iPad Swapping out the Charge?

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Robert_Whited

[H] News Editor
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Mar 6, 2010
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So lets say you bought the iPad. You love it. You nourish it. You give it a place at the dinner table. You talk to it by name. Then it starts to lose the ability to hold its charge. Well get ready re-bond with your new Apple kid, because it will be swapped with a different one at Apple.

According to a recently-posted FAQ, Apple will replace your iPad if it "requires service due to the battery's diminished ability to hold an electrical charge," for $99 and a $6.95 shipping fee.
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For an extra hundred dollars? Fuck you Apple! Way to offload your defective shit on your customers again.

This is exactly why I don't buy Apple products.
 
Um . . .. I sense some class action suits coming, people loosing data, or someone getting a new ipad loaded with someone else's personal information. This is a wet dream for a lawyer, apple is diving head long into a shit storm. They need to pull back and redesign, but they are so eager and hell bent on being the first and gaining market share they have again built a poor product, and I hope they suffer great financial loss for it!
 
Please change the word loose (as in the dog got loose and tore up the garden), to lose (e.g. if you lose your keys, you can't start your car).
 
If it's out of warranty, I'd fix it myself. Milliamp.com has batteries and screens for every iPod and iPhone out there, I imagine as soon as the iPad hits the market, they'll order one, and tear it apart so they can see the parts to fix it.
 
hahahaha $100 plus shipping time to replace a batterie?!?!?! fuck off apple!
 
wow that's a bit ridiculous I hope this is at least warned about when you purchase.
 
Perhaps the penultimate bad thing: and yet not even this level of BS will keep the Apple Horde (tm) from buying this stinker of a product. Sad times indeed.
 
At Bestbuy apple does this its called "rapid exchange" they rotate defective crap (this is true) at one point 4 years ago apple ipods were failing at such a high rate they couldn't keep any on shelves.

The rapid exchanged iPods usually aren't in mint condition and sometimes arrive back in failing condition.
 
Oh lord, and here I thought it was 107 for a battery swap. They're just going to swap out your iPad? You just know that your iPad is going to be re-sold...
 
You get a refurbished iPad, they fix your old one and give it to someone else as a refurbished product. Otherwise the repair time would take 3-4 weeks and you would go without.
 
Smashing! What a lovely tidbit for me to start piecing together my "I really fkn hate Apple - Part 6" article!

In other news, this hardly surprises me. I wonder who's going to be the first to write an article about hacking your iPad to run Linux and show you how to swap out the battery.
 
Wow, this is beyond retarded on every level. The iPad hasn't even been released yet, and there's already KNOWN battery issues? Not only that, but you have to pay $100 to have the KNOWN issue repaired. Finally, the 'repair' involves your newish iPad being replaced with a refurbished one. How do they even have refurbished ones already if the product isn't out yet?
 
A lot of people missed the point of this. You swap you iPad at the store for a new one immediately. Seems like a good deal really, as a new battery for a laptop is generally at least $100. This doesn't seem to be saying anything about defective batteries, just those that wear out over time, like all batteries do. Obviously folks that would tear the thing up and replace the battery themselves need not apply, but for general public, sounds nice.

As for data security, just format (or whatever the equivalent process is) first, just like any normal laptop like repair. It would be cool if the Apple store would transfer your personal data to the new one as part of the process.
 
Yeah a lot of you guys are reading this wrong. Nobody said anything about defective products. They're saying if your battery dies down the road (no different from cell phone and laptops when they eventually fail to hold charge anymore), they will give you a new iPad instead of swapping batteries. You'd just be paying $100 for the new iPad. Laptop battery costs about $90-140, so this is about on par.

The good thing is you get a new iPad (or a refurb that's been checked over by Apple's QA) instead of keeping your worn out iPad that, by the time the battery dies, might be a little scratched up.

Keep in mind, I'm not supporting the iPad in any way. I'm not a fan of iPhone on steroid rehash. I like my iPhone just fine and don't need a XL version of it. But let's not take the FAQ out of context.
 
$100 to replace the iPad? That sounds very reasonable, but $100 to replace a battery? That does not seem reasonable.

Besides, I take VERY good care of my electronics. I would not expect the refurbished unit to be in as good of condition as my babied electronics.

If it has to be replaced, that's one thing... but $100 for a battery is highway robbery.
 
