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

tl01

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jun 20, 2010
2,350
649
I noticed my battery losing power at about 1% every minute or two while texting. Is that normal? I wouldn't think that texting is that energy intensive, streaming a movie seems to drain the battery more slowly. Both situations are done on wifi connection. I'm using an iPhone 4S with 5.0.1.
 

xraytech

macrumors 68030
Mar 24, 2010
2,518
214
No one has an opinion on if that is normal?

Not being snarky but sincere here, okay.

Here's my opinion...

I think scrutinizing battery drain per text is stepping into OCD territory, IMHO.

Out of sight out of mind.

Turn off "Battery Percentage". Your mental health will benefit.
 
Last edited:

tl01

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jun 20, 2010
2,350
649
Not being snarky but sincere here, okay.

Here's my opinion...

I think scrutinizing battery drain per text is stepping into OCD territory, IMHO.

Out of sight out of mind.

Turn off "Battery Percentage". Your mental health will benefit.

I guess if you thought I was looking at it once and saw it drop that way... Then yep.. That would be OCD. But if everyday your phone is dead by 1 PM and you are trying to see where the drain is coming from the I think your comment is snarky and presumptuous.

My phone doesn't drain quickly on stand by and not when streaming movies ect but when texting it tanks very quickly. There are people who do have OCD and it seems strange, immature, and rude to poke fun at their diagnosis.


I think having to buy an external battery pack for a trip to a place like disneyland where you will be mostly texting to stay in contact with your group is a little much.
 

urkel

macrumors 68030
Nov 3, 2008
2,795
917
I guess if you thought I was looking at it once and saw it drop that way... Then yep.. That would be OCD. But if everyday your phone is dead by 1 PM and you are trying to see where the drain is coming from the I think your comment is snarky and presumptuous.
Exactly. iOS5 has been out for over a month and their first attempt at fixing a HUGE problem has failed for many users. So for someone to say we're being "obsessive" by trying to pinpoint the problem that Apple can't is ridiculous. And "out of sight out of mind" is not a solution.

My battery dies by 3PM and my iPhone usage is completely handicapped because I am trying to avoid anything that is causing unecessary drain. So of course im monitoring which little tasks may be the culprit. And for me then Text is yet another one of those low-impact tasks that causes the battery meter to fall right before my eyes.
 

cmeisenzahl

macrumors 6502
Oct 7, 2005
332
27
I noticed my battery losing power at about 1% every minute or two while texting. Is that normal? I wouldn't think that texting is that energy intensive, streaming a movie seems to drain the battery more slowly. Both situations are done on wifi connection. I'm using an iPhone 4S with 5.0.1.

Wow, that seems to be a bit odd. I haven't seen it, and can't really think of what texting would do to cause that.
 

viewfly

macrumors 65816
May 1, 2009
1,263
24
No one has an opinion on if that is normal?

As a rule of thumb, any activity that is using the screen is just as bad a making a phone call via 3G. So a minute of phone use is the same as texting with the screen on.

If you are using iMessage, it has a connection going with 3G too. So that is worse than plain old SMS texting. Not Apple's fault, but is true of other 'free' texting appls that use the data connection. If you are using iMessage, trying turning it off, and just use sms, for comparisons. Doesn't make a difference if you are imessaging or not, just being on, will suck more battery.

FYI, I have been getting normal battery from my iP4S, about 7 hours of usage.
 

tl01

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jun 20, 2010
2,350
649
As a rule of thumb, any activity that is using the screen is just as bad a making a phone call via 3G. So a minute of phone use is the same as texting with the screen on.

If you are using iMessage, it has a connection going with 3G too. So that is worse than plain old SMS texting. Not Apple's fault, but is true of other 'free' texting appls that use the data connection. If you are using iMessage, trying turning it off, and just use sms, for comparisons. Doesn't make a difference if you are imessaging or not, just being on, will suck more battery.

FYI, I have been getting normal battery from my iP4S, about 7 hours of usage.

I would think that makes sense except I see the battery meter fall more quickly with texting than using the phone or surfing the web and streaming.

Also, as I mentioned in my original post... this occurs on wifi too. I will go back to regular texting to see if it helps though. Thanks!

----------

Exactly. iOS5 has been out for over a month and their first attempt at fixing a HUGE problem has failed for many users. So for someone to say we're being "obsessive" by trying to pinpoint the problem that Apple can't is ridiculous. And "out of sight out of mind" is not a solution.

My battery dies by 3PM and my iPhone usage is completely handicapped because I am trying to avoid anything that is causing unecessary drain. So of course im monitoring which little tasks may be the culprit. And for me then Text is yet another one of those low-impact tasks that causes the battery meter to fall right before my eyes.

Exactly... just turning off my percentage meter isn't going to help and make my battery last longer. When the phone is dead... it's dead. Too bad that the PP thinks I'm still in Kindy and easily fooled my stuff like that. I'm sure my son in Kindy would see that's a ridiculous suggestion.
 
Last edited:

urkel

macrumors 68030
Nov 3, 2008
2,795
917
For me it's starting to feel like every text cost 1% Battery Fee, iMessage is 2% and an MMS is 4%. Nickel and Dimed and Drained :)
 

TonyC28

macrumors 68030
Aug 15, 2009
2,882
7,249
USA
I'm open to hearing any theory at this point. In my personal experience I think I have ruled out something happening when the phone is locked that causes battery drain. That leads me to think that something is happening during "normal" use that drains battery more quickly than it did with iOS 4.x.x.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.