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nyc999

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 6, 2011
121
13
I don't understand how iPhone users report upto 8 hours of usage whereas I only get about 4 hrs of screen time on my s4. Sure my s4 screen takes up more juice but it also has a much bigger battery to compensate. I keep all the smart features, blue tooth and gps off. Is ios optimization that great? Could the software make such a difference?
 

Switchback666

macrumors 68000
Nov 16, 2012
1,600
67
SXM
Never in my life ive got 8hrs of usage on my iphones lol

4hrs is the most i got on my 4s, that is with brightness at around 40%, 3G, 4 emails accounts, whatsapp/tapatalk/ safari usage.

Some people just use the phone to listen to music, text and make calls :) i guess does are the ones getting that much out of the battery.
 

Technarchy

macrumors 604
May 21, 2012
6,753
4,927
My GS4 can go a full work day a single charge.

Same is true of my 4S and iPhone 5.

I'm a heavy user as well. Constant music, messaging, Internet etcetera
 

nyc999

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 6, 2011
121
13
Never in my life ive got 8hrs of usage on my iphones lol

4hrs is the most i got on my 4s, that is with brightness at around 40%, 3G, 4 emails accounts, whatsapp/tapatalk/ safari usage.

Some people just use the phone to listen to music, text and make calls :) i guess does are the ones getting that much out of the battery.

check out the 5s battery thread...

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1644553/

some report 6 hrs, others report 8+ hrs of usage. Dunno if that really includes screen time, but still pretty good.
 

Switchback666

macrumors 68000
Nov 16, 2012
1,600
67
SXM
check out the 5s battery thread...

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1644553/

some report 6 hrs, others report 8+ hrs of usage. Dunno if that really includes screen time, but still pretty good.

Im talking about iphone 4s and my current iphone 5 :) screen time without wifi i doubt they get that with "real" use.

Now if with music on the background its a different storu :p but who knows maybe its just me.
 

Dontazemebro

macrumors 68020
Jul 23, 2010
2,173
0
I dunno, somewhere in West Texas
Most i ever got on my 4s was 4hrs screen time, I doubt anyone is getting 8hrs + screen time on the 5s

On the GS4 i average about 5hrs screen on time.

Also remember usage on the iPhone doesn't necessarily mean the screen is on so don't be deceived.
 
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nyc999

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 6, 2011
121
13
Donta how are you pulling 5 hrs screen time? What brightness and other settings do you use?
 

Apollo 13

macrumors 6502a
May 29, 2010
679
16
Most i ever got on my 4s was 4hrs screen time, I doubt anyone is getting 8hrs + screen time on the 5s

On the GS4 i average about 5hrs screen on time.

Also remember usage on the iPhone doesn't necessarily mean the screen is on so don't be deceived.

don't have doubts...your reception sucks compared to others. Where i'm at I get 4 bars and always connected to wifi either at home or work.
 

zbarvian

macrumors 68010
Jul 23, 2011
2,004
2
Depends on what you're doing with it. Based on my usage patterns, I constantly get ~8 hours of runtime over 1.5 days on my 5. That's a lot of web browsing, lots of social media and messaging, some gaming, and some music streaming. Wi-Fi really conserves battery compared to 4G, though LTE doesn't seem to be as power-depleting as it's made out to be. I think overall the battery is really good if you're not on cellular and don't have brightness up all the time.
 

JeffiJers

macrumors 6502a
Sep 12, 2012
552
1
U.S.
Coming off of a VZW i5 to a Samsung S4 w CM rom.. battery life on s4 is extremely better.

I consider myself a semi heavy user. No game, just use the phone as a communication tool.

The iphone would not get through a work day. by 3-4 I was at 20% and to me that is.. put it down and save what is left incase I NEED gps etc.

The S4 will go a complete 24hrs and still have 30-35% left. This is great but sometimes I forget to charge it and find myself in a bind, which is my fault.


Wish the 5s had a longer bat life & tether app Bc I do miss the iphone.
 

lazard

macrumors 68000
Jul 23, 2012
1,608
818
the iPhone's usage time is a bit misleading. for example, talking on the phone with your screen off is included in the usage time.
 

Dontazemebro

macrumors 68020
Jul 23, 2010
2,173
0
I dunno, somewhere in West Texas
don't have doubts...your reception sucks compared to others. Where i'm at I get 4 bars and always connected to wifi either at home or work.