Oh yeah, forgot to add - those of you who owns iPods and iPhone will know that iTunes save your account information, including what app you bought and so on. Most push mail contacts are stored elsewhere (Gmail, Exchange, etc), so you should not have to fear losing all of your stuff when getting a new iPad.

Re-sync it with your iTunes and set up your push email and you should have everything back again except saved games and data you stored using other apps like QuickOffice and Folder apps.
 
Hmm how would this hold up when future generations hit? Would they hold you to the previous generation if you managed to hold off sending in your Ipad until then? Or would they simply give you a refurb of the previous gen?

I wonder if they'd implement a step-up program?
 
To all those criticizing how this is done: how else would you expect this to be done? You don't seriously expect free instant battery replacement for life, do you? Does that happen on any consumer device?

To all those criticizing that this may need to be done: have they invented a rechargeable battery with sufficent weight-to-power that doesn't eventually lose charge yet? If so, is it available on any product currently on the market?

Apple is establishing this now because they got criticism for not doing it with other products. So now you're criticizing Apple for doing it in advance. Nothing pleases you, does it?
 
IRSmurf said:
Besides, I take VERY good care of my electronics. I would not expect the refurbished unit to be in as good of condition as my babied electronics.
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TBH the refurbish unit would probably be in physically better, if not equal, condition. Refurbish products directly from Apple have their exterior casings replace with a new one. Internals are a different question, but Apple says they go through a "stringent" QA process (whatever that means). I've had refurbished Apple products before and never had issues with any of them. It's not like they are immediately handing one person's iPad to another person. It goes through a revitalizing process.

As far as the Best Buy iPod statement, were those iPods being sent into repair directly to Apple or were they done inhouse by BB? It sounds like a inhouse BB thing to me.

For the pricing, I think it is reasonable given the equivalent cost of a laptop battery and the refurbish process the unit would have to go through. Given that, I would still prefer replacing the battery myself to keep costs down.
 
It blows my mind that any company would release a product without the ability to swap out a battery in a matter of seconds.

PS3 controller, iPhone, iPod, iPad. All massive fail in this regard.

Welcome to 2010 folks. Fix it already.
 
nilepez said:
Please change the word loose (as in the dog got loose and tore up the garden), to lose (e.g. if you lose your keys, you can't start your car).
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Way to go... Your spelling Nazi post gave me some Lolz for the day. Kind and helpful... :D
 
Bgrngod said:
It blows my mind that any company would release a product without the ability to swap out a battery in a matter of seconds.

PS3 controller, iPhone, iPod, iPad. All massive fail in this regard.

Welcome to 2010 folks. Fix it already.
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Yeah but how many cracked/lost battery covers have you dealt with through the years... I agree with the fail, but having to ghetto tape my batteries in a remote control, because my battery cover cracked sucks. I've relegated TV sets to the GYM room because of shit like that...
 
Aquila76 said:
The iPad hasn't even been released yet, and there's already KNOWN battery issues? Not only that, but you have to pay $100 to have the KNOWN issue repaired. Finally, the 'repair' involves your newish iPad being replaced with a refurbished one. How do they even have refurbished ones already if the product isn't out yet?
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What a silly post.

http://www.apple.com/batteries/
 
evilsofa said:
To all those criticizing how this is done: how else would you expect this to be done? You don't seriously expect free instant battery replacement for life, do you? Does that happen on any consumer device?

To all those criticizing that this may need to be done: have they invented a rechargeable battery with sufficent weight-to-power that doesn't eventually lose charge yet? If so, is it available on any product currently on the market?

Apple is establishing this now because they got criticism for not doing it with other products. So now you're criticizing Apple for doing it in advance. Nothing pleases you, does it?
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Perhaps a consumer replaceable battery is just too much tech for Apple to absorb?
 
Bgrngod said:
It blows my mind that any company would release a product without the ability to swap out a battery in a matter of seconds.

PS3 controller, iPhone, iPod, iPad. All massive fail in this regard.

