Jailbreak Battery Life with iOS 4.1 and iOS 4.2.1

[WK446]

I originally posted this to the wrong thread and decided afterwards that it probably deserved its own thread.

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I have an IPH4 running iOS 4.2.1 w/GreenPois0n RC6.1 and prior to that, I ran iOS 4.1 with Limera1n exclusively.

I searched high and low prior to upgrading to 4.2.1. Many posts and comments were very vague concerning the battery life for GreenPois0n and I must admit, I was a touch gun-shy and very reluctant to upgrade.

I did not have very good battery life on 4.1 (Limera1n). My settings were brightness at 45%, Wifi off (on only when needed), push on, bluetooth off, and location off. I do not use lock-screen or any Winterboard theming Typically, if I started my day at 6 am, I would be at 20% battery life by 1 pm.

After switching to 4.2.1 (GreenPois0n) and the same settings, I must say that I am very impressed with the overall battery life. During the same testing day from around 6 am to 1 pm, i have well over 65% battery life left. I can make it to around 5 pm with around 20% battery left. Can I squarely attribute this to 4.2.1? Possibly. If you search the Net for "iOS 4.2 network optimization," you will find some information regarding how iOS 4.2x is far more efficient on various networks which is in turn supposed to improve battery consumption.

Regardless, I am very pleased.

Just as a note, both iOS 4.1 and iOS 4.2.1 were installed cleanly and as a "new" phone. I did not restore via any previous backups.

I hope this assists you.

 

[BLiNK]

very good review/assessment. with the first couple versions of GP i did suffer some battery issues but with the final release i have had no issues at all

i am still confused how just the jailbreak itself can cause these type of issues. i always understood when we add tweaks/apps that semi-run in the background but i was having problems before i added anything

 

[WK446]

BLiNK: Thanks for the kind words. From what I have gathered, most have blamed one jailbreak or another for introducing a background process, for lack of a better term, that may be running and therefore draining the battery. I never did find any hard evidence of this.

In my specific case with iOS 4.1 Limera1n, the battery life was only fair. Since it was my first iPhone, I determined that the battery life I was experiencing was probably normal for such a device. At the same time, I was always thinking in the back of my mind, "there must be something wrong with the battery" or "this can't be normal, can it?"

It was only after I switched to iOS 4.2.1 did I realize that much better battery life could be attained.

 

[BLiNK]

I was always thinking in the back of my mind, "there must be something wrong with the battery" or "this can't be normal, can it?"

i often think these things as well.. even with my setup as is now. i am constantly monitoring it.. i use an app for a certain amount of time--i look.. use safari for a while--i look.. iPod/Pandora for a while--I LOOK! with every new jailbreak tweak/app i add yet even worse at times..

it gets almost ridiculous to be honest. i blame it all completely on the fact that we can set the battery % to ON the micromanaging tends to get a little overwhelming at times and i often wonder "should i just restore as new and leave it alone??"

..IF had to name ONE thing i disliked about jailbreaking it would be just THIS

 

[WK446]

I used to tinker alot more than I do now. You're not the only one that's "iPhone OCD" lol! Though I love the hobby, I try to find a balance now where I can have the most stable (without going back to stock) JB setup with the best possible battery life.

 

[Ipheuria]

I ran my iPhone 4 vanilla until now when I JB just a few weeks ago. I had great life on 4.0 and every firmware after really sucked battery life until 4.2 and this is on a vanilla phone. I have never had battery issues and every iPhone I have owned in the past 2.5 years has been JB it's complete life meaning not one day un-JBen. I'm biased towards pwnage tool so I have never used any of the other tools on my phone.

 

[BLiNK]

I used to tinker alot more than I do now. You're not the only one that's "iPhone OCD" lol! Though I love the hobby, I try to find a balance now where I can have the most stable (without going back to stock) JB setup with the best possible battery life.

very well said sir. i think i am slowly adopting this method as well.

can't stand the stock version, probably never will

 

[WK446]

I definitely could not go back to stock, nor would I do a tethered jailbreak... I guess I'm picky that way.

 

[BLiNK]

when i purchased my iP4 back in December it came loaded w/4.2.1 not too long after that the redsn0w tethered JB came available. i was a little hesitant of doing it but after making sure i had a charger easily accessible, Apple cable, flash drive with my .ipsw file and redsn0w software loaded on it, i felt pretty safe. glad i was never in a position where i needed to use it.

i do know one thing for sure.. i will not be upgrading my OS until there is a untethered jailbreak

 

[Ipheuria]

I have to eat my words now LOL my iPad has had crazy battery issues since I reloaded with a pwnage tool ipsw on the weekend. I just restored the OS and re-JB with the ipsw again today so we'll see how the battery drain goes.