Initial Reports Indicate iOS 5.0.1 Fixes Battery Life Issues

Apple's iOS 5.0.1 update to address battery life concerns faced by a number of users, according to initial reports iOS 5.0.1 software is "nothing short of amazing". Most developers who have used iOS 5.0.1 beta reported much better battery life when on iOS 5.0.1.

Wired and Twitter have some quotes from users on iOS 5.0.1, here are a few of them:

"Frankly the difference is nothing short of amazing. To go almost an entire day without a change in the meter reading seems unbelievable. Where before I could almost watch the battery drain, now it doesn’t move at all."

@thebertolet: done [updated] it on a 3GS, a AT&T iPhone 4, and a 4s as shown. The 4s has gone from 15% loss per hour to 3-4%.

@sweet_431: My battery life has noticeably improved, I now only need to charge every other day as opposed to every day.

@itsmekhoi: I updated to IOS 5.0.1 beta 2 (9A404) and I definitely notice the battery life improvement.

Not all users reported improvement with the update, however:

@xHacKx: I have it and I don't see any improvements to the battery life of my iPhone 4. I'm running iOS 5.0.1 Beta 2

@ggfevans: sadly no difference in battery life (around 4 and a half hours of usage, 6 standby). only change I've noted is the version number

The last beta was seeded to developers just less than a week ago and we expect Apple to release it to the users anytime soon.

If you've installed iOS 5 beta then let us know what has been your experience.

[via Wired]

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With iPhone 4S’ Improved Antenna, Consumer Reports Recommends iPhone 4S

Consumer Reports, the influential American monthly magazine trusted by a large number of people when buying consumer products, has announced that it "recommends" the iPhone 4S. The publication refused to recommend the iPhone 4 (GSM and CDMA) last year, due to reception issues when the device was held with a "death grip".

The iPhone 4S, as Phil Schiller said, "can intelligently switch between two antennas between send and receive to make even better call quality."

The improved antenna design did solve the antenna issues as per user accounts, and now Consumer Reports' sophisticated tests have concluded that the problem has indeed been solved with the iPhone 4S.

The publication says:

In special reception tests of the iPhone 4S that duplicated those we did on the iPhone 4, the newer phone did not display the same reception flaw, which involves a loss of signal strength when you touch a spot on the phone’s lower left side while you’re in an area with a weak signal. (The iPhone 4, which is still available, continues to exhibit that problem, we confirmed in tests of new samples of the phone. Because of the flaw, we continue to omit the iPhone 4 from our list of recommended models, despite its otherwise fine performance.)

The iPhone 4S did "very well"  in tests conducted by Consumer Reports, not exhibiting any sort of battery life issues. Of course not all users are experiencing satisfactory battery life, which is why Apple would be releasing a minor update to iOS in the coming weeks.

Despite a dual core processor, an upgraded camera and Siri, the iPhone 4S didn't outscore Android phones like Samsung's Galaxy S2 and Motorola's Droid Bionic. Reasons some of these Android phones topped the iPhone 4S in ratings are faster 4G speeds, 3D video/image capture and larger screens.

If you've been thinking about buying the iPhone 4S, then you've got a thumbs up from Consumer Reports.

[via Consumer Reports]

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