Welcome to 2010 folks. Fix it already.
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Don't batteries have energy in them? Playing around with one of those sounds dangerous. We should be thanking these great companies for keeping us well away from these death traps!
 
they (Apple) are doing this because they know they can get away with it, and that there will always be a douche bag out there more than happy to pay it because "it's an apple"
 
BillR said:
Perhaps a consumer replaceable battery is just too much tech for Apple to absorb?
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The batteries are designed to last for a full day of use, and to give you years of charges, and the devices are meant to be plugged in for syncing, which also charges them. You can charge them on virtually any usb port or in any car. If you're using your devices so HARDCORE that you need to swap batteries like ammo mags, you are not part of a serviceable majority of customers.
 
collegeboy69us said:
they (Apple) are doing this because they know they can get away with it, and that there will always be a douche bag out there more than happy to pay it because "it's an apple"
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You went to college without reading textbooks, did you?

hint: read the articles and other replies.
 
not sure what the problem is? all lithium batteries are going to lose their charge over time. they could make the battery user-replaceable and charge $100 just for their proprietary battery and no one would bat an eye.

i'm talking about out-of-warranty issues. obviously they can't do that if the battery's less than a year old. i'm sure they'll use some battery diagnostic tool like they already do with their notebooks to decide whether batteries are actually defective or simply consumed.
 
badcaps said:
If you're using your devices so HARDCORE that you need to swap batteries like ammo mags, you are not part of a serviceable majority of customers.
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Nearly every cell phone company would disagree, nearly every notebook maker, etc., etc. Making batteries user replaceable is technology that dates back, well, to the battery.

It takes no particular malice or negligence to sell a product with a bad battery in it, one that doesn't last as long as it "should." Apple's solution to this possibility is to charge their customers an extra $100. Do you really want to defend that?
 
Babbster said:
Nearly every cell phone company would disagree, nearly every notebook maker, etc., etc. Making batteries user replaceable is technology that dates back, well, to the battery.

It takes no particular malice or negligence to sell a product with a bad battery in it, one that doesn't last as long as it "should." Apple's solution to this possibility is to charge their customers an extra $100. Do you really want to defend that?
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Once again, this article said nothing about Apple charging $100 for a defective battery. It's what they charge for replacing an iPad with batteries which eventually loses its charge in it's normal life cycle.

Your AppleCare plan will cover defective products just like it always have.
 
Babbster said:
Nearly every cell phone company would disagree, nearly every notebook maker, etc., etc. Making batteries user replaceable is technology that dates back, well, to the battery.

It takes no particular malice or negligence to sell a product with a bad battery in it, one that doesn't last as long as it "should." Apple's solution to this possibility is to charge their customers an extra $100. Do you really want to defend that?
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I don't need to defend it: I'm not Apple. Apple espouses a different philosophy than everybody else and that ought to have been apparent from the whole "Think Different" thing. They purposely removed the housing required to allow swappable batteries in an effort to better utilize the space in their machines. The battery life goes up without adding to the weight or size of the machine, and in the process they've improved the lifespan of the battery as well; part of their battery technology involves being smarter about charging the cells to reduce wear and extend life.

The design and elegance of Apple products is a major selling point to begin with, and since the majority of their products are mobile devices batteries are a key part of their business. When convolved these two major requirements necessitate new solutions; for Apple, they need the ability to say "it's the same thing you've always loved, only better". A lot of people buy their new macbook or ipod or iphone before the old one has even had time for its battery to hit its 80% capacity point.

Apple services its philosophy and business model with remarkable zeal, and makes a lot of money doing it. Not only do I not have to defend their choices, but neither do they: they're immensely popular and successful.
 
Azhar said:
Once again, this article said nothing about Apple charging $100 for a defective battery. It's what they charge for replacing an iPad with batteries which eventually loses its charge in it's normal life cycle.
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Sure, but are they going to consider a battery "defective" if it will only hold a 2-hour charge after, say, 18 months?
Your AppleCare plan will cover defective products just like it always have.
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My AppleCare? You mean another service for which I would have to pay extra? Super!
 
It's like, whenever a news article talks about Apple - every poster in the thread* gets an instant -100 IQ buff.

*There are some posters able to resist this powerful magic, but they're very few, and very far between.
 
nilepez said:
Please change the word loose (as in the dog got loose and tore up the garden), to lose (e.g. if you lose your keys, you can't start your car).
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I cant speak for all dialects of English but of those that I've heard -
Isnt it weird how the word "lose" being 4 letters typically takes a hair longer to say than "loose" which is 5 letters?
 
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