iPad Battery Life & Charging Accessories

When Apple introduced the iPad they said it would have about 10 hours of battery life.

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The specs on their web site promise that the Built-in 25-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery” would last Up to 10 hours” with regular usage. The 3G version is going to rated to last for up to 9 hours. imageCompanies rarely low-ball battery life specs. Most notebook computers will claim something like 6 hours and deliver 4, if you are lucky. Today, my family and I put the Apple iPad to the test. I unplugged at 8:15 a.m. and made sure it was running constantly with the help of my two sons.  We watched video, surfed the web, checked email, and mostly just played games … lots of games. By the way Harbor Master HD and Flight Control HD are a blast on the iPad! When one of us got tired docking ships or landing planes someone else took over. And the iPad outlasted us all. Finally at 7:30 this evening the battery died. We had Wi-Fi on but Bluetooth off, since that is how we will use it most of the time. The screen was set to the highest brightness. For a good hour it sat playing the Twit.tv app. The least demanding thing we did was open a book app and leave it alone with the screen on for an hour. All together, the iPad ran for 11 hours and 15 minutes of continuous heavy usage.

As we previously reported, simply plugging the iPad in a PC will most likely not charge it sufficiently. Even some older MacBooks might not work. Many iPod Touch and iPhone power cables won’t work either. But I have found two that do work besides the included power adapter.ProCable

An ordinary Apple USB Power Adapter charges the iPad just fine. The one that came with our iPod Touch is charging it as we speak. Also, I have a RadTech Apple 30 pin Dock connector to combo USB and 3.5 mm stereo cables like the one pictured above. It charges the iPad just find when plugged into a USB-DC Adapter. It also sends audio through the 3.5 mm stereo cable for connecting to your car stereo’s line in jack. I use it to connect to my cassette adapter via a female to female adapter. Most of the time it is plugged into my iPhone. But yesterday, on a trip my family took, we tried it on the iPad and it worked fine. So, I think the problem is not the USB to Dock cable but where you plug that cable.

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Of course the official Apple iPad Dock when plugged into most USB to AC cables will charge the iPad as designed. Unfortunately, the dock is not compatible with the official Apple iPad Case. If the iPad is in the case, it just won’t slid into the Dock connector. There is a 30 pin connector on the back of the dock as well as a line out port for plugging into a stereo or headphone. But the biggest problem with the dock is that it has to be on a very flat surface for it to be stable. I am a little nervous leaving my iPad unattended plugged into the dock. I wish you could dock the iPad in landscape mode or that the base of the Dock was a little larger or weightier so as to offer more stability. I am planning to return mine for these reasons.

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