New iPad charging too slowly? Blame the big-ass battery (and new specs)

The race to find something disastrously wrong with the new iPad is on (it’s already confirmed as a decent crotch warmer), and now there’s word that there may be issues with charging its battery.

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The new iPad is apparently very slow to charge, and even worse, it barely charges at all during regular usage, reports PC World. The tablet takes almost six hours to reach full charge, PC World’s Melissa Perenson found, and you can forget about playing games or watching video if you want it to successfully fuel up.

But before we raise the pitchforks, it’s important to note what’s different with the new iPad. It sports a battery that’s almost 70 percent bigger than the iPad 2’s (11,560 mAh versus 6,944 mAh) — the largest we’ve seen yet in a tablet. So, it makes sense that it would take forever to charge. Apple bumped up the battery’s size (and made the new iPad slightly thicker) because its Retina display, faster A5X processor, and LTE connectivity are all big power drains.

In PC World’s testing, the site found that two versions of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 took almost as long as the new iPad to charge, and both of those only have 7,000 mAh batteries. The slow charging in Samsung’s tablets is far less excusable.

The new iPad’s upgraded also explains why the tablet is slow to charge while being used. I’d imagine that merely powering the Retina display saps up the power as soon as the iPad takes it from the charger. Apple could release a fast charging accessory (similar to what some rechargeable battery packs use), but hopefully, the company will be able to further optimize the new iPad’s battery through software updates.

These battery issues shouldn’t keep you from buying a new iPad, though — it’s still the best tablet out there. Software updates could fix some of the charging issues, and it’s not too difficult to get in the habit of charging it overnight. And as a casual iPad user, the issues haven’t noticeably affected the way I use the tablet.