If you are observing poor battery life after unlocking your iPhone using a combination of PwnageTool or Redsn0w to update baseband to 06.15.00 and Ultrasn0w 1.2 for iOS 4.2.1 then you are not alone as some readers have reported the issue.
According to iPhone hacking expert, Sherif Hasim, it looks like the reason for the poor battery life issue is the hacktivation process used in PwnageTool and Redsn0w and not Ultrasn0w 1.2.
Sherif Hasim explains:
On a very important side note, before anyone starts to complain about battery drainage issues after installing the new ultrasn0w on the 6.15.00 updated BB, the culprit here is not ultrasn0w, it’s the hacktivation process (activating the phone by pwnage tool or redsn0w rather than using an official carrier sim to do so) that u mostly did while jailbreaking.
The 4.1 and 4.2.1 ipsws unlike their old ancestors, seem to keep looking for valid push certificates all the time, either thru your wifi, or thru your cellular data network (which u only have after installing ultrasn0w and hence u accuse it) , this can be seen clearly if u have a cellular working data plan for 3g or edge and u watched the settings > general > usage > cellular network data (sent & received are continuously increasing even without using any internet traffics on the phone) , this will also render the phone going hot even in stand by mode and also very rapid battery drainage occurs plus consuming ur data if you were not on an unlimited plan.
The good news is that, one of the iPhone Dev team members is working hard to fix the issue. Meanwhile, you can also try to fix this issue by borrowing the SIM of an official iPhone carrier from your friend and using it to activate your iPhone via iTunes.
As always, we will let you know as soon as we have any further updates so stay tuned here at iPhone Hacks or follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our RSS feed.
Have you observed poor battery life after unlocking your iPhone? Tell us in the comments section below.
[via BigBoss]
Yes that’s right after my baseband updated to 6.15 and unlocked with ultrasnow 1.2, I noticed that my battery drains out quickly than normally. To work around this poor battery life is to activated with AT&T working sim-card via iTune right? after the phone is activated the battery should perform better right? Pls confirm iphone hacks or any expert on this issue thanks!!!
A temporary solution is to turn off 3g in the settings ….hope dev team will release a solution soon ….
I did a restore of a custom version of 4.1/6.15.00 using Ultrasn0w 1.2 AND i used an AT&T sim card to activate the phone and I STILL had battery drain issues. I continued to see data being sent and received via cell data network, even with 3G turned off. I have another 3gs with 4.1/5.13.04, its unlocked with ultrasn0w 1.2 and its working just fine.
Well good thing i activiated my iPhone with an offical sim first time then unlocked it
, because i never experienced that problem 
Well is there even a jailbreak/unlock for the people who are on firmware 4.1 with a baseband of 05.13.04. Because on the Dev team’s blog it still says that i have to wait for an “un-official bundle”.
ultrasn0w 1.1 and 1.2 will unlock your 5.13.04 bb after you restore your IPSW 4.1. do not upgrade the bb to 6.15.00
You may have mis-understood me Will. What i ment to say is i am currently on 4.1 Jailbroken and unlocked on 05.13.04. but i want to upgrade to 4.2.1 but the Dev team are saying in the blog to wait for an un-official bundle. And they say its dangerous to upgrade the baseband because there is no way to hide it from apple.
I noticed my phone runs out of juice fast even when i used an official at&t sim card but no service at that moment, would that make a difference? it is possible that my battery is just bad and have to replace
I wanted to post this to help everyone else experiencing battery issues and also provide feedback for the hard working folks on the Dev Team.
I have a 3G that was on 4.1 with 5.14.02 BB and needed an unlock. I updated (on a mac) using the pwnage tool and the custom ipsw with 4.1 (NOT 4.2.1) and ipad BB 6.15. JB and unlock (with ultrasn0w 1.2) worked the first time. I DID NOT uncheck the ‘activate’ box in pwnage (although I have an ATT sim card)…I was too excited about finally unlocking 4.1.
I connected to my PC to sync to my itunes (the mac is my wife’s) and create the backup.
After the sync, I immediately experienced battery drain (and heat) issues with the phone. I literally watched the battery go from 66% to 42% in a matter of minutes. The phone also went (quickly) under 20% battery and the charger could not keep up with the battery usage.
I tried to repeat the pwnage process (unchecking the ‘activate’ box for the replacement ipsw build) but Apple stopped signing the 4.1 so I received the 1015 error and couldn’t restore. I switched over to my PC and kicked the phone out of recovery using Tiny Umbrella. I then, in a ‘why not’ moment, restored the iphone from my backup through itunes. Since then, I have not experienced battery drain. I’m still at 86% and have used the phone all day.
I’m not saying it will work for you, but I restored to my backup in itunes and have not had battery, or heat, issues since. Maybe it was a fluke or maybe there’s some ‘residue’ from the BB switch that get’s cleared in the itunes restore (the restore only restores the firmware, not the BB).
Hopefully this info might help someone else.
Hi.Thanks oll u gays for oll informations u provide to as(hack and dev teem)..battery life it is extra poor and my iphone is brand new 3GS.please help us . Many thanks.
yeah the phone is unlocked but the battery life is poor, please Dev teams fix this issue soon!!!
I think this issue is mostly with the 3G and 3GS
Heh.. Jimmy “Thanks oll u gays” Didn’t type that on an iphone did you?
anybody tried SAM method? Please comment. Thanks.
http://www.redmondpie.com/activate-iphone-4-3gs-3g-officially-without-original-sim-or-hacktivation-with-redsn0w-0.9.6b6-sam-subscriber-artificial-module/
hey all, i have a question about avtivation.
when you buy a new factory sim-free Iphone 4, do you have to activate it?
Well any sim should do it if its a factory unlocked phone..
thanks m8
Please i need unlock solution for iphone 3G and 3GS iOS 4.1,firmware modem 05.14.02.
here is the link…and it worked for me..thanks for all of the hard work they put in…
http://www.techsliver.com/unlock-iphone-3gs-3g-announced-pwnagetool-redsn0w-required-ultrasn0w/
Thanks for help Davidj.
does this work for iphone 4?
When are they going to release unlock for iPhone 4 on 4.1????
If you activate via iTunes with a valid Sim does this not update your baseband?
I NEED TO KNOW IF THE IPHONE 4 4.1 BASEBAND ITS GONNA BE UNLOCK SOON IN SUNDAY
i have a 4.1 8b117 software and 02.10.04 firmware
can i jailbreak and unlock?
please respond and thanks
you can jailbreak using Greenpoison, but unlock not available for 02.10.04 yet.
I’m sorry to burst everyone’s bubble to include the Dev Team’s but, this REPO/SAM/SAM PREF/REDSNOW DEACTIVATE/SAM DEACTIVATE/REACTIVATE THROUGH ITUNES WITH AND WITHOUT SIM CARD does now work. I am on the 06.15.00 BB running 4.1. I am not questioning the Dev Teams work and their talents because I can now actually use my iPhone now thanks to the ultrasn0w update. But this battery drainage issue and phone overheating still continues to occur, which really sucks. I was still using my iPhone, basically as an iPod Touch, when I accidentally updated it and it would take forever for it to drain from 100% to 99% and so on. I know this is because it wasn’t using a signal/network and only wifi but damn, this now drains from 100% to 50% in two hours. I really hope there is a fix to this. Thanks Dev Team for your continual efforts. i just wanted to bring this to your attention.
you can jailbreak it using green poison, but no unlock available at the moment.