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I wonder not just why battery calibration is important, but also what are the (temporary or permanent) effects of doing it correctly or incorrectly on my new iPhone 5 battery. There are a couple of good answers to questions about why battery life is short, but I would like a concise explanation of all aspects. ifixit says “for optimal performance… drain battery below 10%, then charge UNINTERRUPTED to 100%. My battery started at 40% and has dropped to 14% overnight. How can I drive it lower, so I can complete the calibration ASAP? (I went to settings/general/usage/battery usage, activated settings like bluetooth and personal hotspot, are there other ways I could use battery more quickly?) Thanks.
It’s NOT important. The calibration simply gives you slightly better idea of how much power is left. The battery performance profile is affected by temperature, so it cannot predict remaining power if there is a dramatic change in temperature, especially when it is cooled down. Also the material of the battery may have performed less than Apple imagined, so the predicted model departed even further form the actual performance, which is why they recalled certain units. Unless you replace the battery, there is not much you can do to restore performance.
