iOS 5, the iPhone 4S and the new iPad have gotten even more heat -- no pun intended -- about battery life than previous versions of iOS and previous iOS devices. Does iOS 5.1.1 set everything right?

If you're using an older device, like the original iPad or the iPhone 3GS, was there any noticeable improvement in overall performance?

Vote in the poll up top and give the details in the comments below, and please include which device you're using, whether you did an OTA or iTunes install, and if you've had problems previously. If you're still experiencing battery life or performance issues, here's some help:

• How to fix battery life problems with iOS 5
• iPhone 4S battery life help and trouble shooting
• New iPad battery life help and troubles shooting

Last month we had learned that some iPad 2 units were being loaded with a new 32 nanometer version of the Apple A5 process, and as you might expect, testing results show that it is providing a significant increase in battery life. The new model, designated iPad 2,4, managed to squeeze around an extra hour and a half out of browser and gaming tests compared to a plain-Jane iPad 2 (15% and 30% gain respectively), and an additional two and a half hours of video playback (up 18%). The battery life compared to the third-generation iPad is even better, boasting an extra two and a half hours of gaming and browsing, and an extra four hours of video playback. Beyond eking out a bit more battery life, the 32 nm processor on these iPad 2 units perform just as quickly as the originals.

So how do you get one of these iPad 2,4 units? It's tricky, because the box art is exactly the same as any other 16 GB Wi-Fi iPad 2, so the only way you can find out the specific model number is by loading up a diagnostic app like Geekbench. iPad 2,4 models are preloaded with iOS 5.1, but aside from that, you might have to return a lot of iPads to the store if you're really on the hunt for one of these.

Those of you that recently bought an iPad 2, maybe thanks to the price drop when the new iPad came out, should download Geekbench below and see if they've got one of these elusive models. What's more important to you when it comes to your iPad experience; a bleeding-sharp display, or oodles of battery life? Would it really be worth the hassle to track one of these iPad 2,4 units down?

$0.99 - Download Geekbench 2 now

Source: Anandtech

Of course, there are a few issues with the new iPad charging, namely that it takes 9 hours to fill up from scratch, but if you've still got some juice left when going to bed, charging overnight should do the trick. Keep in mind that you'll charge a lot faster using the 10W charger that came with the new iPad rather than plugging it in to your computer. Using the new iPad while it's charging isn't going to speed things up, either.

So, show of hands - is anyone consistently killing their battery in a single day? How long have you been able to go with the new iPad without charging? Most importantly, are you satisfied with the battery life? Apple managed to do a great thing by doubling the pixel density and adding 4G LTE without changing the battery life from the iPad 2, but odds are you'll be using the new iPad a little more than your old tablet.

Is it pretty much the same as iOS 5 for you? Or did it make things worse? Is your battery draining faster, are things more buggy, is performance worse, is is camera access even more annoying now?

Bottom line, how is iOS 5 working out for you?

Give us your quick answer in the poll up top and give us the details in the comments below. Make sure to include which device you're running iOS 5.1 on, and whether you did a clean install or updated, and if you updated, whether you did it via iTunes or over-the-air (OTA) right on your device.

At the new iPad event, one of the most remarkable announcements came when Apple claimed the new iPad will maintain the same battery life as the iPad 2, despite having 4G LTE and a Retina display suckling away the power. While batteries aren't exactly the flashiest of features, the fact that Apple has managed to offer so much more and only make the new iPad under a millimeter thicker and a scant 50 grams heavier is a huge achievement.

So, just how big is the battery?  The new iPad clocks in at 42.5 watt-hours, which works out to 11,666 mAh. That is a solid 70% boost to capacity over the iPad 2's 25 watt-hour,  6,944 mAh battery.  The new iPad maintains the established 10-hour lifespan standard, and even if you're active over LTE rather than Wi-Fi, you're still getting a very respectable 9 hours of life. 

To put that in context, an iPad 2 with with this new battery, if such a device existed, would probably last close to 17 hours on Wi-Fi.

How does this shape up versus other LTE tablets? Well, Samsung claims the LTE-enabled Galaxy Tab 10.1 has 12 hours of continuous usage with a 7000 mAh battery, while AT&T claims just as much with HTC Jetstream and its 7,300 mAh battery. Of course, these are dealing 1280 x 800 screens, which are bound to be way less taxing on lifetime, but it's still a considerable difference.

Of course, we aren't going to know for sure if the new iPad lives up to those figures until we get our mitts on one next week, but this isn't an area where Apple tends to disappoint. I'm curious to see the teardown of the new iPad so we can see how much the battery has physically grown, how the weight is distributed throughout the devices, and most importantly, what if any new innovations Apple may have come up with.

Until then, we'll have to cross our fingers and hope that even with the mind-blowing Retina display, the new iPad manages to live up to battery life expectations.

Hit-or-miss rumor site Digitimes is reporting that Apple plans on doubling the size of the battery in the the iPad 3, and moreover, that Apple will release it as soon as next month.

