Apple says iPad battery charging works as intended

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014


Responding to a recent analysis of the new iPad's battery, Apple has revealed that its charging system works as intended to ensure an optimum charge.



Concerns about the iPad's battery arose last week when an analysis was publicized claiming that the new iPad "prematurely" reports that it is fully charged by two hours. Dr. Raymond Soneira of DisplayMate claimed that the iPad actually finished its charging cycle some two hours after it reports a full charge.



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.



"That circuitry is designed so you can keep your device plugged in as long as you would like," Tchao said. "it's a great feature that's always been in iOS."



Apple's battery percentage display is simplified so that users are not confused by the constant cycle of charging and discharging while a device is plugged in. But Apple's approach allows all of its iOS devices to maximize their potential battery life.











Apple has boasted that the new iPad offers the same 10-hour battery life as its predecessor, even with the inclusion of a new quad-core graphics processor and 3.1-million pixel Retina Display. The new high-speed 4G LTE model also offers 9 hours of battery life when using a wireless network.



In particular, the Verizon model of the new 4G LTE iPad can serve as a mobile hotspot for more than 24 hours when sharing a high-speed data connection with external devices over Wi-Fi. That's upwards of five times longer than most standalone 4G LTE hotspots.



[ View article on AppleInsider ]

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 74
    postulantpostulant Posts: 1,272member
    But the experts said it was a bug...
  • Reply 2 of 74
    Amazing all the things Apple has to do to educate the market in response to those looking to find fault with their new products.
  • Reply 3 of 74
    Apple is doomed!
  • Reply 4 of 74
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    But..but.. the iHaters and trolls need SOMETHING to bait to criticize Apple for! What is this world coming to?????
  • Reply 5 of 74
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Postulant View Post


    But the experts said it was a bug...



    What makes them an expert.



    Apple said you can get up to 10 hours on a charge. If 100% as indicated gives you that, where is the issue. Where is Apple at fault for over promising etc
  • Reply 6 of 74
    rainrain Posts: 538member
    Actually, I found the information that has come out regarding the charge cycle quite informative and useful.



    Now there is an answer for those wondering why they only get 7-8 hours of battery time.



    You guys need to take a chill pill.
  • Reply 7 of 74
    kkerstkkerst Posts: 330member
    It's called auto trickle charging kids, nothing new here to see, been around forever.
  • Reply 8 of 74
    I for one like to know things like this and appreciate the critique. Simplification is also good to an extent, but things like this belong in an instruction manual somewhere. It's human nature to be inquisitive and understand how things work, and that's a good thing.
  • Reply 9 of 74
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Doesn't that 24 hour wifi hotspot figure need some qualification? Judging by my wifi LTE hotspot, it has a standby time of close to 24 hours however the awake/in-use battery life is only about 4-6. Of course my battery is only the size of a Fig Newton.
  • Reply 10 of 74
    postulantpostulant Posts: 1,272member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


    What makes them an expert.



    Apple said you can get up to 10 hours on a charge. If 100% as indicated gives you that, where is the issue. Where is Apple at fault for over promising etc



    I love these rare slaps in the face by Apple(when they expose a particular author as clueless).



    It's a great little feature(trickle charging) and apparently one oblivious to tech blogs.
  • Reply 11 of 74
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


    What makes them an expert.



    Apple said you can get up to 10 hours on a charge. If 100% as indicated gives you that, where is the issue. Where is Apple at fault for over promising etc



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



    According to some reports I've seen, if you unplug your iPad as soon as it hits 100%, you get 10 hours (as promised). If you leave it plugged in for a few more hours, you get 11-12 hours.
  • Reply 12 of 74
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    According to some reports I've seen, if you unplug your iPad as soon as it hits 100%, you get 10 hours (as promised). If you leave it plugged in for a few more hours, you get 11-12 hours.



    Again 11-12 hours of what? Gaming, wifi, movies?
  • Reply 13 of 74
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Minnesota_Steve View Post


    Amazing all the things Apple has to do to educate the market in response to those looking to find fault with their new products.



    As sickeningly pathetic as it is it's also not a bad place to be as it's a clear sign that Apple is so far ahead of the competition.
  • Reply 14 of 74
    postulantpostulant Posts: 1,272member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    Again 11-12 hours of what? Gaming, wifi, movies?



    Searching the web on wifi, watching videos or listening to music
  • Reply 15 of 74
    You guys are missing the point. The new iPad says it is 100% charged when it is obviously not. You can still have trickle charging take place, but the percentage should still reflect that it's feeding the new iPad less juice (ex. 96%-100% will take a considerably longer amount of time).



    Insider source says internal quota for charge time had to be met, so they 'modified' the display computer to have it say 100% before it was done charging). Easy, huh?



    If you want a real answer, do a test with an iPad 1 and iPad 2 and see if it has the same behavior in the percentage display...
  • Reply 16 of 74
    sticknicksticknick Posts: 123member
    My MBP does the same thing when I have it plugged in. The battery indicator goes from 100% to 97% then back up all day long. Too bad these "experts" aren't very knowledgable.
  • Reply 17 of 74
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Postulant View Post


    But the experts said it was a bug...



    A scandal worthy of -gate proportions!
  • Reply 18 of 74
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Minnesota_Steve View Post


    Amazing all the things Apple has to do to educate the market in response to those looking to find fault with their new products.



    It seems to me these guys are out for public acknowledgement more than anything. It is more of a "look at me, I'm so smart" kinda play. It is like the obsession with the power draw of the unit which is very dependent upon the backlight. It is pretty common knowledge that for a given technology smaller pixels require more light intensity in the backlight.



    Apple just rose to the occasion to deliver the best possible results in this display and made no excuses for the additional power draw. That people want to turn this engineering feat into a negative is curious to say the least.
  • Reply 19 of 74
    Why not have it read 100% when it is actually at 100%, after the trickle charge? Then let it stay at 100% despite the discharge/charge cycle mentioned here to not confuse people. I don't think this is a big deal whatsoever, but this explanation doesn't make a ton of sense..



    I believe this may be a very slight deception by Apple to make it appear to charge faster- which would likely be a point on the iPad's reviews (considering the much larger battery). Granted, it is somewhat justified by Apple- that last 2 hours is a trickle charge done for the health of the battery- they could make it charge much faster at the expense of the battery.



    Again, file this one under 'no story here'.. but sort of interesting none-the-less.
  • Reply 20 of 74
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Postulant View Post


    Searching the web on wifi, watching videos or listening to music





    Ok. I am going to test it. I will write a script that searches Google and every time it brings back the results I will select at random a word on the page and do another search. l'll be repeating that every 5 seconds. I will set the auto lock to never on the iPad and let her rip. After it shuts down, I'll check my server logs to see the time of the last access of that script to determine the battery life. That should work.



    I'll report back later.
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