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iPad mini How's the battery life like for iPad Mini?

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xEnOnn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 8, 2012
16
0
How's the battery life like for iPad Mini? On the Apple website, it claims that I could watch videos for up to 10 hours but I know that certainly is B.S. because on my iPhone 4S, I can't even surf the Internet for more than 3 hours.

I've heard that the iPad mini has middling battery life. How long can the iPad mini's battery last for surfing the web, reading and streaming videos? On my iPhone 4S, browsing the web, reading and stream videos for about 2 hours is going to get the battery life below 20%. And this is annoying. I'm worried that the iPad Mini is the same, or even worst.
 
S

Shadowbech

macrumors G3
Oct 18, 2011
9,038
5,894
It really depends on what you do with the ipad mini. But I will say this, the ipad mini does a superb job in battery life, such that it can last from 12 hours to 20 hours depending on what you do. It definitely will do a lot better than the iphon 4S. iPhone 4S has 1432 mAh while the iPad Mini has 4440 mAh.
 
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ThatsMeRight

macrumors 68020
Sep 12, 2009
2,289
251
xEnOnn said:
How's the battery life like for iPad Mini? On the Apple website, it claims that I could watch videos for up to 10 hours but I know that certainly is B.S. because on my iPhone 4S, I can't even surf the Internet for more than 3 hours.

I've heard that the iPad mini has middling battery life. How long can the iPad mini's battery last for surfing the web, reading and streaming videos? On my iPhone 4S, browsing the web, reading and stream videos for about 2 hours is going to get the battery life below 20%. And this is annoying. I'm worried that the iPad Mini is the same, or even worst.
Click to expand...

iPads have much, much better battery life. At 50% brightness you can easily get 10 hours of battery life. Go a bit below that, and lasts even longer.

If your iPhone 4S only lasts for three hours, either your brightness is almost at 100%, or there's something wrong with your 4S.
 
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EMAN19

macrumors 6502
Sep 19, 2012
275
0
New York, NY
Yeah, it really depends on what you're doing, on average I get about 10 hours with gaming and browsing the web. I've gotten 15+ without gaming. Battery drops faster when watching movies though. In any case the battery life on iPad mini is great!
 
X

xEnOnn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 8, 2012
16
0
ThatsMeRight said:
iPads have much, much better battery life. At 50% brightness you can easily get 10 hours of battery life. Go a bit below that, and lasts even longer.

If your iPhone 4S only lasts for three hours, either your brightness is almost at 100%, or there's something wrong with your 4S.
Click to expand...

Are these 10 hours of battery life referring to idling mode? What if the iPad was constantly used for reading, browsing the web, streaming video, etc? How long would it last?

My iPhone 4s can last for about a day when I don't use it at all, ie, idle mode. But when I use it for straight 2-3 hours, the battery can get below 20% very quickly.
 
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ThatsMeRight

macrumors 68020
Sep 12, 2009
2,289
251
xEnOnn said:
Are these 10 hours of battery life referring to idling mode? What if the iPad was constantly used for reading, browsing the web, streaming video, etc? How long would it last?

My iPhone 4s can last for about a day when I don't use it at all, ie, idle mode. But when I use it for straight 2-3 hours, the battery can get below 20% very quickly.
Click to expand...
It sounds as if something is wrong with your iPhone 4S, or your display brightness is extremely high.

I'm talking here about 10 hours of actual usage, not stand-by time. Whether that is reading a book, browsing a website or watching a video. Ten hours.

You can see your usage/stand-by time under Settings > General > Usage
 
zhenya

zhenya

macrumors 604
Jan 6, 2005
6,929
3,677
xEnOnn said:
Are these 10 hours of battery life referring to idling mode? What if the iPad was constantly used for reading, browsing the web, streaming video, etc? How long would it last?

My iPhone 4s can last for about a day when I don't use it at all, ie, idle mode. But when I use it for straight 2-3 hours, the battery can get below 20% very quickly.
Click to expand...

10 hours of us should be no trouble for a mini. I use my ipad 4 2-3 hours/day and charge about once per week, getting 15-23 hours of use time.
 
