Apple Acknowledges iPhone 4S Battery Problems 315
bdking writes "After more than two weeks of complaints from frustrated iPhone 4S owners, Apple finally has admitted problems with fast-draining batteries in the new devices. The company blames it on bugs in iOS 5 and promises a fix 'in a few weeks.' But Apple should have spoken up sooner, if only to acknowledge the issue."
Speed (Score:2, Interesting)
But Apple should have spoken up sooner, if only to acknowledge the issue.
It's been pretty quick by corporate standards and Apple don't exactly have a reputation for owning up to mistakes. I think this is a good response by them.
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The antenna problems with the iPhone 4 were obfuscated and blamed on the user at first, too.
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After everyone had bought a case or after Apple had issued them one of zillions of free ones they were backed into giving away.
Antenna"gate" (Score:2)
I found the antenna problem on the iPhone 4 quite hard to reproduce. I had to clutch it uncomfortably hard to see anything, and I saw about the same degree of attenuation if I clutched my 3gs tightly near the bottom. My suspicion is the iPhone 4 didn't actually have unusually bad attenuation, and that the true problem was that the visible antenna gave people an idea of exactly where to clutch it to kill the reception.
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The antenna problems seemed to be related more to AT&Ts spotty antenna coverage; users in other countries where antenna density is higher had far less problems.
Re:Speed (Score:4, Insightful)
So you think the antenna is a piece of crap, yet you didn't return the phone and you describe yourself in another comment as "a happy iPhone 4 owner" ? I don't get that, is it some weird love/hate thing ?
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Well also lets be fair here. Reports like this really do take time to figure out before making a rash response.
1. Some of the users just got a new fancy phone and they drain the battery playing with all the features they wouldn't necessary do.
2. They may not be properly charging the phones... Perhaps there is a bad batch of charging cable that got shipped.
3. Are the people reporting the problem from a particular batch of phone. A bad manufacturing run.
4. Is the problem a software problem where they can jus
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Geniuses, perhaps. But not geniuses having hardware specs. Notice how perfect Androids (that DO have a Linux kernel, although the power saving infrastructure is Android-specific), where the hardware specs are known handle power management.
"Apple should have spoken up sooner..." (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:"Apple should have spoken up sooner..." (Score:5, Insightful)
It's better than the passive-aggressive editorials (i.e., "It will be interesting to see if...") that are normally present in /. summaries.
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It's better than the passive-aggressive editorials (i.e., "It will be interesting to see if...") that are normally present in /. summaries.
This 150%. Everybody has a point of view, even if it's mostly belief in the existence of objective facts. We shouldn't try to pretend that objective reporting is impossible, but at the same time, it's much easier to understand where someone is coming from if they are up front and open about their opinion. Only idiots believe in 100% fair and balanced reporting.
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Actually in this case it is in the article (it's one of those sensationalist pieces, the "finally" in the headline is a dead giveaway.)
Not if you want to get posted (Score:2)
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Is the problem the users, the editors, or both.
Way to many summaries have been inflammatory of late and some have been downright untrue. The the summary of the XBox in prison story for example.
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If they are still investigating the matter? Sure. What is really gained by releasing a statement before you know what the issue is?
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Yet they never changed the antenna design in the iPhone 4. In spite of selling more of those than any other single model of phone in the world. Yeah, clearly there was a large problem.
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Why? I don't see a reason behind it. Sure it'd have been NICE if they spoke up sooner, but perhaps they didn't duplicate this glitch in the lab until now. I know personally I have no problem with the battery on my iPhone4S or iPad2 both running iOS5. You ever take your car to the dealer for a problem and have them not duplicate it, same deal.
Why should they have said something sooner? (Score:4, Interesting)
My experience from working for completely different companies is that the standard approach to product flaws is to ignore them completely or at least stay quiet until your people in-house have verified the problem and are halfway done with a fix or workaround (or the lawyers have concluded that the company isn't liable in which case it is somehow not a problem anyway no matter what the customers claim).
Seriously? (Score:4, Informative)
"But Apple should have spoken up sooner, if only to acknowledge the issue."
