03-06-2011, 02:12 PM

For the life of me I don't think that I've seen a question posted previously for what I'm about to ask...so I apologize if it's been asked before.

With the announcement/release of the iPad 2...all possible outlets (e-Bay, Craig's List, and tons of "buy-back" & "recycle sites"), are being flooded with used iPad 1.0's from folks looking to get some quick cash to finance their iPad 2.0 purchase.

Many of these folks selling iPad 1.0's sometimes mention how long they've had their iPad 1.0's. Some will say:

- only used 5 times
- only 2 weeks old
- only a couple months old
- got it the first day it was released (so basically about 1 year old)

So I got to thinking...since iPad's are primarily meant to be used on battery power (as opposed to a laptop which can be run "plugged in" or run on battery power)...what sort of battery life or battery runtime on a 100% charge (hours & minutes)...are folks seeing since they purchased their iPad 1.0's?

I know that there's always a difference between what Apple claims for the amount of runtime (hours & minutes) on a full charge...but let's say you've had an iPad 1.0 for 3, 6, 9, or 12 months. Maybe you actually got 7 hours on a full charge when you first got it...and maybe you use your iPad everyday since you purchased it.

After that "long-winded" setup for my question...here's what I would really like to know. For folks that have an iPad...how has your iPad 1.0's battery runtime on a full charge (hours & minutes) since you purchased it changed? If you originally got 7, 8 or the claimed 10 hours...what sort of battery runtime are you getting now...3, 6, 9, or 12 months later?

I'm thinking that if someone is considering buying a 1 year-old iPad 1.0...it's going to be sort of disappointing if they get it home...and find out that they're only getting 3-4 hours or less on a full charge...out of the original claimed 7-10 hours.

Thanks,

- Nick

p.s. I do realize that folks use their iPad's differently...and thus iPad battery runtime on a single full charge will differ from person to person. What I'm looking for is how has your battery runtime changed or been reduced since you purchased it (due to the amount of total charge cycles or simply how a battery gets less & less runtime on a full charge over it's lifetime).

03-06-2011, 02:22 PM

Bought my iPad first day. Use extensively every day. I have noticed no deterioation on battery life. It definitely gets 10 hours or more.

In fact it is very difficult to run down battery even intentionally. Unless I fire up a movie and keep it running full time. it takes me about two to three days to run it down to zero.

03-06-2011, 02:27 PM

Originally Posted by GNR

Bought my iPad first day. Use extensively every day. I have noticed no deterioation on battery life. It definitely gets 10 hours or more.

In fact it is very difficult to run down battery even intentionally. Unless I fire up a movie and keep it running full time. it takes me about two to three days to run it down to zero.

Wow...that's pretty darn amazing...not the answer I was expecting. Sounds like you're saying that 1 year later...iPad battery runtime on a full charge has changed very little (or not at all)!

- Nick

03-06-2011, 02:31 PM

If anyone is interested, there are various battery monitors available in the App Store that will give you some values. I just installed this one on my iPod Touch - it's free and tells me how much standby, music playback, video playback and WiFi browsing time I can expect on my current charge.

I'm not claiming that it's perfectly accurate but it may help in the discussion if you're trying to figure out how much time you can expect for variou activities at various levels of charge.

03-06-2011, 02:51 PM

After 9 months, I have not seen any deterioration in battery life.

I use it several hours per day, mainly document processing and browsing.

Cheers ... McBie

03-06-2011, 04:01 PM

Got the 3G model as soon as it was available. Hard to say how much actual time I get on it since some days it is in sleep mode a significant part of the day. I can say I haven't noticed any significant degradation in battery life compared to a year ago. Getting the same performance I was then.

03-06-2011, 04:15 PM

Have had mine since launch day battery life is still the same and I use it all the time.

03-06-2011, 04:18 PM

Same here, got mine a little less than a year ago and the battery is as good as new.

03-06-2011, 07:19 PM

Haven't done any timing tests in awhile but have not noticed a decrease.

Unplugged mine about 12 hours ago now. Little over 3 hrs in use today, the rest in standby... Battery is sitting at 73% still.

03-06-2011, 07:27 PM

Ok...sounds like we've gotten some really positive info so far. Everyone responding seems to indicate that their iPads battery is pretty much as "healthy" (or almost as "healthy") as the day they purchased it.

I would say that the average iPad is being used on battery power MUCH MUCH more than the average laptop/notebook...and with a laptop/notebook (after a year of heavy battery use)...I would expect some battery runtime degradation.

So my next question is..."What sort of battery technology is Apple using in the iPad that if with daily use (and possibly daily recharging)...battery runtime (hours & minutes on a full charge) seems to be remaining the same after upwards of a year of use?"

- Nick

03-06-2011, 07:29 PM

Lithium. Same thing as their MBPs. That's why I think people obsessing with battery calibrations and life on their MBPs are wasting their time. Battery tech has come a long way.

03-06-2011, 08:38 PM

Originally Posted by schweb

Lithium. Same thing as their MBPs. That's why I think people obsessing with battery calibrations and life on their MBPs are wasting their time. Battery tech has come a long way.

I'm pretty amazed that even after as much as a year of running an iPad off the battery (which I'm assuming most iPad owners do almost exclusively)...it sounds like no one responding so far in this thread has seen much if any battery runtime degradation!

AWESOME!

- Nick

03-07-2011, 02:07 PM

//I would say that the average iPad is being used on battery power MUCH MUCH more than the average laptop/notebook...and with a laptop/notebook (after a year of heavy battery use)...I would expect some battery runtime degradation. //

With respect to my laptop and before iPad came out I did extensive research on lithum batteries. One surprising thing I learned is that one of the absolute worse things you can do for life of battery is to run on power. That is because heat and especially charging while heated is damaging to the battery.

So maybe the long battery charge for iPad indirectly extends its full charge life by eliminating need to run plugged in.

03-07-2011, 03:09 PM

Got mine since launch day and have not noticed any difference so far so good.

03-07-2011, 04:27 PM

every day. No degradation of battery life observed yet.