The new iPad: It’s a battery affair, according to Henry Taylor-Gill of Mactrast. The massive 42.5 watt lithium polymer battery has 70 percent more capacity than the battery in the iPad 2. No wonder the new device is a smidgeon thicker and a tad heavier; without some surgery to accommodate this massive reservoir of power, the combination of processor and enhanced graphics would have resulted in a desperately short battery life.
As I have mentioned before, our expectations for battery life are unrealistic and are out of kilter with current technology. We want bigger screens, better graphics, faster processors yet expect no compromise in battery life.
Apple does a good job of balancing these expectations in my opinion. Blame is always directed to the device manufacturer when battery life is short; yet the solution lies outside the manufacturers’ control. We have seen some improvements in battery technology over the past decade. But the developments lag far behind the advances in general technology.