What a load of shit. The device has been out for about three weeks at this point. How many other companies actually work this quickly to actually determine whether or not a problem exists, determine what the problem actually is, and then start working on a fix? I wish the companies that I regularly deal with were remotely as responsive to issues.
Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Seriously? (Score:4, Funny)
That guy was there to see if it could help the signal strength by adding a bar to it.
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Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Insightful)
You can beta test all you want. When a few million copies hit the street you will find new bugs.
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After two weeks ? Finally ! :-)
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Software on their own server vs hardware in the hands of millions of people.
Yeah, that's almost the same thing.
Blackberry (Score:2)
Had this been an issues with a new blackberry, you know they would be crucified. The media loves to let apple getaway with stuff like this all the time, but any mistakemade by RIM and it means the end of the company. If this is a software bug, why are we waiting weeks for a fix? Because apple knows they can do as they please, and these devices will still fly off the shelves faster then they can build them.
Re:Blackberry (Score:4, Interesting)
Had this been an issues with a new blackberry, you know they would be crucified. The media loves to let apple getaway with stuff like this all the time, but any mistakemade by RIM and it means the end of the company. If this is a software bug, why are we waiting weeks for a fix? Because apple knows they can do as they please, and these devices will still fly off the shelves faster then they can build them.
Because it's nothing more than a minor inconvenience for a small number of users? Great, your battery drains before the day's over. So what? Charge your phone more frequently for a couple of weeks while Apple looks into the issue. Come back and make your RIM comparison when half the iPhones in the world stop working for three days straight.
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Have you RTFA? The battery drains completely in six hours. That's pretty freaking frequent.
Read the article and have the phone. I've not experienced a six hour drain. Nor has my wife. Nor have three coworkers and two friends. Still, I have no doubt that it happens... just not to the majority of users. For those who do experience it, yeah, six hours probably sucks... but I'm far from being convinced that temporarily having the normal battery life of a 4G Android phone while Apple looks into it is the injustice some are making it out to be.
Come back and make your RIM comparison when half the iPhones in the world stop working for three days straight.
I'll be glad to once iCloud goes down. Which it will, eventually. And it will be hilarious.
I fear this day... I'm not sure how I'll operate when ever
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I'll be glad to once iCloud goes down. Which it will, eventually. And it will be hilarious.
So hilarious that all the phones will still be working? Yeah, that's a fucking riot.
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I'll be glad to once iCloud goes down. Which it will, eventually. And it will be hilarious.
It will go down. If Apple's history here is any indication, it will go down frequently.
Of course, you'll have to look really hard to get your laugh -- like every Apple outage since the great 2008 outage (which everyone forgot about immediately) it will be almost completely ignored in the press. Hell, they had a huge outage Sept. 30th -- no one seems to have noticed.
RIM, in contrast, has had 3 outages in the last 10 years. The longest was the most recent -- which ended up being less than a day for most of
The other way around (Score:2)
I generally find that Apple gets crucified over the smallest issue because a headline with "Apple" in it will get read.
This is why you had some Android phones literally falling apart being reported on a couple tech sites, but rare iPhone screen cracking was worthy of the Washington Post.
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That was the high-end HTC EVO.
Re:Blackberry (Score:4, Informative)
Well as long as I'm modded troll for that comment I might as well add that that fix, the 2.3.4 update for the Samsung Galaxy S2 which hasn't been released for belgian users for months now, includes a fix for poor battery life [google.com] for a small number of users. Yet no uproar for that on Slashdot.
"Battery life: some users let us know that their batteries didn’t seem to be lasting as long; battery life should be improved for these folks."
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
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It's amazing the level of perf
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What's another $90... (Score:4, Funny)
...for a replacement battery?
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Have they patented it yet? (Score:2, Funny)
Have they pattented having a fast-draining battery yet?
My old Nokia from the 90's used to drain the battery fast- perhaps they can retro-actively sue Nokia.
Phone Speed Limit? (Score:2)
It's a fact of life that faster chips consume more power, and Apple may have taken a bite the battery can't chew. Faster didn't equate to better in this revision I think.