The battery capacity for the high-end version of Apple's new iPad - due to be unveiled in January 2012 - will be increased to 14,000mAH compared to 6,500mAH used currently, according to industry sources.

As always, take these rumors with a Macworld|iWorld expo sized grain of salt. Digitimes' "sources" also mentioned that Apple will debut two separate models of the iPad, one for the high-end market and the other filling in the mid-range segment. While 7-inch iPad persist, keeping the iPad 2 around the way the previous year's iPhone is usually kept around could be another alternative.

As to a January launch, that feels more like a rumor designed to hurt current iPad sales than anything fitting Apple's previous release patterns. Curious how those keep popping up, isn't it?

UPDATE: Jim Dalrymple from The Loop, whose sources are excellent, says there's nothing to see here. No iPad 3 at Macworld or CES, and no Apple Televisions either. [The Loop]

Source: Digitimes

ChangeWave has come out with a new survey polling customer satisfaction among new iPhone 4S owners, showing an overwhelming 96% satisfaction rating and propelling the iPhone 4S into "nosebleed territory".

Overall satisfaction with the iPhone 4S showed 77% of users being Very Satisfied and 19% being Somewhat Satisfied, compared to 72% and 21% respectively for the iPhone 4 that launched in 2010.

When asked about which features were enjoyed most in the iPhone 4S, users pointed to Siri as the big seller, and 'general ease of use' coming in second at 39%. The beefed up 8MP camera was also a big seller (33%), but interestingly enough, Apple's new iCloud service came up at just 19%.

In terms of dissatisfaction, users pegged battery life being too short as a big drawback in the 4S, although Apple has been hard at work investigating the issue. Additionally, the lack of 4G support was a downer for some users (30%), but that shouldn't be an issue next year. When looking at dropped calls, the iPhone 4S compared well against its predecessor with only 2.5% of calls dropped compared to 5.2% in July under the iPhone 4.

Overall, it seems that most iPhone 4S users are pretty happy with their purchase despite some battery life hiccups, but it's clear the positives far outweigh the negatives here. How satisfied are you with your new iPhone 4S?

Source: ChangeWave

Coming as a surprise to no one -- we hope -- Macerkopf.de says Apple is working hard on iOS 5.0.2 and iOS 5.1 beyond that. iOS 5.0.2 should address battery life issues that remained following the iOS 5.0.1 release and it's initial batch of battery fixes. iOS 5.1, they say, will bring some new features to Siri, including the ability to take pictures and video, and toggle Bluetooth, Wi-Fi.

Here's to hoping for another beta release in the coming days, and a full release soon after!

Source: Macerkopf.de via; MacRumors

AllThingsD's John Paczkowski received a statement from Apple concerning continued battery life issues following this week's iOS 5.0.1 release.

The recent iOS software update addressed many of the battery issues that some customers experienced on their iOS 5 devices. We continue to investigate a few remaining issues.

TiPb is conducting a poll to see how, if at all, iOS 5.0.1 has helped improve battery life so head on over there and give us your impressions.

Source: AllThingsD

And how's everything else working for you? Any bugs under 5.0.1 you didn't have before the update?

• How to fix battery life problems with iOS 5 or iPhone 4S
• Need extra help? Try our iOS 5 Forum!

No worries, Apple's on it!

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iOS 5.0.1, battery life issues, new don't-delete, don't-backup storage, Brichter leaves Twitter, aluminum laser beams, GarageBand and music setups, and app picks of the week with Georgia, Seth, Rene and Jim Dalrymple. This is iPad Live!

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• Chris V: How I use my iPhone and iPad as a biology professor

News

• http://www.loopinsight.com/2011/11/02/apple-confirms-battery-life-issues-in-ios-5/
• Apple seeds iOS 5.0.1 beta 2 to developers
• Apple adds new don’t-purge, don’t-back-up file store in iOS 5
• Twitter’s iOS developer Loren Brichter announces his departure
• Rumor: Apple to redesign iPad, iPhone, MacBook Air, and iMac next year?

Discussion

• Making the impossible possible
• CBS turned down the chance of an Apple TV deal
• Apple releases Garage Band for iPhone and iPod touch
• Jim's iPad guitar setup
• Giveaway: Apogee Jam for iPhone and iPad!

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• Picks of the week

Tips

• iOS 5 Camera/Photo tips

Hosts

• Georgia (@GeorgiaTiPb)
• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)
• Seth Clifford (@sethclifford)
• Jim Dalrymple (@jdalrymple of The Loop

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Thanks to the TiPb iPad Accessory Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Music Hear me Roar by iPad Live theme song contest winner, DieselJesus!

Jim Dalrymple of The Loop received the following statement from Apple concerning iOS 5 battery life complaints:

“A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices,” an Apple spokesperson told The Loop. “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.”

If you're one of the few, the small, the bugged, TiPb has compiled a list of battery life tips that might help you fix or at least minimize the issue in the meantime.

