New iPad battery life: Only 10 hours on Wi-Fi?
Summary: Apple has achieved fantastic battery life on LTE with the new iPad, but only claims standard run time on Wi-Fi. Why isn't that run time greatly increased over previous models?
I agree with colleague Adrian Kingsley-Hughes that the big story of the new iPad, more than the Retina Display and inclusion of LTE, is the battery improvement. Apple doesn't play games with its claims of product battery life, and if it says 9 hours of operation using LTE that's probably accurate. That run time is a significant achievement for operation using battery-guzzling LTE technology. What's not clear about Apple's claims is why the same battery in the Wi-Fi only iPad only produces only 10 hours of runtime.
The 42.5 watt-hour battery mentioned in the official iPad specifications above is a big honking battery for such a thin and light tablet. It's clear the same battery is being used in both the Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 4G models, as indicated in the two columns of the specs above.
The 10 hours of the Wi-Fi only iPad is in line with the run time of the current iPad 2, which is no surprise. What is a surprise is why there is only a one hour run time difference indicated by Apple for Wi-Fi and LTE operation. I have tested LTE operation on at least a dozen smartphones and two tablets, and the 4G technology has used significantly greater power than Wi-Fi in every case.
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In my extended testing using LTE on a 10.1-inch tablet, the battery drain compared to Wi-Fi operation was noticeably faster, at a rate of nearly 2-to-1. The tablet would run 10 hours on Wi-Fi, and perhaps 5 hours on LTE connectivity.
My experience with LTE proves how significant the 9 hours of run time that Apple is providing with the new iPad. This is a tremendous achievement, and probably the most significant improvement over the iPad 2. This upgrade makes it all the more confusing why Wi-Fi operation isn't better than older models of the iPad. I would expect a near doubling of run time on Wi-Fi over LTE, even with the Retina Display.
Either Apple has implemented a totally new LTE radio that is very battery friendly, the Wi-Fi only iPad has a different battery than the 4G model, or there is some other mysterious difference present in the two models. I can't wait for the standard breakdown of the new iPad models once shipping to see what is going on inside the slate.
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Talkback
This isn't a phone
Sure LTE can take up the lion's share of battery power on a 4" phone with dual core cpu and minimal pixels. I'm surprised that you underestimate the horsepower required to run a better than HD display. Quad core GPU? In desktops these days its the video card that determines the Power supply requirements, not the CPU. That display/GPU combo is likely a huge power-sucker - way more than LTE. To have that system run for 10 hours is a tremendous achievement.
Still unanswered though
Yes, it was answered
Apple and LTE
Yes, it is correct and it is not rumour: Cook said it himself year ago ...
Not there is new LTE chipset, which consumes a lot less.
Also, 10 hours on Wi-Fi might have slight bonus with real-life practice being better than this announced time. For example, in the past, people were told that they could view video for 10 hours, but achieved 11.5 hours sometimes. This might happen again with this Wi-Fi time.
Retina display
Your conjecture sounds about right.
Although the latest generation of the iPod Touch with it's retina display still provides impressive battery charge duration times while keeping the same thin case form factor of it's predecessor.
New iPad battery life: Only 10 hours on Wi-Fi?
ROFL
Still missing it
Clues
Score another point in the clueless category for you.
Not industry leading?!? Please name another 10" tablet that gets 10 hours of battery life. Not CLAIMS to get it, but ACTUALLY gets it in real world tests.
Hint: The iPad's claims of 10 hours were also found empirically to be wrong, with reviewers often averaging over 11.5 hours in many tests.
Only one
What's Microsoft Got?
ms
@pupkin_z
Wrong
MS makes a rather large amount of hardware, from mice to players, to video game systems. More importantly, they also make reference systems.
In addition, the OP was clearly referring to their nonexistent entry into the tablet space. It makes NO difference if they make the hardware or not, since they have no OS entry, either, at least not one that counts.
Two Words
Or did you just think that radios get more inefficient with more battery? The larger the battery gets (and this is indeed, a humongous battery), the more the disparity between wifi and 4G disappears. Most of the power in that battery is probably going to power that fancy high resolution retina display and the rather large GPU powering it.
New iPad battery life: Only 10 hours on Wi-Fi?
I think it's less "buyer confusion"
Or they are talking 3G