Pin It

Closer Look at iOS 5.1: Battery Life, Camera Shortcut and Camera Face Detection

By on March 11, 2012 in Posted In: iPad, iPhone

As you know, Apple has pushed out the update of iOS. Have you updated your iPhone or iPad to iOS 5.1? I have already upgraded my iPhone 4S to iOS 5.1. If you’re still considering whether you should upgrade the iOS, check out some of the favorite features come with the update.

1. Improved Camera Shortcut on Lock Screen

Since the release of iOS 5, Apple has added the Camera shortcut on Lock Screen. However, not all iPhone users know about it. Prior to iOS 5.1, you have to press the Home button twice to bring up the camera shortcut. Now, Apple’s engineers have made a minor improvement. The camera shortcut can be easily accessible. It’s now always visible on Lock Screen. You can simply tap and hold the camera shortcut and then slide up to activate the Camera app.

iOS 5.1 Camera Shortcut 1iOS 5.1 Camera Shortcut 2

2. Camera Face Detection

In iOS 5.1, as you shoot using the built-in Camera app, the app now highlights all detected faces.

Camera Face Detection

3. Battery Life

iphone-battery-drainSo far, this is the favorite improvement for the iOS upgrade. It’s not uncommon users, particularly for those owning iPhone 4S, complain about the poor battery life after upgrading to iOS 5. Last December, Apple released the iOS 5.0.1 and claimed that the update improved the battery life. However, some iPhone 4S users still complained about the battery problem or the improvement was not noticeable.

I have upgraded my iPhone 4S to iOS 5.1 two days ago. Look like this time, Apple has finally fixed the battery issue. Usually I have my iPhone fully charged before leaving home at 8:30 in the morning. I check email and browse the web while I’m on the way to office. In the past, the battery life used to go down to 78% at around 11A.M. With the same usage, my iPhone 4S running on iOS 5.1 is at 90%. That’s quite an impressive improvement. At the end of the day, I still get 45% of battery life remaining. Cool, right?

This is not a scientific test and I have just upgraded my iPhone for a couple of days. I’m not sure iOS 5.1 fixes battery problem on all iOS devices. But so far, at least for my iPhone 4S, the improvement is quite noticeable.

Have you upgraded to iOS 5.1? Does it improve battery life on your device? Leave us comment and share your experience.

About Simon Ng

Founder, developer and chief blogger of simonblog.com
View all posts by Simon Ng →

, , , ,

  • Jet

    hi Simon, i do agree with you… the improved battery life has been very noticeable with my iPhone 4S since i upgraded it to iOS 5.1. i have to sacrifice my 5.0.1 jailbreak and restore it to 5.1 just because of the improved battery life in iOS 5.1… i usually charge my 4S to 100% before going to sleep at night, and before, i used to see my battery at around 85-90% when i wake up in the morning… just on stand-by. but now with iOS 5.1, i wake up in the morning with still 100% battery… check e-mails and facebook, send text messages… and when i arrive at the office, battery is at 98%. and i usually get home in the evening with still 85% battery. though i miss my 5.0.1 jailbreak but am happy with the battery life now. Apple really did fix the battery problem with 5.1 :)

    • ashtin

      quick question….if i do update my 4s to 5.1, will my iphone still be jailbroken r not???

      • me

        nop

  • josie

    hi, i have updated my iPhone4 yesterday and since then NO application is working anymore! what can I do to make it work again? thank you!!!

    • http://www.simonblog.com Simon Ng

      @Josie, try to upgrade or re-install the problematic application.

      • josie

        thanks, I made a reset and had to re-install all apps again. now they are working. but there is no face detection for me neither (not necessary anyways…)

  • Farid

    After i install 5.1 update, the shortcut doesn’t function. There’s no face detection also. How to fix this? Shortcut to camera app doesn’t work at all. TQ

  • Jorge S

    Hi Simon, since I upgraded my 4s to 5.1 my bluetooth gadgets stopped working correctly. I wonder if this happened to someone else?
    I had the hands free in my cx9 mazda working perfect and when I upgraded it recognises the car hands free and even conects but it won’t work, the call stays in the phone and not in the car. Same with my tango trx dock system, the bluetooth audio won’t work, yet the volume control and everything else works! What should I do? Thanks in advance!

  • Matt

    I don’t think Steve jobs would ever had approved the always on camera shortcut idea. I don’t like it

  • daniel

    …when i upgrade my iphone 4 to 5.1, will my iphone 4 have face detection???????? answer please… :) .. tnx

  • Carlos

    After upgrading to iOS 5.1 my battery life is ridiculous: I need to recharge in the middle of the day. Before 5.1 I just recharged at the end of the day.
    I tried to rollback the 5.1 install but it was too late.
    Nevertheless my iPad 2 is pretty economic after 5.1

  • Rm6924

    my mum has the 3GS on 5.0.1, and the battery was terrible. I tried to install 5.1 and I got an error message sayin it could not be installed! i managed to fix the battery problem by downgrading iOS 5 to iOS 4, since my mum dont use note on ios 5. now it lasts for a lot longer .e.g. when she used it for browsing the web for half hour, it went down to 98% where as before it would loose 40% overnight without use.

  • mitch

    I have a new 4s, and the battery goes down quite quick (5.0.1) I don’t want to update if 5.1 don’t fix battery life issue.
    also, does anyone know if an update will be Avalable for Siri location services in the uk (only works in us at the mo.) cause when I ask it where the nearest restaurant is or something, it tells me it can’t look for places in the uk!!

    • http://www.simonblog.com Simon Ng

      No idea when Siri will support location in UK. But from my experience, iOS 5.1 does improve the battery life of my iPhone 4S.

  • James

    We did a redsnow beta 6 jailbreak on a ipad 1 5.0.1 and it all seemed to go well I checked to add Cydia and multitouch. Then I clicked the Cydia icon and it loaded ok but all the apps or packages say Cannot locate package. What does this mean? Do I have to upgrade to 5.1 in apple apps market or what? I want to be able to boot untethered. Is there another reason to upgrade to 5.1? Everyone seems to say to stay at 5.0.1 I have a 3g.

  • Angeline

    Hi! I updated my iPhone 4 to the iOS 5.1 but the face detection is not working at all! Would you happen to know why? Thank you! :)

  • http://www.wonderfulchefsgirlfriend.blogspot.com Vivian

    Hi Simon, I am using iOS 5.1 , whenever i try to take a picture of a human, the camera detected the face and it hangs there (unable to snap a shot unless u move your phone away from the face). Do you face this problem?