iOS 5 Tips: Location Services May Drain Your Battery

One of the surprising issues coming out of iOS 5 and the iPhone 4S is batteries which drain very quickly. Some users are even reporting drains of 10% per 15 minutes in certain conditions. For some cases, this has come down to identifiable issues like corrupt contacts. But a general trend of short battery life has come out.

Now, engineers have found a common thread - Location Services. It appears that in some circumstances, the "Setting Time Zone" function comes on when it is not needed, and can come on constantly. GPS drains significant power, when it is constantly on.

TIP: WORK AROUND THE BATTERY-DRAIN BUG IN IOS 5
To turn off the "Setting Time Zone" function to maximize battery life:
1. Open the SETTINGS app
2. Tap the "Location Services" option
3. Scroll all the way to the bottom and tap the "System Services" function
4. "Setting Time Zone" is 5th from the top. Slide it to OFF



Keep in mind that this means if you DO travel, you will need to set your time zone manually. But that may be a small price to pay for an extra 2 to 4 hours of battery life between charges.

This is not the ONLY reason that iOS 5 can have worse battery life than iOS 4. Be sure to check and confirm you are not overusing Notifications, Find My Friends, or other power-hungry features if you try this fix and are still getting poor battery life.

iOS 5 Tips: Location Based Reminders & Microsoft Do Not Mix!

While we were being victimized by the infamous hacker, I was busy upgrading my iDevices to iOS 5, and ran across some small issues that it is likely Mod-Blog readers have also (or will also) face. Thus, our return will begin with a small series of IOS 5 TIPS, based on my experience.

TIP: LOCATION-BASED REMINDERS AND MICROSOFT EXCHANGE DO NOT MIX!

One of the big new features of iOS 5 is system-based reminders, which can be either time or location-based. Locations based reminders are great for keying you to do a certain things "when I get to work" or "the next time I go out". They can even be set up via Siri, if you have an iPhone 4S.

But when I got to iOS 5, I found no way to set a location-based reminder. Every attempt to set one up via touch or via Siri failed entirely. I wasn't even given the option. And yet, there was no indication of an error or failure.

Well, it turns out the issue was the fact that I was syncing my Reminders (as Tasks) to my work's Microsoft Exchange server. This is automatic if you have an Exchange e-mail account set up. But Exchange is incompatible with iOS5's method of storing geographical information. This is mentioned in Apple's documentation, but buried deep and hard to find.

The simple solution? Turn off syncing of Reminders with the Exchange server. Sync with iCloud instead. Once that is done, the option for location-based reminders will "magically" appear.

Also, remember that Location-based alerts are only compatible with the iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S. If you have an iPad, or older iPhone, reminders can only be time-based.

Where Do I Vote?

If you are like me, your local election officials are constantly moving around the polling places. It can be confusing, trying to figure out which of the hundred places you have voted in the past is the one for 2008. Well, this little app tries to bring together all of that information in one place. Enter your state and address, and it'll tell you where to go to cast your all-important ballot.

If you are not sure where to vote, please run this app today. Nothing worse than getting to election day and realizing for one reason or another, you have no idea where/how to vote!

Apparently, I need to move

It is common sense to move when one can't find a job where you live. My forefathers moved up here to the northeast from North Carolina, because there were so many jobs. One could even argue that American expansion was driven by the desire of men and women to find gainful employment.

But somehow, it never occurred to me that my location might be a problem in finding a mate. (In her defense, it DID occur to Shadowmom.) This "Singles Map" shows that CT is not a place with a surplus of marriageable women. But the good news is that I don't have to go too far to find a place where single women outnumber single men by 40,0000.

Anyone up for a long vacation in northern New Jersey?