07-07-2010, 02:51 PM

Hey guys, I don't know if anybody's having the same problem, but I've been having some battery life issues with my new iPhone. Because my old phone was able to go about 4 days without charging and since it's my first iPhone (and my first smartphone, in fact) my friends told me smartphone batteries tend to drain quicker so I shrugged it off. Ever since 2 nights ago, however, the battery seems to be draining quicker than usual. Last night, I went to sleep with the battery percentage indicating 74%. When I woke up at 9:00am, it was down to 21%. I started to do some research and turned off all push notifications and adjusting the brightness, the whole nine yards but didnt have any luck with that either. I just wanted some of your input before I go to the apple store since it's about half an hour away. If it's decided that it's a dud, then I'll run over to the store and get a replacement.

I've been babbling. Inputs please!

07-07-2010, 03:08 PM

I think you're lucky if you don't have to charge your phone every night with the iPhone...probably similar to most smart phones with heavy internet connectivity.

From what you're describing, it doesn't sound too out of the ordinary. Now if your battery dies in less than a day with average use, then you might have a problem.

07-07-2010, 03:22 PM

I understand.. but I never expected to drain this quickly, I thought standby time was supposed to be about 300 hours? I have the app Battery Doctor downloaded and my standby time hour says about 200 hours right now.

By the way, I just pulled it out of the charger about an hour ago, 3 phone calls which lasted about 15 minutes in total, and the battery's down to 90%. Is this normal?

Yea I might be a bit paranoid... But it's my first iPhone and I just can't help it

07-07-2010, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by hjungj21o

I understand.. but I never expected to drain this quickly, I thought standby time was supposed to be about 300 hours? I have the app Battery Doctor downloaded and my standby time hour says about 200 hours right now.

By the way, I just pulled it out of the charger about an hour ago, 3 phone calls which lasted about 15 minutes in total, and the battery's down to 90%. Is this normal?

Yea I might be a bit paranoid... But it's my first iPhone and I just can't help it

I think you're being a bit paranoid

300 hours of standby assumes no use of the phone, no internet or 3G use, and a perfect cellular network signal so it doesn't use extra power to hold on to the signal.

You're dealing with a device that is constantly connected and doing things. It's not going to have the same battery life as a "dumb" phone.

07-07-2010, 03:42 PM

Hehe thanks a bunch I'll now try to get over my paranoid-ism along with my fear of dropping the phone (which always happens and I mope about it for a long long time). I do have a tiring personality All of my previous phones were "dumb" phones and sometimes lasted a whole week if not used too much so I guess I'll have to adjust.

Thanks for the answer, now I won't have to waste my time going to the apple store.

07-07-2010, 04:07 PM

Originally Posted by hjungj21o

Hehe thanks a bunch I'll now try to get over my paranoid-ism along with my fear of dropping the phone (which always happens and I mope about it for a long long time). I do have a tiring personality All of my previous phones were "dumb" phones and sometimes lasted a whole week if not used too much so I guess I'll have to adjust.

Thanks for the answer, now I won't have to waste my time going to the apple store.

Ha no problem. It can be a big change when you switch from a regular phone to an iPhone, so your questions are quite understandable.

BTW, welcome to Mac-Forums, hope you stick around!

07-08-2010, 01:00 PM

I actually DO NOT believe you are paranoid. If the drain you are experiencing is the baseline, that is one thing, but my drain has increased with no change in usage after about one week.

It started over the holiday weekend, where I would put the phone into standby and it would drain as fast as if was being used regularly. I lost 35% of my battery in four hours time. Yes, the 3G is on, and the phone checks for emails once every 15 minutes, but come on! It didn't have that same problem a week ago! Also, it has started becoming much warmer to the touch when charging. this was not happening before.

I love the phone, but I want it to perform as it should and was the first week. Another strange issue is that the standby and usage times were lockstep for the first 28 minutes, even though I had the screen off. I don't understand how the phone can report simultaneous standby AND usage for the first 28 minutes. Anyone looking at the menu would think that it had been 56 minutes since the last charge, which it hadn't.

07-08-2010, 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by Audio27

I actually DO NOT believe you are paranoid. If the drain you are experiencing is the baseline, that is one thing, but my drain has increased with no change in usage after about one week.

It started over the holiday weekend, where I would put the phone into standby and it would drain as fast as if was being used regularly. I lost 35% of my battery in four hours time. Yes, the 3G is on, and the phone checks for emails once every 15 minutes, but come on! It didn't have that same problem a week ago! Also, it has started becoming much warmer to the touch when charging. this was not happening before.

I love the phone, but I want it to perform as it should and was the first week. Another strange issue is that the standby and usage times were lockstep for the first 28 minutes, even though I had the screen off. I don't understand how the phone can report simultaneous standby AND usage for the first 28 minutes. Anyone looking at the menu would think that it had been 56 minutes since the last charge, which it hadn't.

Try letting your phone drain all the way down and let it recharge overnight.

07-10-2010, 06:48 PM

actually, ever since i turned off the push feature on my google account and have it fetch manually, the battery's been ALOT better.

Searched around a little bit more and turns out exchange and google mail push feature drains the battery as it tries to connect with its sever 24/7.

2 days of using the phone without charging and it's still around 30%. Other than that, no problems at all

07-12-2010, 07:10 PM

I'd also disable 3G if you want to further maximize your battery. When I am home I disable it, runs on EDGE, and I put WiFi on to surf. I only turn 3G on when I am leaving my house.

07-14-2010, 07:12 AM

Other things that you can do to conserve battery life -

Once a month do a full cycle charge. Let the battery run down to less than 20% (I let it hit 10% or less). Plug it into an outlet and let it sit (charging) overnight.

In Settings for iPod turn off EQ.
In Settings turn off 3G and WiFi when not in use.
In Settings for Mail set it to manually fetch updates and turn off Push.
Also to add to that In Settings for Mail cut down on your email accounts (the less the better).
In Settings set the brightness to 65% or less (I am around 50-60%).
In Settings and General turn off Location services when not in use.
In Settings turn off Notifications.

I have consistently gotten two to three days out of my iPhone 4 following these steps. It comes to about one and a half (or more) days of standby and about eight hours of heavy use.

07-14-2010, 09:20 AM

Battery life claims on cell phones and laptops are like gas mileage claims for vehicles. They bear little resemblance to real world performance. I wouldn't sweat it. Have you tried holding it differently?

07-14-2010, 03:29 PM

get an app called battery Doctor... tells you exact time of battery life... as for draining i have always had to charge my iphone every night... 4 days no charge nag not unless you had phone sitting around... battery life really depends on what apps u use... example if i sit there in my doctors office playing a game on iphone it will definetly drain much faster than text for example

09-02-2010, 06:27 AM

read a lot of posts and this helped considerably for me:
- bought BatteryDoctor to (trickle) charge battery cycles
- bought system activity memory, which frees memory (!)
- switch off most settings, especially 3G
- close all running applications at night

09-11-2010, 03:05 AM

Originally Posted by chboodts

read a lot of posts and this helped considerably for me:
- bought BatteryDoctor to (trickle) charge battery cycles
- bought system activity memory, which frees memory (!)
- switch off most settings, especially 3G
- close all running applications at night

Good suggestions, especially the "close all app's", and especially if one of those apps uses the GPS. This thread mentioned all the other radios but don't forget about GPS too.