Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

white4s

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 15, 2011
1,626
344
New Jersey
not even 15 minutes of use and drops to 95%!? im talking reading a couple goal.com articles and going through the wall on facebook. no texts, no games, no other use of phone besides just opening up apps and going through them. this has to stop somewhere
 

Thetonyk123

macrumors 68000
Aug 14, 2011
1,627
1
Earth
not even 15 minutes of use and drops to 95%!? im talking reading a couple goal.com articles and going through the wall on facebook. no texts, no games, no other use of phone besides just opening up apps and going through them. this has to stop somewhere

Apple basically tweaked the battery meter so it stays on 100 for a while and just drops in iOS 5.0.1.
 

white4s

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 15, 2011
1,626
344
New Jersey
Apple basically tweaked the battery meter so it stays on 100 for a while and just drops in iOS 5.0.1.

whys that? i mean i just took it off charger at 2am and its down to 92% already. just weird

92%
usage 39 minutes
standy 6 hours 30 min

does this sound right or do i just expect more like everyone else
 

Xenomorph

macrumors 65816
Aug 6, 2008
1,400
842
St. Louis
Have you calibrated yet?

Basically, charge to full (100%), and use the phone until it shuts itself off (which should happen a bit after sitting at 1%).
After a several times, the battery meter should be accurate.

I have 5.0.1 on my 4S and 3GS, and it drops from 100% to 99% at rate just as regular as all the other percentage drops.

5.0.1 didn't make my phone "stay" at 100% for any longer period of time. I'm usually at 99% within 5 minutes or so of use.
 

white4s

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 15, 2011
1,626
344
New Jersey
yes i have, about 3 times. i'm gonna wait a couple more weeks since it is a new phone and see what happens.

now its 87%
usage 1 hour 3 minutes
standby 7 hours 56 minutes

ive read posts with people with those stats at like 95%, even 100%
 

FreakinEurekan

macrumors 603
Sep 8, 2011
6,478
3,357
100% standby for 5.5 hours but then not even 15 minutes of use and drops to 95%!?

Must be the same engineers that developed the fuel gauge in my car.

If the standby time of the 4S is supposed to be 200 hours, and after 5.5 hours you still see 100% battery - what does that tell you?

Answer: The battery percentage display is not to be relied on as a precise indicator of battery charge. It's an approximation.

If it bothers you too much, you can turn off the percentage indicator and just use the green battery gauge.
 

saving107

macrumors 603
Oct 14, 2007
6,384
33
San Jose, Ca
Ever since iOS 3.0 and the iPhone 3GS when Apple introduce this percentage meter, (mostly) everyone has been fixated with every individual percentage that drops per minute (OCD), people need to stop this and focus on their daily usage from 100% down to 5%.

How long does you phone last in a full usage test?

Even then their are still plenty of factors that will vary per user, like:

  • 3G signal strength (weak signal will equal less battery)
  • screen brightness
  • type of apps used (graphic intense game or simple 2D games)
  • the iPhone 4 records video at 720p and the iPhone 4S at 1080p, so recording video will drain your phone
 

jolt927

macrumors newbie
Nov 1, 2011
4
0
yes i have, about 3 times. i'm gonna wait a couple more weeks since it is a new phone and see what happens.

now its 87%
usage 1 hour 3 minutes
standby 7 hours 56 minutes

ive read posts with people with those stats at like 95%, even 100%

It totally depends what type of "usage" you're doing on the phone. I could listen to music for 4 hours, which would give me 4 hours "usage" but probably still have 95% left, whereas so far today I've made and received several phone calls, sent/received about 10 texts and I'm at:

86%
usage 58 minutes
standby 3 hours, 32 minutes
 

ZipZap

macrumors 603
Dec 14, 2007
6,112
1,467
whys that? i mean i just took it off charger at 2am and its down to 92% already. just weird

92%
usage 39 minutes
standy 6 hours 30 min

does this sound right or do i just expect more like everyone else

No like may others you cant do math in your head

At 0 you could see:

92/8=11.5

11.5*39 = 7.47 hours use
11.5*390 = 74 hours standby

Instead of guessing let the charge go to 0 and tell us where you are. Otherwise, use the phone more before you assume you are getting bad battery life.
 

Joshwawilson

macrumors regular
Apr 18, 2011
207
0
Missouri
yes i have, about 3 times. i'm gonna wait a couple more weeks since it is a new phone and see what happens.

now its 87%
usage 1 hour 3 minutes
standby 7 hours 56 minutes

ive read posts with people with those stats at like 95%, even 100%

yesterday i had: 48%...
usage 2 hours 30 minutes
standby about 4 hours


and right now i have 62% with 2 hours of usage, 5.5 hours of standbye
it seems worse after the 5.0.1 update
 

white4s

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 15, 2011
1,626
344
New Jersey
im actually pretty good in my head with math but ok there

once i deleted icloud i started to get the battery back up
 

buddybd

macrumors 6502
Jul 28, 2011
359
0
Today was the first time I faced the battery drainage issue and I think I know why, at least for my case.

My college campus has an unprotected Wifi (No WEP, WPA etc) but requires me login in with my student ID when I first try to visit a site.

Today I didn't login in but the phone connected to the Wifi. It went from 70% to 50% in less than an hour, no usage. I logged in 3 hours ago, and currently at home. Battery's at 44%, a 2 minute call in between.

So I'm guessing that since I didn't login when on campus, the phone was continuously trying to do something through wifi but couldn't?
 

white4s

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Nov 15, 2011
1,626
344
New Jersey
yup if the connection is bad or incorrect log in it will continue to look for signal which will kill the battery
 

Thetonyk123

macrumors 68000
Aug 14, 2011
1,627
1
Earth
Have you calibrated yet?

Basically, charge to full (100%), and use the phone until it shuts itself off (which should happen a bit after sitting at 1%).
After a several times, the battery meter should be accurate.

I have 5.0.1 on my 4S and 3GS, and it drops from 100% to 99% at rate just as regular as all the other percentage drops.

5.0.1 didn't make my phone "stay" at 100% for any longer period of time. I'm usually at 99% within 5 minutes or so of use.

Well I'd did that and it didn't work. Still says at 100% for awhile then plummets down fast.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.