According to a registered Apple developer with access to the latest iOS 5.1 beta 2 update for the iPhone, the latest release does not address the battery drain issue that some handset owners are experiencing.
Shortly after Apple released the iOS 5 update for the iPhone I started hearing complaint from owners of both the iPhone 4 and 4S who were not getting as a good mileage from their battery as they were with the previous iOS release. iPhone owners were seeing a rapid drop in battery while the handset seemed to be doing little or nothing.
This was not unusual though, as every major iOS release has suffered from some sort of battery issue. What made the iOS 5 battery problem special was that the 5.0.1 update failed to fix it. What’s more, this update introduced the bug to my previously well-behaved iPhone 4 and my test iPhone 3GS handsets.
So what about the new iOS 5.1 beta 2 that’s just been made available to registered Apple developers? Does that fix the problem? According to a developer who has been using it since its release (and who wishes to remain nameless as disclosing information about a beta could land them in trouble with Apple), no.
‘I had high hopes that Apple would finally fix this issue, but when the release notes made no mention of a battery fix, I started having doubts. Having had it installed for over a day on a 4 and a 4S, I’m seeing no improvement in battery life.’
This information is contrary to what is being reported by some outlets, but my guess is that these folks don’t have access to the beta or anyone running it.
Previous testing carried out by this developer for me narrowed down the battery problem to an iOS issue, rather than it being a hardware problem.
It is worth bearing in mind that this release to registered developers is a beta and not a final release, so Apple might still be working on the battery issue behind closed doors. That said, it would be nice (as someone affected by this bug) to get some sort of peep from Apple that the problem is being worked on.
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