New iPad Users Dealing With Heat and Signal Issues

With new iPads flying off the shelves, the new Apple tablet has become a hot commodity. Unfortunately, it is also dealing with potential design flaws that cause the tablet to become very warm and experience weak Wi-Fi signals.

Hotter than the iPad 2
As we noted in our review, the new iPad can get a bit warm. Reviewer Ed Hardy noted that during his time with it, the highest temperature that the new iPad reached was 96 degrees Fahrenheit, while on average, its temperature usually floated somewhere between 92 and 94 degrees. A test performed by Consumer Reports reported slightly more dramatic results, however, finding that the new iPad gets up to 13 degrees hotter than the iPad 2 when playing a game. The test was performed by using a thermal imaging camera to capture snapshots of the iPad in action.

After 45 minutes of running Infinity Blade II uninterrupted with the 4G connection off and Wi-Fi on, the images showed that that when unplugged, the new iPad reached as high as 113 degrees. The hottest area wasn’t equally distributed, but rather was concentrated near one corner of the display, according to the shots taken of the rear of the device. When plugged in, the third-gen Apple Tablet reached 116 degrees Fahrenheit.

The iPad 2 was 12 degrees cooler than the new iPad when plugged in and 13 degrees cooler when unplugged. The complaints have begun to roll in, so Apple responded:

“The new iPad delivers a stunning Retina display, A5X chip, support for 4G LTE plus 10 hours of battery life, all while operating well within our thermal specifications. If customers have any concerns they should contact AppleCare.”

Weak Wi-Fi Signals
Along with the heat issues, multiple users are voicing their concerns over the weak Wi-Fi signals that the new iPad is experiencing. One thread in the Apple support forum has 100 replies and over 3,000 views for Wi-Fi problems. There are other threads on the forum that express the same problem.

The first iPad experienced Wi-Fi problems as well, which they fixed with a software update. Apple has yet to comment on the new iPad's weak Wi-Fi signals, but we expect to hear from them soon.

Source: Consumer Reports and Apple Insider