Source: The Loop

Twice as fast as iPhone 4

Apple is reportedly looking into complains about iPhone 4S battery life. Apple has done this before, typically after the release of new versions of the operating system, like 3.0, and asked users to install diagnostic utilities to help them track down the problem.

Previously on TiPb we've run a poll asking about your iPhone 4S and iOS 5 battery life, and we've giving you our top tips for troubleshooting and extending your battery life, but it's nice to see Apple still takes the issue seriously. Hopefully any problems they do find will be addressed in an upcoming iOS 5.0.1 update.

Source: The Guardian

According to our polls, quite a lot of you say your battery life taken a hit with iOS 5, or that your new iPhone 4S battery life simply isn't up to snuff. Anytime a new software version is released or a new devices comes to market, it seems battery life becomes an issue. Luckily, that also means we're getting better at troubleshooting it! Here are some things you can try to make sure your iOS 5 or iPhone 4S battery is lasting as long as it should, and some tweaks you can make to get it to last as long as possible.

First: Assess your usage!

Okay, this sounds funny, but make sure you're not just using your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch more than you used to. Any time we get a new version of iOS, or a new device our tendency is to never put it down. Now, with location based Reminders, Siri, and other power hungry features, we might simply be using our device more than we have in a while.

Before you do any drastic battery life fixes, put your device down and see how fast the battery really is draining.

Fixing Battery Life

If, in general, your battery life is consistently short and you're basically just watching the indicator drain down before your eyes, here are some things to try, in order of how easy they are to do.

• Restart/reset your device. If you haven't rebooted in a while, give it a try. There could be a rogue process or something else doing what it shouldn't be doing, and a restart can often fix that. (Here's how to reboot](http://www.imore.com/2010/12/17/beginner-tip-power-reset-ios-device-hit-problem/))
• Power cycle. About once a month, and certainly if you're having problems, you should completely drain your iPhone or iPad's battery -- drain it until it shuts down on its own -- and then charge it back up to full.
• Restore your device as new. The single biggest cause of battery life problems with iOS 5 occurs when they are restored from backup and not set up as new devices. Whether it's cruft or corruption, a clean install as a new device -- incredible pain in the butt though it may be -- is usually the best fix for any battery life issues. This is the nuclear option. You will have to set up absolutely everything again, and you will lose all your saved data like game levels, but in most cases your battery life will be better than ever. (Here's how]
• Go to the Apple Store. Sometimes you do get a lemon, or your iPhone or iPad develops a real problem that only Apple can solve by either swapping it for another device or otherwise figuring out a fix.

Saving battery life

Anything running on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad uses up the battery, so we're going to go into the Settings app and turn some things down, and turn others off altogether. The more you turn off, the longer your batter will last -- but of course the less you'll be able to do. It's a balancing act but one that can help you squeeze out a little extra juice when you really need it.

• Turn off Siri's Raise to Speak. Go to Settings, General, Siri. Readers keep telling us this has helped them with battery life due to accelerometer issues.
• Turn of Ping. Go to Settings, General, Restrictions, (Enable Restrictions). Again, readers say this prevents undue push. And who uses Ping anyway?
• Turn off Location Services. Go to Settings, Location Services, and turn off any app you really don't need tracking or using your location. You can also turn off system settings, and location based time seems popular with our readers as a battery suck.
• Turn off Push Notifications. Likewise, go to Settings, Notifications, and turn off any app you don't care to be alerted about.
• Turn of Notification Center widgets. Stocks, and particularly weather in Notification Center seem to be causing our readers some battery grief. Since weather can be location-based now, the potential is there for more battery abuse.
• Kill power hungry apps. Double-click the Home Button to activate the multitasking dock, hold your finger on an app to enter "jiggly" mode, and kill any apps that might be running in the background, especially VoIP (like Skype), streaming audio (like Pandora), or navigation (like TomTom). (Here's how)

Here are some old standbys as well:

• Set Auto-Lock to 1 minute
• Turn off any extra sounds, like keyboard clicks
• Turn off the iPod EQ
• Use headphones instead of the speaker if you have to listen to audio or music
• Turn down the screen brightness
• Turn off Bluetooth when not using it
• Turn off Wi-Fi when not using it
• Turn off 3G when not using it (Not possible on iPhone 4S)
• Set all email, calendar, and contacts accounts to "Fetch" (turn off Push)

Bonus tip: If you're really desperate, put your iPhone in Airplane Mode and save the radios for when you need them. If you're really desperate, you can also turn your iPhone completely off until you need it (it will still use a tiny amount of power but far, far less than anything else).

Plug in your device

Like our friend Phil Nickinson from Android Central always says, don't be ashamed to plug in your device. If you're using your iPhone or iPad a lot, plug it in to recharge whenever you can. At home, at work, in the car, there are plenty of opportunities to top up your battery.