Are you saying you get 8hrs screen on time? Sorry I'm not a believer.

----------

Donta how are you pulling 5 hrs screen time? What brightness and other settings do you use?

Auto brightness on. Never use Google now. WiFi, Bluetooth GPS off. And i stay on my phone nearly all day, average out around 5hrs.
 

Moshu

macrumors member
May 3, 2012
74
90
5s definately has better battery life compared to my old 4s which had to be charged everyday (age had its say, too).

After 24h from charging, with typical use, 5s's battery is 60%.

No LTE, just 3G.
 

ReallyBigFeet

macrumors 68030
Apr 15, 2010
2,956
133
My 4S was awful after a year, but I average 4-5 hours talk time daily on my 5, plus about 1.5 hours of screen-on time. I keep bluetooth and wifi on all the time.

This is on 3-4 bars CDMA/LTE signal. Less than 3 bars and my battery time goes to crap quickly.

I got about same from S3.
 

Apollo 13

macrumors 6502a
May 29, 2010
679
16
Are you saying you get 8hrs screen on time? Sorry I'm not a believer.

----------



Auto brightness on. Never use Google now. WiFi, Bluetooth GPS off. And i stay on my phone nearly all day, average out around 5hrs.

kept my display on the whole time. It's time for you to believe.

This is about what I normally get
zam7.png



This is with the display on all day at 50% battery
ua8q.png



This is with the diplay on all day at 1% battery
chz0.png
 

Shuri

macrumors 6502
Nov 23, 2011
330
0
kept my display on the whole time. It's time for you to believe.

This is about what I normally get
Image


This is with the display on all day at 50% battery
Image


This is with the diplay on all day at 1% battery
Image

wow, but please tell us, what did you do while keeping the screen on? (beside that 12 minutes call ;) )

On topic two examples: the S4's battery is about 66% bigger than the iphone 5S. What we certainly know is that the display of the iphone is more power efficient (lower resolution, smaller display) which eats up the advantage of the OLED Display while displaying black pixels. You can assume that the iphone's SoC is also more power efficient since there are less cores and the clock is lower.
So you have a smaller battery but also more power efficient parts which leads to a similar performance on both devices (Maybe with a little advantage to the iphone).

BUT, things like cellular data or wifi eat up the same amount of energy as there is no big difference between those chips. So for example an hour of using the LTE chip and antenna uses relatively more energy on the iPhone than on the S4.

So far about the theory; The performance of both devices is very dependent of the usage you are doing. In fact both devices are capable of bringing you through the day in normal condition, so I'd just compare the overall experience since there is not really a difference on the battery side ;)
 
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Apollo 13

macrumors 6502a
May 29, 2010
679
16
wow, but please tell us, what did you do while keeping the screen on? (beside that 12 minutes call ;) )

On topic two examples: the S4's battery is about 66% bigger than the iphone 5S. What we certainly know is that the display of the iphone is more power efficient (lower resolution, smaller display) which eats up the advantage of the OLED Display while displaying black pixels. You can assume that the iphone's SoC is also more power efficient since there are less cores and the clock is lower.
So you have a smaller battery but also more power efficient parts which leads to a similar performance on both devices (Maybe with a little advantage to the iphone).

BUT, things like cellular data or wifi eat up the same amount of energy as there is no big difference between those chips. So for example an hour of using the LTE chip and antenna uses relatively more energy on the iPhone than on the S4.

So far about the theory; The performance of both devices is very dependent of the usage you are doing. In fact both devices are capable of bringing you through the day in normal condition, so I'd just compare the overall experience since there is not really a difference on the battery side ;)


wrote all here https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1651653/
 

Shanghaichica

macrumors G5
Apr 8, 2013
14,725
13,245
UK
The S4 has good battery life. It easily gets me through a full day with moderate to heavy use. I'd have to really hammer it to drain the battery before the end of the day.
 

comper

macrumors regular
Feb 27, 2011
167
87
Michigan
iPhone battery life is great compared to almost all android phones. The only three that come close or even surpass it in some situations in my experiences are the Droid Maxx, G2, and Note 2 (and 3 I'd suppose). Each of these have batteries at least 2x bigger than the one found in the iPhone.