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my iphone has a significantly faster 'chip' than my old Nokia or SonyEricsson and yet it still has a better battery life... Maybe put away your overgeneralization spell for the day.
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You do realize that smartphone CPUs don't run at their maximum clock all the time, right? There are plenty of ways to save power even as phones get faster and more functional.
That's not a problem (Score:5, Funny)
Just carry a second (or third) charged battery and switch it when the battery is drained.
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Yep, I have a cheap dock-connector battery that I bought for my 3GS that I'm hoping will still work for my 4S.
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Re:That's not a problem (Score:5, Funny)
Take a piece of double-sided tape, apply it to the back of your iPhone. Firmly press a second iPhone against the first, back to back, and offset so as not to cover the cameras. I got the idea from watching war movies where they'd tape two ammo clips together and flip them when the first goes empty, and it works great for them, so I figure it'll work fine here too. Added benefit that if one iPhone is cool, a double iPhone should be double cool...
Re:That's not a problem (Score:4, Insightful)
That works with removable ammunition magazines, but it does not work with ammunition clips.
Ammunition clips or "stripper clips" clip together cartridges in a uniform orientation so that magazines, either removable box-type or fixed magazines (eg, M1 Garand, or the Soviet SKS) can be loaded quickly.
Taping two stripper clips together won't work, since you won't be able to insert them into a magazine.
They now also make a host of gizmos for pairing magazines that's more effective than the duct tape method made popular by various revolutionary groups.
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A lot of people point at their computer and call it a hard drive. You're OK with that, too?
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Well done. Pointing out that inability of the iPhone is funny, flamebait and interesting all at once.
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Finally, some service around here! Coffee, please!
I can hear it now... (Score:2)
Has iOS5 really been that much of a battery killer? I didn't notice a different on my ipad, though I'd only been using it a few days prior to the update.
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My iPhone 4 has been pretty much the same since installing iOS 5, and in fact I'm not having the problem I had with iOS 4 where Usage time = Standby time, and the battery gets hammered.
However, I noticed the Location Services arrow turning on a bit more than I would expect it to, so I disabled some of the system services (Settings, Location Services, scroll down to System Services at the bottom). In particular, I disabled Location-Based iAds, Setting Time Zone, and Traffic. I've also got automatic diagnosti
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I've noticed a few things with my iPhone 4, seems to specifically be related to out-ranging a wifi signal to plain-old 3g AT&T. When I do this, I've noticed that sometimes the phone ends up getting quite warm to the touch, and the battery drains at a very fast rate. I fixed the problem once by turning the phone off & back on, and since then by engaging airplane mode, then turning it off. My guess is something (could be third-party apps, even) goes rogue when it is active & your network connec
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Liability (Score:2)
If there is one thing I have learned, nowadays no company will admit that their product has a problem. It opens them up to liability. Due to the litigation-happy society we live in, companies now find it wiser and safer to deny their product has an issue.
Personally, I would much rather a company come out and say, "Yeah, there is an issue we've uncovered and we are working on the fix." I can live with that. If it is an issue they can't fix in a timely manner, of course I would want to return the product and
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there's no liabilities.
that's why they call them smartphones.
so they can say that the usual phone liabilities don't count. 911 calling fucked up? no problem because it's a COMPUTER with a phone functionality and not a phone, duh.
one problem a lot of companies have with fixing problems is that they no longer control their product, due to contracting all the work so they wouldn't need to pay to the engineers after the product is done and they don't want to admit that, so you can't even have direct customer-en
And here I thought (Score:2)
I was holding it wrong
Acknowledging the issue (Score:5, Insightful)
When should Apple acknowledge the issue? When some users are saying they have a problem, when others are saying they don't? (Many people, myself included, have not encountered this issue). Such problems can be very difficult to track down. How does Apple know if it is a real issue? Maybe the people who are complaining have unrealistic expectations, or are using their phones in a different way. After all, the iPhone 4s has new features, which might cause some people to place a heavier demand on the battery. How many people are encountering the problem? is it 10%? 1%? 0.001% (which would still be quite a few phones). Is it a manufacturing defect, or a software problem? Is there any point in acknowledging the issue if all that you are able to honestly say is something noncommittal like, "Well, we've had some reports, but we haven't yet been able to reproduce them, and we really have no idea at all what's going on or how many people are having this problem, but we're investigating the issue"? Or is it better to wait until there is something substantive to say?