More help

• iPhone 4S Forum battery troubleshooting thread
• iOS 5 Forum help

So how did these tips work out for you? Give us your feedback, and any other tips for saving iOS 5 or iPhone 4S battery life you might have, in the comments! If anything has worked especially well for you, we'll add it to the list!

Now a new phone, especially one that talks back to you, is so fun to use that we might not get back down to every day levels for a while still. But if you're not talking to Siri every minute, if you set up as new rather than restoring from backup, if you're not lighting up all the new location-based Reminders and Find my Friends, and your Notification Center isn't set to the full fire hose, how do you think battery life compares to your previous phone?

Is it great, gets through the day, no problems whatsoever? Is it about the same? Is it so bad you've stopped using Siri, turned off location services, disabled push notifications, and gone to commiserate with your Android wielding friends?

Vote up top and give us the details, including anything that's helped you improve battery life, in the comments below!

Vote in the poll up top and then give us the great -- or gory -- details in the comments below. If you are having problems, let us know how you've tried to trouble shoot: clean install (not from backup), remove and re-add push accounts, delete and re-download notification and location happy apps, turn off Ping (always a good idea), turn of location Reminders, restart a lot -- what's worked and what hasn't?

So how's your battery life with iOS 4.3? It never fails but every time Apple releases a new version of iOS for iPhone, iPod touch or iPad we here at TiPb inevitably get bombarded with email saying how it's destroyed battery life -- or made it better than ever. Equal parts really.

So, we want to know! Vote in the poll up top and give us the device and details in the comments below!

(And if you are having problems check out our previous tip on how to trouble shoot iOS battery-life issues.)

The TiPb forums are naturally a great place to talk, commiserate, celebrate, get help, and offer advice to your fellow iPhone users. In order to create a new thread of your own or reply to any of the existing threads, you must be a registered member. Becoming a member is easy and free so if you haven’t already, head on over and register now!

• Most of you have your Verizon iPhone 4 in hands right about now so what are your thoughts? Happy? Not happy? Sound off with your very own review here!

• For myself battery life of my iPhone 4 is nothing short of spectacular, how long does your battery last?

• Whether you've just purchased a Verizon iPhone 4 or have had your device for a while now, if you are interested in the possibility of jailbreaking your device, this is the forum for you - Jailbreak and Unlock Forum.

• The rumors regarding an iPad 2 and 3 are running rampant as of late, what are you purchasing plans on these devices? Will hold off until the 3rd generation if it does get released as soon as September? Sound off in this thread.

See you in the forums!

Need to find out how to make your iPhone's battery life last longer? There are quite a few ways in which you can help your iPhone save power. Some are very intuitive but hopefully we will tell you a few which you have not yet thought of.

Special thanks to michaelchang516 from the forums for this tip!

The basic idea is this: anything running on your iPhone uses up the battery, so we're going to go into the Settings app and turn some things down, and turn others off altogether. The more you turn off, the longer your batter will last -- but of course the less you'll be able to do. It's a balancing act but one that can help you squeeze out a little extra juice when you really need it.

• Set Auto-Lock to 1 minute
• Turn off any extra sounds, like keyboard clicks
• Turn off the iPod EQ
• Use headphones instead of the speaker if you have to listen to audio or music
• Turn down the screen brightness
• Turn off Bluetooth when not using it
• Turn off Wi-Fi when not using it
• Turn off 3G when not using it
• Turn off Location Services when not using them
• Turn off Push Notifications
• Set all email, calendar, and contacts accounts to "Fetch" (turn off Push)
• Double-click the Home Button to activate the multitasking dock, hold your finger on an app to enter "jiggly" mode, and kill any apps that might be running in the background, especially VoIP (like Skype), streaming audio (like Pandora), or navigation (like TomTom).

Bonus tip: If you're really desperate, put your iPhone in Airplane Mode and save the radios for when you need them. If you're really desperate, you can also turn your iPhone completely off until you need it (it will still use a tiny amount of power but far, far less than anything else).

So how did these tips work out for you? Give us your feedback, and any other tips for saving iPhone battery life you might have, in the comments!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

How is your iPhone 4 battery life under iOS 4.0.2? Since iPhone 4 launched we've gotten tons of email and tweets from readers surprised at just how much battery life they're getting out of iPhone 4, but iOS 4.0.2 seems to have raised that bar (even if only slightly).

I know my iPhone 3GS would be in the red by early evening, yet even pushing around four times as many pixels with that huge Retina Display, iPhone 4 seems to just go and go. Especially impressive is stand by, where I've left it off the charger overnight only to wake up and find the battery levels had barely budged.

What's your experience so far with iPhone 4 under iOS 4.0.2 battery life?

The TiPb forums are naturally a great place to talk, commiserate, celebrate, get help, and offer advice to your fellow iPhone users. In order to create a new thread of your own or reply to any of the existing threads, you must be a registered member. Becoming a member is easy and free so if you haven’t already head on over and register now!

