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How i fixed my iPad 3 battery issue

Paulywauly

Paulywauly

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 26, 2009
766
0
Durham, UK
I've seen a few people on here complain about the battery life of the new iPad, i was one of them.

I tested mine in a few different ways over a few charge cycles, seeing how far the battery would drop for set periods of time using different apps (such as Safari, Pages, Sky Go and a number of games) on average i was getting around 5 and a half hours regardless of what i was using (screen at full brightness, wifi only)

Restoring my iPad using iTunes has effectively doubled my battery life and now i'm getting the advertised 10 hours (even when watching Sky Go video streaming)

It may not help everyone, but, if anyone out there is also having issues i recommend at least trying this before taking it back to the store.
 
I did a restore, which re-downloaded IOS 5.1, then when it had done that i restored from a backup. Worked perfectly since. I also noticed it isnt getting as hot when doing less intensive stuff, like Pages documents etc
 
My guess here, is that you've run into one of the idle CPU bugs that iOS 5.1 still has.

Unfortunately there don't seem to be any free apps to check CPU usage, but something like Activity Monitor Touch for $0.99 will be able to tell you whether the iPad is correctly idling at 1% or has a high idle CPU usage.

The only way I've found that seems to work to fix it, is to put the iPad in Airplane mode, and restart it twice. Then it will drop from about 10–15% CPU usage to 1%. I imagine that doing a full restore has the same effect.

I still haven't figured out what the cause for it is, as iOS only reports total CPU usage rather than letting you see what processes are using it, but I have to do this every few days or else the battery starts to drain quicker than it ought to.

iOS 5.1 definitely improved things though, as it was reaching 25–30% in iOS 5.0!
 
LostSoul80 said:
How can you use it at full brightness? :eek:
Click to expand...

I am using it at full brightness because I bought a belkin anti-glare screen protector which kills the screens brightness/ crispness completely. However can anybody recommend a good screen protector for this ipad?
 
maril1111 said:
I am using it at full brightness because I bought a belkin anti-glare screen protector which kills the screens brightness/ crispness completely. However can anybody recommend a good screen protector for this ipad?
Click to expand...

I use the Power Support anti-glare and I'm just fine at 50-60% brightness.
 
maril1111 said:
I am using it at full brightness because I bought a belkin anti-glare screen protector which kills the screens brightness/ crispness completely. However can anybody recommend a good screen protector for this ipad?
Click to expand...

I get the cheap ones on Amazon for the iPad 2, about $4 for 6, they fit the same way. . They work perfectly, protect from scratches, and do not reduce visibility.
 
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maril1111 said:
I am using it at full brightness because I bought a belkin anti-glare screen protector which kills the screens brightness/ crispness completely. However can anybody recommend a good screen protector for this ipad?
Click to expand...

Honesty why would u use a screen protector that kills the crispness completely?

That's like buying a sports car and not being able to drive faster than 55
 
LanEvo said:
I get the cheap ones on Amazon for the iPad 2, about $4 for 6, they fit the same way. . They work perfectly, protect from scratches, and do not reduce visibility.
Click to expand...

donnaw said:
I don't know. But if they do it's a great option.

Good luck
Click to expand...

spcdust said:
I personally wouldn't use a matte screen protector on the iPad 3 Retina display, however as far as Crystal Clear protectors go this one is excellent :

MediaDevil Magicscreen Screen Protector: Crystal Clear (Invisible) edition
Click to expand...

Thank you all for your help I shall try and see which one works out best for me.

iapplelove said:
Honesty why would u use a screen protector that kills the crispness completely?

That's like buying a sports car and not being able to drive faster than 55
Click to expand...

Its because I wanted to buy a screen protector and the only one the store had (saturn berlin/germany) was this one so I thought it must be good and well... now I am ready for a change :D

About your comparison thats what would happen here in Dk the speed limit on most parts of the highway is 110km/h.
 
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Can anyone help me?

I drained my battery down to 0% and left it charged overnight for 9 hours last night and it hasn't fully charged yet. Last I checked, it was at 91%??? Wow, it really takes that long to charge a battery? Ridiculous.
 
Are you using the charger that came in the box with your iPad?

Although they look the same, not all apple chargers are the same spec unfortunately.

If that doesnt help, try not playing Infinity Blade II whilst charging.
 
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