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iPad 2 ... Magnets Attack !!!!

F

fhd4

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 23, 2010
57
4
I have a question and not sure if it was discussed before (light search was done :rolleyes:)

Any way ...

With all these magnets in the iPad 2 itself or the smart cover or even in the third party cases manufacturers (to do the hibernation thing) ...

Will it affect the inside electronics of the iPad (memory, processor, gyroscope, compass, gps, etc.) or even the screen somehow ... long term at least?!


Don't tell me apple would've thought about it ... remember iphone 4 !
 
fhd4 said:
I have a question and not sure if it was discussed before (light search was done :rolleyes:)

Any way ...

With all these magnets in the iPad 2 itself or the smart cover or even in the third party cases manufacturers (to do the hibernation thing) ...

Will it affect the inside electronics of the iPad (memory, processor, gyroscope, compass, gps, etc.) or even the screen somehow ... long term at least?!


Don't tell me apple would've thought about it ... remember iphone 4 !
Click to expand...

I am a huge droid fan. But love my ipad2.

But jeeze never had to deal with these kind of stupid questions on android forums.

(and yes it's proven your ipad2 will melt from the magnets, long term. :rolleyes:)
 
slopokdave said:
I am a huge droid fan. But love my ipad2.

But jeeze never had to deal with these kind of stupid questions on android forums.

(and yes it's proven your ipad2 will melt from the magnets, long term. :rolleyes:)
Click to expand...

you don't have to deal with such questions ... just keep your mouth magnets closed (or fingers) !
 
fhd4 said:
Don't tell me apple would've thought about it ... remember iphone 4 !
Click to expand...

Well they did first of all and what issues were there with the iPhone 4?

Also, a magnet would have to be a really really really big neodymium magnet to effect electronics. The size of a Hockey Puck. The magnets in the Smart cover and iPad 2 are just too small.

DZX0Y0-N52L.jpg


http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=DZX0Y0-N52&cat=168
 
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fhd4 said:
Don't tell me apple would've thought about it ... remember iphone 4 !
Click to expand...

What about the iPhone 4?

The first iPad had light bleeding, but all the sudden this story gains traction with the iPad 2 and now its become an epidemic, and the same happened with the iPhone 4.

Also, keep in mind that Apple has said that the Smart Cover was developed along side the iPad 2, and most products take 12-18 months to go from a drawing board to being manufactured, so unlike the issue you have with the iPhone 4, I think this magnet issue has been fully tested for a wile not to be harmful to the product.
 
xraytech said:
Well they did first of all and what issues were there with the iPhone 4?

Also, a magnet would have to be really really really big neodymium magnet to effect electronics. The size of a Hockey Puck. The magnets in the Smart cover and iPad 2 are just too small.

DZX0Y0-N52L.jpg


http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=DZX0Y0-N52&cat=168
Click to expand...


the size of the magnets that really affect electronics is subjective... Magnetic fields induced or resonance that may occur all can magnify the effect somehow... depending on all circumstances ...

Well ... the magnets in the smart cover proven to be relatively power full ...


ipad-2-fridge.jpg



xraytech said:
Stop spreading FUD
Click to expand...


This is nothing but an innocent question which requires a scientific answer !

By the way ... I have iPad 2 ... and I love it ...
 
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saving107 said:
What about the iPhone 4?

The first iPad had light bleeding, but all the sudden this story gains traction with the iPad 2 and now its become an epidemic, and the same happened with the iPhone 4.

Also, keep in mind that Apple has said that the Smart Cover was developed along side the iPad 2, and most products take 12-18 months to go from a drawing board to being manufactured, so unlike the issue you have with the iPhone 4, I think this magnet issue has been fully tested for a wile not to be harmful to the product.
Click to expand...