• For those of you using an iPhone 3GS and updated to iOS 4, how has your battery life been treating you?

• Some of our forum members are reporting their iPhone 4's are heating up to a uncomfortable level. Have you had any heat issues with your iPhone 4?

• With the latest web-based jailbreak many of you are just beginning to learn about all of the great apps available if you jailbreak. If you want to find more or simply want to share some great apps you are aware of, do so here: Top 5 Jailbreak Applications.

• The comparisons between Android and iPhone are inevitable. But more specifically for those who have used both, why do you prefer one or the other?

See you in the forums!

The TiPb forums are naturally a great place to talk, commiserate, celebrate, get help, and offer advice to your fellow iPhone users. In order to create a new thread of your own or reply to any of the existing threads, you must be a registered member. Becoming a member is easy and free so if you haven’t already head on over and register now!

• In case you have not heard, a new jailbreak has been released and a unlock is right around the corner. So to discuss these topics be sure to visit our iPhone Jailbreak and Unlock forum!

• So far the iPhone 4's battery life has been nothing less than stellar for myself and many others, how about you - how is your iPhone 4's battery life?

• Are you looking for some fresh high resolution wallpaper for your iPhone 4? Then this is the thread for you - iPhone 4 wallpaper.

• Want to discuss Apple's competition? Be sure to check out the Other Smartphones and Gadgets forum!

See you in the forums!

Simple question - how's your battery life under iOS 4? We keep wanting better hardware and more features -- and better battery life at the same time. How did iOS 4 deliver for you?

If the answer is not too well, we've got some steps you can use to try and help. We did this last year for iPhone 3.0, and it's worth doing again.

Now, if your battery drain is caused simply by use -- you're running background music or navigation like a fiend, for example, your only choice is to get a few more charging cables or battery extenders. If, however, you're doing roughly the same things you've always done and getting substantially less battery life for your troubles, there's a chance a few troubleshooting steps might just help get your power problems back under control.

Reboot iPhone

If, all of a sudden, your iPhone starts burning through battery and getting hot at the same time, there could be a "rogue process" just churning away in the background. The answer to that is a good old-fashioned power cycle.

Hold down the sleep button until the red "Slide to power off" arrow appears. If your iPhone is frozen or otherwise in dire straights, you can hold down the home button at the same time as the sleep button to force quit all applications and bring up the red arrow. Then just swipe, let the iPhone turn off, wait a few seconds, and hold down the sleep button again to turn your iPhone back on.

Redo Push

Since iPhone 2.0 we've seen Push gone wrong really cause a hit to battery life. With 3.0, Push Notification means not only could mail, calendar, and contacts start misbehaving in the background, but your IM, Twitter, games, and all sorts of other apps can as well. In iOS 4 we can even have multiple ActiveSync accounts so push can hit twice as hard.

Apple says Push can cause a 20% drop in battery life, but if you think yours is worse then it should be, the next step is to redo anything that involves Push, including MobileMe, Exchange, and Google Sync accounts, and apps using Push Notification. Now, you might want to try doing one at a time, check your battery life, and if you don't notice any improvement, try the next one. If you find the culprit quickly, that approach could save you some time. If you just want to get it over with, you might want to do them all at once.

For the accounts, go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars, choose your MobileMe and/or Exchange accounts, scroll down to the bottom and hit delete. For apps, go to Settings > Notifications and look at the list of any apps using Push Notification. Go back to the Home Screen, hold down the home button until the icons start to jiggle, and delete the Push Notification app.

Then, for accounts, go back to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars, hit Add Account..., choose Mobile Me and/or Exchange, and re-enter your settings. For Push Notification apps, either sync them back from iTunes or go to the App Store app and re-download them.

My 3GS was getting warm and draining fast after I added Google Sync. Once I deleted and added it again, everything was great. So don't skip this step.

Restore as New iPhone

We won't lie to you -- this is the nuclear option. It's scorched earth. But to be frank, we at TiPb almost always default to this step because it almost always "just works". We do this every time we get a new firmware and every time we notice something just isn't right, and we have excellent battery life to prove it.

To restore your iPhone as new and get a fresh, clean start, attach it to your Windows or Mac machine via the USB cable and launch iTunes. A Restore button should be front and center on the screen. Hit it, then wait as iTunes goes through the laborious process of wiping your iPhone and installing the firmware again from scratch.

IMPORTANT: When iTunes asks if you want to restore your data from backup or set up as a new iPhone, choose NEW iPHONE.

Yes, you will lose your settings and any data saved in apps that don't provide some sort of sync functionality, but it's possible (even likely) some corruption in those settings or data is contributing to your poor battery life, and with an appliance like the iPhone, this is the only way to get rid of it.

This will also kill your Jailbreak, if you're jailbroken. But if something in your Jailbreak was killing your battery life, like backgrounder gone awry, trying out your iPhone without the Jailbreak is a good way to establish that.

