Here comes the iPhone 4S' scandal: Batterygate?

[Bateluer]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/01/tech/mobile/iphone-4s-battery-life/index.html

Keep in mind, CNN Tech is the source for this. Their reliability isn't exactly high.

A post on the Apple support forums, begun on October 15 to discuss battery problems, was still active Tuesday -- two weeks and 185 pages worth of comments later.

"I purchased what I thought was a top-of-the-line product only to be terribly disappointed," one user wrote Tuesday. "This is my first iPhone and may well be my last."

Battery life was a frequent complaint about the iPhone 3GS, but concerns about the phone's short battery life seemed to have been addressed on the next-generation iPhone 4.

According to Apple's official specs, the iPhone 4S should have enough juice in the battery for up to eight hours of talk time, six hours of Internet surfing, 10 hours of video viewing and 200 hours on standby. (All activities on a 3G connection -- 2G and wireless have different figures).

All of those numbers are within an hour or so of the iPhone 4, except for one. The older phone's specifications promise 300 hours of standby power: a full 50% more than the 4S.

Users complaining on the Apple forum and elsewhere say that their phones aren't lasting anywhere near even that reduced length of time. Various independent tests of the new phone have suggested that some phones have problems with poor battery life, while others don't.

The general consensus among tech-inclined owners is that the problem may not lie with the battery itself, but with the way the phone utilizes Apple's latest mobile operating system, iOS 5.

Specifically, the theory goes, its location-based services are a power drain. If the phone is constantly trying to pinpoint where it is, it will suck power even when the user isn't actively doing something with the phone. (For a comparison, think about how quickly your battery drains when you forget to turn off Wi-Fi searches while you're driving.)

The new phone also has a more powerful processor -- the same one that's in the iPad 2. That could cut battery life, even though Apple CEO Tim Cook specifically said that it wouldn't during the iPhone 4S unveiling event last month.

Few things I highlighted in bold.

First, no battery powered consumer device gets what the manufacturer rates it at. Even my MBA falls short of the rated time Apple lists, by a good 25%. It only comes close under ideal conditions, ie, with the LCD on its dimmest, no wireless on, etc. Complaining to Apple because your phone doesn't last as long as the spec sheet is idiotic and makes you look like an ignorant child.

Second, I know iOS users only recently got multitasking, so there might be a learning curve. But, all other smart phone platform users have learned full well that an app or service actively working in the background is going to suck battery power, often very quickly. Google Maps drains my T-bolt if I leave it running in the background with location services on, for example. Not sure if this is a similar situation with the 4S or not.

Third, the last bolded part. Apple stuck a powerful SoC into the 4S with the A5. The A5 & SGX543 may use less power at idle than the older A4, but at load, its going to use more power. There's simply more transistors and die that need to be powered up. For Apple to claim that it won't is ludicrous and for customers to believe him shows them to be naive.

Lastly, no where in the CNN article does it list any battery live lengths for the people who are complaining or compare it to the iP4. It only lists the official spec sheet for each. Regardless, I'm sure a 4S user is getting better battery life than my T-Bolt does, even heavily modded.

Any 4S users want to weigh in?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

waiting for controlled tests by Anand.

oh wait they're here already...

 

[Bateluer]

waiting for controlled tests by Anand.

oh wait they're here already...

Doesn't apply. Those are controlled tests, other features, such as the one's specifically listed in the article, are turned off. The article also notes that only some devices are effected, though I suspect its a user issue.

Whats the PEBKAC acrynonym for a smartphone?

 

[ew915]

My iphone 4s holds up very well i am at 30% at the end of the day, i unplug at 7am. So is usually 100 emails, 100 txt 1 hr of calling 2 hrs of radio streaming and i still have battery left to ask siri a good place to eat that is with bluetooth on all the time. With that pattern of usage my bolt would die around noon and my charge would fold like 1 hr later.

 

[pm]

My boss's boss was in my office this morning talking about issues that he'd had with the battery life of his iPhone 4S. He said his new iPhone 4S has worse battery life than his had with his 3GS and said he'd called Apple support and they told him to turn everything off (location services, WiFi, bluetooth, change push email to timed) and he didn't seem pleased with that suggestion. He said "they want me to disable everything that makes this thing a smartphone". He said he did a full restore and that seemed to make things better, but he is going to wait and see.

