iPad Underselling Battery Life.

[joeblow7777]

I've never actually owned an iPad, but this weekend I've burrowed an iPad Air from work. Now, I've always been under the impression that it was rated for about 10 hours of web surfing. As of right now, I'm at 6 hours of usage (mostly all web surfing on chrome), plus 1 day and 17 hours of standby, with 71% battery remaining! I'm on pace to get like 20 hours of screen on time.

If anything, companies usually overstate battery life, but this seems far batter than any estimate I've heard. Is this really typical iPad Air battery life?

 

[Natzoo]

Well if the brightness is on full, bluetooth on and multiple background applications running the battery is going to be less. Ive turned down my 15" mac brightness by a little and i get more battery life.

 

[zhenya]

Yes, most people find that the iPad gets far better battery life than advertised. It's one of the biggest selling points to me as it's the first electronic device I've had that can go an honest week without a charge.

 

[joeblow7777]

Yes, most people find that the iPad gets far better battery life than advertised. It's one of the biggest selling points to me as it's the first electronic device I've had that can go an honest week without a charge.

No kidding. I don't know why Apple doesn't promote this more. Other companies state the best possible battery life their devices can manage under unrealistically conservative usage. By those standards, Apple could probably claim up to 24 hours for the Air, and I assume the Air 2 is about the same.

 

[XTheLancerX]

No kidding. I don't know why Apple doesn't promote this more. Other companies state the best possible battery life their devices can manage under unrealistically conservative usage. By those standards, Apple could probably claim up to 24 hours for the Air, and I assume the Air 2 is about the same.

Would definitely help these slipping iPad sales. I hate to see Apple paying less and less attention to iPad because of these bad sales but it's only because they are not being competitive enough with it.

I can easily get 9-10 hours on my mini 2. I got 13 once as well. I usually charge about every day or every other day because I don't exactly want to start out the next day at 30-40%. I'm sure the battery life would also be better if it wasn't a year old, according to iBackupBot I have lost almost 500mAh capacity over the past year and one month of having the thing. Battery still serves me well though, and it never dies before it hits 1%, so things are still pretty good.

They oversell their iPhone battery life. I can't get more than 6 hours on my iPhone 6

 

[joeblow7777]

I wouldn't say that Apple isn't paying attention to iPads or that sales are "bad" just because they have started to plateau, but I hear what you're saying.

 

[oldmacs]

I have a family with a nearly 4 year old launch day iPad 2 and his iPad 2 gets 2 days of Usage and multiple days of standby (And its not just iOS making up numbers).

I get about 20 hours usage out of my iPad 2 and multiple days of standby, but I use my iPad far more heavily than the other iPad gets used.

iPads seem to get far better battery life than Apple says. However, I have NEVER gotten any iPhone near the stated battery life.

 

[WilliamG]

No kidding. I don't know why Apple doesn't promote this more. Other companies state the best possible battery life their devices can manage under unrealistically conservative usage. By those standards, Apple could probably claim up to 24 hours for the Air, and I assume the Air 2 is about the same.

The Air 2 is noticeably worse than the Air 1, in my experience. It's a shame. Apple's obsession with thinness comes with a price. And no, it's irrelevant to me what reviews say with their generic battery tests. I KNOW in MY usage that the Air 2 is not as good. It's still decent, but... not good enough.

 

[haruhiko]

The Air 2 has (from my experience) about 25% less battery life than the Air 1.

 

[byke]

Just upgraded from an iPad 2 , to an air 2.
And the battery on the air 2 is pretty naff in comparison.

I used to get 10% battery per hour, regardless of what I was doing.
Now on the air 2, I would guess I am averaging about 14-17% per hour.

Which is a substantial difference.

 

[stevemiller]

My iPad 3 is coming up on 50 days since it was last plugged in. No top ups or anything. Granted it's mostly been seeing only light usage, but it has been on and getting intermittent use the whole time. And I think I've even watched like 2 movies on it during that period!

Ios 8 is choppy as all get out on it, but one thing it is not is a battery drainer!

 

[s2mikey]

I agree. Apple absolutely has the best battery technology out there. Or, their devices and power usage are way better than everyone else's. It's one of the two or maybe a combination of both.

Either way, best battery life ever....

 

[rui no onna]

No kidding. I don't know why Apple doesn't promote this more. Other companies state the best possible battery life their devices can manage under unrealistically conservative usage. By those standards, Apple could probably claim up to 24 hours for the Air, and I assume the Air 2 is about the same.

Because then it'll be harder to match by subsequent thinner, lighter models with lower capacity batteries. From my experience, the iPad 3 and 4 has the longest battery life among the ones I've used (iPad 2, 3, 4, Air). Definitely at least 15 hours of on-screen time for the 4 if memory serves. The Air only gets me around 12 or so. If Apple had put in 15 hours battery life for the 4, 12 hours for the Air and just 10 hours for the Air 2 in the specifications, that's not gonna look very good, is it?

Also, power consumption varies by usage. Someone playing games or watching videos isn't going to get the same battery life as someone just web surfing on lower brightness.

 

[joeblow7777]

Also, power consumption varies by usage. Someone playing games or watching videos isn't going to get the same battery life as someone just web surfing on lower brightness.

I know, and that's why every vendor cites "up to..." Battery life, and as I said, with no special efforts of extend run time, I easily surpassed the iPad Air's usually cited "up to 10 hours". Since I was easily on pace to get 20 hours (never did get a chance to drain it before I had to return it) Apple could probably "claim up to 24 hours of web surfing." That would get people's attention!

But you may be right. They may want to downplay battery life because they know that future thinner models will have difficulty matching it.