I regularly get 6.5-7 hours of screen on time on my iPhone 5s. On a GS4, I'd get around 4.5. On an HTC One around 4. I am a normal user - taking some pictures, browsing facebook, have 4 email accounts with push, occasional YouTube / internet browsing, and I send/receive around 200 texts a day. The HTC One would probably still be in my pocket if it got better battery life, but I hate having to charge throughout the day.
 

Dontazemebro

macrumors 68020
Jul 23, 2010
2,173
0
I dunno, somewhere in West Texas
kept my display on the whole time. It's time for you to believe.

This is about what I normally get
Image


This is with the display on all day at 50% battery
Image


This is with the diplay on all day at 1% battery
Image

Was this under normal circumstances or did you do a whole bunch of wacky things to prove a point? It's odd that no one else has ever testified to these extraordinary results that you post here but if that's what you claim more power to you. I doubt the 5s is as big a jump in efficiency than the 4s and under normal operating circumstances, I never saw anything remotely close to that w/ screen on. That's just my experience.
 

Apollo 13

macrumors 6502a
May 29, 2010
679
16
Was this under normal circumstances or did you do a whole bunch of wacky things to prove a point? It's odd that no one else has ever testified to these extraordinary results that you post here but if that's what you claim more power to you. I doubt the 5s is as big a jump in efficiency than the 4s and under normal operating circumstances, I never saw anything remotely close to that w/ screen on. That's just my experience.

I just charged the battery to 100% and turn off the auto lock. Did nothing special. I used the phone like I do on a regular bases, but with a little more gaming then normal just to kill the battery faster. It already took to long for it to get to 50%. Without gaming I'm positive I would had got 14hrs or more. Anyone can do it and come out with the same results as long as their reception doesn't suck. They would probably even get more hours then I did. Also The 5s is more efficient the the 4s. I noticed that from going from the iphone 5 to the 5s.
 

Dontazemebro

macrumors 68020
Jul 23, 2010
2,173
0
I dunno, somewhere in West Texas
I just charged the battery to 100% and turn off the auto lock. Did nothing special. I used the phone like I do on a regular bases, but with a little more gaming then normal just to kill the battery faster. It already took to long for it to get to 50%. Without gaming I'm positive I would had got 14hrs or more. Anyone can do it and come out with the same results as long as their reception doesn't suck. They would probably even get more hours then I did.

I'm not saying you're a liar but I would like to see someone else replicate this.

You have to understand it's quite unbelievable.
 

Switchback666

macrumors 68000
Nov 16, 2012
1,600
67
SXM
I just charged the battery to 100% and turn off the auto lock. Did nothing special. I used the phone like I do on a regular bases, but with a little more gaming then normal just to kill the battery faster. It already took to long for it to get to 50%. Without gaming I'm positive I would had got 14hrs or more. Anyone can do it and come out with the same results as long as their reception doesn't suck. They would probably even get more hours then I did. Also The 5s is more efficient the the 4s. I noticed that from going from the iphone 5 to the 5s.

To bad iOS does not give detailed battery stats :) because not even Apple gets the same usage you get lol nor any other review....

I got an iphone 5 recently coming from a 4s, my 4s max usage i got was like 4hrs and with this iphone 5 due to work im not using it that much BUT i have to say that battery seems a lot better, now your usage i have a hard time :p maybe just listening to music but "real" use i doubt it.
 

sviato

macrumors 68020
Oct 27, 2010
2,432
430
HR 9038 A
I've been consistently getting these usage numbers since upgrading to iOS7 on my 4s.

This includes about 1-2 short phone calls, texting a few people throughout the day, FB messaging one friend, checking twitter, instagram, and email often, streaming music for about 1-2 hours, downloading and listening to 2-3 podcasts and flipping through a few articles on Flipboard. My brightness is se at half btw.

The battery is much better than when I was jailbroken on iOS6 and I'm pretty satisfied with it.
 

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Fanaticalism

macrumors 6502a
Apr 16, 2013
908
158
I just charged the battery to 100% and turn off the auto lock. Did nothing special. I used the phone like I do on a regular bases, but with a little more gaming then normal just to kill the battery faster. It already took to long for it to get to 50%. Without gaming I'm positive I would had got 14hrs or more. Anyone can do it and come out with the same results as long as their reception doesn't suck. They would probably even get more hours then I did. Also The 5s is more efficient the the 4s. I noticed that from going from the iphone 5 to the 5s.

My Wife has the i5, does not use her phone as much as I do, and I generally get an hour or so more than she does...
 
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