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iPhone 5 Battery Life Usage w/LTE ONLY!!

S

solo118

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 16, 2011
1,325
178
Hi All,

I have seen these posts that members have usage numbers that are extremely high (8+ hours of usage) for their new iphones. I am very happy for them, but I can not get near that number.

I suspect that Wifi is in use most of the time for these numbers, and that is just fine considering the newest rules of throttling and whatnot. I am not as lucky as everybody else with 8 hours of battery life etc, but this is mostly due to the fact that I exclusively use LTE.

My job does not allow "personal" devices on their wifi network, and of course when I am out to lunch, or weekends when not at home I have no Wifi access. Thankfully I get full 5 bars at home and work (NYC has very good LTE service through att)

In this thread, I would like to see what is normal usage for us LTE users.

For example, I use LTE only, no location services in use (other than find my iphone and maps when I use it which is a rarity) I do have some push notifications for my exchange email and personal email. I did turn off the auto time/date setting as well as the other settings under system services.

I can only get 4 1/2 to 5 hours of usage as it stands. Needless to say, I am not happy about this and I think if others are getting 6 hours + on LTE only I might be having an issue with my battery.

Let's see other members LTE Only usage!
 
solo118 said:
Hi All,

I have seen these posts that members have usage numbers that are extremely high (8+ hours of usage) for their new iphones. I am very happy for them, but I can not get near that number.

I suspect that Wifi is in use most of the time for these numbers, and that is just fine considering the newest rules of throttling and whatnot. I am not as lucky as everybody else with 8 hours of battery life etc, but this is mostly due to the fact that I exclusively use LTE.

My job does not allow "personal" devices on their wifi network, and of course when I am out to lunch, or weekends when not at home I have no Wifi access. Thankfully I get full 5 bars at home and work (NYC has very good LTE service through att)

6.01 is going to bring "cellular" improvements, maybe that will help

In this thread, I would like to see what is normal usage for us LTE users.

For example, I use LTE only, no location services in use (other than find my iphone and maps when I use it which is a rarity) I do have some push notifications for my exchange email and personal email. I did turn off the auto time/date setting as well as the other settings under system services.

I can only get 4 1/2 to 5 hours of usage as it stands. Needless to say, I am not happy about this and I think if others are getting 6 hours + on LTE only I might be having an issue with my battery.

Let's see other members LTE Only usage!
Click to expand...

I honestly think that is about right. Maybe you can up it to 5.5 hrs if you turned some things off. But that sounds right. Also others maybe listening to music and pods too which doesn't drain at all. There is really nothing you can do to increase battery life imo maybe very marginal increases. Think your phone is just like all others it's just how others use it. If they load up a page once an hour and take 10-12 minutes to read it that goes into their "so called" LTE usage.

Real test would be flat out streaming Netflx on LTE that would be no more than 6 hours I think.

6.01 is suppose to bring LTE "improvements" maybe that will help
 
Last edited:
I recently did a DFU restoer and then set up the phone as new. I used to get about 5 hrs on LTE, on my first charge got 8.5hrs. Very happy with that result. Lets see if it holds.
 
kre62 said:
I recently did a DFU restoer and then set up the phone as new. I used to get about 5 hrs on LTE, on my first charge got 8.5hrs. Very happy with that result. Lets see if it holds.
Click to expand...

Maybe thats what I need to do. is there a difference between a DFU restore and just a simple restore through itunes and clicking start as new rather than using a backup?

When I got the 5 i opted to start as new rather than load my 4S's settings, but I got a phone exchange last week and used my initial 5's backup.

As a note, my original 5 had given me 6 hours of usage, which is why I think something is up.
 
Location Dependant

LTE battery life is really dependant on where your at, like i travel around once every week from st Catherine to GTA every week. My battery life is significantly better with full bars of LTE in GTA than 3 bars of LTE around the edge of the province. Since LTE switches on and off at St.Catherines, sometimes I only get 3G, but that drains my battery cause it continually searches for a better signal. I get approximately 10-12hrs of battery life playing clash of clans, using imsg (intense), and a couple calls in the GTA area. While I only get 5-6hrs in St Catherines.
 
kchkwan said:
LTE battery life is really dependant on where your at, like i travel around once every week from st Catherine to GTA every week. My battery life is significantly better with full bars of LTE in GTA than 3 bars of LTE around the edge of the province. Since LTE switches on and off at St.Catherines, sometimes I only get 3G, but that drains my battery cause it continually searches for a better signal. I get approximately 10-12hrs of battery life playing clash of clans, using imsg (intense), and a couple calls in the GTA area. While I only get 5-6hrs in St Catherines.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I do understand that as well but as I noted I am getting full 5 bars at work and at home. I was hoping to at least match the 6 hr usage I got on my initial ip5.