Once your iPhone is set up as new, you can sync your info and media back over using the iTunes tabs as normal, and/or setup accounts and download apps on the iPhone itself.

Conclusion

iOS 4 should give you around the same battery life as previous versions. Even multitasking on iPhone 3GS shouldn't be a huge hit given Apple's implementation. If you're getting substantially less, there could be a problem with your setup or install.

Rebooting the iPhone, redoing Push-enabled applications, and restoring your iPhone as new are three escalating steps you can try to fix your battery problems.

Let us know how they work for you.

It's already June 21 in many parts of the world -- just not Cupertino, California -- so if you're up and waiting for iOS 4 to be released, why not wait in style with the TiPb Forums?

The forums are a great place to talk, commiserate, celebrate, get help, and offer advice to your fellow iPhone and iPad users. In order to create a new thread of your own or reply to any of the existing threads, you must be a registered member. Becoming a member is easy and free so if you haven't already head on over and register now!

• When is iOS 4 going to be available for download? iPhone OS 3 hit around 10:30am PT/1:30pm ET, will Apple keep to the same schedule this year? Place your bets!
• How's battery life with iOS 4? Does the new OS save power, or do the new features simply offer more ways to drain it? Weigh in!
• iOS 4 compatible apps list. Have your must-have apps been updated for iOS 4? Have you heard when they will be? Check the list!
• iOS 4 got you thinking of switching from Android, BlackBerry, or webOS? There a thread for each one so check the forum out!

It's go time TiPb nation. All that's left is the waiting. Hit the forums and let's wait around together!

Looks like GCN's concerns that Apple was overstating iPad battery life in face of IPS display power needs reached Apple CEO Steve Jobs while he was sitting in his chair enjoying his 9.7 magical, revolutionary tablet:

I e-mailed him to say that I didn’t mean to imply that he was lying during his iPad presentation, as several people accused me of in their comments. People make presentations written by marketers all the time that are not 100 percent truthful, and it doesn’t make them liars. I used the normal, publicly available e-mail address for him, not any of the special ways we press folks can sometimes get access. I figured that would be the end of it.

Two hours later:

[...]yes, we are getting 10 hours in 1.5 pounds.

Sent from my iPad

Boom.

'Course we get to find out for ourselves when the iPad ships on April 3 in the US.

[Via MacRumors]

Apple released iPhone and iPod touch 3.1.2 last thursday, and the changelog read like a who's who of bug fixes. But did it fix what ailed your device? From battery life woes to "coma mode", we want to know how you're doing post-update -- if you've updated, that is. Hit up the polls after the break and let us know!

Poor battery life and iPhone are a few words that get mixed together all too often it seems. While some will say it's fine, others will say it's pitiful. As many of you know, battery life will fluctuate greatly between users and their individual usage patterns but TiPb wants to provide you with some simple tips and tricks on conditioning your battery to provide a maximum life and squeezing as much usage out of each charge as possible.

The battery in an iPhone is a lithium-based battery which is most common in consumer portable devices. A lithium-ion battery provides 300-500 discharge/charge cycles in its lifetime and the following tips are just a few ways to efficiently gain longer battery lifespans while extending overall battery life of your iPhone.

• Be sure to go through at least one charge cycle per month (charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it down).
• Avoid heat - do not leave your iPhone in a hot car or in direct sunlight.
• Optimization of your settings. Yes, some of these are no brainers but can be effective. Simple things like:
  1. turning off Location Services,
  2. turning off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when not in use,
  3. fetching new data less frequently,
  4. setting the brightness of your screen below 50%,
  5. turning of the EQ while listening to music,
  6. turning off 3G while not surfing the internet (Yes, we said it...)

All of these add up to better battery life.

After you've tried some of the above tips and you are still not happy or your battery life is just horrid all together, you may want to try restoring your iPhone and do not restore from a backup file but rather restore as a new iPhone. All too often we hear about horrible battery life striking many of you after updating your iPhone to the latest software. If this is the case, 9 times out of 10 a separate restore as a new iPhone will clear up your battery issue.

Have some battery saving tips you'd like to share? Leave them in the comments for others to take advantage of!

An undisclosed number of users who have posted on Apple's discussion boards about poor battery life following the iPhone 3.1 software update are being contacted by AppleCare helpdesk with a hefty list of 11 follow-up questions. These questions focus primarily on the usual battery culprits, email (especially push), WiFi and Bluetooth, and App Store apps. Number 10, asking "When you notice a power drop, does it seem to be a legitimate power drop, or rather an issue with the battery icon indicator?", is certainly interesting.

The note also contains an attachment which, when double-clicked, installs what looks like an unsigned profile, similar to what is provided (in signed form) by developers using Ad Hoc provisioning for beta testing. (We're guessing there's a reason for it not to be signed, but -- note to Apple -- signing would make us feel so much warmer and fuzzier about it). This profile enables Battery Life Logging on the iPhone.

