Charging Woes For New iPad
March 23, 2012 Leave a comment
More less-than-great news for the New iPad this week. The key upgrades Apple flaunts seem to be causing unfortunate charging issues for some people. The stunning retina display and mighty processor upgrades demand so much power, your normal iPad charging sources may not be able to keep up. Obviously, battery issues can be crippling for any portable device, especially since most companies now act like removable batteries never existed.
To meet the demands required by these impressive new features while keeping battery life comparable to the iPad 2, Apple made the battery in the New iPad 70% larger (physically), and increased the battery capacity from 25 watt-hours to 42.5 watt-hours. However, filling that beast to the top can take up to 6 hours of charging, and that’s if the iPad is not in use. Normally, it’s not unusual for devices to take longer to charge while in use, but the New iPad seems to be affected by this significantly. In some cases, while running apps that put a heavy load on your processors like Infinity Blade II or other video games, simply having Wi-Fi/cell data enabled or the brightness too high can cause the New iPad to seem like it’s not charging at all. And this is while plugged into the standard 2.1 Amp iPad wall charger which comes with the device. Additionally, if connected to a high-power USB 2.0 port, charging is essentially non-existant whenever the New iPad is in use.
MacWorld’s Dan Frakes has a great article explaining the challenges of iPad charging. It was just updated it to include the new 3rd generation iPad, and I recommend that all iPad users give it a read.
In our initial tests, we’ve found no compatibility issues between any of our products and the New iPad. However, especially with these reported charging issues, if you’re having trouble charging your new iPad, your cable may not be the culprit. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this situation here, and we’ll update you if we discover anything unusual. Should you notice anything strange going on between your CableJive products and the New iPad, send us the details at service@cablejive.com.
In the mean-time, it appears if you’re an iPad power-user, just remember to plug your iPad in before bed.
