The iPad 3 delivers respectable battery life, given its high-res display and more potent internals. However, a new controversy surrounding Apple's latest tablet underscores the importance of identifying the environments where power consumption is highest. This issue was covered by our friends at Engadget, but the loudest complaints came from Consumer Reports, which claimed the iPad 3's chassis hit a very toasty 116 degrees during gaming sessions. The result was a new controversy to keep Apple in the news.
Having played the new Infinity Blade II and the recently-updated Real Racing 2 HD, there are counterpoints to the concerns about heat. First, the high temperatures occur during games. When you're surfing the Web or listening to music, the iPad 3 never reaches a point where it's uncomfortable on the lap. The average surface temperature varies, but it's close to 90-95o F.

Second, though the iPad 3 consumes more power, increased consumption is mostly attributable to the Retina display, and power consumption measurements certainly back this up. At any given brightness level, the iPad 3 consumes ~2x more power.

In comparison, the quad-core SGX543 GPU uses very a small amount of energy. While the iPad 3's Retina display consumes at most 8 W at maximum luminance, playing a game like Riptide only adds 2 or 3 more watts to the measurement. That's a huge difference.

- The New iPad Is Heavier, But Features A Dazzling Display
- Wide-Gamut Color Performance
- Driving Higher Resolutions Requires More Power
- Battery Life: What To Expect
- Is There A Problem With Heat? We Profile Power
- Mapping Out iPad 3's Heat: Surface Temperature
- Taking An Infrared Camera To The iPad 3
- 4G LTE Performance: Verizon Versus AT&T
- HDMI Output Disappoints; Camera Quality Impresses
- The New iPad: Making Life Hard For The Competition, Again

+1 to the keyboard thing. But remember that most tablets (all?) don't have full size HDMI so you probably need a dongle 99% of the time anyway.
Really?
100 degrees is damn hot but I think the results are justified.
+1 to the keyboard thing. But remember that most tablets (all?) don't have full size HDMI so you probably need a dongle 99% of the time anyway.
The port isn't all that's needed. There's also a bit of hardware around it for the socket that makes it a tad thicker and a stretch to fit in the chasis of tablets.
Really?
Yeah I thought that comment was bunk too. Typically I use my tablet 1-2 feet away as less that 1 foot away would have the thing shoved up in my face too much and not give me any arm reach to operate the device properly.
As for the display in the iPad3 I went to the apple store and looked at it side by side with the iPad2. The colors look great but the super high pixel density was not as big of a difference as these reviews made it out to be.
The biggest things I noticed when comparing iPad2 and 3 side by side was the increased thickness and weight. Those 2 factors were enough for me to want to choose the iPad2, especially if I could get it a little cheaper than the iPad 3.
I also am curious about who will get the gaming win (more depends on where the devs go):
android tegra3, ipad3, vita, 3ds, or maybe microsoft will pull a rabbit out of their hat with win8.
I'm just saying if we are supposed to be a technology site we should be sure the facts are correct.
If I am going to pay $830 for a limited use tablet with 64GB storage and 4G, then I think I would rather spend that money on a notebook or ultrabook. I can still get a touch screen, I still get good graphics, I get a real keyboard/mouse, can still get a 4G option, and I get real x86 programs, removable storage, better connectivity options (USB3, thunderbolt), and (most importantly) real storage space.
Also, I would prefer win8 over iOS, but iOS is not a deal breaker if they would come out with something that would fit my use.
My fault. Corrected.
Cheers,
Andrew Ku