I have heard crazy rumors of insane battery life with heavy wifi use. On average how many hours would you say you are getting between charges.

I am starting medical school this year and will be in class 9 to 5 daily, and won't have access to a plug wherever I go. I'm trying to decide if the iPad is a suitable alternative to purchasing a Tablet PC. The main things I need are email, internet, and the ability to edit PDFs of 500+ pages which includes highlighting, underlining, text boxes, and drawing figures and arrows. Thanks.

Apple's stated battery life is, if anything, underestimated. Ten hours on 3G is obtainable.

Your problem isn’t going to be battery life, it's going to be finding an app that lets you editing/annotating, drawing on PDFs. I don't know of any iPad that will let you do that. I'm getting around the ten hours of charge time with my WiFi model. I watched a number of Netflix streaming TV shows when I first got my iPad, and was still getting full day's operation on a single charge.

That is something that concerns me. I have seen a few apps in the Appstore that allow for this like iAnnotate for example. However, with many of these apps, there is an issue with working with large 50+ page PDFs and of course exporting them for use on a PC or Mac.

Ya think? I just got my iPad this past Friday and I already took it into the store because the battery life was NOT 10 hours.

Not even close. But they tested it and said it was fine.

What were you using the iPad for, that you noticed cost the most battery, Wifi, 3G, or both?

Well I have only had it for two days and the battery was charged to 100%. I have had some issues with YouTube and web pages were SO slow. So Apple stated that it was trying to get connected and stay connected, and I didn't know if I had wifi in my house or not.

They said that this drained the battery quicker ~ all videos would freeze. Hell if I know, but I know that it did not last even close to 10 hours.

Turns out I do have wifi through Comcast, but my modem and router are as one and very outdated. They are coming out to replace and Apple said after they do that I should be at top speed on my iPad.

And the battery will last 10 hours.

We shall see ~

Interesting. Would you mind posting back with your results?

If you have crap signal you're going to get crappy battery life because your iPad is constantly searching for a signal. That's not Apple's fault WHATSOEVER, that's a problem with AT&T and your coverage area. If you are in a low signal area, or even a good signal area but the signal is constantly switching (when I had AT&T, even in downtown Pittsburgh, it would constantly switch between EDGE and 3G because AT&T f*$%&#$% blows), it will CONSTANTLY drain your battery. As in, my iPhone wouldn't last 5 hours of IDLE time in Pittsburgh (if it was doing the switching signal thing, which it didn't do all the time).

I can use my iPad to watch movies for 10 hours straight with no issue. But I have WiFi only. And when I'm not using services like BT, WiFi, etc I turn them off.

But the battery life is WAY under estimated. It's the most amazing battery life I've ever had in any sort of device - period - mobile or otherwise.

He's got crap signal, he's going to get crap battery life. Trust me, sitting in class you could easily get 10-15 hours of note taking especially if your turn the backlight down some, and turn off things like bluetooth, wifi, 3g.

I get at least ten hours use from my iPad with a mix of 3G and WiFi. Every other comment I've read regarding battery life reports a similar finding.

Easy. Never said it was Apple's fault.

And this is good to know!

I just wanted to stress that because you took it back to the Apple store. Your complaint rests with AT&T unfortunately. My angst isn't directed at you, it's directed at the frustration I have with Apple choosing AT&T as their carrier for everything. AT&T sucks donkey balls.

I apologize, I just get so frustrated that Apple makes great mobile devices and they get sent to AT&T. I dropped my AT&T iPhone like a rock and switched to Verizon and never looked back. Plus my plan for me AND my wife is cheaper than it was with AT&T for just me.

So actually I guess it is somewhat a problem with the iPad, as you can blame Apple for pairing you up with the worlds crappiest cell carrier. 97% coverage....quantity over quality, that's for sure.

Of course! I am sure it will be fine. I talked with Comcast and the gal there just got her iPad and told me that this will really help.

Plus that ~

I didn't get it to use really in my home, but out in the field and that works great!

No worries, Matt. I totally understand. I HATE AT&T as well ~ that is why I waited so long in getting my iPad ~

But there is no contract so that sold me.

I took it back to Apple as that is where I got it ~ and the customer service is wonderful and they are always helping me out in the two days I got it!

perfect thread exactly what i needed to know

10 hours plus is more than enough for my usage

I have gotten as little as 7-8 with constant usage, screen brightness all the way up and either wifi or 3g on all the time. (rarely both though) That was web surfing and playing games.

With more normal, occasional usage throughout the day, it goes 10-12 hrs easy.

I pretty much abuse mine, have backgrounder enabled (don't often have anything going on in the background, though) and when I get home from work at, say, 10pm and run it almost non-stop, I'm usually at about 70ish percent when I'm done.

My wifi signal where I sit is fairly weak, I'm pretty far away, and I usually end up downloading a whole bunch of stuff while I sit there, so I'm sure that has a fair bit to do with it.

Fiddling with it at work, tethering to my phone, I'm at 95% at this point, just playing music and not really doing anything, it's been on and going for about 2 hours now, but the screen has, primarily, been off - so I'm not sure if I believe the extended audio play time.

What it would be like with wifi off is another story. I'm a terrible tester though

The battery in my ad last's so long that I don't even think about it

I was setting up my mother-in-laws new Dell laptop today and notice that the battery was only good for 3 hours, and I thought, wow, that's terrible