Tips for preserving iPhone 4S battery?

I just got my first new iphone 4S and it's the first smart phone I've ever had. My past regular phones would last 3 days without charging but I notice this phone will only last about a day. So can anyone give me advice on settings or whatever to save battery power?

Turn down brightness

Most Smart phones have to be charged daily if you use them for internet and playing music. If you only use it for phone calls and texts, it will only need charging every 2-3 days. Texting keeps your screen lit up, so it expends more energy. It also depends on your cell phone carrier's signal strength. If your cell provider doesn't have a tower near enough to you, the phone must expend more power to maintain a signal. When using your cell provider's internet, you will drain the phone battery rapidly. If you surf using Wi-Fi from home or elsewhere, you will probably need to charge the phone that night… You will just find that you can be online much longer than if you are using the cell phone company's internet signal. You will also find that using Wi-Fi is much faster than using your phone company's internet signal.

To save on battery power while you are out-and-about, make sure you turn off all the things that use extra power. "Location" services and apps on the iPhone that use location services should be turned off, unless you intend to charge the phone more often. Bluetooth should be turned off unless you use it a lot and intend to charge the phone every day or two. The big drains on the battery are Bluetooth in use, cellular and Wi-Fi internet surfing, gaming or video streaming, and apps that use location services… Especially if they are "running" apps that continue in the background if you forget to "end" them when you are done using them. Use a plug-in headset for listening to music. Speaker phone also drains power faster than holding the phone up to your ear, or using the plug-in headset.

I rarely use my cellular provider's internet signal. I use Wi-Fi when I need to use the internet, and seldom use my phone to surf. I use a Bluetooth headset all day at work, and my cordless phone system at home syncs with the iPhone Bluetooth so I can leave my cell phone downstairs and still answer it upstairs. I leave my location services "on" but that doesn't seem to drain the battery much unless I'm actively using an app, (like a weather program or traffic adviser). I usually get two days of use before needing to charge the phone. When on road trips, I use a car charger cable and Google Maps from the iPhone to give turn-by-turn directions. When I arrive I disconnect the cable, and "end" the maps app… Otherwise it keeps running in the background and drains the battery.

I had the same rapid power drain from my Android smart phones in the past… Actually they were worse. If this is your first smart phone, remember, in a lot of ways it is just like a laptop. The more you use it, and the more windows you have open, while it is not connected to a power source, the faster the battery will run down. Bear in mind, if your screen is lit, it is using battery power. If the phone is used strictly for texts and conversation, it will only need to be charged every 3 days or so. The reason a smart phone uses more battery power and has to be charged more often, is because you are using it to do more things.