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iPad Air Continues to Offer 24-Hour Battery Life as LTE Hotspot

Monday November 4, 2013 6:34 am PST by Eric Slivka
ios_7_cellular_hotspot_settingsFor those customers interested in taking advantage of the iPad Air's ability to allow other devices to tap into its LTE data connection, Apple's latest iPad continues to offer a robust 24 hours of battery life as an LTE hotspot, far more than dedicated MiFi hotspot devices, reports AnandTech.

While the 24-hour hotspot battery life is not new to the iPad Air, confirmation of the feature is comforting given that Apple has taken advantage of more efficient technologies to reduce battery capacity in the iPad Air by nearly 25% compared to the previous two generations without compromising performance.
I set the iPad Air up as a personal hotspot, wirelessly tethering it to a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display. I started a constant 100KB/s transfer on the MacBook Pro (2x the transfer rate of my iPad 3 test) and with the iPad Air's display off I measured battery life. Last time I chose 50KB/s as it was the average transfer rate across our old WiFi web browsing battery life test, I doubled the workload to be more reflective of more strenuous demands. In reality I'd expect to see a burstier usage profile, but that's something for me to test down the road.

A total of 24.08 hours and over 8GB of transfers later, the iPad Air finally died. Just like last time, you'll likely burn through your monthly data allotment before you run out of power.
The iPad Air is of course a much larger hotspot solution than dedicated MiFi devices, but for those who may already be carrying an iPad Air to use on its own, it continues to provide a solid option for delivering cellular data access to other nearby Wi-Fi devices.

Related Roundup: iPad
Tags: hotspot, battery life
Buyer's Guide: iPad (Don't Buy)
[ 73 comments ]


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Jsameds
76 months ago

Other than geeks, who pays for connecting an iPad to the cellular network?


Me?

Oh wait, no. I'm a geek.

Scratch that.
Rating: 22 Votes
Avatar
SPUY767
76 months ago

Other than geeks, who pays for connecting an iPad to the cellular network?


Pretty much anyone who needs to use one outside the bounds of a 802.11 network?
Rating: 19 Votes
Avatar
zone23
76 months ago

Other than geeks, who pays for connecting an iPad to the cellular network?


I think you might have it backwards. Geeks are more likely to tether and your average person is more likely to buy a cellular version. I personally don't like tethering and would rather spend a couple extra bucks to get what I want.
Rating: 8 Votes
Avatar
masteroflondon
76 months ago

Dear, oh dear. Just a suggestion, but maybe you encourage your offspring to look out the window. You know?


For all you know he's taking his kids on lots of educational field trips and they like to use the iPad for an hour to learn more about what they just spent a whole day experiencing.
Rating: 8 Votes
Avatar
JAT
76 months ago

Dear, oh dear. Just a suggestion, but maybe you could encourage your offspring to look out the window. You know?


So....no kids, eh?
:rolleyes:
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
MrSmith
76 months ago
Other than geeks, who pays for connecting an iPad to the cellular network?
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
GenesisST
76 months ago

Other than geeks, who pays for connecting an iPad to the cellular network?


Sorry if that has been already answered, but mass transit commuters would be prime users of this.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
tl01
76 months ago

Other than geeks, who pays for connecting an iPad to the cellular network?


People who have lives and leave the reach of wifi.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
D.T.
76 months ago

So....no kids, eh?
:rolleyes:


Exactly.

Not to mention, staring out the window at woods, cars and fast food signs for 3 hours is so much more enlightening than reading a book, learning about the human body, or watching a documentary about whales. :)
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
tl01
76 months ago

Dear, oh dear. Just a suggestion, but maybe you could encourage your offspring to look out the window. You know?


Sometimes said kids have to spend lots of time in the car traveling and eventually get bored of looking out the window... Or get bored of sitting in the school pick up line waiting for siblings. How many kids do you have?
Rating: 3 Votes

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