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

[newyorksole]

Funny I'm seeing this thread!

Had this exact problem yesterday. Took a 10AM train to NYC. WiFi off, Brightness very low, LED Notifications off, Silent Mode on.

By the time I got to the city it was already at like 80%! All I did was look up the location of a couple restaurants, check a couple websites and tweet.

By the time it hit 12:30 I was already at 65%! Had to stop in an Apple Store with my friend to charge a little bit and also had to borrow their Mophie.

It's pretty damn annoying. It sucks that I can't enjoy my device the way I want to because Apple doesn't want to focus on battery. Just thinness.

I don't think battery life will ever improve. They're not doing any groundbreaking new things for batteries and the phones are getting more and more capabilities and they're making them smaller. Whether they make a larger iPhone or not I don't think Apple will ever have a battery that can last all day.

 

[Knowimagination]

I know everyone has a different experience, but I never understand these battery life threads. I recently switched back to the iPhone 5 from the Lumia 920 and Nexus 4, and one of the main reasons was that I missed the battery life of the iPhone.

Today for instance, I have streamed about 3 hours of audio, checked social media frequently, sent 30-40 texts, spent about 15 minutes on the phone, played games off an on for about an hour and I just now went under 10%

Could it be better? Always, but is it bad? I certainly wouldn't say so.

 

[92jlee]

I leave my house with 100% charge. In my 1 and a half hour commute ill listen to music, browse the web and a little Facebook in between. I get to work with 60% battery.

Still better than my One X, but just not good enough.

 

[RoastingPig]

i have a home charger a office charger and a car charger so No!

 

[VulchR]

I use a battery pack. It protects the phone and allows me to forget about adjusting various services or features over the course of a normal day. Still, I wish Apple would stop designing thin iPhones at the expense of battery power. Even with a Mophie battery case, I get only about a day's hiking (with a reasonably safety margin in case of emergency) using the GPS. I'd like that to be a couple of days at some point for any future iPhone I purchase....

 

[0dev]

It depends how long I'm out and when I last charged the phone. Usually I leave the house with the phone fully charged and am only out for a few hours so I just use the phone however I want. In fact even taking it out for a whole day is usually fine - it'll be on 10% by the time I get home, but it won't usually die completely. But if I'm taking the phone on a long trip and for some reason I won't be able to charge it during that time, I'll restrict my usage, yes.

 

[KittyKatta]

Great un-biased poll options

'None of the above' for me.

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

Honestly, I dont see where the "bias" accusations are from. Sure, the answers arent as buttered up as they'd be if this were a poll on a mixed user site like CNet, but considering we are on an Apple-centric website and everyone here already has some form of brand loyalty since they already own the product.

The three choices seem reasonable.
1) I see no problem
2) I see a problem but I'm smart enough to work around it
3) I see a problem but I refuse to admit it (we all have friends who are like that).

So there's no need to be paranoid here, its just a discussion about a current product that we all use and there's no malicious agenda.


Actually, since the poll indicates a 50/50 split then there are people who are claiming to do everything with their phones and having no battery issues so I'm sure some tips would be helpful to the other side of the fence where people are disabling features and restricting usage in order to get through the day. Apple made some fantastic features but many people dont use them because (For some) there's a large battery hit to trying to use your iPhone like you're in an Apple commercial.

 

[takeshi74]

Again, its not a slam because I understand and accept that, around here, running out of battery is 100% user error.

I wouldn't call it user error. It's more along the lines of "you don't get something for nothing".

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

If it (and "it" not only refers to the iPhone but anything in life) is not meeting your needs then you need to take appropriate action to meet your needs versus expecting Apple to change when they clearly haven't indicated that they're going to add battery mass based on their history.

Each person has to decide what matters most. Clearly, Apple's obsession doesn't jive with everyone's needs/wants and that's why the accessories market exists. Not enough battery life? Get a battery pack. Device too fragile? Get a case. Screen scratches too easily for you? Get a screen protector. Sound quality of the built-in speakers insufficient? Get headphones/earphones/speaker dock/etc. No optical zoom? Get an external lens. The list is endless and expecting Apple to kowtow a mass produced product of this type to one's specific needs/wants is more than bit naive IMO.

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.

If the user solely relies on keynotes and commercials then the user gets what the user deserves no matter who the manufacturer or what the product. Keynotes and commercials are ads. Ads are the company telling you what they want to tell you. Every consumer needs to perform his/her own due diligence versus relying on companies spoon feeding information to the consumer.

I know everyone has a different experience, but I never understand these battery life threads.

If you truly understand the former then you'll understand the latter. Usage varies from person to person.

 

[Thedeathbear]

My iPhone battery life is great. Usually, you aren't far from an outlet if you need a quick charge. My phone lasts 2 days when I don't work and 1 when I do work. Some people just obsess over battery life.

 

[zorinlynx]

I'm not sure why so many of you have problems with iPhone battery life.

I was running around Miami Beach with friends, and even had a Glympse running so another friend could follow us around on a map, and even with GPS going and location data being transmitted, my iPhone 5 battery did not drain all that quickly.

