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Early Battery Tests Between Wi-Fi and 3G iPad

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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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iLounge posts some preliminary findings between the iPad Wi-fi and iPad 3G models. The 3G model was just released on Friday and includes 3G cellular data capabilities as well as GPS functionality.

Data services over 3G cellular tend to draw more power than on Wi-Fi alone. Apple's official specs show a 10% hit when using 3G vs. Wi-fi. Apple claims 10 hours of continous web usage on Wi-Fi, and 9 hours of usage on 3G with a single charge. iLounge's early tests show that these numbers seem reasonably accurate:
Our prior iPad with Wi-Fi battery tests found that Apple was generally at least a little conservative in its estimates; for instance, we put the Wi-Fi model through a web torture test with repeated 1-minute refreshes of a large, completely loaded page for 10 hours and 21 minutes on 50% brightness over 802.11n. Repeating the exact same test on the Wi-Fi + 3G model with 3G turned on and Wi-Fi turned off, the iPad achieved 8 hours and 38 minutes of continuous reloading and displaying—22 minutes shy of Apple’s estimate.
Click to expand...


Article Link: Early Battery Tests Between Wi-Fi and 3G iPad
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/05/01/early-battery-tests-between-wi-fi-and-3g-ipad/
J

johnboi1978

macrumors newbie
Dec 29, 2009
16
0
JDee said:
Oooh, she's a battery sucker...

Interesting stuff!

Jack
Click to expand...

Really? :rolleyes:

What exactly were you expecting? Thats gotta be a worst case scenario and I doubt people will be getting any less than that. Sounds pretty damn good to me.
 
HiRez

HiRez

macrumors 603
Jan 6, 2004
6,250
2,576
Western US
Wow, that screen shot of the downgraded YouTube video is brutal. Basically useless over 3G, it would appear.
 
MarkMoseley1

MarkMoseley1

macrumors member
Apr 6, 2010
79
25
St. Louis, MO
Eight and a half hours is not bad at all! I bet this test was done with full signal strength over 3G. I wonder what the battery life is like with 2 bars of signal strength? I know that some buildings are really bad for getting good cellular signal through. In fact if you stand in some spots you can have good signal and then lose your 3G in the same spot and be sitting on EDGE with only 1 bar. I've noticed this to suck the life out of my iPhone quicker than when I have good signal.
 
W

Wingsy

macrumors member
Apr 19, 2007
67
0
Depends on Distance From Tower

It may depend somewhat on how far you are from the nearest tower, as the iPad transmitter adjusts its power to be just enough to reliably reach it. If you're far away it will transmit with higher power, and therefore less battery life.
 
R

retroneo

macrumors 6502a
Apr 22, 2005
771
141
HiRez said:
Wow, that screen shot of the downgraded YouTube video is brutal. Basically useless over 3G, it would appear.
Click to expand...

If you tether iPad to a jailbroken iPhone using the app MiWi, you get full quality Netflix, the ABC player app works, Youtube plays great HD and you can download any app from the app store.
 
elppa

elppa

macrumors 68040
Nov 26, 2003
3,233
151
It gets longer battery life than my iPod nano. Except my nano doesn't have an 10" IPS screen, nor 3G for that matter.
 
F

firewood

macrumors G3
Jul 29, 2003
8,109
1,345
Silicon Valley
How many bars?

The 3G battery life number may be dependent on how close you are to a cell tower and how loaded it is.

The iPad will turn up its radio transmitter power higher, the farther the tower is away, and the radio may have to wait longer for replies if the tower is loaded up with a lot of other iPhone/iPad/data traffic.
 
Y

yodaxl7

macrumors 6502a
Jan 25, 2010
768
0
Well, you don't have to use 3G all the time! So, it'll last 8 hrs or closer to 10 hrs. I use 3G whenever wifi is not available.
 
ValSalva

ValSalva

macrumors 68040
Jun 26, 2009
3,783
259
Burpelson AFB
That's amazing battery life. But one has to remember that it has a giant battery. Maybe too large a battery because it's a bit on the heavy side, but that kind of battery life is unheard of. Six months ago no one would have predicted this kind of battery life.
 
bottsjw

bottsjw

macrumors regular
Feb 24, 2010
112
97
battery cycles?

Wouldn't it stand to reason that the battery life will improve initially with a few charging cycles? Since their Wi-Fi must be several cycles ahead of the Wi-Fi + 3G I'd expect it to be slightly better than spec. Let's see the 3G results after 10 or 15 full charge/discharge cycles.
 
M

MikhailT

macrumors 601
Nov 12, 2007
4,582
1,325
ValSalva said:
That's amazing battery life. But one has to remember that it has a giant battery. Maybe too large a battery because it's a bit on the heavy side, but that kind of battery life is unheard of. Six months ago no one would have predicted this kind of battery life.
Click to expand...

Two large batteries strapped together, not one.
 
furi0usbee

furi0usbee

macrumors 68000
Jul 11, 2008
1,790
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I kind of figured this would happen with the iPad. All the hype about unlimited 3G connections. The problem is... no apps are going to work over 3G that use any vast amount of bandwidth. I was hoping to get a 3G iPad, I have a WiFi now. I was going to get the unlimited plan and basically use the iPad as a MBP light.

I can tell you this with almost certainty... you will *never* see iPhone tethering now. AT&T probably was close, but once the iPad was a realization... you won't see it. AT&T would rather you have two subscriptions.

Please Verizon.... please Apple. Give us alternatives, if not for just competition with iPhone plan pricing.
 
M

MikhailT

macrumors 601
Nov 12, 2007
4,582
1,325
furi0usbee said:
I kind of figured this would happen with the iPad. All the hype about unlimited 3G connections. The problem is... no apps are going to work over 3G that use any vast amount of bandwidth. I was hoping to get a 3G iPad, I have a WiFi now. I was going to get the unlimited plan and basically use the iPad as a MBP light.

I can tell you this with almost certainty... you will *never* see iPhone tethering now. AT&T probably was close, but once the iPad was a realization... you won't see it. AT&T would rather you have two subscriptions.

Please Verizon.... please Apple. Give us alternatives, if not for just competition with iPhone plan pricing.
Click to expand...

Tethering will happen, remember that there's over 500K iPads WiFi sold that AT&T would love to bring over to 3g by providing tethering plans for the iPhone. The question is when, not if.
 
furi0usbee

furi0usbee

macrumors 68000
Jul 11, 2008
1,790
1,382
MikhailT said:
Tethering will happen, remember that there's over 500K iPads WiFi sold that AT&T would love to bring over to 3g by providing tethering plans for the iPhone. The question is when, not if.
Click to expand...

I can't see AT&T charging $30 more per month for iPhone tethering. They can get away with $30.00 for a new device. They'd more than likely only be able to charge say $20 more for tethering, and they would cap that at 5GB probably.
 
M

MikhailT

macrumors 601
Nov 12, 2007
4,582
1,325
furi0usbee said:
I can't see AT&T charging $30 more per month for iPhone tethering. They can get away with $30.00 for a new device. They'd more than likely only be able to charge say $20 more for tethering, and they would cap that at 5GB probably.
Click to expand...

Even at 15$ extra for tethering, that's still a lot of money to be made over a long period of time.
 
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