I've heard rumors that Apple had a bad batch of batteries. I've heard rumors that some rogue process goes haywire when you do a sync of apps and you have the wrong version. I've read that it has something to do with a specific type of app. In summary, lots of rumors and nothing official but I know at least one person personally who seems annoyed that he gets longer usage out of his old 3GS than he does his new 4S.

 

[zinfamous]

Don't these batteries need a few cycles before they, uh, "mature" to a consistent and complete charge?

 

[ew915]

My boss's boss was in my office this morning talking about issues that he'd had with the battery life of his iPhone 4S. He said his new iPhone 4S has worse battery life than his had with his 3GS and said he'd called Apple support and they told him to turn everything off (location services, WiFi, bluetooth, change push email to timed) and he didn't seem pleased with that suggestion. He said "they want me to disable everything that makes this thing a smartphone". He said he did a full restore and that seemed to make things better, but he is going to wait and see.

I've heard rumors that Apple had a bad batch of batteries. I've heard rumors that some rogue process goes haywire when you do a sync of apps and you have the wrong version. I've read that it has something to do with a specific type of app. In summary, lots of rumors and nothing official but I know at least one person personally who seems annoyed that he gets longer usage out of his old 3GS than he does his new 4S.

I have turned off the icloud backup that seems to help a lot.

 

[Bateluer]

My boss's boss was in my office this morning talking about issues that he'd had with the battery life of his iPhone 4S. He said his new iPhone 4S has worse battery life than his had with his 3GS and said he'd called Apple support and they told him to turn everything off (location services, WiFi, bluetooth, change push email to timed) and he didn't seem pleased with that suggestion. He said "they want me to disable everything that makes this thing a smartphone". He said he did a full restore and that seemed to make things better, but he is going to wait and see.

That would kinda irritate me. It makes sense to turn off things like Bluetooth, WiFi, and GPS when they aren't being used, but I kinda want to keep mobile data on, email push on, etc. That is the point of having a smart phone, after all. Seems like he should be pushing Apple to replace the phone.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

That would kinda irritate me. It makes sense to turn off things like Bluetooth, WiFi, and GPS when they aren't being used, but I kinda want to keep mobile data on, email push on, etc. That is the point of having a smart phone, after all. Seems like he should be pushing Apple to replace the phone.

whats the point of turning GPS off? I really don't understand this. How many apps actively use GPS? Maps? Foursquare? Yelp? Do you leave those on all day long? I'd rather leave it on because a Foursquare checkin takes about 10 seconds, and it only stays on for certain screens of Foursquare.

GPS uses maybe 3-4% of my battery life total, and so usually the culprit is another guzzler.

 

[Anubis]

whats the point of turning GPS off? I really don't understand this. How many apps actively use GPS? Maps? Foursquare? Yelp? Do you leave those on all day long? I'd rather leave it on because a Foursquare checkin takes about 10 seconds, and it only stays on for certain screens of Foursquare.

GPS uses maybe 3-4% of my battery life total, and so usually the culprit is another guzzler.

both facebook and google+ nail GPS when launched (on android anyway)
weather aps do as well, ill assume lots of people are using the new IOS weather pseudo widget in the drop down menu - actually i bet this is the cause of most of the issues, not the weather ap specifically but the widgets and people not being used to the fact that they require more power

i leave GPS off unless i have to use maps/nav, and actually you don't really need it for maps. i see no reason to run anything im not actively using

 

[Fire&Blood]

Blown out of proportion. Standards are set high for the iphone and many want to see it fail too. Iphone may have 99 problems but battery ain't one. They will patch this up quickly.

 

[Ns1]

Blown out of proportion. Standards are set high for the iphone and many want to see it fail too. Iphone may have 99 problems but battery ain't one. They will patch this up quickly.

I disagree and agree.


Problem definitely exists (checked out the forums) but probably confined to a small % of users.

 

[Aikouka]

I leave GPS, Bluetooth, Location Services and pretty much everything else but push for e-mail and iCloud back-up on, and I have no problems with my battery life. Location services only comes up when you use certain apps, and never seems to be too troublesome.

EDIT:

I'm at 85% after unplugging my phone this morning and that includes web browsing, facebook, twitter, splashtop remote desktop and playing music.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Nothing to see here. I was worried about it at first but after having the phone for about a week I've had 0 issues with my phone. I know that is completely anecdotal but Anand's review backs it up and I'll stick with his review over a CNN blog and some forum posts.