C

CTHarrryH

macrumors 68030
Jul 4, 2012
2,935
1,431
I would think it would aslo depend upon whether WiFi only or cellular also. I have an WiFi only one and I can do 3-4 hours of web access on WiFi and reading etc. and the battery only goes down to 92% or so.
I have a 4s and I find that battery life is much more related to strong cellular signal than normal usage. Trying and re-trying to get a good signal seems to really burn battery life.

I think an WiFi only Mini that 10 hours of continual use would be "easy".
 
B

burgundyyears

macrumors 6502
Sep 3, 2010
380
200
xEnOnn said:
How's the battery life like for iPad Mini? On the Apple website, it claims that I could watch videos for up to 10 hours but I know that certainly is B.S. because on my iPhone 4S, I can't even surf the Internet for more than 3 hours.

I've heard that the iPad mini has middling battery life. How long can the iPad mini's battery last for surfing the web, reading and streaming videos? On my iPhone 4S, browsing the web, reading and stream videos for about 2 hours is going to get the battery life below 20%. And this is annoying. I'm worried that the iPad Mini is the same, or even worst.
Click to expand...

Engadget measured battery life on the mini to be the best they had ever seen on any tablet: 12 hours, 43 minutes on their video looping test, wifi on.
 
K

klover

macrumors 6502a
Jun 7, 2009
799
90
I had a screenshot somewhere but can't find it. Anyway, from full-charge to 1% it read:

13 hours, 43 minutes
5 days, 11 hours standby.

Mostly Angry Birds Star Wars, browsing, and email. No push, no iCloud.
 
jwingfie

jwingfie

macrumors 6502a
Dec 30, 2008
631
15
Athens, GA
klover said:
I had a screenshot somewhere but can't find it. Anyway, from full-charge to 1% it read:

13 hours, 43 minutes
5 days, 11 hours standby.

Mostly Angry Birds Star Wars, browsing, and email. No push, no iCloud.
Click to expand...

Mine has been about the same as above. Averaging around 13-14 usage to 4-5 days standby
 
B

bagelmaker

macrumors member
Oct 29, 2012
73
0
I use my ipad mini constantly, mostly for web browsing and Netflix and I get about 11 hours of actual usage out of one charge. I only charge it every other night, so it gets a ton of standby time too. I do feel like the battery drains a lot faster when my husband plays his high graphics games on it. When he uses it for a few hours I usually end up having to charge it that night (I always charge overnight.)

In comparison, my IPod touch has terrible battery life since I've upgraded to IOS 6. I get maybe 3 hours of actual use out of it if I'm lucky.
 
E

eye4ni

macrumors member
Apr 18, 2011
44
9
battery life is phenomenal. I can't imagine anyone buying the mini and complaining about poor battery life.... if this is a concern, get over it, not an issue, start worrying about the bigger issues in life like tiny little nicks in the aluminum bezel that appear after normal everyday usage...
 
Ashin

Ashin

macrumors 6502a
Jun 19, 2010
959
201
Don't believe anyone claiming they get over 10 hours.

Just the "usage" going on in standby, so they believe they have amazing battery life.

Apple test their battery to purposely make it look good, getting the advertised 10 hours is lucky.
 
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eye4ni

macrumors member
Apr 18, 2011
44
9
Ashin said:
Don't believe anyone claiming they get over 10 hours.

Just the "usage" going on in standby, so they believe they have amazing battery life.

Apple test their battery to purposely make it look good, getting the advertised 10 hours is lucky.
Click to expand...

Do you have any proof to support this theory? Unplug your mini (I assume you own one) and don't touch it for 12 hours and check your usage. It will probably say something like 2-3 minutes of usage and 12 hours of standby. I left my mini pretty much untouched all day yesterday after taking it off the charger in the morning, and after about 8 hours battery was still at 98%. Wifi+cellular if that makes any difference.
 
drcrane

drcrane

macrumors newbie
Apr 23, 2012
14
11
Battery Life is all one can ask for.

80% Brightness, all Push and Message Service switched ON, 95% Web Surfing using Safari via Wifi and 5% reading eBook. And I get constantly 13.5 hours of pure enjoyment.

Furthermore the iPad Mini is just so slim and light that it is a pure joy to use.

Really, I could not be happier with it !
 
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