Piss poor battery life with iPhone 4...?

[pulsewidth947]

This is my last screen before Im about to recharge. It may be average to some but its def on the low end of average. I tried to use the phone lightly today as a test.

What are you going to do? My Usages is nearly identical, and I don't know whether Apple will swap it for me. Whats most annoying is my friend has similar physical usage to me, but he gets 2 days.

Do these battery problems correlate to any particular model? I have a 32GB.

 

[x986]

Usage 3 hrs. 35 min.
Stby. 3 days 16 hrs.
Bat shows 21% left.

Good enough for me!

 

[Statusnone88]

2% is hard to judge honestly. Was the device off during those 6 minutes or so? Were you browsing? What exactly were you doing?

It's much easier to judge a full charge to 5% or so. If you're doing casual browsing and app flipping you should get anywhere between 4.5-6 hours I'd say.

The difference in your case is going to be the screen brightness. Lower it and you'd probably see an increase in run time. I'd say the single biggest power draw for people is going to be the screen. GPS being first if you're using it, screen second, wifi, 3g, bluetooth.. in that order.. roughly. 3G may use more than wifi if your signal is low and it's having a rough time maintaining a signal.

Gotcha. I'm letting the battery cycle right now, so right before it dies I'll snap a picture of the usage and we'll see.

The only reason that I'm skeptical of this battery life is when I got the phone, with the same amount of usage it never drained this quickly. Now it just seems to be slipping away.

 

[lionqueen]

I use my phone pretty regularly. I listen to music or watch a TV show on it while running on the tredmill for about 30-45 minutes each day, I play a fair amount of games (about 15 minutes each day), I am currently reading a book (30 minutes each day), I use Safari about a combined total of 30-45 minutes a day, and I talk about 45 minutes a day (on average)....

I seriously charge my iPhone once every 3 days. I uncharge it at about 10-11am and charge it 3 nights later when it dies. I let it die almost every time to keep the battery nice and strong!

Anyways, I hope you get this fixed!


- Joe

You're only supposed to let it die completely once or twice a month. In actuality, these batteries like being topped up - the drain once a month thing is to calibrate it.

 

[monaarts]

You're only supposed to let it die completely once or twice a month. In actuality, these batteries like being topped up - the drain once a month thing is to calibrate it.

I have done this on all phones and laptops I have ever had and the batteries have always had an amazing life!

 

[maverick86]

My battery seemed fine up until today. Normally I just plug my phone in whenever because from everything I've read, that shouldn't be harmful to the battery. Last night I charged my phone back up to 100% and used it lightly on my morning commute to work (30-40 minutes of music and a little web browsing on 3G). When I checked the phone this afternoon, I was quite surprised to have the alert pop up saying I had 8% battery life left as indicated in the image on the left. I plugged it in again to charge it and now after probably similar usage on my commute home the battery is at 46% as shown in the image on the right.

I have no idea what happened to the battery but I can't explain it and I'm pretty sure it's not normal. Can anyone confirm this for me? I'm considering going to the Apple Store tomorrow to have them check it out but don't want to go if it's unfounded and would be a waste of my time.

 

[pknz]

I'd be really surprised if the phone you've had the past 4-5 years gets as much data usage (along with gaming or other apps) as your iPhone. Web browsing itself was so unusable on phones from five years ago that it was only used out of desperation. Comparing the usage and consumption of the two phones then is not sound reasoning.

I would dare say most smartphones do not last two days under normal usage. It's likely that either your phone is defective or your expectations aren't realistic.

You are correct in that it doesn't get the data/gaming/app usage as my previous phone. However, the battery is also much bigger and newer.

But as can be seen in this thread, some users are seeing usage of 2-3days, while others are just managing 1 day.

 

[southernpaws]

You are correct in that it doesn't get the data/gaming/app usage as my previous phone. However, the battery is also much bigger and newer.

But as can be seen in this thread, some users are seeing usage of 2-3days, while others are just managing 1 day.

So we agree that the real usage (data/gaming/apps) is starkly different than the unnamed phone that you cite.

I agree that the battery in the iPhone is newer and bigger.

I think it's sound reasoning to say that there is no formula that says if a battery is X times bigger that correlates into Y times more data usage (again putting aside the fact that the iPhone is used for more battery draining uses than simple data. )

Which means that there's virtually no reasonable and logical way to compare this phone you mention with the iPhone.

So if your expectations of how well the iPhone battery should perform were developed using this other phone as a reference, it seems safe to say that your expectations are not soundly developed.

Super smartphones (mossbergs "mobile computers") are not the same as blackberries of a couple years ago. The realistic expectations for super smartphones is that a day of use is acceptable and having to plug your phone in before the end of the day is not abnormal, but is considered inferior.

Using this criterion, and comparing the iPhone with other phones in it's class, the iPhone battery is certainly satisfactory.

