Has anyone used an ipad out in the cold? I was planning to use my iPad on my Christmas visit back East as a guidebook for looking up places and restaurants. And it made me wonder if the iPad worked when it was outside in freezing conditions. Obviously, I'd put the thing in a case in backpack, but I suspect that the stuff in the backpack will get cold-soaked after a couple of hours outside. Short of putting a hand-warmer in with the ipad, does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks

PS: the next step is for me to ziplock my ipad and put it a refrigerator or maybe ... brrrr. the freezer. Worries me a bit.

All i can tell you is that when i drove the 20 miles to town to shop and kept my laptop in the trunk so no one would be tempted to steal it— it took at least 5—10 minutes for it to warm up in the coffee shop before it would acknowledge my presence.

There should have been something in the literature that came with the iPad about the temperature range.

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Western Massachusetts

In general, electronic devices do not do well in temperature extremes.

In particular, batteries don't work well in the cold and condensation can trip the immersion sensors in the iPad, potentially voiding your warranty.

For what it is worth the technical specs of the Apple iPad are:

Environmental requirements
Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)

This is a little confusing, the non-operating range includes the operating range. It seems like the non-operating range should be listed as below 32 degrees and above 96 degrees, no?)

So I should be OK..... seriously I've had experience with using digital cameras (with LiOn batteries) where the battery level dropped to zero in 20 minutesin a ice-climbing room in Scotland ... but that's another story. I was just asking if anyone had used their iPad outdoors this winter yet.

No iPad here but what I can offer from my wintertime mobile sound experience is my 4g iPod was extremely sluggish in the cold (likely due to the moving parts in the HDD) and my Nanos (solid state) have always been trouble-free. Temps down to the 20s. I would expect an iPad to be fine into the 20s. Cold does affect battery life somewhat but maybe not as extremely with Lithiums as for other types.

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Quote
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For what it is worth the technical specs of the Apple iPad are:

Environmental requirements
Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)

This is a little confusing, the non-operating range includes the operating range. It seems like the non-operating range should be listed as below 32 degrees and above 96 degrees, no?)

So I should be OK..... seriously I've had experience with using digital cameras (with LiOn batteries) where the battery level dropped to zero in 20 minutesin a ice-climbing room in Scotland ... but that's another story. I was just asking if anyone had used their iPad outdoors this winter yet.

there is NOTHING confusing here.

iPad off (storage, shipping, shelf, etc), anywhere -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C). That is "Nonoperating temperature".

no one forces you to turn the iPad ON when the temperature is inside the operating range

I always heard that one should not use an electronic device that has come in from the cold until it has warmed up to room temperature, to reduce the danger of condensation damage. For a laptop that could take a while, maybe less for an iPad.

/Mr Lynn

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"I always heard that one should not use an electronic device that has come in from the cold until it has warmed up to room temperature, to reduce the danger of condensation damage. For a laptop that could take a while"


Absolutely! Also, you do not actually USE the device for it to be damaged, just the act of bringing a really cold item into a warm (and therefore much more humid) environment can cause damage. I put such items into closed plastic trash bags or ziplocs before bringing them inside.

Put it in your bag wrapped up as well as you are, perhaps in a foam sleeve:

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And, like you, let it run continuously doing some task. It'll be toasty warm.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

I doubt it is going to be cold enough or you are going to be outside long enough for it to really matter. It depends where you are and how cold it is. If it is in the 20s out and you are walking around, maybe it will get cold, but I wouldn't worry too much about that. Around here, we can easily be -10 F or lower; at those temps you wouldn't be walking around, and you wouldn't want to try to power up your ipad.

My ipod does ok in cold, as long as it is not too cold. It warms up reasonable quickly. I try not to leave it out in the car when it is cold out. Something in a backpack up against your back will stay warmer then that outside air temp. A water bottle would take hours to freeze for example if the temps were in the 20s and not really even worth worrying about, even on a long hike. In contrast, it was subzero, that same bottle would start freezing within the hour and would need to be wrapped and kept upside down. So it really depends on the temp and the exposure.