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iPad Battery Life

G

Ganges

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 1, 2010
61
0
I just got a new Ipad Air. Everything seems to check out except battery life. I wouldn't have thought it was a problem until I read some posts here, and compared against my bosses Mini Ipad. His was at 1 HR 45 Min at 89%. I'm not seeing that with mine.

I have everything turned off except Wifi. Brightness @ 50%.

And I'm getting just a little over 1 hour per 10% drop? This is with no usage other than setting @ the settings screen. Thats within the 10 hours apple states, but shouldn't I be getting a lot more with it just sitting there doing nothing.


I want to be very sure before returning it as I've made exchanges in the past with other things, and learned there was never anything wrong, I had just be expecting too much. This screen is perfect - No desd / stuck pixels, and no tint. I would hate to exchange the item if it was working properly, and end up with a bad screen!


Any chance of some comparisons? Could a few of you check what time you get with a 10% battery drop?
You would need turn off everthing, updates, location services, blutooth ETC, just leave WIFI on . Set brightness to 50%, and turn off the lock screen timer. (set to never).

Any takers? My return window is almost closed.......
 
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Your iPad battery dropped 10% in one hour...was the screen on that whole time?

In Settings > General > Usage, what does it say for usage and standby times?
 
T5BRICK said:
Your iPad battery dropped 10% in one hour...was the screen on that whole time?

In Settings > General > Usage, what does it say for usage and standby times?
Click to expand...

Yes it did. The screen was on the whole time. Usage was 1 hr 5 min. Standby was 2 hours.
 
Well, what were you doing during the screen time? If you're doing something that gets the iPad going, like gaming, your battery is going to drop fast regardless.
 
rapicell said:
Well, what were you doing during the screen time? If you're doing something that gets the iPad going, like gaming, your battery is going to drop fast regardless.
Click to expand...

Doing nothing. All apps turned off, and just setting idle at the settings screen.
 
"With the screen on for an hour? Do you have your usage numbers?"

Posted above
 
Ganges said:
"With the screen on for an hour? Do you have your usage numbers?"

Posted above
Click to expand...

OP, I think you're misunderstanding the point of some of the questions people are asking you. You are claiming that you are doing nothing and the iPad is just sitting idle. Why would you have the screen turned on for an hour and you're not doing anything on the iPad?

Unless you and your boss are sitting there doing exactly the same thing on both iPads, running exactly the same apps, everything is set the same on both machines and you're running your screen live for an hour doing nothing (Why would anyone do that?) then you can't really compare your iPad to your bosses.

Also did you fully drain your iPad's battery the first time before recharging? That makes a difference.
 
HenryDJP said:
OP, I think you're misunderstanding the point of some of the questions people are asking you. You are claiming that you are doing nothing and the iPad is just sitting idle. Why would you have the screen turned on for an hour and you're not doing anything on the iPad?

Unless you and your boss are sitting there doing exactly the same thing on both iPads, running exactly the same apps, everything is set the same on both machines and you're running your screen live for an hour doing nothing (Why would anyone do that?) then you can't really compare your iPad to your bosses.

Also did you fully drain your iPad's battery the first time before recharging? That makes a difference.
Click to expand...

I had the screen on for testing.

I was running a battery life test since I noticed the Air's battery percentage dropping faster than my 1st Gen.
 
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Ganges said:
Why would I have the screen on? For testing.

I was running a battery life test since I noticed the Air's battery percentage dropping faster than my 1st Gen.
Click to expand...

Did you fully drain the battery upon taking it out of the box? It's supposed to be fully drained before charging. You didn't answer that question.

Anyways, if you're uncomfortable just take it back.
 
I ran it down on the intiual charges then charged it up to 100%.

I guess I could take it back, But I'd rather determine if there really is a defect. As I had said, the screen is great, and I woud hate to take the chance of a lesser screen, especially if it never really had a problem to begin with.

A big issue I see after reading several old threads is that there really no good method to determine battery problems. Seems most people either did an exchange or just forgot about it.

This is why I ran the Ipad for 1 hour with the screen on at idle with no apps and everything off except Wifi, and brightness at 50%. I was hoping to establish a base line that perhaps others could try, and compare against. Thats my only hope of determining a problem!


Here's a sad tidbit: I thought my 1st Gen was broken from setting unused with no charge for so long. You see, it seemed like it was stuck on 100% forever. Then when it finally started dropping, it was very slow to drop. Compared to my new air, that was dropping twice as fast! I was sure the percentage figure was screwed up on the 1st Gen. Then it finally hit me. The 1st Gen battery wasn't just ok it was great! It was the lousy Ipad air that was crap.
 
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If you're worried about the battery Apple can test it. However, odds are that it's your usage that is impacting your battery life.
 
takeshi74 said:
If you're worried about the battery Apple can test it. However, odds are that it's your usage that is impacting your battery life.
Click to expand...

No usage! It was setting idlle only while testing.