Once enabled, the iPhone will sync power logs back via iTunes, and they ask that those logs be sent back to Apple. (Due to the size of the logs, they recommend users not go for a few days without syncing, and provide instructions on turning off Battery Life Logging once the information has been accumulated.

AppleCare as contacted Apple discussion board users in the past surrounding other issues, like the iPhone 3G ringer following 3.0, so hopefully this means Apple is continuing to look into all major issues surrounding iPhone 3.1, especially the random lock ups and shut downs (dubbed "coma").

According to our recent iPhone 3.1 battery life poll, 24% of you are experiencing worse battery life under iPhone 3.1, with 61% reporting roughly the same battery life, and 11% reporting much better battery life. If you're one of the 24 percent'ers, let us know if you get contacted by Apple and make it any progress towards resolving the problem (for some tips from TiPb, see our previous How To: Trouble Shoot Battery Life post).

[Thanks to G. for the tip!]

So, how's your battery life doing under iPhone 3.1? If you jumped on it immediately last Wednesday, or had a few days to try it out at least, have you noticed any big changes? Much better? Much worse? Or is it pretty much the same?

Yeah, we ask this every time there's a new firmware, but that's just because Apple seems to be tweaking things every time there's a new firmware.

So, win, lose, or draw, let us know how it's working for you. And if you're having battery problems, remember to check out TiPb's How To: Troubleshoot iPhone Battery Life Problems guide.

No doubt about it, issues with battery life remain a hot topic for iPhone 3.0 and iPhone 3GS users.

Now, if your battery drain is caused simply by use -- you never put the iPhone (or iPod touch) down and are always playing games, pushing IMs, watching movies, etc. your only choice is to get a few more charging cables or battery extenders. If, however, you're doing roughly the same things you've always done and getting substantially less battery life for your troubles, there's a chance a few troubleshooting steps might just help get your power problems back under control.

Reboot iPhone

If, all of a sudden, your iPhone starts burning through battery and getting hot at the same time, there could be a "rogue process" just churning away in the background. The answer to that is a good old-fashioned power cycle.

Hold down the sleep button until the red "Slide to power off" arrow appears. If your iPhone is frozen or otherwise in dire straights, you can hold down the home button at the same time as the sleep button to force quit all applications and bring up the red arrow. Then just swipe, let the iPhone turn off, wait a few seconds, and hold down the sleep button again to turn your iPhone back on.

Redo Push

Since iPhone 2.0 we've seen Push gone wrong really cause a hit to battery life. With 3.0, Push Notification means not only could mail, calendar, and contacts start misbehaving in the background, but your IM, Twitter, games, and all sorts of other apps can as well.

Apple says Push can cause a 20% drop in battery life, but if you think yours is worse then it should be, the next step is to redo anything that involves Push, including MobileMe and Exchange accounts, and apps using Push Notification. Now, you might want to try doing one at a time, check your battery life, and if you don't notice any improvement, try the next one. If you find the culprit quickly, that approach could save you some time. If you just want to get it over with, you might want to do them all at once.

For the accounts, go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars, choose your MobileMe and/or Exchange accounts, scroll down to the bottom and hit delete. For apps, go to Settings > Notifications and look at the list of any apps using Push Notification. Go back to the Home Screen, hold down the home button until the icons start to jiggle, and delete the Push Notification app.

Then, for accounts, go back to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars, hit Add Account..., choose Mobile Me and/or Exchange, and re-enter your settings. For Push Notification apps, either sync them back from iTunes or go to the App Store app and re-download them.

Restore as New iPhone

We won't lie to you -- this is the nuclear option. It's scorched earth. But to be frank, we at TiPb almost always default to this step because it almost always "just works". We do this every time we get a new firmware and every time we notice something just isn't right, and we have excellent battery life to prove it.

To restore your iPhone as new and get a fresh, clean start, attach it to your Windows or Mac via the USB cable and launch iTunes. A Restore button should be front and center on the screen. Hit it, then wait as iTunes goes through the laborious process of wiping your iPhone and installing the firmware again from scratch.

IMPORTANT: When iTunes asks if you want to restore your data from backup or set up as a new iPhone, choose NEW iPHONE.

Yes, you will lose your settings and any data saved in apps that don't provide some sort of sync functionality, but it's possible (even likely) some corruption in those settings or data is contributing to your poor battery life, and with an appliance like the iPhone, this is the only way to get rid of it.

This will also kill your Jailbreak, if you're jailbroken. But if something in your Jailbreak was killing your battery life, like backgrounder gone awry, trying out your iPhone without the Jailbreak is a good way to establish that.

Once your iPhone is set up as new, you can sync your info and media back over using the iTunes tabs as normal, and/or setup accounts and download apps on the iPhone itself.

Conclusion

iPhone 3.0 and iPhone 3GS should have roughly the same battery life for you as iPhone 2.2.1 and the iPhone 3G. If you're getting something substantially less than that, there could be something wrong with your iPhone 3.0 install or your iPhone 3GS' system.