I agree that Apple said that .. but upto what extend they have tested the magnets and on what bases ?!...

regarding iPhone 4 ... in my personal opinion, apple have showed some weaknesses in quality assurance .. They failed to introduce the white iPhone for the known reasons .. they have introduced (for the first time) a bumper to solve what is called the death grip issues and they manipulated signal bars ...
 
johnnyturbouk said:
maybe this magnet

mri-scanner.jpg


these magnets go upto 4 tesla - which is the SI unit for magnetic fields
magnetic flux density - ie strength of the magnet per unit area

god.. bringing back my physics days
Click to expand...


lol ... nice one ... this can erase human memory .... JK :D
 
who the hell gets put to sleep for a MRI? my dad is a radiologist and ever since i was a kid i went to work after school with him and never have any patients been put to sleep. that's crap. they listen to music or watch a movie.

and this is just dumb... you don't think anyone at apple thought hmmm willthis erase everything?... quality control at apple is good, the white iphone proves that... they aren't satisfied so they held it back. thats good, not bad
 
hlr element said:
and this is just dumb... you don't think anyone at apple thought hmmm willthis erase everything?... quality control at apple is good, the white iphone proves that... they aren't satisfied so they held it back. thats good, not bad
Click to expand...

I did not say it will erase everything ! ... you have a compass and gps for example that can be affected with any interference specially magnets ...

and Quality control should act before releasing the products not after it has been announced...
 
fhd4 said:
I did not say it will erase everything ! ... you have a compass and gps for example that can be affected with any interference specially magnets ...

and Quality control should act before releasing the products not after it has been announced...
Click to expand...

It was before releasing the product since they never released it.
 
fhd4 said:
This is nothing but an innocent question which requires a scientific answer !

By the way ... I have iPad 2 ... and I love it ...
Click to expand...

Unfortunately there are too many negative people on here that just love to harass those with seemigly innocent questions....

..especially questions that call into question Apple's standards/ethics/designs/anything apple related!!!!

I also though about this when starting to use a cover with a magnetic clip for my iPhone 3G a few years ago... i think they are safe, i don't think Apple would overlook this fact, the engineers and designers at Apple are not untrained idiots afterall.... ;)
 
OP: It might seem like an innocent question to you, but unfortunately it can gain traction and spin out of control. Your thread title seems to say you not only have an answer to your question, but the problem is so severe it warrants using wording such as "Attack!!". All of a sudden there's an iPad 2 "magnetgate" which has no basis in fact whatsoever. Owners start fretting over something they don't need to be concerned about in the least.

The answer to your question: no. Some basic physics covers a good part of the reasoning for the answer (moving magnetic fields and induced currents - that sort of thing). Anything further is a bit too much to go into here, except to say: the magnetic field strength is too weak and it's not changing (at least not at any effective frequency).

Another couple notes of fact:

GPS is not affected by magnetic fields. It's just a radio receiver (from a very simplistic viewpoint).

Yes, the compass can sense local magnetic fields, however there are three sensors and they can help software tell the difference between those and the Earth's (Usually. If there is interference detected, the iPhone alerts the user to put the device through motions to calibrate out the local fields. In the case of the iPad, the placement of the sensor vs. the Smart Cover magnets seems enough to prevent interference from the cover. I actually just now tested it in several mounted positions without affecting the compass app I was using. Waving the hinge under the right side will cause a deflection. Whether mounted, or unmounted, the compass has the same reading. My iPad is compass only - no GPS. The Map app on the iPhone was where I got the calibration warning. On the iPad 2, the Map app doesn't show compass heading.).

Lastly, there are no storage devices on the iPad which magnetic fields as their means of storing data.
 
gr8tfly said:
OP: It might seem like an innocent question to you, but unfortunately it can gain traction and spin out of control. Your thread title seems to say you not only have an answer to your question, but the problem is so severe it warrants using wording such as "Attack!!". All of a sudden there's an iPad 2 "magnetgate" which has no basis in fact whatsoever. Owners start fretting over something they don't need to be concerned about in the least.