Granted, some people are having unusual drains. They need to check their settings or exchange their phone (like the guy who macguyvered his sim card which caused unusual drain. )

 

[itsmemuffins]

My battery seemed fine up until today. Normally I just plug my phone in whenever because from everything I've read, that shouldn't be harmful to the battery. Last night I charged my phone back up to 100% and used it lightly on my morning commute to work (30-40 minutes of music and a little web browsing on 3G). When I checked the phone this afternoon, I was quite surprised to have the alert pop up saying I had 8% battery life left as indicated in the image on the left. I plugged it in again to charge it and now after probably similar usage on my commute home the battery is at 46% as shown in the image on the right.

I have no idea what happened to the battery but I can't explain it and I'm pretty sure it's not normal. Can anyone confirm this for me? I'm considering going to the Apple Store tomorrow to have them check it out but don't want to go if it's unfounded and would be a waste of my time.

I would suggest you delete all the apps from the fast switching/multi tasking dock and to a hard reset (press home and sleep/awake buttons together, then let go when you see the Apple logo).

See how you after that.

 

[maverick86]

I would suggest you delete all the apps from the fast switching/multi tasking dock and to a hard reset (press home and sleep/awake buttons together, then let go when you see the Apple logo).

See how you after that.

Ok I will try that. The phone is down to 30% (on the same charge) with just under 3 hours of usage and a little less than 19 hours of standby. I'm going to charge it back up again then do the hard reset. We'll see what happens afterwards.

 

[SAD*FACED*CLOWN]

Since I've had all three iPhones prior to getting the 4 I had conditioned my self to charge in the car, at my desk and at home anytime I dropped below 50%. Due to some changes in my work schedule I get less opportunities to top off, to make a long story short I haven't charged my phone since Thursday night...it's Saturday morning and I'm at 72%

Sidebar: I ordered my bumper the first day of the free case program and it arrived yesterday and it is in Apple packaging not the plain cellophane some people are getting...and yes there is hard plastic inside the bumper

 

[reesecollins518]

i found the longer i leave my phone on the charger the less battery life i have. if i charge and take it off right when it gets to 100% it last over 24 hours with average to heavy use. when i leave it on the charger over night i have terrible battery life....thought that might help u guys

 

[simple20]

Since I've had all three iPhones prior to getting the 4 I had conditioned my self to charge in the car, at my desk and at home anytime I dropped below 50%. Due to some changes in my work schedule I get less opportunities to top off, to make a long story short I haven't charged my phone since Thursday night...it's Saturday morning and I'm at 72%

Sidebar: I ordered my bumper the first day of the free case program and it arrived yesterday and it is in Apple packaging not the plain cellophane some people are getting...and yes there is hard plastic inside the bumper

DO you have 3G enabled? I'm assuming you don't play games and you lightly,LIGHTLY use it. Yesterday I ad 2 days standby w/7hrs of usage with wifi and location services enabled and 3g disabled. Last night I enabled 3g and turned wifi off, and my battery dropped 30 percent hours on 8hrs standby w/10 mins of usage. 3G destroys my battery.

 

[paulking]

Right now I'm at 83% with 1hr 43 minutes usage and 2 hrs 42 minutes standby. I've been using it for Internet on wifi the whole time with pandora in the background a little of the time.

Yesterday I managed just under 8 hrs of usage and 22.5 hrs standby with 6% life left. Pretty great if you ask me. I usually average 6.5 to 7 hrs. With my 3G S I averaged 4.5 hrs. Alot better and definitely good enough for me.

I'm right around those numbers with a fair amount of use.
mix of 3g and wifi, screen at 50%, email (no push) lot's of reading on Safari.

One thing I note: if you charge to 100% and leave on the charger for a few hours - like and overnight charge - the residual charge will improve overall usage for that cycle. Also of course in a weaker signal area I always note a diminished use time, by almost an hour. All normal I think.

My bottom line - I seem to be in normal range. Exchanging phone to try and hit 10 hours use (we don't know what these users are doing... mostly ipod which is not a big drain? Staying on Edge only?) is a crap shoot.
You may improve you may go backward... probably you will stay in the average range I've described here. And believe me, I've gathered a lot of info from these forums and users out in the world.

I've loved my iphones - 3g, 3gs, ip4.

 

[Built]

My battery seemed fine up until today. Normally I just plug my phone in whenever because from everything I've read, that shouldn't be harmful to the battery. Last night I charged my phone back up to 100% and used it lightly on my morning commute to work (30-40 minutes of music and a little web browsing on 3G). When I checked the phone this afternoon, I was quite surprised to have the alert pop up saying I had 8% battery life left as indicated in the image on the left. I plugged it in again to charge it and now after probably similar usage on my commute home the battery is at 46% as shown in the image on the right.

