14 DAY TRIAL // A customer who had been experiencing post iOS 4.1 battery drain and heat issues decided to hit up his local Apple Retail Store and have a word with the techies there. According to this person, it took Apple’s tech-savvy staff about 90 seconds to isolate the problem. They also sent him off with a brand new iPhone 4, albeit running an older version of the iOS.
“So I went to the Apple Store locally today to have my iPhone 4 examined for the post iOS 4.1 battery drain and heat issue,” Weylin McConnell shares with the world in a post at the Apple Discussions forums.
“It took about 90 seconds for them to identify an issue and replace my phone. Apparently the 4.1 update changes the modem software rev and actually creates a background process that is unnamed and never stops. It's a bug apparently,” he writes.
McConnell pinpoints that his device “was one of the original 600,000 sold on day one.”
“In fact, mine was delivered the day before the release,” McConnell notes.
He believes “the first phones might be more susceptible to this,” although this remains to be confirmed.
“So, the replacement is running 4.0.2 and the older modem FW rev and is absolutely wonderful again. No 4.1 until this issue is resolved,” McConnell is happy to inform fellow Apple Discussions users.
He goes to explain that “there is an actual issue with SOME of the phones,” although he fails to specify whether this information came straight from the mouths of Apple’s techies, or whether this is the result of his own analysis of the matter.
Nonetheless, his advice is “…don't let anyone tell you you're wrong and you shouldn't have to disable ANYTHING to use your phone normally.”
He added: “The guys at my local store were very helpful and interested in this issue.”
This story cannot be verified as 100% accurate, considering that many device owners have reported battery drainage issues with pretty much every firmware release since the debut of version 4.0.
Still, it is important to highlight those few accounts where Apple technicians indirectly confirm a widespread issue, be it from simple forum posts such as this one.
If this is, indeed, the case with iOS 4.1, Apple will most likely include a patch in the upcoming iOS 4.2 software update due out in November.
Until then, we advise those affected by this issue to take their device to their local Apple Store and at least have it looked at by the people who know their Apple hardware / software.