iPad While Travelling - Battery Life is Awesome

[iFrankie]

I just got back from a two week trip to Europe. I wanted to share a couple of things regarding my experience with the iPad

I played Plants vs. Zombies for basically the whole time we flew from Paris to Washington. I played it a little more while flying from Washington to California and also watched a movie. I still had around 30% battery life when we got home.

I went through a few charging cycles before the iPad battery performed as expected. I read other threads regarding this before actually getting and iPad and it turned out to be accurate.

Having the iPad in the evenings to play games or watch a movie in the hotel before falling asleep was awesome.

Based on a recommendation in another thread, I signed up for Boingo international unlimited roaming plan to use during the trip. It worked very well. I was able to get online easily in the airports and other places. There was only one memorable place it didn't work.

In the hotels that only had Ethernet internet access, I would connect my MacBook and then turn on internet sharing. The iPad would connect via Wi-Fi through the MacBook. It worked perfectly.

I had a clear protective film put on the front and back of the iPad. I also used an Incase Protective Cover. The case is heavy but has a nice feel and is thick to protect the iPad. Having both the film and the case allowed us to enjoy using the iPad without being paranoid about scratching/damaging it.

I would sync photos from the trip to the iPad and then scroll through them and choose which ones to post to MobileMe while laying in bed. I could do this from the MacBook but it felt more natural and easier to do it from the iPad for some reason.

Along with everything else the iPad can do, it's a superb gaming platform. I believe Steve Jobs is correct that the iTouch and iPad, etc will succeed in the gaming market. For us, the iPad has a comfortable seat between the MacBook and iPhone. I'm glad we purchased an iPad.

 

[harry*333]

Well it looks like you had a good trip with your iPad
I'm enjoying mine now

 

[Nabooly]

Good to hear. Im going to lebanon next friday. First flight is 8hrs to frankfurt, so i was hoping itll last the way to germany.


I gotta recieve it though first yikes!

 

[Shinigami301]

Same here. 64GB 3G. Flew from west coast to JFK with no seat power (short connex at JFK so no chance to plug back in) and then on to Istanbul, had a business class upgrade but the seat power didn't work. Connected to Antalya, again no chance to plug in (Istanbul domestic terminal is the worst).

Played music nearly the whole time, watched a few movies, grabbed e-mail on tarmac at JFK with 3G (network was WAY slower in NYC than at home!), hooked up to wi-fi and rechecked e-mail at IST, read a couple books.

Screen was set to ~15% brightness (less when reading books in the dark) most of the time, WiFi off, airplane mode on, and when I arrived in Antalya the device still had 31% batt remaining after about 18 hours of use (music and very low screen brightness level). I really think running the brightness down low is the way to go for the long haul. On the return I missed my connex at JFK and had to stay in NYC for the night, flew back to West Coast next AM after a full recharge, on airplane wi-fi the whole time (above 10000 feet), 6 hours consumed 52% of the battery working with medium screen level and emailing/web surfing the whole way.

I am in foreign countries 180-200 days a year (70% Japan the rest Europe)and I cannot see any compelling reason why I will ever take a 4+ lb laptop anywhere, ever again.

 

[Izzybeff]

I've been traveling with it for the last week and still have 2.5 weeks left of our trip. Dh & I are loving it. It's great to have in the car to find hotels, restaurants and just surf the web.

 

[normwood]

Heading out for a nine day trip via the family truckster to the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks tomorrow and really looking forward to a long trip with my 3G iPad. In the car, in the hotels on the way out and back and in the condo during down time are going to be fantastic.

Tonight my wife asked if I was taking my Macbook. My response was that I really don't see my Macbook ever leaving the house again.

3G iPad, camera connection kit, Nikon D80 and my Airport Express...just in case....and I am dialed.

Steve

 

[nidserz]

To the OP,
When battery cycles, what do you mean? Should I go down to 0% and then to 100% or how should I get the cycles going to increase my battery life. At the moment I don't think my iPad could perform half as much as yours. Thanks.

 

[emaja]

I activated my 3G service and decided to see what the battery life would be on a day where I was using it practically all day. Turns out that I got 10.5 hours out of it from a full charge to shutting off with no juice left while browsing all day on 3G with WiFi turned off just to be sure.

I'm very happy with that!

 

[nidserz]

Same here. 64GB 3G. Flew from west coast to JFK with no seat power (short connex at JFK so no chance to plug back in) and then on to Istanbul, had a business class upgrade but the seat power didn't work. Connected to Antalya, again no chance to plug in (Istanbul domestic terminal is the worst).

Played music nearly the whole time, watched a few movies, grabbed e-mail on tarmac at JFK with 3G (network was WAY slower in NYC than at home!), hooked up to wi-fi and rechecked e-mail at IST, read a couple books.

Screen was set to ~15% brightness (less when reading books in the dark) most of the time, WiFi off, airplane mode on, and when I arrived in Antalya the device still had 31% batt remaining after about 18 hours of use (music and very low screen brightness level). I really think running the brightness down low is the way to go for the long haul. On the return I missed my connex at JFK and had to stay in NYC for the night, flew back to West Coast next AM after a full recharge, on airplane wi-fi the whole time (above 10000 feet), 6 hours consumed 52% of the battery working with medium screen level and emailing/web surfing the whole way.

I am in foreign countries 180-200 days a year (70% Japan the rest Europe)and I cannot see any compelling reason why I will ever take a 4+ lb laptop anywhere, ever again.

Wow you browsed for 6hrs and still had 52%? With browsing I am dropping 1% every 5 minutes... Which would give me only 8.3hrs and I would he down to 0%. did you have to cycle the battery? Thanks... Getting really concerned now. Playing flight control HD only lasts 3min before battery drops.