So, how's the battery life on the 3G model?

[Gibson88]

I want the 3G model when the iPad is out here in the UK, but one of the main selling points to me is the battery life.

On my iPhone 3G and GPS make a huge difference to the battery life when they are on and I'm worried it's going to do the same to the iPad.

I hear most people were getting 10-11 hours out of the WiFi model, what are people getting out of the 3G?

 

[Mr Bigs]

I want the 3G model when the iPad is out here in the UK, but one of the main selling points to me is the battery life.

On my iPhone 3G and GPS make a huge difference to the battery life when they are on and I'm worried it's going to do the same to the iPad.

I hear most people were getting 10-11 hours out of the WiFi model, what are people getting out of the 3G?

If you're using WiFi turn of the 3G radio it makes a huge difference.

 

[Scott-n-Houston]

Just using mine in the house this morning, only on wifi, but the 3G radio is on. It's been about an hour and it's down to 93%. Was giving my wife a tour of the thing so using kind of everything on the iPad. I think that's pretty good. At this pace, it's well over 10 hours.

 

[Mpaige2]

If you're using WiFi turn of the 3G radio it makes a huge difference.

Hey thanks for that tip! I was getting a little concerned because my battery was draining a little to fast to me.

 

[antmo]

i was using my 3g last night with only the 3g radio on, no wifi, no bluetooth, starting from 100% charge... mostly browsing with safari, a few video podcasts, a few youtube videos, a few hours of music...

i'd estimate 1 hour total of video, 2.5 hours total of music, 5 hours total of web browsing, all sound coming through headphones, backlight brightness set to the lowest level. my battery indicated 65% remaining at the end of about 6.5 hours of use (i.e. backlight on).

after a few hours of similar use this morning, it appears that this sort of battery life will be consistent.

keep in mind, this was all in my home, where i have a strong 3g signal. as i move around with it, and the ipad searches for signals, it will probably have some negative affect on battery life.

 

[edlex]

Also keep in mind that after conditioning the batteries through several charging cycles the battery life will improve.

 

[ReallyOldGuy]

I have both. I turned wifi off on the 3G and compared same usage. 3G uses much more battery for same operations. Will have percentages later today

 

[Nausicaa]

I used the iPad last night for many hours with 3G constantly on and never got below 60%. The 9 hours reported by Apple seems very accurate. Unfortunately, I don't think there's any way to see the exact battery usage statistics like on the iPhone.

 

[scuba200ft]

I am heading out shortly to grab a 3g, but I am still amazed by the battery life of the WiFi only 32gb. It just goes and goes.

 

[Gibson88]

Anyone know how much GPS affects the battery?

 

[iserian]

Gizmondo is doing a set of battery comparisons. Will be interesting to see a full rundown of a 3G.

 

[ScottFitz]

Screen brightness is a major factor. I've got a good 6 hours in, wifi only, 53% left.

 

[robanga]

I will be interested in the same. The battery power of the wifi model is indeed amazing. I have activated the 3G data but have not been out of the house much today.

 

[HiRez]

Shouldn't the iPad shut off the 3G hardware when it's connected to a WiFi network? Or even when it detects it's in range of a previously-used one. Should be an option for that at least.

 

[Rm.237]

If you're using WiFi turn of the 3G radio it makes a huge difference.

Is that just the Cellular Data button?

 

[dmadden]

iPad 3G + Netflix streaming = awesome!

I've been using my 64GB iPad 3G non-stop since about 8:30 this morning (about 8 hours so far). The 3G has remained on the entire time and the WiFi is turned off. I have streamed two movies over the AT&T network and it never skipped a beat. I live on the outskirts of my town and have never gotten a good enough broadband connection to stream Netflix, so I'm stoked right now! I've also streamed YouTube, Vimeo video, played games, and surfed the web. As for battery life? I'm at 38% right now! That means I've probably got at least a couple more hours before I have to worry about plugging this in! I'm a happy customer right now.

 

[Bigrahizzle]

The battery on the wifi+ 3G Is amazing. I got my 3G yesterday around 3:30 with 79% charge I hooked it up to iTunes to sync and I came to 82% charge. After that I've been using it all night from 4:00 all the way till 6:30 in the morning and by then I had about 23% charge left. This battery is phenomenal. Oh yea I had the brightness set to 45%

 

[biosci]

Is there a good battery tracking app that can measure usage accurately? Maybe even monitor how much data is being pushed to and from? I drained my battery today so I can do a whole refresh cycle. I just left it in picture frame mode while I was out all day.

 

[GamecockMac]

Gizmondo is doing a set of battery comparisons. Will be interesting to see a full rundown of a 3G.

I wasn't aware the Santa Clara County Jail had Wi-Fi.