New iPad '3' Battery Concerns: Apple Speaks Up

The new iPad's bigger battery has raised all sorts of concerns among iPad owners. From overheating to a fluctuating gauge; Apple's battery has once again made headlines.

iPad owners and experts in the industry have noticed that the iPad's battery continues to charge even after the tablet displays the battery full symbol.

A study carried out by Dr. Raymond Soneira of Displaymate Technologies has found that the battery life goes the furthest when charged beyond the time the gauge appears to be full. His research showed that the iPad draws in 10 watts of power an hour after the battery displays the 'full' message, PC World reports.

The observation, which has confused iPad owners over the past week, is completely normal, according to Apple. Michael Tchao, Apple VP, told AllThingsD that the company decided to prematurely show the full message so as not to distract and confuse users with a fluctuating gauge, which is a part of the normal battery charge and discharge cycle.

That circuitry is designed so you can keep your device plugged in as long as you would like, it's a great feature that's always been in iOS, Tchao explained.

Another complaint new iPad users have put forward is the time the tablet takes to charge. Users have flocked to Apple forums, some say their devices take 6 hours to charge, while others say it takes 10 hours to get from zero to 100 percent.

Another popular battery related issues on the new iPad is an uncomfortable amount of heat felt in the lower left-hand corner of their tablet. The new third-generation iPad gets up to 10°F warmer than the iPad 2, according to tests carried out by Tweakers.net. Their team ran GLBenchmark for five straight minutes on both the iPad 2 and the new iPad, and then performed a thermal image comparison. The lower left side of the new iPad measured up to 92.48°F, which Apple maintains is within normal thermal levels.

Apple has slammed the critique saying the new iPad operates well within the thermal specifications of the tablet.

I have been using the new iPad for almost two weeks -- a week before it was released to the public -- and I've seen no heat issues. I use my iPad every day over LTE and Wi-Fi, holding it my hand and on my lap and the device doesn't get hot, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller told The Loop.

The new iPad Features include:

Processor: A5X quad-core processor touted as twice as fast and four times better performance than Tegra 3 chip.

Camera: 5-megapixel backside illuminated sensor on the back, 5-element lens, IR filter, and ISP built into the A5X chip.

Video: 1080p video recording.

Voice Dictation: Supports U.S. English, British, Australian, French, German and Japanese.

4G LTE: New iPad now has 21Mbps HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA at 42Mbps, with LTE taking the cake at 73Mbps. Verizon, Rogers, Bell, Telus and AT&T will be the LTE partners.

Battery Life: 10 hours of battery life still! 9 hours on 4G

Size: 9.4mm thin, weighing 1.4lbs.

Price: $499 for 16GB! 32GB is $599 and 64GB for $699.

Release Date: In stores March 16.