Buying My First IPad, Have Questions

Hi Everyone:

I am getting ready to by a refurbished 1st Gen IPad and I am trying to find out if it is able to be upgraded to IOS version 5.x? The IPad has version 4.x.x on it now.

Also, can the charger for the IPhone 4 work with the IPad 1st Gen. I have the cable with a USB connector on one end and a long silver connector on the other end that goes into the IPad. I think ti is a 30 pin connector. The cable also has an adaptor that can plug into an AC socket.

Thanks to all for the help.

According to Wikipedia a first generation iPad can be upgraded to iOS 5 and that's the end of the line. Regarding your charger, I don't know but why don't you google that for yourself?

1) I hope you're getting a great deal on the iPad v1, it's slow and chunky.

2) Yes, but it will only charge the iPad slowly.

It is still a good ebook reader and Reckless Racing never gets old. :D

So that explains why it takes such a long time to charge mine (as opposed to the iPhone) with the iPhone 3GS charger.

Google is your friend...

Shame on you for asking us! Go find robot friends!

All iPads require a 10W charger - 5v, 2.0A. iPhone chargers are 5v, 1A. A lot of third-party USB chargers output less than an amp. If you want to make sure you're charging as fast as can go, just look at the printing on the charger and make sure it's listed at two amps.

FWIW, charging a battery slowly, especially an old one, is better for that battery in terms of useable life.

To be clear, not the life of that single charge, but the life in terms of when the battery can't hold a useful charge anymore, which will happen sooner or later if you keep using it. Rechargeables have a large but limited amount of times they can be charged before they wear out.

Also, since you're getting all this extra info, I hope you've learned your lesson to use Google next time.

Self-reliant types spit on your extra info.






Ptui!

@Subego: nothing robotic about googling answers, the information contained in them is posted by a human but it's been answered so why not look. Generally, forums such as this have rules that ask users to search their forums for answers to their questions prior to posting a new thread, seems logical to do a quick google search before starting a new thread here as well.

Sure, but I don't know if "search shaming" is the way to go about it.

Besides, now Google can link to here and further round out its repository of info.

Your method of stopping "search shaming" is to shame those who do that (e.g. "search shaming shaming"). You're no different...

The irony of this is not lost on me.

Good, at least you're reasonable. I try to be as helpful as I can on MacNN but sometimes it's frustrating taking someone's posting and just copying and pasting it to Bing or Google and posting the results back on MacNN. Oh well, at least there's a fantastic UFC card tonight...something to look forward to.

I don't even see a first gen iPad refurb at the Apple Store. They have the 2 for $319, and believe me the difference is staggering, I had the first gen and now have the 2, there is no comparison. So if you, CompuD can manage, I strongly recommend getting the 2, I plan to keep mine until it dies.

Reported.

For the record, the latest iPad comes with a 12W charger which will charge your iPhone really quick.

I want to repeat though, my understanding is that's not good for it. The slower you can juice up a rechargeable the better.

It doesn't matter. The charging circuit is smart. It will take as much as it can take to charge the battery as quickly as possible and as safely as possible to prolong life.

Steve

Some people feel that slower charging equals less heat generated which is good in the long run for the batteries.

The way I understand it is there's not a "magic point". It's always going to be a balance between what's ideal for the battery and consumer irritation at how long it charges.

In electrical engineering terms, this should be true, but personal experience suggests that there is something going on with that circuit. When charging my iPhone 4 with an iPad 2 charger, it gets significantly hotter than usual. Once when trying to charge it while sitting out in the summer sun listening to a podcast, the iPhone actually shut down due to overheating. It never does this when I'm not charging it. The logical action at this stage would be to slow down the charging to avoid overheating, but clearly the charging circuit isn't clever enough.

I also had an overheating issue on my 4s when charging it in my car with a 2.1 A Logitech lighter adapter. But I attributed it to the hot sun and the fact my phone is in a thick Otterbox case. Maybe the heat from charging along with the sun is just enough to put it over the each. But charging always heats up batteries, at least a little bit, even if you don't feel it.

Steve

Charge via Laptop

I mostly use my 2011 17" MBP rather than my v1 iPad, and I routinely charge the iPad through the laptop USB. It has worked very well for years but I have never tried to quantify how fast it charges because I have never cared.

I do care about the iPhone 4s charging rate, however, and it does seem to charge very quickly through the MBP (never concurrently charging multiple devices). I indiscriminately use three different sizes of Apple MBP chargers and all function adequately to charge the devices under reasonable usages.

Personally I find all the full-size iPads to be too heavy for many of their intended usages. eReading and walkaround data input are two examples. The v1 is the heaviest (and s l o w e s t) of the iPads so I will at some point replace the v1 in favor of the iPad Mini.

-Allen