Apple silently updates the iPad 2 battery life

If you thought the New iPad (third generation) stole the thunder from the second generation iPad, think again. Apple may have dropped the price on the iPad 2 making it the most desirable tablet yet but it has also added one feature that may just make it a little more desirable than the new iPad – better apple battery. The iPad 2 has not only seen a price drop to Rs. 24,500 for the Wi-Fi only 16GB model and Rs. 32,900 for the Wi-Fi +3G model, but the device has seen a new SoC as well. Dubbed the iPad 2,4, Anand Tech provides us with details of the device. The iPad 2,4 has a 32nm LP SoC as opposed to the 45nm LP SoC found on the previous iterations. And what does this upgrade mean to the consumers? Well two hours of better battery life for starters, the iPad 2 anyways clamed of 10-hours of battery life. In Anand Tech’s tests, the iPad 2,4 outperforms the iPad 2 and the new iPad by miles. So, how will you know that the iPad 2 that you picked up has the 32nm LP SoC? Well, the box is identical to any other iPad 2 box so good luck truing to identify it from the box itself. But, if the iPad is running iOS 5.1 then it is the new 32nm iPad 2. If it is running iOS 5.0.1, then it is the older generation iPad 2. You can also run performance benchmarks such as Geekbench, linpack and more to find out information about the SoC. Some hot batteries from aussie battery shop: ACER Aspire 5741 Battery, APPLE A1175 Battery, ASUS Eee PC 1000 Battery and more, brand new 1 year warranty! This particular iPad 2,4 sample came from Best Buy, and several attempts to find one elsewhere came up short. All indications seem to point to the iPad 2,4 being relatively rare, which makes sense considering what's inside it. Although the iPad 2,1 and its 3G brethren all used a 45nm Apple A5 SoC, the iPad 2,4 uses a die-shrunk 32nm version. The performance remains the same, but the die is much smaller. This isn't however just a normal die shrink, as Apple is using Samsung's 32nm high-k + metal gate LP transistors for this new A5 die. Intel was first to make the HK+MG transition back at 45nm in 2007 and correctly predicted that no one else would make the move until 32nm at the earliest. Transistors are amazingly complex to fully understand, but at a high level they're quite simple. Imagine a transistor as a silicon based switch. When on, current flows, and when off, current stops flowing. The smaller you make a transistor, the more likely it is to misbehave. If current flows while the transistor is off, you waste power. This is known as leakage current and can come from a number of sources.