Is my iPhone screwed or just me?

November 7, 2010 7:33 PM

iPhone filter: iPhone 4 battery problem. Do I need a new phone, new battery or am I out of luck? Help me, hive-mind, you are my only hope.

I have an iPhone 4 that I bought during launch week this year. I jailbroke it on 4.01 so I could use SBsettings and Lockinfo. Never had a problem and it's worked like a champ until last week. I went ahead and upgraded thru iTunes to 4.1. When I started using my phone, I saw that I was a victim of the notorious "battery-drain" problem on 4.1.

My phone's battery would die within 6-8 hours of a full charge, even if I never used data and made only the minimal amount of calls needed. After looking around online and not finding anything, I decided to downgrade to 4.01 again. Now it seems I have the same problem, albeit it at a slightly slower rate. Still, at the rate it's going my phone dies within 9-12 hours, with no data usage and only 20-30 minutes phone calls.

I've de-charged my battery and recharged it multiple times in hopes of "re-calibrating" it. Same result.

I'd like to retain the ability to JB as I love SBsettings and Lockinfo. However, the JB site I follow said that when 4.2 comes out only those their SHSH blobs backed up from 4.1 will be able to jailbreak. Is my problem sounding like something in the battery where i can simply swap my battery out and be good or is it some manufacturing problem that I should get my phone replaced posthaste to get one with 4.1 on it?

All the websites I've read, including apple-forum has so much confusing info on my battery drain issue, including some people saying it's a myth ... yet I can literally watch my battery dwindle while it just sits on my desk.

Any ideas from the hivemind?

posted by damiano99 to computers & internet (5 answers total)

We've had a large number of 3GS's have this problem (we don't have many 4's in the field). Unfortunately the only fix we've found is to wipe the device back to defaults with new firmware.

I've run through Apple's guide for battery life with these phones to no avail. The problem is real. Phones come in with 8 hour run time, we wipe them, and they leave with 24 hour+ runtime.

Can you restore 4.1 non JB, and re-JB?
posted by SirStan at 8:14 PM on November 7, 2010

i had an iPhone 3G that was almost two years old (updated to iOS4, and then 4.1). i was having the same issues. actually, worse. my battery would drain within half an hour of being off the charger, even tho sometimes the meter said the battery was full and i'd barely used the phone. other times, it would shut itself off, then i could turn itself on about 20 minutes later, use it for about ten minutes and then the same thing would happen again a couple more times. all the while the batter meter said it was full or near full. i literally had to have my phone charging at all times.

when i finally brought it unto the apple store after a couple of weeks of this happening, they determined it was a hardware issue and gave me a new phone.
posted by violetk at 8:17 PM on November 7, 2010

I've tried wiping it to a new firmware, already. I've used the stock 4.01 firmware and I've also tried a 4.1 firmware run thru Pwnage Tool to keep the baseband intact (I use my fone overseas for work about 1 week a month and like using my overseas sim.)

Neither firmware solved my problem. It only started when I installed the 4.1 but for some reason, going back to stock 4.01 didn't really fix it.
posted by damiano99 at 8:32 PM on November 7, 2010

I took mine with pretty much identical symptoms to the Apple store and walked out with a brand spanking new phone.
posted by Lame_username at 12:09 AM on November 8, 2010

Also, another thought is: does anyone know if this is a battery issue or a "chip" issue from the firmware. In other words, if I get a new battery will it resolve the problem?
posted by damiano99 at 6:59 AM on November 8, 2010