8 Potential Drawbacks Of The New iPad

Apple's New iPad Is Bringing The Heat

Apple reported this week that it sold a record-breaking three million copies of its third-generation iPad, just three short days after the device hit the shelves. It has been the strongest of its three iPad launches to date, the tech giant announced, and customers are "loving the incredible new features."

Well, some of them are. But as more and more customers got hold of a new iPad later this week, not all expressed their love. Instead, a wave of analyst- and consumer-fueled reports has emerged pointing to potential design short-comings with the third-gen tablet, ranging from its battery life, to its temperature, to its weight.

Here’s a look at the industry's biggest qualms with Apple’s latest (and greatest?) gadget.

"Subpar" Wi-Fi Signal

User-generated posts complaining of the new iPad’s weak or inconsistent wireless signal have been piling up in Apple’s online support forum over the last few days. Some users make mention of the tablet’s Wi-Fi simply being subpar to prior generations', and others state openly that a return is in their future if the problem can’t be solved.

Even when other mobile devices like phones and notebooks are receiving strong signals, the new iPad just doesn’t seem to pick them up, users are writing.

"Having same problem with Wi-Fi being weak and constantly fluctuating. I have to keep entering my password to regain access to my network after having lost a signal," one user wrote. "Two iPhones and two MacBooks showing full signal with no interrupts. Certainly hope this is fixable. Too pricey of a toy for it to have this issue right of box."

New iPad Gets Hot, Hot, Hot

The new iPad is shaping up to be one of the industry’s hottest new tablets – literally.

Consumer Reports published the results of a study this week that found Apple’s latest device can reach temperatures as high as 116 degrees Fahrenheit. Things started to heat up after 45 minutes of heavy multimedia use, Consumer Reports said. In this case, testers had been playing a game. While 116 degrees is about 12 more than the max temperature reached with the iPad 2, Consumer Reports concluded that the heat isn’t significant enough to make for an uncomfortable user experience.

But some would disagree. "After just one hour of reading, I realized that not only was the iPad hot, but the entire case that my iPad was in had become too hot to even have on my leg," one new user wrote in Apple’s support forum. "That is when I pulled the iPad out of the case and realized it was completely burning up... even hurt my hand to touch the back of it."

The Drop Test

ComputerWorld reported Friday that the new iPad may be more susceptible to shattered screens compared to the first- and second-gen products.

The report referenced a "drop test" performed by after-sales warranty firm SquareTrade, during which workers dropped both iPad 2s and new iPads onto a hard, flat surface. Drops were performed from both waist and shoulder height, glass up and glass down.

What they found was that both versions came out unscathed when dropped face-up, but shattered when dropped face-down. The two devices have both been dubbed fragile (compared to the thicker-glassed first-gen iPad), but in this experiment the new iPad seemed to take a slightly harder hit. In one case, the glass display nearly separated from the rest of the tablet, SquareTrade said.

Battery Woes (Part 1)

According to a report this week, even when the new iPad shows a 100 percent battery charge, you may need to keep it plugged in a bit longer.

Dr. Raymond Soneira, President of display testing and optimization firm DisplayMate Technologies, found in a study that the new iPad continues to draw 10 watts of power for about an hour, even after showing it’s battery is 100 percent charged. To get the most of out of the battery, and to ensure a truly full charge, users should keep the new iPad plugged in for at least another hour after it says it’s full, Soneira concluded.

Battery Woes (Part 2)

The Consumer Reports study that called out the new iPad running hot also pointed to a potential issue with the device’s battery. It seemed it wouldn’t hold a charge, despite being plugged in, while running a gaming app.

"We also noticed that the new iPad wasn’t charging while the game was running and it was plugged in," the report said. "In fact, the battery continued to drain. It charged normally, however, when we weren’t running a game."

PCWorld also pointed out that the new iPad’s bigger battery takes longer to charge than prior generations. The publication said that new tablet had the longest charge time out of 43 total tablets tested, taking almost a full six hours to reach 100 percent.

Low-Res Photos A No-Go

The new iPad’s 2048x1536 retina display has been one of its hottest selling points. But only iPad-taken pictures may look as "resolutionary" as Apple promised.

Betanews.com wrote this week that lower resolution pictures uploaded to the new iPad from another device "look even worse" than they would on their own, less pixelated displays.

"The higher the display’s resolution, the worse your low-res pics will look," the site explained.

What’s more, the iPad’s screen is high-def, so even pictures taken with a state-of-the-art digital camera can look disappointing on the new tablet. "HD brings out all your imperfections," Betanews said.

Form Factor

Despite the new iPad being dubbed more fragile than its predecessor, it’s a little bit clunkier too.

The second-gen iPad 2 weighs in at 1.33 pounds, while the new iPad is a heftier 1.44 pounds. Users who opt for the 4G version of the new device will carry around an even heavier 1.46 pounds.

There's a difference in thickness, too: the iPad 2 is 0.34 inches thick, while the new iPad is 0.37 inches.

"Video Speed Trap"

The Wall Street Journal called out a potential issue with the new iPad’s video streaming and data allotment policies. The report said that a new iPad user "burned through" his two-gigabyte monthly data allotment in less than 24 hours, after streaming live March Madness games onto his new iPad.

To continue streaming or even just browse the Web, the user has to pay an extra $10 for every gigabyte he uses, on top of his $30 base subscription, the report said.

"It's kind of a Catch-22," the user told the Journal. "It streams really fast video, but by streaming really fast video you tend to watch more video, and that's not always best."

More iPad Coverage From CRN

The New iPad:
New iPad Gets Flak For Hot Temps, WiFi
Apple Sells 3 Million iPads Following Launch
Apple: New iPad Had 'Record Weekend'
New iPad Launch Draws Crowds