The iPad 3's Achilles heel

I have been a big fan of the the iPad since it was introduced.If one accepts its limitations it is a very effective device.

In fact I did not take a laptop with me on my tour of the Far East, it has filled the niche so well.

The iOS version of Keynote being particularly excellent for presentations on the fly.

I even tried a Time lapse with it and it was pretty good.

I bought the iPad 1 but skipped the iPad 2 as one can take the purchase of glittering Apple jewels a little too far.

From its feature set the iPad 3 was a candidate for an upgrade, and overall I'm happy with it.

But with one very big caveat.

It's power consumption.

That beautiful retina screen is a power hog.

With my iPad 1 I could manage to get by with sporadic and occasional charges, it would get by on a whiff of power and hang onto the charge quite nicely thank you very much.

If you play this game with the iPad 3 you will pay the consequencesand as a result I'm never far away from some way of topping up the power.

What is more not only does it seem to charge more slowly, but if you are running an screen heavy app while charging you may well experience a 'static' battery situation - where the battery power does not go down, but neither does it go up.

This has caught me out a couple of times, where I have been running an app while it has been charging overnight, and in the morning the battery has been in much the same state of charge as when I plugged it in.

So when I was about to make my presentation I was left wondering if I would make it through, a nerve wracking experience.

The problem further made worse by the fact that you cannot charge the iPad while it is plugged into a projector as the share the only external connection point the device has.

Yes, I should be more organised and together but this is real life and we all have quite enough going on without committing too much mental capacity for a charging strategy for ones mobile device.

Don't get me wrong, I do like my iPad 3 and I'm writing this blog on it as I travel to London.

All I'm saying is that by upgrading the screen Apple has changed the character of the device in my opinion.

Before you buy one try to assess which you value more, the retina display or battery life?

If you want a solution where the battery lasts through the day and beyond you might like to consider the iPad 2 and save some cash too.

Location:London