By: iPadfanzz Editor on March 29, 2013
If you read the technical specifications for the iPad and iPad mini, Apple claims 10 hours of battery life for the iPad Mini, and 9 hours using LTE. That’s equivalent to the larger fourth-gen iPad, and iPads in general going back to 2010. Apple also claims that both will support up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video or listening to music. However, lots of iPhone 5 and iPad mini users are saying on Apple’s discussion forums, that Apple’s recent iOS 6.0.2 release is draining battery life quicker than usual — even when the devices go unused for long periods of time.
The iPad mini features an integrated 16.3Wh battery, easily smaller than the 43Wh unit in the iPad 3/4 but even smaller than the 25Wh used in the iPad 2. The mini suffers a decrease in battery because of the same internals like the iPad 2,4, but with a substantially smaller battery.
Apple claims that a properly maintained iPad battery is designed to retain up to 80 per cent of its original capacity at 1000 full charge and discharge cycles. So, the question is how to treat iPad battery to extend its life? Here are some tips that you can use to maintain proper battery life of the iPad mini.
1. Fully recharge the iPad Mini’s battery at least once per month.
2. It can become critical to drop the battery charge to low (a charge of less than 5 per cent can be risky as lithium-polymer cells being near their critical voltage drop the charge very sharply, leaving you with a completely dead battery) The good practice is starting charging the Apple device when you see that battery charge is less than 10 per cent. Remember, over discharging will shorten the overall life of the battery.
3. In order to prevent failure, never store the battery fully discharged. Charge it before storage, and then charge fully before use.
4. Make it a routine to charge the batter more often. A high residual charge before recharge is a benefit rather than a disadvantage for chemistry of Li-Pol battery on all iPads. Always keep the battery in the range of 40 per cent and 80 per cent charging levels. Battery between these levels is also useful when the gadget is not in use. The charge loss comes at up to 6 per cent per year when battery is fully charged, but only 2 per cent per year when it is half-charged.
5. Do not keep the iPad Mini charing for the whole night since it shortens the battery’s lifespan.
6. Avoid iPad from both overheating (> 35 °C)and undercooling (< 0 °C). The optimal temperature for IPad is 22 °C. Apple claims that temperature is the most important factor that influence the lifespan of iPad battery.
7. Do not put any leather case while charging the battery as it stops the ventilations and makes the internal temperature to rise during the charging process.
8. Always turn the wi-fi off when the battery is not in use, and/or adjust screen brightness, and/or minimize the use of location services, and/or turn off push notifications, and/or turn off push mail, and/or increase Fetch New Data interval, and/or turn off push mail, and/or turn off the sound effects (if they are frequent and as they are activated by default). To do them go the Settings.