Now I read in another thread that one of the guy's that was reporting 20 + hours. is getting just over 10 since upgrading IOS. Looks like there may have been a software glich, causing the high numbers, and many of those 20+ reports could be bogus?

When I get home I'm going to recharge the air, and my sons Mini. I'll set them up the same and let them go. If the Air shows a battery issue after that comparison, I't going back for a refund, and my Ipad Air adventure will be over!

Will Best Buy give me any grief? Will there be a restocking fee? I know I had to pay one in the past.
 
Ganges said:
No usage! It was setting idlle only while testing.


Now I read in another thread that one of the guy's that was reporting 20 + hours. is getting just over 10 since upgrading IOS. Looks like there may have been a software glich, causing the high numbers, and many of those 20+ reports could be bogus?

When I get home I'm going to recharge the air, and my sons Mini. I'll set them up the same and let them go. If the Air shows a battery issue after that comparison, I't going back for a refund, and my Ipad Air adventure will be over!

Will Best Buy give me any grief? Will there be a restocking fee? I know I had to pay one in the past.
Click to expand...

So what is your problem? You say it dropped 10% in one hour. Apple only claims up to 10 hours battery life, so you'd be getting what they claim.

Keep in mind, whether you're scrolling in Safari or just sitting idle in your settings app, your main drain on the battery is the screen being on!

A point I'd like to make that I haven't seen others make is this...when you got your Air, did you restore a previous backup onto it? If so, I've heard this can be a drain on the battery when compared to setting it up as a new iPad. You may want to restore the iPad and set it as a new on 7.1. I personally don't have battery issues on 7.1 and I get 10 to 12 hours with normal use!

If you do decide to return it to Best Buy, know that they do not have a restocking fee. In fact, if you're a MyBestBuy (ie. reward zone) member, you have 45 days to return the iPad, hassle free, no questions asked. Otherwise you have 15 days to return, still hassle free and no restocking fees.
 
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i've noticed the battery life draining fast on 7.1 as well.

i checked the necessary things like, location services for only apps i use, app background refresh, brightness under 50%, bluetooth off and airdrop off.

before the update i could go 3 days without charging my ipad air. now its about a day and a half. maybe 2 days.
 
I think it's extremely unlikely you have a battery problem.

One, the indicator isn't that accurate until it has had a few full cycles on the battery. Two, 10 hours screen on 50% brightness is about what you should expect. It's tremendously better than any other device on the market.

I get significantly more, but much of my usage is with the screen at closer to 25% and lightweight - mostly web browsing.
 
OK then!


I just upgraded to 7.1 then I erased the memory, and reset as a new Ipad.

Well..............

After 30 minutes of use I'm still at 98%. There seems to be a big improvement! That's just a 4% drop after an hour, and closer to what others report!

I think I fixed it!

Here's a snag though. I notice both the Usage time and standby time are advancing together while using the Ipad?

NOTE This is not the problem many have reported where the usage goes up while in standby (caused by a rouge background process) This is the opposite!

When I'm in standby my usage time stays put like it should. It's the standby time only that is advancing when it shouldn't??????? [I,E.] While the Ipad is active.


Has this always happened this way or did the 7.1 upgrade cause this? It's hard to know if it's normal as the standby time is usually very high only showing hours, and not minutes Thoughts?
 
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If you can, OP, relax! It is unlikely that you have a battery problem. When these suspicions arise, the inclination is to try to diagnose them ASAP. This usually involves using the device more often than normal or in modes that are not normal. For example, keeping the screen active when not actually using the iPad like you did. Even at 50% brightness, keeping the screen active burns a significant amount of power. That is why Apple gives you the user option to have it go into sleep mode after a couple of minutes. I suggest setting your sleep timer to something typical such as 2 minutes. Then force yourself to use the device only when you normally would - don't keep turning it on to check the battery.

Apple has a very fine warranty that they will stand behind. They will replace the battery at no charge for you if it is actually bad. But your warranty has over 11 months left. No need to run to the Apple store now. Use the iPad in a NORMAL fashion for a few battery charge and discharge cycles. Each cycle will probably take a few days, so you will need to be patient for a couple of weeks. Try to think about something else in the meantime ;>)
 
HenryDJP said:
Did you fully drain the battery upon taking it out of the box? It's supposed to be fully drained before charging. You didn't answer that question.

Anyways, if you're uncomfortable just take it back.
Click to expand...

This is false and misleading. The battery is pre-calibrated and ready to use!
 
Well anyway, I'm glad it appears better now.

No comments on the advancing standby time while in use? I read some posts that stated this is normal, and the standby time always increments whether the Ipad is in standby or being used.

Sort of like a "time since last charge"???
 
HenryDJP said:
Exactly, my post is so false and misleading. Funny how I got this information directly from Apple's white paper notes. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

http://www.apple.com/uk/batteries/ipad.html

http://www.apple.com/uk/batteries/
 
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