 

[Ns1]

Nothing to see here. I was worried about it at first but after having the phone for about a week I've had 0 issues with my phone. I know that is completely anecdotal but Anand's review backs it up and I'll stick with his review over a CNN blog and some forum posts.

that's probably exactly it - a large majority of phones act just like Anand's review, a small % have battery issues and they need a place to vent

 

[Bateluer]

Nothing to see here. I was worried about it at first but after having the phone for about a week I've had 0 issues with my phone. I know that is completely anecdotal but Anand's review backs it up and I'll stick with his review over a CNN blog and some forum posts.

Could very well be that the problem exists, but is confined to a relatively small % of owners. This battery problem doesn't seem to be nearly as wide spread as the iP4's broken antenna though. Hasn't shown up in any official reviews I've seen yet, though who's to say if those 'official' reviews are 'compensated' by Apple. Sites that give poor reviews to products get into poor relations with the vendors, withholding future review samples etc. Apple's done it before, and EA&Ubi Soft are notorious for it.

 

[trmiv]

Mine seems pretty damn good. Then again I'm comparing it to my Droid 1 which didn't get the greatest battery life, so to me it seems awesome. Took my Dad to the hospital for a procedure today, and spent the entire time in the waiting room browsing the web and playing games. Also used my phone quite a bit after that, and made some calls. Right now it's at 64%, and has been off the charger since 6:30am my time.

 

[hans007]

as much as its probably blasphemy, i don't exactly trust anandtech's the thoroughness of the reviews compared to hundreds of people complaining about it.

anand tech recommended like every single sandforce first generation drive, and we all know how horrible that went. and the worst part was it didnt get brought up in subsequent reviews.

 

[badb0y]

I am here to confirm that battery life in my usage is worse than the iPhone 4 but still miles ahead of the Atrix I had a few weeks ago.

I don't turn off crap on the 4S though, I have iCloud backup, WiFi sync etc all on. Everything is always set to default and I use the Bluetooth constantly for my headphones though (Sony MW600).

 

[trmiv]

I've turned off the auto-time zone setting since I never cross time-zones, Ping, and Bluetooth since I never use it.

 

[Ns1]

not suffering from batterygate but GF's phone is suffering from this:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16601429#16601429

 

[akugami]

In all fairness to the linked article and anyone saying they didn't have issues, battery drains can happen for obscure reasons in the real world. My iPhone 4 was acting on the fritz for a bit. Battery would drain about 1% every 10-15 minutes on standby. I would lose at least 5% battery every hour on standby. I have no clue which app it was but it was plaguing me for a couple of days. I tried powering down and everything. What finally worked was to kill every app that was in the background. The issue hasn't reared its ugly head again but there are always obscure issues that may cause a battery to drain too quickly.

 

[makken]

waiting for controlled tests by Anand.

oh wait they're here already...

the little disclaimer by anand puts those results in suspect:

The move to iOS 5 in particular hurt our web browser test as it cached so much of the content of each page that our cellular results now closely mirror our WiFi results on the iPhone 4/4S. There's still a bit of a penalty to be paid over 3G, but not nearly as much as it should be in the real world. The test data is still valid, it's simply no longer representative of real world web browsing battery life, but rather a more academic look at very light (but continuous) smartphone usage.

If the 4S simply is displaying a cached version of the websites, instead of fetching a fresh one, then those results wouldn't really mirror real world usage.

 

[Mopetar]

waiting for controlled tests by Anand.

oh wait they're here already...

Studies with a sample population of one usually aren't very good. Notice that the screen was worse than the iPhone 4. Now is the screen really worse, or did they just get a bad screen or a screen from a bad manufacturer?

When you're making tens of millions of the same device, and your gets parts from multiple manufacturers, eventually you run into some weird case where things go haywire. At least Apple is working with customers and exchanging devices instead of ignoring the problem. They probably learned from their last fiasco that regardless of whether or not there is an issue, the mass-market perception of one can be just as damaging.

 

[zinfamous]

as much as its probably blasphemy, i don't exactly trust anandtech's the thoroughness of the reviews compared to hundreds of people complaining about it.

anand tech recommended like every single sandforce first generation drive, and we all know how horrible that went. and the worst part was it didnt get brought up in subsequent reviews.

the reason I trust a guy like Anand over 100's of people complaining about something, is that you know, as well as I know, that 100s of random people are generally dumb as bricks and don't really know what they're complaining about.

--that doesn't instantly make their complaints warrant-less, just that the knowledge garnered from an expert's trained hands is significantly more valuable than that gained from the rabid rabble.

This is why society is structured as it is.