I am going to try a DFU restore this evening and do my settings/email accounts etc all over again. If it works I will definitely post my results.
 
solo118 said:
Thanks, I do understand that as well but as I noted I am getting full 5 bars at work and at home. I was hoping to at least match the 6 hr usage I got on my initial ip5.

I am going to try a DFU restore this evening and do my settings/email accounts etc all over again. If it works I will definitely post my results.
Click to expand...

This forum is littered with tons of posts that said a DFU restore didnt help much so just keep your expectations in check. But best of luck and report back.
 
metsjetsfan said:
This forum is littered with tons of posts that said a DFU restore didnt help much so just keep your expectations in check. But best of luck and report back.
Click to expand...

Worth a shot, I guess. I am just very curious if any other members have been using LTE only and are getting 6+ hours.

Maybe I just had good luck with my initial ip5 :D
 
Light usage, expect 8 hours of LTE usage. That just means your LTE is running, occasionally pulling data, and your display is on for 8 hours. This browsing the web, Fllipboard, facebook, type of usage.

Start a medium usage gaming scenario and bam, my battery life drops to 50-60% in an hour or two.

If you're not in a strong LTE area, expect your battery life to plummet from the stated 8 hours.
 
I get 8 hours of usage on LTE over a period of 10-12 hours. This is all LTE and using iMessage, Reader, Safari and a few youtube videos.
 
KoukiFC3S said:
I get 8 hours of usage on LTE over a period of 10-12 hours. This is all LTE and using iMessage, Reader, Safari and a few youtube videos.
Click to expand...

Great. Do you use push notification? Or Push email such as Exchange or AOL Mail?
 
I get 5-5.5 hours of LTE in a 1-3 bar reception area and 4.5-5 hours on 3G at 3-4 bars in same area.

Patiently waiting for the iOS update before I complain too much. Still tops my old gnex by far on LTE.
 
solo118 said:
Great. Do you use push notification? Or Push email such as Exchange or AOL Mail?
Click to expand...

I use full push notifications.

For email, I have gmail set up as imap (fetch every hour) and iCloud email.

I really saw an improvement in battery once I hooked up my phone to my PC and restored it. I then restored from my iCloud backup.
 
solo118 said:
Worth a shot, I guess. I am just very curious if any other members have been using LTE only and are getting 6+ hours.

Maybe I just had good luck with my initial ip5 :D
Click to expand...

People have also done reset all settings and said that yielded some battery life gains. You may also want to try that before the restore.
 
I too have had problems getting past 6 hours usage with LTE, but a restore, specifically a DFU restore, finally enabled me to reach 7-8 hours usage with LTE only. Wifi is also impressive at around 10 hours of solid usage. Again the key is to limit battery draining services and lower screen brightness. Might take one full charge cycle because that last 1% lasts a long time (30-40 min).
 
metsjetsfan said:
People have also done reset all settings and said that yielded some battery life gains. You may also want to try that before the restore.
Click to expand...

I can try this as well, but would it be counterproductive as i am pretty much going to put in the exact same settings a few moments later?
 
sparayno1 said:
I too have had problems getting past 6 hours usage with LTE, but a restore, specifically a DFU restore, finally enabled me to reach 7-8 hours usage with LTE only. Wifi is also impressive at around 10 hours of solid usage. Again the key is to limit battery draining services and lower screen brightness. Might take one full charge cycle because that last 1% lasts a long time (30-40 min).
Click to expand...

Can you walk us through how to do a full DFU restore? I restored and set up my phone as a new device but still have had no luck.
 
solo118 said:
I can try this as well, but would it be counterproductive as i am pretty much going to put in the exact same settings a few moments later?
Click to expand...

It shouldn't b/c there could be some settings not configurable that get reset. Just a theory and based on what I have read here
 
kchkwan said:
LTE battery life is really dependant on where your at, like i travel around once every week from st Catherine to GTA every week. My battery life is significantly better with full bars of LTE in GTA than 3 bars of LTE around the edge of the province. Since LTE switches on and off at St.Catherines, sometimes I only get 3G, but that drains my battery cause it continually searches for a better signal. I get approximately 10-12hrs of battery life playing clash of clans, using imsg (intense), and a couple calls in the GTA area. While I only get 5-6hrs in St Catherines.
Click to expand...

Just for reference so that we all know because I think I get it, but not everyone will. GTA is Greater Toronto Area, right? St. Catherines you mean St. Catharines Ontario correct?
 
lyngo said:
Just for reference so that we all know because I think I get it, but not everyone will. GTA is Greater Toronto Area, right? St. Catherines you mean St. Catharines Ontario correct?
Click to expand...

Yes, so basically I'm covering GTA as Toronto, Scarborough, Markham, Richmond Hill, North York. St.Catherines Ontario as in Niagara Falls area.:D
 
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