I actually had the same problem with my first-generation iPhone. I didn't even bother reporting it to Apple until I had it figured out, because a bug report that just says "Sometimes my battery runs down really fast" is virtually useless. I eventually figured out that the battery died if I left the Clock application in the foreground while the phone was asleep. I filed a bug report with Apple, and after the next system update, I got an email message that said, "We believe that the bug that you reported has been fixed. Can you verify?"
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I have location services turned on and I am not experiencing the problem.
Using it wrong (Score:2)
I'm waiting for some guy from Apple to tell people that they are holding the phone wrong or something.....
New ticket: Reality distortion field not working (Score:2, Funny)
Problem: My Apple product does not appear to be the coolest thing I own. It does not seem to be revolutionizing my daily workflow, shifting the paradigms of my life philosophy or allowing me to think outside the box. Women in bars do not come up to me and coo "Ooh, that's amazing; can I touch it?" Men do not give me jealous looks when I walk down the street. Friends and neighbors do not appear to think I am more interesting than I was before purchasing this product.
Solution: Examine Apple stock price. Watch
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Exactly.
Which is why I still carry a 5 year old Nokia phone that is just a phone (well, OK it has a crappy camera). It may look boring... but it does what I need it to do.. Ring when someone calls me.
I hope that when it finally does I will be able to find another simple phone only phone, without having to be forced into buying a 'smartphone'....
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Oh, and the battery still works.
Phoning home? (Score:2)
If it's using too much power when it's not supposed to be doing anything, it's probably doing something it shouldn't be doing when it's not supposed to be doing anything.
The question is, what?
my experience (Score:2)
my new iPhone 4S out of the box had a fast draining battery. After messing with it in a completely non-scientific and non-systematic way and switching off some services (e.g., Ping) battery life is "normal" now. So it probably is a software issue.
The internet factor (Score:2)
Here let me fix that for you. (Score:2)
Two weeks after initial reports of poor battery life Apple has found that the problem was cased by the IOS 5 update. A beta of IOS 5.0.1 which should resolve the issue is already available for developers.
iOS 5.0.1 beta contains improvements and other bug fixes including:
Fixes bugs affecting battery life
Adds Multitasking Gestures for original iPad
Resolves bugs with Documents in the Cloud
Improves voice recognition for Australian users using dictation
Contains security improvements
Not copying Android then (Score:2)
I was afraid that the lower battery life was an attempt to try and copy the bad battery life of the top-end Android smart phones...
Really? (Score:2)
Perhaps
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Some people have had problems. Others have not.
Given the level of cognitive dissonance that surrounds Apple products, this could simply mean some people ignored the problem because they didn't want to acknowledge that they might have a problem.
Re:Battery problem? (Score:4, Funny)
There you go, proof that everyone else is just using wrong!
Re:Battery problem? (Score:4, Insightful)
There you go, proof that everyone else is just using wrong!
Denial as a business model?!?
It's just crazy enough, it might work!
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Other users and Apple disagree with you.
A small number of users. Haven't had problems myself but it's an x.0 release, so I'm not surprised some people have run into bugs.
"A small number of customers have reported lower-than-expected battery life on iOS 5 devices," Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison said in a statement to All Things Digital. "We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life, and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks."
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I don't think there are any issues. iPhone is designed to be used. I use mine so much during the day that I have to recharge it anyway while I'm sleeping. And it's great. I understand why owners of other phones don't really use them, but I love playing while on the move, and listen to music. When it's time for me to unwind, it's time for my iPhone to unwind too, and I put it recharging right next to me on bed.
