iOS 5 on iPhone 4

I recently bit the bullet and upgraded my iPhone 4 to run on iOS 5.0.1, however I've noticed that the charger I use for it (Apple USB power adaptor with a replacement USB cable from a non-Apple supplier as the original cable had a tear in exposing the inner wires and wanted a replacement) charges it very slowly having initially thought nothing was happening.

I tried my flatmates charger and it works fine with her's and comes up with the bolt in the top right hand corner and the see-through battery in the centre, but not if I plug her cable into my power adaptor or if I plug my cable into her power adaptor.

I plug it into my laptop using my cable and it charges normally. Likewise if I plug it into my Gear4 iPod dock/radio. And what's more I own a 2nd gen iPod Touch running on iOS 4 and that charges normally.

I had a look on the Apple website and it seems I'm not the only one to be experiencing these issues, but thankfully not the slow running or battery drainage issues others have been having.

Has anyone else had similar issues? Looking at the prospect of a new charger simply because iOS 5.0.1 is playing silly games and can't really be relying on my laptop/iPod dock to charge it up or waiting forever.

I don't think it's the cable as there's no electronics in it, it's just wires. It could be the connection between the cable and the transformer. You could check the electrical connections at the transformer end (might be green from copper oxide) but it sounds like you need a new transformer & cable.

You say you are running 5.0.1 but there are two versions. Apple being Apple released 5.0.1 (build 9A405) in November then had a stab at fixing the battery issues then released 5.0.1 again (build 9A406) in December. Check Settings/General/About

iOS 5.1 is now out, while there isn't anything in it to improve battery life having the latest version won't hurt.

MacRumors has a very good forum to serch is you are still stuck.

I believe one of the fixes in iOS 5.1 addresses battery charging?

Nothing mentioned in the 5.1 release notes about battery life but could be.

As Slinky said it does include a battery fix, when you go to download the update on the software update screen it specifically lists "addresses bugs affecting battery life"

[preiffer]

The battery fix, I believe, resolves some battery drain issues - but not the charging problem.

My car connection kit now has to be disconnected and reconnected *after* the ignition is turned on in order to charge my 4S, or it says "charging is not supported with this accessory". Was fine with my 4, and 5.1 hasn't fixed it...

The battery fix, I believe, resolves some battery drain issues - but not the charging problem.

My car connection kit now has to be disconnected and reconnected *after* the ignition is turned on in order to charge my 4S, or it says "charging is not supported with this accessory". Was fine with my 4, and 5.1 hasn't fixed it...

It's interesting that I'm not the only one with this sort of problem.

I decided to buy a new charger (managed to get an official one cheap on Amazon) and it now happily charges first time without hesitation. What's more I have since upgraded to 5.1 and it's pot luck whether it works with the old charger, so it's essentially relegated to the status of "spare charger" and making more use of the cable as it's longer than on the new one.

I don't think it's the cable as there's no electronics in it, it's just wires. It could be the connection between the cable and the transformer. You could check the electrical connections at the transformer end (might be green from copper oxide) but it sounds like you need a new transformer & cable.

I'm not so sure. As I said it charges my 2nd gen iPod Touch normally but not so on the iPhone 4 since upgrading to 5.0.1 and it's pot luck now with 5.1

The iPhone is brilliant when it works, but Apple do know how to make life needlessly hard for some of its users.

I can give you the science bit....it might shine a light on the problem.

Off hand I can't check this for the iPhone but other phones detect whether it's being charged via a USB port or a AC adapter by some form of signalling on 2 of the cables. (if I recall correctly 2 cables present the charge and the other two are shorted if it's an AC charger and something else if a USB charger)

This caught me out with a HTC phone recently, the in car charger I had only charged at 500mA and I wondered why it charged slowly. (and discharged whilst a gps app was running)

I can't see a way to prove this to you in iOS, but in Android, you can look in the settings, about phone, battery information, and it will say "charging AC" or "charging USB" depending on the charger. If AC it's charging at a higher current than on USB. It's to do with the USB spec and so the phone does not break the USB limits, I believe.

In ios Charging is presented as the bolt icon in the battery, with no differentiation to show rate of charging, making this harder to prove with your iPhone.

I can only think that if you cable does not work with her charger then either the cable is duff or a poor quality one that is fooling the iPhone.

Anyway, i dont think iOS, is your problem. Its the charger and cable. However I can't work out exactly which bit if you say the cable works with the laptop. It will charge ok with a dock, as the charger and cable In Question here are removed from the equation.

Hope that helps