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Apple's iOS 7.1.1 tweaks shown to extend iPhone battery life

The latest version of Apple's mobile operating system seems to have brought with it enhancements designed to ease strain on the iPhone's battery, as some users are reporting noticeable increases in uptime with iOS 7.1.1.

iOS 7.1 brought a significant dip in battery life, according to journalist Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, who has been tracking power consumption on his iPhone 5 since the handset's release. That trend has been reversed with iOS 7.1.1, he noted for ZDNet, with battery life returning to levels seen in iOS 6.

Specifically, Kingsley-Hughes's battery meter now comes in approximately 16 percentage points higher after a six-hour test. Where his iPhone dropped to about 61 percent under iOS 7.1, the same workload nets around 76 percent with iOS 7.1.1.

Kingsley-Hughes says his data is averaged over "many six-hour runs." He measures drops only from a full charge in order to eliminate the possibility of a non-linear discharge curve.

Apple has been seen exploring numerous ways to improve the battery life of its devices in the past, including changes to the hardware itself that would lower power consumption. One notable invention, first discovered by AppleInsider, would monitor the device's charge and discharge cycles and use that information to alter various parameters — such as screen brightness or the CPU clock speed — to conserve power based on what it predicts the user will need.



35 Comments

dickprinter 16 Years · 1058 comments

I have no problem with overall battery life. The problem I have every once in a while is a complete shutdown for no reason when my percentage is showing between 15 & 20%. Sometimes I can power on again and other times I get nothing but the battery image showing a sliver of red along with the lightning connector plug. All other times I can run down to 1% and she still runs fine. iPhone 5 running 7.1.

macapfel 15 Years · 575 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dickprinter 

I have no problem with overall battery life. The problem I have every once in a while is a complete shutdown for no reason when my percentage is showing between 15 & 20%. Sometimes I can power on again and other times I get nothing but the battery image showing a sliver of red along with the lightning connector plug. All other times I can run down to 1% and she still runs fine. iPhone 5 running 7.1.

 

I have exactly the same problem. Very odd and annoying.

ireland 18 Years · 17436 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dickprinter 

I have no problem with overall battery life.

 

Yes, but lots of people do. By most accounts 7 has been more eager to drain your battery than 6. Here's to hoping 8 has so clever battery life enhancements, even if simply optimisations.

 

Too bad the iPhone 6 is going to be so, so, thin. It's going look cool being so thin, but they could enhance battery life more if they weren't so obsessed with being the thinnest smartphone out there. Just as the iMac is now the thinnest AIO out there, but the speakers sound much worse than the previous gen, thanks to the funnelled-audio sounds. I literally switched to the MacBook Air from 9 years of owning iMacs because of this issue, as the reason I bought the iMac is I was a true AIO desktop guy. Even adding on speakers to it ruins he whole point of the iMac IMO, and I really think it was a bad tradeoff. True form over function in the iMac case.

roggen 10 Years · 2 comments

Has anyone seen an increase in battery life for their iPhone 4S?  I'm hoping so as my 4S  was drawing down at an incredible rate after installing iOS7.1

tp398 11 Years · 2 comments

Frustratingly my 5S and my wife's 5 have both seen a decrease in battery life since upgrading to 7.1.1. We often get the 20% warning mid-afternoon where normally it would come around early evening!