My Ultimate iPad Battery Test

It’s is 6:15AM I’m in the limo riding to O’Hare to catch a flight to Mexico.  Today will be the ultimate test of the battery of my new iPad.  Can we actually get ten hours off life out of this thing?  We will see.

Between wifi on the airplane, the kids watching movies, and me playing around and exploring I’m going to put this thing to the test.

Actual time used in the limo = 55 minutes 

8:30AM We are at the airport and through security.  The battery still says 99%.  The kids watched two half hour shows on the way down.  I haven’t logged on to the wifi here; I am waiting until we are on the plane.

12:00PM The flight was delayed, so the kids watch one more 30 minute video. Weare now onboard the flight. I have wifi and have started playing around: I’ve downloaded a book from the book store and downloaded the flight tracker software. I’ve also checked my email, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. My next move is to try to download some good trashy magazines. Battery power is at 83%.

Actual total time used = 1 hour 35 minutes

1:30PM I checked out the magazines but have yet to download. I’ve done some Twitter work and played on Facebook.  Then a child needed to be entertained…thank you SpongeBob!  Luckily, we had it downloaded on iTunes, because the streaming video from Netflix wasn’t streaming so well on the airplane’s wifi.

We also spent a lot of time on Flight Tracker, which I have to say has calmed the “are we there yet” monster.  It’s calm, but not completely gone. Battery power just dropped to 69%.

Actual total time on = 3 hours 10 minutes

2:30PM We are going to be landing soon.  The kids played on Google Maps for a while and then I read some of the book I downloaded on iBooks. I also have books on the Kindle (I’ll compare those apps in a different blog).  The power so far is impressive. I am still at 55%.  For the record, the iTouch lost power about an hour ago and the laptop just shut down.

On a side note, I’ve had about 5 people coming up to talk to me about the

iPad, they want to touch it and feel how light it is.  They want to see the screen and the apps.  I’ve mentioned that I am blogging about battery life and they ask me where so they can read it (note: Travis, we need business cards).

Total time = 4 hours 10 minutes 

5:55PM We are at our condo. I’ve logged into wifi and checked email, Facebook and Twitter, told the parents that we made it here safely, and I’m about to head to the pool but first, the battery power’s at 48% – Awesome!

Total time = 5 hours 10 minutes

Here we are at 8:30PM. I haven’t been on the iPad much since we arrived but the kids did play with Google Maps.  I did a little work; just checked some emails and texts. The battery is at 44%.

Total usage time = 6 hour 10 minutes

Basically, I’ve used the iPad as much as I would want to during my travels and still have half my battery life. That is amazing!

So, just as an added test, I gave my iPad to a friend in the group told him to see what he could do. He spent about 45 minutes with it playing around checking out videos and all sorts of fun things, and here we are at 10:30PM with 32% battery life.

Total time = 7 hours 15 minutes, with 31% battery life.
Given that they claim 10 hours, I’d say they are right on the mark!