Analysis of the new Apple iPad
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 9, 2012 1:37 AM ESTA Much Larger Battery
Apple claimed no decrease in battery life for the new iPad compared to last year's model and only a 1 hour drop over LTE. The problem is that the combination of A5X SoC under GPU load, the LTE baseband and driving/lighting all of those pixels in the Retina Display has a significant impact on power consumption.
Apple addressed the issue by increasing the new iPad's battery capacity by 70%. If the leaked PCB photos are accurate (they look to be), Apple increased battery volume by shrinking the motherboard size and increasing the thickness of the tablet.
The new 42.5Wh battery is downright huge. To put the new iPad's battery in perspective, this is nearly the same battery capacity as the what was shipping in the 2008 13-inch MacBook Pro. This is also a bigger battery than what's used in the 2011 11-inch MacBook Air:
Over the next two years you can expect to see the line between ultraportable and tablet blur considerably. Looking at where the new iPad falls in the chart above really begins to exemplify just how blurry that line is going to become.
With the display off, the new iPad looks and feels a lot like the iPad 2. The additional thickness is hard to see, but the additional weight is definitely noticeable. The new iPad isn't as heavy as the original model, but it's clearly heavier than the iPad 2. I don't believe the added weight is a deal breaker, but it is a step backwards. Maintaining battery life however obviously trumps added weight.
The math is pretty simple. If Apple is claiming 10 hours of battery life with a 42.5Wh battery, the new iPad with the iPad 2's battery would likely be good for just under 6 hours. Such a drop would be unacceptable and thus the new iPad gets a bigger battery and incurs additional weight from the new battery and display components.
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doobydoo - Monday, March 12, 2012 - link
Yeah it's so dumb. Because nobody ever leaves their iPad in their bag whilst, for example, listening to music, and because no screen has ever been 'pressed' accidentally when in a pocket or a bag.tipoo - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - link
Agreed, just imagine the tens of seconds a week you would save!ffletchs - Monday, March 12, 2012 - link
I much more prefer the Amoled screen technology, like the one in Samsung Galaxy tab 7.7. Much better colors and insane black levels.Bearman - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
Then you should buy that.star-affinity - Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - link
The new iPad is supposed to have 44% wider color gamut, so you have to compare it to that.I've always thought the opposite, that AMOLED screens have over saturated colors. So I prefer the way iOS devices handles the colors, even if the screens color can vary quite a lot between the devices, especially iPhones. Some has a blueish tone and some are more yellow.
star-affinity - Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - link
Hmm... Oversaturated is one word I guess.deathwalker - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
Ok..so I am not a Apple fanboy. But that having been admitted up front the improvements that the iPad3 bring to the table are very tempting. I still have one major gripe with Apple on the iPad series and that is the lack of storage expansion (if I am wrong I will accept correction). Just about every Android table on the market offers affordable storage expansion via memory card. Why after 3 generations is this still not available on iPad's? Is this a compatibility issue or something or just Apples way of maximizing profits by forcing you to pay 2x the value of additional storage to go from 16 to 32? Help me understand this.bobsmith1492 - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
Why allow consumers the option of a $10 micro SD card when they can charge $100 for the same thing and pocket $90? It's the Apple way. Actually it's the way to do business if you can; for example Dell charges $200 for a 4GB RAM upgrade when you can buy 16GB of better RAM for $75 at Newegg.KaRRiLLioN - Sunday, March 18, 2012 - link
I totally agree that this thing needs removable storage. I've had an iPhone and didn't much care for having to use iTunes for everything when it came to backing up photos, etc. so I ended up going with a Droid 4 this time around. Plus, I much prefer a physical keyboard.The unfortunate reality is that I haven't seen an Android tablet that looks quite as good as the iPad, although honestly, I'd just use a tablet for some light web browsing which is why I am, to this date, still tablet-less.
So far, I prefer using my Dell Latitude 13 since I can do almost anything with it I could do with a tablet or a Windows desktop, aside from playing Angry Birds or Bunny Shooter.
In any case, Apple's strategy is smart, targeting the less tech-savvy people who would be completely lost on an Android tablet. Obviously the vast majority of users on this website are far more in the know about tech than the average consumer who purchases an iPad or any other Apple product for that matter.
Autisticgramma - Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - link
Lets stop this madness, and just call it Ipad 2S with wings.