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It’s the sizzling tech launch of the season, but it appears the new iPad is too hot to handle for some people, with complaints emerging of the device overheating.
The hot potato on Apple’s support forums is that the iPad — in a fair number of instances — is prone to getting too hot in the lower-left corner, when held in portrait with the home button at the bottom.
The latest version of Apple’s searingly popular tablet features some coruscating spec upgrades, including a scorching dual-core, quad-graphics A5X chip and a super-high resolution retina screen.
The operating temperature range is listed on the iPad’s spec page as 32 to 95F (0 to 35C), but gripes have emerged of uncomfortable heat levels.
“Mine is a 64GB with Wi-Fi and LTE — LTE not hooked up yet — and it got hot enough that I measured it with an infared thermometer and it was 117 degrees after 10 minutes,” commented one iPad owner. “My little boy says it’s too hot to hold — great! — but seriously, it’s not comfortable and I will be returning it to the store.”
It’s notable that few of those people complaining were seeing temperature-induced errors or shut-downs. So should you be investing in a pair of asbestos trousers or taking it back to the shop just yet?
Some people claim draining the battery to 0 per cent after the first full charge reduces the problem. Others suggest turning the screen brightness down below 75 per cent and disabling iCloud. Equally helpful high-tech solutons involve wearing a pair of gloves.
So is this a case of a dodgy batch or just a necessary bedding-in period? One commenter saw improvements after three or four charge cycles: “Day 4 — after letting the battery drain completely and recharging to full capacity, the new iPad is totally cool and the battery is depleting very slowly now, like my iPad 2.”
The problem is by no means universal, with many users reporting
reasonable levels of heat.
“I’ve spoken with three friends who all confirmed that their iPad does
not suffer from this issue with brightness turned all of the way up,”
said another. “This gives me
hope that it’s a hardware issue resolved by a swap.”
Our carrier pidgeon is currently tapping on the window of Apple’s press office for a response. I’ll update this article should it fly back with anything more interesting than a chunk of sausage roll.
Have you experienced any overheating
problems with the new iPad, over and above what you’d reasonably expect? Blow your hot air in the direction of our comments box below, or on our ice-cold Facebook page.
Image credit: iFixit
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