iPhone 4S Battery Life: 7 Tricks to Make it Last Longer

Despite the A5 dual-core processor and Apple's promise the iPhone 4S would have a longer lasting battery, many users have been complaining on the MacRumors forum that their new devices lose battery quickly.

If you spend much of your day near a Wi-Fi network and only rely upon the iPhone 4S for web browsing and phone calling, you won't notice a major difference-unless you're thinking of switching to Sprint, in which case we'd be a little concerned, iLounge reported. Similarly, if you use 3G data, plan to record or play videos, or want to listen to hours of audio during the day, you can expect greater battery drain from the iPhone 4S.

After extensive research, iLounge found the iPhone 4S was not only beat by the iPhone 4 in terms of battery in most aspects, but did not live up to its expectations for most carriers, particularly Sprint.

Apple promised six hours of 3G Internet use on the iPhone 4S, but all carriers fell short: AT&T's model lasted five hours and 54 minutes, Verizon for five hours and 53 minutes and Sprint for five hours and 23 minutes. The iPhone 4, however, lasted six hours and 47 minutes.

The iPhone 4S did not achieve standards set for its Wi-Fi Internet use either, lasting 30 minutes short of its estimated nine hour promise, still one hour short of iPhone 4 capabilities.

However, in terms of calling talk time, some carriers exceeded estimates, set at eight hours, superior to the iPhone 4.

Our AT&T iPhone 4S achieved a 7 hour and 16 minute run time with 3G and Wi-Fi on, while the Verizon iPhone 4S actually ran for 8 hours and 27 minutes, iLounge reported. By contrast, the Sprint iPhone 4S turned in an amazingly weak 6 hours and 27 minutes-two hours less than the Verizon iPhone.

Similarly, the iPhone 4S seemed to beat out the older device in terms of FaceTime, but only marginally.

So why is the iPhone 4S draining battery so quickly? Mostly likely, the 200 new features and the addition of the Siri personal assistant app built-in does not help sustain battery life. But if you're a savvy iPhone user, you can make your battery life last much longer and not rely on iLounge's advice to keep a charger around in the day.

Here are 7 simple tricks to make the battery life last longer on the iPhone 4S.

1.    Turn off location-based reminders

It's actually a good idea never to use location-based reminders, as GPS drains iPhone's battery. Instead, consider setting time-based reminders.

2.    Adjust brightness appropriately

Some users prefer to maximize brightness on their iPhone, but the recommended setting is to keep it on auto-adjust.

3.    Disable location services

While new apps added by Apple like Find My Friends may be useful, they automatically use location services, which exhausts battery life. For apps where you don't necessarily need your location enabled, disable the option. To disable location services, go to Settings > General > Location Services.

4.    Maximize signal strength of carrier in region

It is no guarantee you'll always be in an area with a strong signal (i.e. on a flight). However, your iPhone will constantly look for a better one in a bad signal area, so you can consider using airplane mode, however, you will be unable to make or receive calls. To turn on Airplane Mode, go to Settings and set Airplane Mode to On.

5.    Turn off vibrate and Bluetooth (when not in use).

Turning off the vibrate function and Bluetooth capabilities, when not in use, can conserve battery. For Bluetooth, go to Settings > General > Bluetooth and set Bluetooth to Off.

6.    Turn off push notifications

Push notifications alert you of new data in apps, but disabling this feature conserves the juice. To disable push notifications, go to Settings > Notifications and set Notifications to Off.

7.    Turn off fetch

You can automatically set that data, like e-mail, be fetched in real time or every so often. Checking manually can be more efficient and you can change this by going to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data and tap Manually or Hourly.