Apple says iPad battery charging works as intended - Page 2

Originally Posted by Uninterested_Viewer

Well, I'm more than willing to admit I know very little about battery technology. I'm just confused as to how having the battery display 100% when the battery is at 95% or less of its full charge can be talked away by a technical explanation. It seems like Apple made a judgement decision in its battery logic for this behavior- is there a technical reason Apple couldn't have had it read 100% when the battery was actually at 100%? (of course, fully support it staying at 100% when it is going through its discharge/charge cycle- I'm only concerned with that initial threshold for "100%")

I don't necessarily mean 'deception' in a negative sense- from the little I know, it seems to be a good, simple, solution for the consumer. Again, I fully admit I'm probably making the battery experts around here cringe .

Originally Posted by SolipsismX

I wonder if we can figure out what the next big faux issue that will arise with Apple products.

Originally Posted by tyler82

When left in a Las Vegas desert the black iPad gets 10 degrees hotter than the white ipad

Gate

Originally Posted by Booga

For the same reason the Shuttle used to go to 110% throttle every launch. There are engineering specs and when they are met the device is at 100% of rated capability. Whether you call the actual physical "full" measurement 110% that or just cap it off on the display isn't relevant to any actual users.

Originally Posted by jragosta

I guess it's like the crowd that buys a stereo because its dial goes to 11 while the competition only goes to 10.

Originally Posted by wizard69

Close yes but that only counts in horse shoes. This variability is often seen in iPhone batteries too.

Originally Posted by msechea

Hm, I'm guessing an hour and a half of additional charging is JUST before it reaches full charge?

Originally Posted by Uninterested_Viewer

Well, I'm more than willing to admit I know very little about battery technology. I'm just confused as to how having the battery display 100% when the battery is at 95% or less of its full charge can be talked away by a technical explanation. It seems like Apple made a judgement decision in its battery logic for this behavior- is there a technical reason Apple couldn't have had it read 100% when the battery was actually at 100%? (of course, fully support it staying at 100% when it is going through its discharge/charge cycle- I'm only concerned with that initial threshold for "100%")

I don't necessarily mean 'deception' in a negative sense- from the little I know, it seems to be a good, simple, solution for the consumer. Again, I fully admit I'm probably making the battery experts around here cringe .

That's by design, Apple's Michael Tchao said to All Things D on Tuesday. All iOS devices, including the new iPad, will display that they are 100 percent charged just before the device reaches a fully charged state. The device will then continue charging, then discharge a bit, and recharge once again a cycle that will continue until the device is unplugged.

Originally Posted by Pendergast

Why does it matter? "100%" is relative. If when it displays "100%" it reasonably hits the stated battery life, then what's the problem?

Originally Posted by myapplelove

The problem might be that on the new iPad when it says 100% it's an actual 90% and it doesn't hit the stated battery life as close, while on an iPod what with the smaller battery when it says 100% it's actually 95% and it comes more close. I would find it very interesting for someone to test actual battery at 100% now, and after an iOS update. I think they haven't brought a spokesman out at all things d for no reason, it seems to me like the typical company strategy (any company not just apple) of deny it first with a rational sounding explanation thn silently fix it with an update.

Originally Posted by lkrupp

Wrong on all counts. Read some more before you go expounding conspiracy theories. The battery "expert" at the bottom of this is DisplayMate's Raymond Soneira. He notes that when the iPad is left to continue charging it gets 11.6 hours of use, well beyond the advertised 10 hours. Apple is saying that when the charge indicator hits 100% you get the 10 hours (9 hours for LTE). As for your conspiracy theory about corporate skulduggery, wouldn't Apple generate much more marketing hype if they could advertise 11 or 12 hours of battery use? Yet they have chosen to stick with the same 10 hours as earlier iPads and maximize the charge-discharge cycles for better battery life.

And this is Apple denying something and being evil? Give me a freaking break.

Originally Posted by Apple ][

There is nothing to see here, move along. This is just some ignorant people who were wrong about Apple once again. Heatgate was bogus and now batterygate turns out to be completely bogus and untrue.

People who are part of ignorantgate should look into getting a clue, and do it quickly, for your own sakes. The moronic media is not much better than the idiots who propagate these stupid rumors. And anybody who falls for these dumb rumors and lies is frankly not too bright.