Rebooting the iPhone, redoing Push-enabled applications, and restoring your iPhone as new are three escalating steps you can try to fix your battery problems.

Let us know how they work for you.

Back when Apple re-introduced Push Notification at the iPhone 3.0 Sneak Preview Event, Scott Forstall claimed that, unlike background multitasking that could cause an 80% drop in battery life, Push Notification would only cause a 20% drop. While some debated the truth (or truthiness) of his claims, it did set the expectation that users running Push Notification-enabled apps would see lower battery life, and gave an indicator of just how much less.

So, while it too a while, now that we finally have Push Notification, and some of the more popular messengers and games are implemented it, how's your battery life doing?

Are you seeing a hit compared to your pre-Push Notification days, and if so, is it in the 20% range? Let us know which iPhone you have, how often you're getting Push Notifications, and how your battery is holding up!

The forums are seeing a lot of action as of late and today is more of the same!

The rumor mills are just getting started about the next generation iPhone and you can expect that to increase by the day. Knowing that a new Apple phone is only 5-6 months away, will you be purchasing the next iPhone? Be sure to get your vote in and let us know why or why not!

The next thread comes to us from TiPb's very own Rene Ritchie. He wants to know what podcasts are currently on your iPhone? I'm sure every single one of our readers already subscribed to iPhone Different and iPhone Live... right?

Usually the main question from someone who is looking into buying an iPhone is battery life. No different here, jstac wants to know about the iPhone 3G's battery life. My answer is simple -- all depends on how you use the device. It can be good and it can be bad.

Another question that gets asked a lot about the iPhone 3G is it's build quality. While I personally have had no issues with mine since July 11th, other people have not been so lucky. How about you? Be sure to check out this ongoing thread on the build quality of the iPhone 3G.

To join in on the forum fun be sure to register! It's a simple process that will only take a moment of your time.

See you on the forums!

Enter the mophie Juice Pack Battery Pack/Case for iPhone, available now at TiPB store for $99.95. Read on for the full review!

First Impressions

The mophie Juice Pack arrives sealed in an entertaining package. It's worth a look and a read, front and back, before opening it up and using the Juice Pack. Conveniently, the Juice Pack arrives fully charged and ready to use. 

The inside part of the sled is a vibrant green rubberized finish, formed to accommodate the original iPhone (sorry, the 3G is incompatible). The rubberized sides are formed in a curve to wrap around the sides of your iPhone to hold it securely in place when your iPhone is seated. The back of the Juice Pack is black with the same rubberized finish, including a handy four-light LED indicator so you can check the power level.

The sides of the Juice Pack have slightly-raised rubber side-rails for an extra-grippy feel so you can hold it securely. A connector is located at the bottom for attaching your iPhone charger. You can charge the Juice Pack with or without the iPhone in place. Additionally, there is a "cutout" to accommodate the camera of your iPhone when the Juice Pack is in place. 

To attach your iPhone, just slide your iPhone in from the top so the bottom connector fits into place, and you are ready to use the power from the Juice Pack.

Performance

The mophie Juice Pack is advertised as doubling your power. The product specifications are as follows:

• Standby Time - Up to additional 250 hours
• Audio Playback - Up to additional 24 hours
• Talk Time - Up to additional 8 hours
• Video Playback - Up to additional 7 hours
• Internet Use - Up to additional 6 hours

Conclusion

If you have an original iPhone and need some extra power on the go, the mophie Juice Pack, available atTiPB Store for $99.95, is an excellent solution for your power needs. It doubles the battery life of your iPhone and helps overcome the lack of a user-replaceable battery. Although the Juice Pack requires removal of your iPhone's case to use and offers only average protection as a case itself, the benefit of doubled battery life outweighs these negatives.

Pros

• Doubled battery life
• Soft-touch finish
• "Smart" - iPhone uses Juice Pack power first

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Apple rates the iPhone 3G's talk time at 5 hours over the high-speed 3G network. While the call quality seems vastly improved due to more data being passed through the 3G pipe, some of the more chatty among us may find that 3G isn't just fast -- it's non-user-replaceable-battery draining fast!

Don't care as much about speed and clarity as you do sheer volume of talk time? Or what if you're just in an area that's not (yet?) covered by 3G? You're in luck! Apple has provided a way to turn off the 3G -- and blazing fast broadband-like HSPA speed that goes with it -- and drop back down to 2.5/2.75G -- and the dial-up-eque EDGE that is turtle to the 3G hare.

Boom! 10 hours of talk time! (And for those of you in countries with more restrictive/ridiculous data caps, a way to help pace yourself and starve your data-hungry iPhone).

Just remember: slow data transfer, not as good call quality, no simultaneous voice and data (you can't talk and surf the web on EDGE at the same time).

Step-by-step instructions after the break!

From the Home screen, tap Settings, then tap General:

Then tap Network, and right on top you'll see a slider for Enable 3G. Set On/Off as desired, and you're good to go.