Really? Apple's saying they've found software issues causing a problem and are beta testing a fix right now. Sure you wanna argue with that?
And although I'm happy with the 4S, and it's not dying on me before I get home from work, it's most certainly worse than the iPhone 4 I had. I can't wait for the update.
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If he won't, I might...
"A small number of customers have reported lower-than-expected battery life on iOS 5 devices," Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison said in a statement to All Things Digital. "We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life, and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks."
That is very different to "saying they've found software issues causing a problem". That's more like saying "Look, we have found a couple of tweaks to slightly lower the usage of some ap
Re:Battery problem? (Score:5, Informative)
Have you disabled "raise to speak" in Siri settings? That was reported on day one (or two) and solved my problem immediately.
Re:Battery problem? (Score:4, Informative)
Jesus wept.
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I don't think there are any issues. iPhone is designed to be used
Indeed you are right, but the issue is surrounding the length of time you can use it on a single charge.
I understand why owners of other phones don't really use them, but I love playing while on the move, and listen to music
What an arrogant statement that is. I have a Galaxy S2 and I can tell you that I play games while I'm travelling, listen to music practically all day and download music, videos, apps, etc. While I do all those things, I need to charge it once a day, but a friend who wasted his money on an iPhone 4S when he already had an iPhone 4
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Yup, and I admit - we've got battery problems that can affect people too. (Exchange calendar sync bug, Skype, Words with Friends, and I know of one kernel bug that affected a few people which I've fixed.) However we've got far better tools for drain-hunting than iOS, and we don't have to wait for upstream to fix our problems either.
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Well, the Samsung S2 is that "feature phone" that managed to switch my 11 years daughter from "I want an iPhone" to "What, this phone is way cooler than an iPhone". And concerning battery life, not even my daughter manages to drain the S2, despite her "instinctive" understanding of battery saving, e.g. using a 3D animated background or watching youtube videos for hours.
So, as hard as it might seem, Apple just lost most if not all it's technological superiority (arguable that this has happened earlier as in
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It is obvious that your case is not problematic. My iPhone 4S wastes battery at a 1%/hour rate if left on standby, which I find quite good. The complaints, however, are coming from people whose iPhones are sometimes wasting as much as 15%/hour on standby. I would complain about that myself if that was the case here, but it isn't.
I can, however, imagine that figuring out the conditions in which this happens is no easy task, which to me justifies the delay.
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Something happened. I had a 4 and upgraded to a 4S. I noticed that by lunch, my 4S was down to 66% battery when before the 4 had been in the 80s or low 90s still, depending on how much I had used it for voice/data and how good my signal was (buildings that limit the signal seem to increase battery drain).
I turned off a bunch of apps in notification center and disabled some of the system location services and that seemed to reduce the drain about 75% -- I'm still 5-10% lower than I would have been on the 4
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there was some real issues though.
as in, stupid configs in use by default for things. like checking gps position all the time to adjust timezone(WHICH YOU CAN USE THE FRIGGIN NETWORK FOR GENIUSES!).
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My outlook does not look good.
I use Gmail, myself...
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With Apple's reality distortion field totally disabled, this can no longer be turned into a feature for the end user.
Nonsense, there was even a article about this earlier on /. [slashdot.org]
This simply means that Apple is two years *ahead* of the competition.. in terms of electronic consumption.
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Bullshit, I just installed cpuburn on my smartphone so that I can be ahead of Apple fanboys.
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"Siri, tell me if my battery is about to die!"
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"Daisy ... daisy ... give me ... your ... answ..."
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"Siri, tell me if my battery is about to die!"
You can't actually ask Siri that. (Yes, I know it's a joke.)
It's still kind of a weird thing for "the voice interface" to the phone to completely leave out. You really can't ask questions about anything that the phone is doing. If you ask about battery life, Siri offers to search the web for it.
Also, while I was typing this, Siri went down. (I had some other questions about things like storage space left that I wanted to try.) So that's cool too.
I have a feeling that at some point the ability to ask about b
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Apple can get away with this because they know that they'll sell as many iPhones as they can make, no matter how crappy they are.