The tale of my iPhone 5 battery...
When it came time to upgrade my old iPhone 3GS a couple of years ago, I wavered between the new iPhone 5 and some flavor of Android phone. For a variety of reasons, not all very well thought out, I ended up with the iPhone 5. I had an iPad, and a small investment in apps, so it seemed the way to go.
About 9 months ago, around the time of one of the iOS 7 updates, I found my phone would often (as in "constantly") turn itself off and show it needed to be charged when the meter showed about 30% charge remaining. A quick Google showed I was not alone in this annoying behavior. I'd plug the phone in to charge it and it would instantly show as having 35%+ charge remaining. Sometimes doing a hard reset by pressing and holding both the Sleep and Home button would temporarily remind my phone it did indeed have juice, but not always.
"Miscalibration," was the term I saw bandied about. I tried backing up my phone and restoring it.
No dice.
This got worse and worse. Apple was no help at all, especially since I hadn't opted for the overpriced AppleCare. (Digression: the success of AppleCare demonstrates Apple's cynical attitude about product warranties. Their goddamn phone wouldn't need a freaking extended warranty if they'd built it properly in the first place.)
And then things got ridiculous. I (stupidly) upgraded to iOS 8.
With only moderate use, my phone would go from a full 100% charge to dead in 4 hours. One day, on my 50 minute morning commute, it went from 100% to 50% just because I used BlueTooth to play music to my car stereo. The final straw: using *nothing* it went from a full charge to almost dead in the space of an hour and half.
All of my family got tired of hearing me bitch.
Then one day, my brother sent me a link to a story on CNet that said Apple had quietly started a battery replacement program for the iPhone 5. Go to a buried page on the Apple support site, enter your phone's serial number and see if your phone is one of the stricken.
Guess what: I qualified. No surprise there.
Here's the link: https://www.apple.com/support/iphone5-battery/
After confirming I was affected, I set up an appointment with the "Genius Bar" (am I the only one who sees any irony in this?) at the Apple store nearest me. Before going, I did a full backup to iTunes, per the instructions.
The scene at my local Apple Store was hopping, since the iPhone 6 had just been released. I made my presence known, and they took my phone away. About 30 minutes I got it back.
I did a full reset AND restore (not just a restore) when I got home, then ran the new battery all the way down. Since doing that, I'm back to getting a full day or more from a single charge. No more goofiness with my battery calibration.
If you are finding you are having the calibration issue, I'd recommend the full reset / restore. Wipe the phone, then apply your (recently made) full backup. I'd do this whether Apple replaces your battery or not.
So am I happy? More so. Am I still planning on getting an Android phone when my mobile contract is up for renewal? Oh hell yes.
About 9 months ago, around the time of one of the iOS 7 updates, I found my phone would often (as in "constantly") turn itself off and show it needed to be charged when the meter showed about 30% charge remaining. A quick Google showed I was not alone in this annoying behavior. I'd plug the phone in to charge it and it would instantly show as having 35%+ charge remaining. Sometimes doing a hard reset by pressing and holding both the Sleep and Home button would temporarily remind my phone it did indeed have juice, but not always.
"Miscalibration," was the term I saw bandied about. I tried backing up my phone and restoring it.
No dice.
This got worse and worse. Apple was no help at all, especially since I hadn't opted for the overpriced AppleCare. (Digression: the success of AppleCare demonstrates Apple's cynical attitude about product warranties. Their goddamn phone wouldn't need a freaking extended warranty if they'd built it properly in the first place.)
And then things got ridiculous. I (stupidly) upgraded to iOS 8.
With only moderate use, my phone would go from a full 100% charge to dead in 4 hours. One day, on my 50 minute morning commute, it went from 100% to 50% just because I used BlueTooth to play music to my car stereo. The final straw: using *nothing* it went from a full charge to almost dead in the space of an hour and half.
All of my family got tired of hearing me bitch.
Then one day, my brother sent me a link to a story on CNet that said Apple had quietly started a battery replacement program for the iPhone 5. Go to a buried page on the Apple support site, enter your phone's serial number and see if your phone is one of the stricken.
Guess what: I qualified. No surprise there.
Here's the link: https://www.apple.com/support/iphone5-battery/
After confirming I was affected, I set up an appointment with the "Genius Bar" (am I the only one who sees any irony in this?) at the Apple store nearest me. Before going, I did a full backup to iTunes, per the instructions.
The scene at my local Apple Store was hopping, since the iPhone 6 had just been released. I made my presence known, and they took my phone away. About 30 minutes I got it back.
I did a full reset AND restore (not just a restore) when I got home, then ran the new battery all the way down. Since doing that, I'm back to getting a full day or more from a single charge. No more goofiness with my battery calibration.
If you are finding you are having the calibration issue, I'd recommend the full reset / restore. Wipe the phone, then apply your (recently made) full backup. I'd do this whether Apple replaces your battery or not.
So am I happy? More so. Am I still planning on getting an Android phone when my mobile contract is up for renewal? Oh hell yes.
Comments
Teri Arnold @ Spyder Digital Research