iPhone 4S Thread

Hi Guys, I have the 4 I was having trouble upgrading to IOS 5. (You have to install iTunes 10.5 first.) I kept getting an installer failed message. The fix (in Win 7 32 or 64) is to got to control panel, uninstall and click on uninstall or change programmes, select Apple Application Support and then select repair when that comes up. This should fix it so that iTunes 10.5 will install.

 

Battery drain:
My 4s drains the battery at a rapid rate. I have to recharge everyday, sometimes twice.

Is anyone else having the same experience?

iPhone 4S Battery Life: Apple Don't Know What Happened to it Either - Forbes

 

No, but I don't have a 4S but have upgraded my iPhone 4 to iOS 5.

As I posted at TiVo Community (you'll need an account to view that thread or any messages in the Happy Hour area of TC):

Personally, I think Apple might know of a few causes or hunches but wants to try to confirm them and track down additional ones they don't know of.

Some folks have reported much better battery life w/their 4S than their previous iPhones (usually 3GS). Other folks at TC have reported rapid battery drain problems too.

I'd suggest you turning off stuff like wi-fi sync, any iCloud syncing and iCloud backup along w/any location based reminders, to see if the problem goes away. (I'm using none of these.) Also try the workaround at http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-2...time-zone-may-be-culprit/?tag=mncol;cnetRiver.

Skimming towards the end of that thread on TC might prove useful.

 

The battery drain could have been caused by apps installed on the phone or wrong settings such as background data or automatic sync.

 

I normally have Wi-Fi turned off on my iPod Touch because at home I only use it for music and podcasts and lecture series. So it was off before I upgraded to iOS5. The next time I downloaded an app for the iTouch via iTunes on the computer, I was surprised that the iTouch suddenly informed me that there was a new app on the computer and asked if I wanted to install it. I looked, and iOS5 had turned my Wi-Fi on, without ever asking me.

Maybe on your iPhones, iOS5 is turning on services you didn't realize, and thus draining the battery faster.

My stupid phone only needs charging about once a week. The BT headset even less often. Of course, I don't spend much time talking on the phone.

 

back in the day I had a Nokia 6190. The original battery was rated at 900mah. I bought a 2700mah Li-Ion extended battery for it. I could go 4 weeks to a month without recharging. 2700mah Li-Ion10 years ago was pretty impressive. Most batteries back then were still NiMH. God I missed those days. Now I have recharge mine every night. Mind you this is with 3500mah extended battery.

 

Yes, that too is something I noticed, One problem that I have and this could be happening to you is this. The cell phone in order it to function properly it interrogates the cell tower once in a while basically telling the system, Hey I am here, route calls through these towers. now if the phone does not get a response, it retransmits the request....no signal, your phone is going to chew the battery real fast. The Studio lot I work on is equidistant between 3 towers. Unfortunately one tower is behind a hill, that is of no use to us, the second tower is blocked by a Hospital, that sucks for service too, leaving all traffic from our Verizon users to use the one workable tower, located on one of the busiest streets in Hollywood! H'mmmm and Verizon's' response..."We are sorry, but we do not guarantee service inside of structures" Meaning if you want to use your phone, shag your nice person outdoors and talk there. We are not going to fix anything!

When I hit my desk every 6am, I pull the phone out of my belt case, and set it on the desk, at least I get 1 bar there, and the phone does not burn itself out crying for a response, from a tower that never puts out enough signal to be heard!
Just friggin SAD Verizon......

BY the way, same scenario with the Droid....But I do like the 4s much better!

 

Thank you all for your response and suggestions.
Since I am doing nothing different from my previous phone, the 3GS, I don't think I should have to turn anything off to get more battery life. The following article suggested turning off "Setting Time Zone"

"Setting Time Zone" is found under Settings/Location Services/System Services. Well I turned it off and the battery drained just as fast.

iPhone battery drain--'Setting Time Zone' may be culprit | Apple - CNET News

I'm going to wait a little until Apple comes out with a fix/solution just like they did with the antenna issue with the iPhone 4 before I pay a visit to the Genii at the Apple Store

 

Bummer that the above didn't help... as for not anything different, so does that mean that every setting under Settings > iCloud is off?

None of the above existed on the iPhone 3GS unless you upgraded it to iOS 5.

FWIW, Apple did nothing to "fix" the "antenna issue" w/the iPhone 4, at least not the GSM ones that were floating around. They held the press conference to clarify and demonstrate the other smartphones have the same issue too (albeit not as obvious as to how) and gave away free cases to people who bought the iPhone 4 in a certain window. I'm using the free case they provided. You had to download an app to select and order the case.

 

Ok. You're correct for Wi-Fi iTunes sync (iOS: Syncing with iTunes) and iCloud backup (iCloud: Backup and restore overview).

I don't think that's the case for iCloud syncing of Mail, Contacts, Calenders, Reminders, Bookmarks, Notes, Documents & Data. I'm not certain as I don't use any of that but am still digging.

For Photo Stream and Find my iPhone, they definitely don't require the devices to be plugged in. I just verified this.

update: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2608 only mentions "connected to a power source" for iCloud backup and says "iCloud automatically backs up your iOS device daily over Wi-Fi when it’s connected to a power source and the device is screen-locked". It doesn't call that out for the other iCloud stuff.

 

According to the Brit's article neither IOS5 nor iCloud had anything to do with it. I turned off a lot of things but I shouldn't have to. The battery should at least last as long as they claim. Thanks

 

For this guy: Troubleshooting a battery-sucking iPhone 4S | Macworld, something kept crashing over and over while trying to do contact syncing over iCloud, draining his battery.

Doing a lot of these tips are just for now a means of narrowing down a problem and working around it, until Apple is able to fix them (assuming they're all fixable). If you don't, then you're going to have to live with it until the exact problems you're facing are fixed (or your phone is replaced, if it turns out to be defective).

As I stated, there are probably a multitude of possible causes with only one symptom: poor battery life.

I found http://supportany.com/2011/10/ways-to-increase-iphone-4s-battery-life/ buried at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3391947?start=0&tstart=0. I also found a supposed tip at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3391947?start=2280&tstart=0.

For http://supportany.com/2011/10/ways-to-increase-iphone-4s-battery-life/, I'm not sure I'd do 6, unless you really have to (since you lose so much). 7 may not help much. 9 may not help either because some people don't understand iOS "multitasking". Just because it's present in the task switcher doesn't mean it's even in RAM and even if it is, it's not necessarily doing anything (but it can be). See http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4211. The only easy way to tell if a process is really in RAM is to download an app that shows the list of running processes (a bunch of free ones can be found by searching for stuff like system monitor).

 

Similar scenario here at work for me... It's not an issue with tower location, those are close enough, and we aren't in a very high-density population area. For us, it's just the design of the building... it blocks nearly everything. Both AT&T and Verizon have repeaters in the building for us, which is really nice. However, the AT&T repeater only supports Edge, not 3G. So, when my phone is trying to be on 3G, i get 1 bar and a bad signal. When it gives up on 3G and falls back to Edge, I get a perfect signal. Buildings really do suck.