Originally Posted by Booga

For the same reason the Shuttle used to go to 110% throttle every launch. There are engineering specs and when they are met the device is at 100% of rated capability. Whether you call the actual physical "full" measurement 110% that or just cap it off on the display isn't relevant to any actual users.

Originally Posted by Kibitzer

Let's talk actual behavior on an actual new iPad, and what I have to offer pertains to my iPad alone, so consider it anecdotal - a data point. With the charger connected and while playing a video stored on a hard drive over my home WiFi, I've noticed the charge percentage decline to as low as 95% while the "charging" indicator still shows a full charge. As far as I'm concerned, this has had no perceptible effect on performance. When I quit the video, the percentage comes back up to 100 in short order. So the readings behave a little differently than the 2010 original iPad that I replaced. Otherwise, it means nothing as far as I'm concerned. If some kind of actual problem surfaces, we can expect Apple to issue a patch. They've done so before.

Originally Posted by stelligent

In other hands, those who find fault with the battery are ... *charging* it wrong. Good to see the Steve Jobs spirit alive and well in Cupertino.

Originally Posted by jragosta

Actually, you have it backwards. Apple didn't overpromise, they overdelivered.

Originally Posted by lkrupp

Wrong on all counts. Read some more before you go expounding conspiracy theories. The battery "expert" at the bottom of this is DisplayMate's Raymond Soneira. He notes that when the iPad is left to continue charging it gets 11.6 hours of use, well beyond the advertised 10 hours. Apple is saying that when the charge indicator hits 100% you get the 10 hours (9 hours for LTE). As for your conspiracy theory about corporate skulduggery, wouldn't Apple generate much more marketing hype if they could advertise 11 or 12 hours of battery use? Yet they have chosen to stick with the same 10 hours as earlier iPads and maximize the charge-discharge cycles for better battery life.

And this is Apple denying something and being evil? Give me a freaking break.

Originally Posted by Naboozle

No it's Apple being obtuse. 100% has a specific meaning. If 100% (fully charged) means 11.6 hours, then 10 hours is 86%. The battery indicator should be an indicator, not a feel-good device.

I'm a fan and I like the product. But if you're going to have a battery indicator -- give real numbers.

Originally Posted by msechea

All iOS devices, including the new iPad, will display that they are 100 percent charged just before the device reaches a fully charged state.

Hm, I'm guessing an hour and a half of additional charging is JUST before it reaches full charge?

Originally Posted by jragosta

The charge indicator says "100%". But it doesn't say 100% of what.

Originally Posted by Naboozle

No it's Apple being obtuse. 100% has a specific meaning. If 100% (fully charged) means 11.6 hours, then 10 hours is 86%. The battery indicator should be an indicator, not a feel-good device.

I'm a fan and I like the product. But if you're going to have a battery indicator -- give real numbers.

Originally Posted by addabox

Charge rates aren't linear. There's circuitry and software determining optimal charge cycles, to protect and extend battery life. Moreover, battery depletion isn't linear....

Originally Posted by lilgto64

That would depend on what "just before" means - with a 10 hour battery life - it does not necessarily take 10 hours to fully charge.

Many years ago I saw a demonstration of a battery that could charge to 90% of capacity in something like 2 minutes - then would continue to full charge over the course of an hour or so. Perhaps this has finally made it into consumer products.

If the iPad charges to say 95% of full charge in a couples hours then continues to charge from 95% to 100% over the course of another two hours, from a UI perspective you have two ways to present that to the user. 1. show the specific charge level 2. show 100% whee charging for all levels between 95 and 100%. With option 1 you run the risk of the user wondering why their device charged quickly up to 95% then "stopped" charging - that would likely be very obvious to lots of users - leaving them wondering why did it suddenly stop charging and leading to lots of tech calls etc complaining that the charger has stopped working. with option 2 the risk is that sometimes when people unhook from the charger it may not in fact be 100% charged - despite the device reporting that it is - resulting in differing use on battery times - this would be most obvious with users who yank the power cord immediately upon reaching the 100% charge level on the display.

For my $ it would seem that a better explanation would the first case - simply document that the system charges to 95% on rapid charge - then tops off the battery in a slow charge mode - in order to deliver the best overall battery life. Compared to the second case where in effect the device is lying to us in order to mask the technical complexity of dual charging modes.