I have no idea what happened to the battery but I can't explain it and I'm pretty sure it's not normal. Can anyone confirm this for me? I'm considering going to the Apple Store tomorrow to have them check it out but don't want to go if it's unfounded and would be a waste of my time.

Wow...I'm currently at 46% too, but my Usage since last charge is 5 hours, 36 minutes, and Standby is 2 days, 1 hour...

 

[maverick86]

Wow...I'm currently at 46% too, but my Usage since last charge is 5 hours, 36 minutes, and Standby is 2 days, 1 hour...

Yeah, like I said before, my battery seemed fine up until yesterday when that stuff happened. I just charged my phone up and did a hard reset so we'll see how the battery responds.

 

[TobiasKM]

I'm at 5 hours and 12 minutes usage, 10 hours and 39 minutes standby, and I've got 21% battery left.

Not fantastic, but it's definitely not light usage. Almost entirely games in fact.

What I'm sort of curious about, is the fact that I took it out the charger at 11:00 this morning.. The time is now 21:50. I'm sorry, but that's not entirely 16 hours ago, now is it?


Not a problem though, it lasting all day, I don't need 2 days between charges, not a problem to plug it in at the end of the day really.

 

[simple20]

I'm at 5 hours and 12 minutes usage, 10 hours and 39 minutes standby, and I've got 21% battery left.

Not fantastic, but it's definitely not light usage. Almost entirely games in fact.

What I'm sort of curious about, is the fact that I took it out the charger at 11:00 this morning.. The time is now 21:50. I'm sorry, but that's not entirely 16 hours ago, now is it?


Not a problem though, it lasting all day, I don't need 2 days between charges, not a problem to plug it in at the end of the day really.

The time is OF that 10 hours, 5 hours of it has been using it.

 

[yanki01]

not for me....

internet browsing
MLB app (listening to the yankees vs red sox game)
Pandora
facebook
email
text
a couple of phone calls

just normal use.

 

[pknz]

So we agree that the real usage (data/gaming/apps) is starkly different than the unnamed phone that you cite.

I agree that the battery in the iPhone is newer and bigger.

I think it's sound reasoning to say that there is no formula that says if a battery is X times bigger that correlates into Y times more data usage (again putting aside the fact that the iPhone is used for more battery draining uses than simple data. )

Which means that there's virtually no reasonable and logical way to compare this phone you mention with the iPhone.

So if your expectations of how well the iPhone battery should perform were developed using this other phone as a reference, it seems safe to say that your expectations are not soundly developed.

Super smartphones (mossbergs "mobile computers") are not the same as blackberries of a couple years ago. The realistic expectations for super smartphones is that a day of use is acceptable and having to plug your phone in before the end of the day is not abnormal, but is considered inferior.

Using this criterion, and comparing the iPhone with other phones in it's class, the iPhone battery is certainly satisfactory.

Granted, some people are having unusual drains. They need to check their settings or exchange their phone (like the guy who macguyvered his sim card which caused unusual drain. )

The problem with your argument (and I can see, and understand your side), is that users will compare their iPhone with whatever phones they previously had.

You state the differences in phones are too great to provide a valid comparison, but the comparison still takes place, I will compare this phone to my previous phones as the iPhone is its replacement.

 

[PlatinuM195]

Getting about 6 hours before a full drain so far but that's ok, played a few games, 3G + wifi surfing, brightness about 60-70%, push email on 2 accounts.

After this I'm just going to turn off the battery percentage and forget about it

Anyone know how auto-brightness affects anything? Sometimes it does seem overly bright in dark places.

 

[SmackP]

Here's an interesting one:

Wifi, phone, by, location services all OFF.
soft reset the phone fully charged and left it overnight.

After 10 hours standby and 0 usage it dropped to 82%!

That's 18% drop with no radio or tasks!

Can anyone else try the same?

 

[southernpaws]

The problem with your argument (and I can see, and understand your side), is that users will compare their iPhone with whatever phones they previously had.

You state the differences in phones are too great to provide a valid comparison, but the comparison still takes place, I will compare this phone to my previous phones as the iPhone is its replacement.

That's not a problem with my argument. It's an unfortunate fact that the uninformed and ignorant will never be pleased. Pick a side.

 

[Worf]

Here's an interesting one:

Wifi, phone, by, location services all OFF.
soft reset the phone fully charged and left it overnight.

After 10 hours standby and 0 usage it dropped to 82%!

That's 18% drop with no radio or tasks!

Can anyone else try the same?

I used to have battery life drop like this during standby for long periods. I turned off cellular data and viola battery life was amazing. Phone uses too much power to keep that signal. You don't even need cell data to text or call so not much point keeping it from sucking battery. I turn on cell data now only when i need it, and i get over 9 hours in usage.

 

[michaelfields]

Wow...I'm currently at 46% too, but my Usage since last charge is 5 hours, 36 minutes, and Standby is 2 days, 1 hour...

that's insane what are your settings?