The iPhone packs quite a punch in terms of design, features, functionality and overall sexiness. It’s not much of a stretch to call it practically indispensable for modern life. There is just one inconvenience of the iPhone that leaves many in the lurch all too often – reduced battery life.
Running out of battery just when you need to use your smartphone is a constant source of frustration and annoyance and quite possibly the bane of the modern world. A simple Google search for “how to increase iPhone battery life” brings up nearly 10 million hits. That’s a lot of concerned individuals.
Take a look below to see what really drains your iPhone’s charge and find out what you can do to extend its battery life.
Improvements with the iPhone 6
Apple has made some significant improvements to the battery life of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus that is worthy of praise. As shown in the infographic, these two models outperform all earlier models in all aspects, with the iPhone 6 Plus coming way out in front. If you’re not put off by the significant size increase of the 6 Plus, you’ll get double the amount of 3G talk time than the plain old 6 and at least double the amount of music playing time than all other previous generations.
For those of us still using earlier versions of the iPhone, there are a couple of important factors that can have a dramatic effect on the life of your battery. Take accessing the Internet for example. As the infographic clearly shows, it’s much more efficient to connect to a Wi-Fi access point when you need to get online instead of using your phone’s 3G. In fact, using Wi-Fi exclusively to check Whatsapp messages, post Facebook status, or respond to emails will save your battery between 30-40%. The iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, however, perform similarly whether the Internet is accessed via 3G or Wi-Fi.
3G vs 4G
But what about all this talk about 4G? What is it exactly, and how does it compare with 3G? In brief, the “G” refers to “generation” and indicates an upgrade in mobile technology. To put it plainly, the next generation 4G network delivers speeds that are as much as 10 times faster than 3G. This makes streaming videos on your phone much smoother. It also delivers much better performance for users that need to connect their computers to their phone’s network.
Internet vs Battery
Historically, the infographic shows us that all iPhone models have had significantly better battery lives utilising 2G instead of 3G mode when making and receiving calls. This is because 2G uses a slower data transfer rate when sending and receiving data to and from your iPhone – adequate if just using the phone to make/receive calls and texts. In 2015, trying to get online using only a 2G connection will just end up draining more of your battery as it will take longer to download that video stream or webpage.
What are your thoughts on the battery life of the iPhone – including the earlier models and the latest 6th generation?