New iPad 3 Overheating Problem: Exaggerated or Understated?

By Surojit Chatterjee | March 21 2012 6:27 PM

The new iPad heating controversy is hotting up. Apple fans think that Android guys are overestimating the heating problems and amplifying the anti-iPad campaign. However, heating problems are serious and can downplay the success of the new iPad. The heating issue is making a lot of buzz now, as iPad is a very popular product. Let's find out whether the problem is exaggerated or understated.

Tweakers.net

Dutch Website Tweakers.net has released an image showing how much hotter the new iPad is, compared to iPad 2. The thermal imaging showed that the temperature on the lower right corner of the new iPad was 33.6°C (92.48 F), compared to iPad 2, which was 28.3°C (82.94 F). The 5.3°C (28.3 F) difference became evident after 5 minutes loops of each tablet running the GLBenchmark.

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Apple's official iPad forum is lit up with users' complaining about the overheating issue. According to reports, the lower-left corner of the new iPad gets warm while working in portrait mode, making the new tablet too hot to hold. On the other hand, Apple is saying that the new iPad is working within its thermal specifications, refusing to acknowledge the overheating charges.

Nonetheless, it is a fact that the overheating is a result of manufacturing fault. The new iPad has standard 42.5-Watt-hour Lithium-Polymer battery, which can keep the tablet in active state for up to 10 hours. However, on intensive use, the tablet heats up lightly. Quad-core graphic, Retina display with tens of thousands of pixels, and LTE connectivity - these three things conspire together to drain a lot of battery and that is why the new iPad gives just the battery life as iPad 2, despite being powered up with 70% bigger battery.

Some users say that the new iPad gets hot but it is still comfortable in hand. However, quite a few reports claim that the new tablet gets too hot to hold in hands. The new iPad hit the temperature of 116 degree Fahrenheit while playing games, consumer watchdog ConsumperReports.org said in a post.

Apple has suffered similar manufacturing issues with its first generation iPod Nano and iPhone 4 smartphone. Some iPod Nanos used to get hot. And iPhone 4 was criticized for dropping out signal strength when held in a certain way. Apple, tracing the problem, offered free bumper cases to users of iPhone 4. It will be better if the tech giant resolves the heating problem quickly even if it is a minor heating issue. How about handing out free gloves to the users of the new iPad?

(reported by Johnny Wills, edited by Surojit Chatterjee)

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