That switch came out a while ago. The 4S doesn't have it either. Dropping down to EDGE wouldn't get you much, and may even use more energy. 3G radios are generally as efficient (or more efficient) than EDGE radios now, and at the slower speed, the radio would have to be running at full power for longer to pull the same amount of data down.
Well, my point being if you have 3G enabled but don't have a good 3G signal (or none) the phone would keep looking for one or a better one and therefore decrease battery life.
I guess that's the case as that's what's been said about LTE. Low signals make the phone waste energy looking for a better one or continuously jumping from LTE to 3G.
Do you think they removed the option of turning 3G off because now the phone knows how to handle that better? I mean, when I'm on Wifi I can't see if I'm on 3G or 2G but I guess the phone will keep looking for 3G if it loses the signal, right?
Don't think there's a way to explicitly turn 3G off on the iPhone 5. If I had 10 percent battery left and wanted to make sure the phone lasted another four hours, I'd probably turn on Airplane Mode. If you don't want to do that, looks like you'll need to find power.
Why not just turn on Airplane mode & turn the brightness all the way down?
Well, Airplane mode would be the way to go if I just wanted to use it as an iPod, but my point was being able to use it as a regular iPhone but consuming the least possible.
You see the Cellular data tab? Yea? Turn that Off.
Didn't I say I wanted 2G data such as GPRS or EDGE? Yes? DUH
When i got my iPhone 5 it had a 3G toggle. Then I accepted a carrier update and it replaced it with an LTE toggle. We dont have LTE here in the UK yet and when we do it wont be very widesprerad.
Sooooo I restored the iPhone 5, but this time I didnt accept the carrier update so the 3G toggle is back, and the battery life has shot up (probably because the 3G in our area sucks and it had to keep switching radios all the time).
Besides Im connected to wifi at home and work for most of my day so having 3G left on is like leaving the TV on all day when you arent in the room.
Out of curiosity. Did you try switching LTE off? Did it actually do nothing? (Maybe it'd turn 3G off as that's all you'd have)
My iPhone 5 has now the Enable 3G toggle. I usually turn 3G off when I'm on Wifi too, mainly when I'm moving in buildings that make the phone continuously jump from 2G to 3G. That drains the battery badly...
No carrier update has appeared on my phone yet... But I probably won't update if that's one of the things I lose!!
