James Kendrick of ZDNet shares his experience using his new iPad Air as a LTE Hotspot. He discovers his new device’s battery life could lead to at least 24 hours of use as a hotspot without the need for a recharge.
The iPad Air is a nice tablet with loads of features to satisfy many buyers. One feature rarely mentioned is a big one. The good battery life of the iPad Air with LTE means it should be able to serve as a mobile hotspot for at least 24 hours.
iOS’s “Personal Hotspot,” can be turned on in your settings on your iPad, as seen above. This allows the device to share its LTE or 3G signal with other devices via Wi-Fi.
Kendrick notes that he uses his iPad mini as a hotspot for his laptops regularly, and has used for 20 hours on one occasion due to a power outage.
As the iPad mini can serve for 20 hours with its 16.3 watt-hour battery, it is likely the iPad Air could serve as one for 24 hours or more, due to its much more powerful 32.4 watt-hour battery. While the iPad Air has a much larger display to drive, and that does affect battery life, the display doesn’t enter the equation here, as in most cases, your display is turned off if you’re using your device as a hotspot.