functions to preserve battery. That is, if I am flying cross country with a layover.

I did have some silly little external power pack from Duracell that I will bring along if I can find it and remember to charge it. Otherwise, I just conserve. I'm used to it now as it has been years now.

 

[maflynn]

My phone lasts the entire day for me, though if I have an occasion to plug it in, I will. I've not altered my habits to make it last even if I cannot plug it in during the day.

 

[Jordan921]

Yea I've sometimes had to restrict myself from doing certain things on the phone because I was scared of the phone dying.

 

[sakau2007]

i never understand why people run out of battery charge. there's no reason it shouldn't be at 100% when you wake up in the morning.

anyone with an office job should be leaving work with a 100% charge.

 

[tardman91]

The only thing for me that really kills the battery is the GPS. If I lay off of apps that use that heavily then I'm usually fine for the day. I'd consider picking up an external battery pack. There are a lot of good choices out there. Some can be had for less than $50.

 

[Mrbobb]

None of the above. At the end of the day mine is at 50%.

But if I use the phone as much you some of you do, I buy a battery pack, problem solved.

Yeah, ur slamming a little. Focus on the solution, that's it.

 

[KittyKatta]

None of the above. At the end of the day mine is at 50%.

But if I use the phone as much you some of you do, I buy a battery pack, problem solved.

Yeah, ur slamming a little. Focus on the solution, that's it.

The solution to Apple's obsession of "Thin" vs Replaceable/Long Lasting Batteries is... to buy a battery pack that makes it thicker?

I love my iPhone and all but I kinda feel this answer is a deflection to the problem because everything can't always be blamed on the user for trying to use their phone the way they presented it in keynotes/commercials.

[Edit: Im not against buying a battery pack and I'm actually buying one now. It's just kinda silly that this is the only way to use the phone features as advertised]

 

[The Phazer]

Very, very, very much so.

Using my phone freely (and I don't even regard streaming video etc as using the phone freely) would require 2 full charges a day. It's not practical.

 

[Mrbobb]

The solution to Apple's obsession of "Thin" vs Replaceable/Long Lasting Batteries is... to buy a battery pack that makes it thicker?

I love my iPhone and all but I kinda feel this answer is a deflection to the problem because everything can't always be blamed on the user for trying to use their phone the way they presented it in keynotes/commercials.

[Edit: Im not against buying a battery pack and I'm actually buying one now. It's just kinda silly that this is the only way to use the phone features as advertised]

So you already know why Apple does it. If there is any perceived "blame" on your part is because members blame you for keep wishing Apple does otherwise when you well know Apple is not going to. like a constant nag that doesn't do anything.

U wanna stay with iPhone, buy a battery pack. I'd be extremely surprised, in fact to me there is 0.00000002% chance that Apple EVER make a replaceable battery pack portable.

Notice I did not defend Apple, am simply stating what's known about Apple and extrapolate what they will do in the future.

 

[Bacong]

I use my phone probably as much as I want, with brightness at 60%, with LTE and the battery life is fine. Some of you probably use your phones too much. If you're constantly using it, it will die in 5-6 hours or less. That's the same for any phone, give or take an hour.

Look at how battery life is advertised. However many hours they mention is using that process alone.

 

[sracer]

This is a puzzling thread.

Coming from Android handsets, I appreciate the extended battery life of my iPhone 4. I could barely get through a full day of use on my Android phone, but with the iPhone I get at minimum 2.5 full days. Same usage pattern, actually I'm using the iPhone more than my previous Android sets.

 

[Macintosh2010]

2.5 days on an iPhone

2.5 days on an iPhone...ridiculous....not possible....antagonistic post ...

 

[large farva]

I think that the iPhone's battery life definitely restricts how I want to use my phone. I've owned iPhones before, a 3G, a 3Gs, and an iPhone 4, so I'm not just ragging on the iPhone either. But I just moved from a Droid RAZR Maxx, so I've definitely had to make some changes to the way I use my phone. Though, it has to be said that one good thing about my iPhone, is that when I plug it in to charge it, it charges VERY quickly. I was at 75% the other day when I plugged it in to charge it, and literally 10-15 minutes later I was at about 100%, pretty nice. So even though the battery drains quite a bit, it's nice to know that once you plug it in to charge, it will do so fairly quickly. That was the worst issue with the RAZR Maxx, that it took FOREVER to charge. It literally took hours to charge from 75% to anywhere near 100%.

 

[JAT]

There's too much bitterness in the poll choices to give a polite answer.

 

[osofast240sx]

Yes until I purchased a mophie juice pack duo 6000mh just for a up coming Disney trip. I also plan to purchase battery case also.

 

[haruhiko]

iPhone 5's battery life is abysmal. I could hardly deplete the battery of my previous iPhone 4S within a single day but now I need to use the 5 very carefully otherwise it will be dead around dinner time. I think it's a design flaw to have the same mAh battery pack for a larger phone and larger screen + LTE + better CPU/GPU.

 

[Prof.]

i never understand why people run out of battery charge. there's no reason it shouldn't be at 100% when you wake up in the morning.

anyone with an office job should be leaving work with a 100% charge.

This. However, I do know people - my sister being one of them - who don't put it on charge when they go to bed and leave for work with a 70% charge. These are the people I like to call "technologically illiterate"

 

[AndyPhamVN]

No. At least Apple does not integrate into the iPhone tons of bloatwares. I'm sick of Samsung.

 

[Small White Car]

Great un-biased poll options

'None of the above' for me.

 

[adam044]

Get a battery case

 

[tjl3]

iPhone 5's battery life is abysmal. I could hardly deplete the battery of my previous iPhone 4S within a single day but now I need to use the 5 very carefully otherwise it will be dead around dinner time. I think it's a design flaw to have the same mAh battery pack for a larger phone and larger screen + LTE + better CPU/GPU.

-_- the LTE radio in the iPhone 5 is much more power efficient than the 3G/HSPA+ in the 4S. Also, the A6 is developed by Apple, it could or could not be a better at power management. As far as increasing the thickness of the battery, a few mm of thickness is not going to necessarily translate to a significantly larger battery capacity. If Apple were to increase it's dimensions in all directions, it would go against their small, compact, "one handed" experience.

I've always gotten great battery, though I'm not quite the power user as the OP. Based on that list of tasks, I wouldn't expect the battery in any smartphone on the market to drain just as fast (my work Nexus 4 lasted 2.5 hours on GPS only).

 

[srsub3]

I got problems only when I wanted to watch live streaming of sport events... otherwise I can use the phone for a full day without any problem... don't understand how you can drain battery so fast...

 

[SONiC5]

Yes, when it gets below 40% I tend to leave it alone as much as possible until I'm able to charge it. And if I'm somewhere I know I won't be able to charge it, like a theme park, I won't do anything battery intensive at all. My 4S lasted a full day at Busch Gardens, I took a ton of pictures with it and that was about it.