The answer to your question: no. Some basic physics covers a good part of the reasoning for the answer (moving magnetic fields and induced currents - that sort of thing). Anything further is a bit too much to go into here, except to say: the magnetic field strength is too weak and it's not changing (at least not at any effective frequency).

Another couple notes of fact:

GPS is not affected by magnetic fields. It's just a radio receiver (from a very simplistic viewpoint).

Yes, the compass can sense local magnetic fields, however there are three sensors and they can help software tell the difference between those and the Earth's (Usually. If there is interference detected, the iPhone alerts the user to put the device through motions to calibrate out the local fields. In the case of the iPad, the placement of the sensor vs. the Smart Cover magnets seems enough to prevent interference from the cover. I actually just now tested it in several mounted positions without affecting the compass app I was using. Waving the hinge under the right side will cause a deflection. Whether mounted, or unmounted, the compass has the same reading. My iPad is compass only - no GPS. The Map app on the iPhone was where I got the calibration warning. On the iPad 2, the Map app doesn't show compass heading.).

Lastly, there are no storage devices on the iPad which magnetic fields as their means of storing data.
Click to expand...

+1,000,000

Stop spreading FUD

If anything the Magnets are not strong enough.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1129740/
 
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I think a more direct and applicable question would be regarding the digital compass in all models. The digital compass is affected by localized metals and magnetic fields. All compasses are.

How is the accuracy of the internal digital compass not affected by the multitude of magnets in the iPad itself or the cover? They can't account for the magnets in advance because the cover itself can be folded into several configurations. It's not as if the field is constant to create a possible deviation table and it would be different if someone would choose not to use the cover.

Add in this the complexity of how third-party cases may different in number of magnets or strength and you end up with infinite variables affecting the internal compass.

From Apple's own page on the compass calibration:

The built-in digital compass works just like a magnetic-needle compass. The accuracy of digital compass headings can be affected by magnetic or other environmental interference, including interference caused by proximity to the magnets contained in the iPhone earbuds. The compass may need to be calibrated from time to time.
Click to expand...

Edited to add: I just tried cover orientations with my wife's iPad 2 and there was indeed a shift depending on the existence (cover on/cover off) or orientation of the cover (open, folded to the back, rolled, movement).
 
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As said earlier, they have been using magnets in MacBooks for years. Magnets only damage hard drives and CRT displays; neither of which reside in the iPad2 (or iPad 1 for that matter).
 
fhd4 said:
I did not say it will erase everything ! ... you have a compass and gps for example that can be affected with any interference specially magnets ...

and Quality control should act before releasing the products not after it has been announced...
Click to expand...

Why would the GPS be affected by magnets? They operate on RF. They are not like a compass.

And speaking of the compass, mine works fine on my iPad2 which proves the magnetic field is so small on the cover that it is not worth the bandwidth used in this thread. More than one person has insinuated that you are worrying about nothing, yet you seem to just want to argue about it.

There are bigger windmills to be swung at.:mad:
 
You are correct on the GPS. There would be absolutely no affect by magnetism.

On the compass though, see my comment above. The cover absolutely affects the accuracy. Depending on how you have the cover placed there was as much as a 30 degree swing on the compass. That is a significant affect on accuracy. Even in Apple's own calibration page they state that earbuds can affect the accuracy. What do you think that 21/31 (depending on who is counting and how) physical magnets will do?

If the cover is in the rolled position there will be one influence. If someone is holding it with the cover flat against the back it will be another. If they let all or part of the cover dangle down from the back it will be yet another. Nobody is going to recalibrate the compass that frequently.

Stealthipad said:
Why would the GPS be affected by magnets? They operate on RF. They are not like a compass.

And speaking of the compass, mine works fine on my iPad2 which proves the magnetic field is so small on the cover that it is not worth the bandwidth used in this thread. More than one person has insinuated that you are worrying about nothing, yet you seem to just want to argue about it.

There are bigger windmills to be swung at.:mad:
Click to expand...
 
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