14 DAY TRIAL // The apparition of headlines fusing together the terms ‘battery fix’ and ‘iOS 5.1’ may spawn widespread confusion that Apple has dealt with the problem and is now preparing to release the final version of the software.
Apple iPhone 4S battery fixing iOS 5.1 hits developers (T3)
Apple iOS 5.1 Beta 2 Targets iPhone Battery Issues, Adds Photo Stream Functionality (IT Portal)
That’s not the case. There is absolutely no account from any registered Apple developer that iOS 5.1 Beta 2 resolves the dreadful problem (and not in the leaked release notes either). In fact, Apple is more focused on enhancing Photo Stream, and other stuff in this new beta.
Whether or not they’ve already fixed the battery woes and moved on, there hasn’t been a single real-life test (wither video tapped or jotted down) to support the aforementioned claims. And who says this is the last beta of iOS 5.1?
All in all, don’t misinterpret those reports. When Apple does fix ‘batterygate’, you can be sure the news will spread like wildfire via forums, tech blogs, social networks etc. Even high-profile news agencies will catch wind of the news in minutes.
And the same will go for failing to fix the issue, of course.
So what do we know at the moment? We know Apple is testing iOS 5.1 internally. Build 9B5127c is the second beta and while there are numerous fixes and focus areas listed in the seed notes, the documentation says nothing about battery drain fixes. And that’s likely because they haven’t come around to fixing them yet.
What else do we know? We know iOS 5.1 Beta 2 has a lot of focus areas, not just the battery management module.
Reports will have you believe that fixing the battery problem is a matter of life and death for Apple, but it’s not (granted, it should be sitting at the top of a very long list of to-dos in iOS 5). They have a lot more stuff to deal with, including security. And they can't disclose much of that either, for obvious reasons.
All in all, I would advise not to get your hopes up too much for now. Wait for developer accounts to confirm what’s going on with the software internally.