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MH01

Suspended
Original poster
Feb 11, 2008
12,107
9,297
While I am not the target audience for the iPad pro, lacking a creative bone, and ad hoc user of the pencil, I love the device.

It feels like my iPhone 6 Plus experience. At first it was ackward to use due to the large size , and now the iPad Air 2 feels small and I hardly use it.

Though a major selling point for me, like the iPhone 6 Plus, battery life!

So down to 2%, 14 hours 55 minutes usage and 113 hours 33 min standby

My iPad Air 2 gets me about 9 hours usage from a full charge.

Awesome
 

FeliApple

macrumors 68040
Apr 8, 2015
3,454
1,924
My iPad 4 lasts about the same, I have it from 2013, and it has always, in every single charge, exceeded the 10 hours that Apple says. It goes between 14-21 hours, depending on the usage, constantly. (Normally 16-18)
 
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Diversion

macrumors 6502a
Oct 5, 2007
773
142
Jacksonville, Florida
I got 16 hours on my first 100% charge 128gb wifi only.. Left autobrightness on.. Lots of web browsing, lots of high 3d gaming (Vain Glory).. lots of pencil use (drawing and note taking).. Yes the Pro is very underrated on battery life.. If you can manage to not use high brightness, it's a marathon iPad.
 
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iPhone1

macrumors 65816
Apr 2, 2010
1,152
423
I noticed a big hit with battery life once I paired my Apple Pencil. Had Bluetooth off before that and I was getting 16+ hours even with moderate YouTube/Netflix use. Took a dive once Apple Pencil was paired.
 
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Diversion

macrumors 6502a
Oct 5, 2007
773
142
Jacksonville, Florida
I noticed a big hit with battery life once I paired my Apple Pencil. Had Bluetooth off before that and I was getting 16+ hours even with moderate YouTube/Netflix use. Took a dive once Apple Pencil was paired.

I disable BT when i'm not needing it.. it is however annoying that you have to plug the pencil back in to repair each time though.
 

drewfus

macrumors 6502
Jul 3, 2006
272
59
Evanston, IL
Last weekend, I used my (very newly opened) Pro as a replacement for a binder full of music as I was directing a festival, so it was on (with auto-off set to "never") from about 8 am - 4 pm, using ForScore (which is a sheet music-specific app). I still had about 20% battery left. I have to say that I was pretty impressed!
 

MH01

Suspended
Original poster
Feb 11, 2008
12,107
9,297
Just an an update. I decided to turn off auto brightness, cause I found the screen too dark a lot of the times.

I set the brightness to 50% and saw a 1/3 drop in battery to under 10 hours. This was just surfing the web via safari.

I'm doing exactly the same with my iPad Air 2. Right now it's over 6 hours battery with 30% battery remaining.

Looks like the iPad pro may not have a battery advantage, seems like the auto brightness is very conservative, I have to admit it's too low for my viewing pleasure. Maybe there is a sweet spot between 30-40%
 

profets

macrumors 603
Mar 18, 2009
5,114
6,146
I've always experienced excellent battery life with iPads. Always more than the quoted 10 hours.

Most of the time with the Air I would reach 20 hours usage and 1 week of standby.
 

MH01

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Original poster
Feb 11, 2008
12,107
9,297
I've always experienced excellent battery life with iPads. Always more than the quoted 10 hours.

Most of the time with the Air I would reach 20 hours usage and 1 week of standby.

Wow. What brightness is that?
 

gerbrian

macrumors member
Jun 2, 2014
81
8
Actually I am disappointed by the iPad pros battery. It lasts less than my Air 2 did before. Not sure why, it never gets hot or anything, the battery percentages are just dropping very quickly. i estimate about 8-9 hours of wifi browsing with low brightness. Not sure if I should try a fresh restore or so.
 
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moxxham

macrumors 6502
Mar 8, 2015
353
444
Sydney, Australia
I'm also getting kind of disappointing battery life. Brightness is usually about half way, and the percentage just seems to drop very quickly. Bluetooth, background refresh and push mail are all turned off
 

WilliamG

macrumors G3
Mar 29, 2008
9,922
3,800
Seattle
I'm on the latest 9.2 beta and am having pretty good battery life. Brightness is always low for me, my BT on. Mixed usage, including Apple Pencil scrawling (with the emphasis on scrawl).

Just plugged it in about 20 mins ago. :D
 

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VesselA

macrumors regular
Jul 26, 2015
229
58
I wonder how long the battery would last if you only used it for art and drawing.

I always felt the standard iPad screen size slightly restrictive as a canvas, also I imagine the pro is much better for magazines, papers and comics - although getting apps optimised may be an issue - I have a 6+ and although major apps like youtube have updated for compatibility they haven't put any time into additional features to take advantage of the horizontal orientation like the mail app. In fact I don't think i have an app outside of apples original showings which has bothered adding unique additional features for the horizontal 6+ display. Hopefully some more pro apps, like music production tools will take advantage of the iPad pro's extra space properly.
 

CE3

macrumors 68000
Nov 26, 2014
1,808
3,146
I have to admit it's too low for my viewing pleasure. Maybe there is a sweet spot between 30-40%

That seems to be my Air 2's sweet spot, and that's plenty bright for me most of the time. Initially I got around 8-9 hours.. a couple hours under what the 1st generation Air gave me.. but around 8.3/8.4 battery life got much better. Today I get a solid 10-12+ hours of web browsing and video streaming.
 

Mystro

macrumors 6502
Apr 16, 2011
328
314
Yup, the iPad Pro has THE best battery life of any iPad before it. I tested it and compared myself . No other tablet, Android or Apple comes close. The iPad 3 is the next best battery life in my tests.

I can easily get 12-14 hours of battery life with the screen at 50% and location services on. The screen is so big and bright, I never need it any brighter, even in a well lit room.

 

MH01

Suspended
Original poster
Feb 11, 2008
12,107
9,297
I leave brightness set to auto.

Maybe I don't so many heavy tasks (just a lot of casual use), but I've always seen long battery life.

That seems to be my Air 2's sweet spot, and that's plenty bright for me most of the time. Initially I got around 8-9 hours.. a couple hours under what the 1st generation Air gave me.. but around 8.3/8.4 battery life got much better. Today I get a solid 10-12+ hours of web browsing and video streaming.
I just got over 8 hours out of my iPad air 2 on 50% and that was also just using mail and safari.

I'll try both devices at around 35% brightness and see how they go, also will change from the 5G wifi to see impact on battery

So to summarise, my iPad pro got an extra 1.5 hours or so with both devices set to 50%. It was a rough test as the iPad Air spent bit more time on standby as the iPad pro hit the charger first as I preferred to use it :)
 
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