Hasta La Gadget!

Judging from recurring complaints over the weekend, perhaps the least intuitive part of the iPad is the way it recharges its battery.

The iPad charges just fine with its included 10 watt power outlet and cable. But numerous iPad customers have complained that their computer’s USB port was failing to charge the iPad, as the battery status read “Not charging.” Apple’s support site states that only “high-power USB 2.0 ports,” such as those included with recent Macs, can charge the iPad.

It turns out that’s not completely true.

Apple’s support site creates a bit of confusion. It reads, “Some USB 2.0 ports and accessories do not provide enough power to charge iPad. When this occurs the message ‘Not Charging’ appears in the status bar next to the battery icon.” That leads you to believe older USB ports can’t charge the iPad at all.

However, farther down the support document, Apple says that lower-power USB ports can charge the iPad — but only when the device is asleep.

“When attached to a computer via a standard USB port (most PCs or older Mac computers) iPad will charge, but only when it’s in sleep mode,” Apple says in the iPad support document.

In other words, some USB ports on older machines can charge your iPad while it’s asleep, but the issue is your iPad can’t tell you, because it can’t charge when the screen is on.

Apple’s support bulletin also clarifies a few tidbits about charging behavior. If you use your iPhone adapter to charge the iPad, it will charge, but more slowly than it would with the iPad’s charger, a fact confirmed by Gadget Lab tests.

And of course, charging with any computer’s USB port (whether it’s high-power or low-power) will be slower than charging with the iPad’s own charger, according to Apple. Also, when charging through a computer USB port, the computer must be powered on — not asleep or shut down.

The USB Implementers Forum ran a full array of tests on the iPad to confirm the tablet’s USB-charging behavior. The organization said that despite some consumer confusion, the iPad behaves very well. The iPad conforms to newer USB charging specifications (Battery Charging v1.1) to ensure that it draws power intelligently based on the amount of power available from any source, the organization explained.

Older, USB 2.0 ports deliver 0.5 amp, which is only enough to charge the iPad when it’s off. Newer machines that feature USB ports conforming to Battery Charging v1.1 standards, and the iPad’s own power outlet, have enough power that the iPad can draw the full 1.5 amps it needs to recharge the battery while it’s running, according to the USB Implementers Forum.

“The good news for consumers is that because it’s conforming to these specifications you’re not going to be at Starbucks and have it suddenly draw a ton of power,” a USB Implementers Forum spokesman said. “It knows how much power is available to it, and based on the power that’s available to it it chooses to behave in a couple of different ways.”

See Also:

• The iPad Arrives: The Wait is Over (And Wasn’t Bad)
• Wired.com Buyer’s Guide: Choose the Right iPad
• Ten Things Missing From the iPad
• Apple: Free iPad With Every Replacement Battery
• iPad Dissection Reveals Its Secret Powers

Photo: Bryan Derballa/Wired.com

Before scientists figured out electric motors, batteries were first used in chemistry experiments and primitive medical research. From his enjoyable book, The Battery, Henry Schlesinger describes the real-life Dr. Frankenstein who inspired Mary Shelley’s classic horror story: More »

In a support document, Apple tells us that when you eventually send your iPad in to have its battery replaced, Apple will just send you a new iPad instead. The Battery Replacement Service will cost $100.

Ever since Apple ditched the floppy-drive with the original iMac, people have kicked up a fuss about each new hardware “omission”, calling it a “deal-breaker” (as in “No built-in dial-up modem? Sorry Apple. That’s a deal-breaker.”) The latest has been the steady euthanization of user-removable batteries, which started in the iPhone and ended in the MacBook Pro (although nobody moaned about the iPod). Those complainers have now shut up, realizing that the slew of third-party external batteries are both more powerful and less messy to use than actually swapping batteries, but Apple, it seems, is still a little gun-shy.

You won’t be able to use the Battery Replacement Service to replace a broken machine. The support page includes “accident, liquid contact, disassembly, unauthorized service or unauthorized modifications” among the things that will prevent eligibility. And if you are sending the machine in to Apple, the turnaround is a week (make sure you backup first).

The replacements will, we assume, be refurbished models, and its likely that Apple will just hand you one if you take your juice-impaired iPad to a Genius bar. I’d prefer to keep my actual machine, though. I recently swapped an iPod Touch with a dodgy home button for a new unit in the San Francisco Apple Store. The transaction was fast and easy, but the new unit has an even worse problem: a dodgy accelerometer.

Battery Replacement Service – iPad: FAQ [Apple via Apple Insider]

Photo: swanksalot/Flickr

[The new Moto Droid battery door on bottom, old on top. Photo by PJ Jacobowitz.]

Every new phone has its fair share of issues, as evidenced
by innumerable support forum logjams. The
biggest complaint against the Verizon’s Motorola Droid–at least from a hardware
standpoint–is almost certainly that pesky battery door, which has a tendency to
slip off when the phone is pulled out of a pocket.

For a while Verizon took a symbolic solution to the problem,
adding a fancy-looking band-aid (complete with Verizon logo to the rear of the
device).
It was a stop-gap solution, at best.

This weekend, my own Droid suffered battery door loss in a
darkened bar–an issue I unfortunately wasn’t made aware of until I got home,
meaning, no doubt, that the piece of metal would almost certainly be lost
to me forever (the battery, MicroSD card, et al., thankfully, stayed put,
despite the lack of protection).