Sometimes when I'm going to be out all day and into the night with no chance to charge I bring a battery pack with me, and I almost never end up having to use it, even when I use the phone fairly heavily.

Either some of you have defective phones, or you have background apps that I don't have sucking down battery something fierce. Skype is a known troublemaker, by the way. Make sure you're not leaving that signed in full time.

 

[Celtic Warrior]

Yes, I have to restrict many features I want to use in order to compensate for the battery life. That's true whether we like it or not even though you may purchase battery back up.

 

[jkauff]

I can see how some travelers might have issues, but how many of us are away from either a USB port or an AC outlet for any extended period of time? I keep my phone charged via USB at home and at work, and I have a USB car charger that cost me all of $12.

I never have an issue unless by mistake I leave the phone turned on and unplugged overnight.

The little AC adapter that came with the phone is plugged into my UPS, so I can still charge if the power goes out in the house.

 

[TyPod]

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.

Right with ya. The only time I run out of battery is when I forget to charge it at night and use it all day and night.

 

[TG1]

Not really. I think the iPhone 5 battery is very good. I also work in an office so I have a charger readily available during the work week. Other times I have a car charger, a charger at home, and an external battery pack from NewTrent. Between all of these, I use my phone without limits.

 

[Small White Car]

The three choices seem reasonable.
1) I see no problem
2) I see a problem but I'm smart enough to work around it
3) I see a problem but I refuse to admit it (we all have friends who are like that).

These options are reasonable. I WOULD say that "I see a problem but I'm smart enough to work around it" about myself.

But that's not what's in the poll.

I would NOT say "Yes, I have to restrict many features I want to use in order to compensate for the battery life." That's not even close to being the same thing and doesn't describe me at all. The "bias" I'm talking about is that you apparently see "restricting features" as the only solution. That's not true.

 

[chambone]

No, I don't feel restricted at all. On my 4S everything except bluetooth is turned on, and I get between 6 and 7 hours on a full charge. I charge it every other day and it's usually at around 30%

 

[Knowimagination]

If you truly understand the former then you'll understand the latter. Usage varies from person to person.

Not really, my point is making a thread about either extreme is silly to me. A simple how is your battery life thread is fine but either talking about it being the greatest or worst is a waste.

 

[AFDoc]

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]

A battery pack isn't the only way to use the phones features, I use them all maxed out every day and don't ever have an issue. IF you want to use your iPhone past its battery capacity you have two options, get an external battery pack/ case OR run out of power. Of course option 3 is always there and that's buy another phone with a swappable battery. Have a good one.

It's pretty damn annoying. It sucks that I can't enjoy my device the way I want to because Apple doesn't want to focus on battery. Just thinness.

You bought a phone that doesn't fit your power needs and that's apple's fault? Yep, ok.

 

[barkomatic]

It doesn't restrict how I use my iPhone because I don't usually worry if the battery dies. It just means I can't return my friends obsessive texts or like yet another photo of someone's dog on Facebook.

 

[ls1dreams]

For daily use, it's not that much of an issue. I keep a spare charger at work as well.

The biggest issue for me is traveling. GPS usage eats up battery life really fast, and I rely on my phone to get me around.

I have to severely limit usage for those days when I'm out from 9am to 9pm to make sure I can get back.

 

[captain kaos]

All I can say is try a galaxy S3.

Compared to that the iPhone (4 for me) seems to never run out of battery! I was lucky to get from 7am to 7pm with MINIMAL use on the S3. Forget about actually taking some photos with it. It's now at Vodafone for repair, but it's getting sold when it comes back. Awful 9 months with it!

Plus, the s3 may have a bigger a page battery (to power that screen and CPU) but I tried 2 different goal zero solar panels and the AA USB battery back for charging it when camping in the stupidly bright Aussie sunshine and it hardly put a charge into it. Takes a lot to charge 2.300mha battery.

I came back to my old iPhone 4 and I have 50 odd % left at the end of the day. Craziness!

 

[CEmajr]

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.

I'm shocked that your Iphone 5 doesn't last as much as your 4S. The 4S had the worst battery life of all iPhones probably due to being the exact same phone as the 4 but with a dual core processor. The battery on my 5 lasts much longer than my 4S did. It's about as good as the 4 was.

 

[marcelo4527]

I think everyone can make their iphone battery last a full day by adjusting the settings to their routine.

In my case on a regular day i exchange many messages, use 3g, navigate the internet and by the end of the day i still get about 30%
But i have to do some sacrifices such as setting the brightness almost all the way down,don't leave the screen on when i'm not using, and don't play games of random apps, so about those things I will have to agree with the subject of this thread: I can't use all of my iPhone features and capabilities for a whole day without draining my battery

 

[Nermal]

No issues here. I plug the phone (4S) in when I get home and unplug it when I leave, so no problems at home. I have an extra charging cable at work but it's rare that I need to use it. I don't find myself actively trying to conserve the battery either.