• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Battery life so much better now!

breynolds007

breynolds007

Well-Known Member
I'm sure many of you on here have done this, but this quick fix can greatly help anyone who already doesn't know.

My battery life was great before Jelly Bean, but lately it seems with little use it was dying in less than a day, overnight, etc. Upon checking battery stats, my Wi-Fi was solid blue. Apparently, the default setting for Wi-Fi is to stay on even when the tablet is sleeping. This makes no sense to me as I (and I assume most other users) have phones to handle everything when not using the Nexus tablet. I don't even have notification sounds active on my 7 because its redundant when I'll get them from my RAZR Maxx.

So, unless you want your Nexus 7 to have constant Wi-Fi, you should go into Settings>Wi-Fi>Advanced and turn OFF Keep Wi-Fi On During Sleep. I've noticed no lag connecting to Wi-Fi when waking my tablet up and my battery life has tripled. Hope this helps someone not ecstatic with their battery life!
 
Actually, turning the Wifi off and on is worse for the battery than leaving it on all the time.

Maintaining a wifi connection uses almost no battery life (unless you're in such a fringe coverage area that it keeps dropping and reconnecting). If I leave Wifi on overnight, the battery might drop by 1-2%.

I know the tip above sounds good but I'd urge everyone to resist. Turning the Wifi off when sleeping was the default behavior in an old version of Android, and it was widely noted that changing this behavior vastly improved battery life. It's because it uses a whole lot more power turning on the Wifi radio, scanning for a network, establishing a connection with the network and trading credentials, than it just does maintaining a constant connection.

The wifi being straight blue is okay. I just charged mine last night, I was at 5d 10h since my last recharge, with 5h 30m of screen-on time - and the wifi bar was solid blue :)

If doing this fixes your battery life, I'd look into either your wireless coverage (if it's terrible, it could cause problems - but it'd have to be pretty terrible), or look for an app that is consuming data while the tablet is sleeping. If you're turning off wireless when putting the tablet to sleep, it might be stopping the app from draining battery.
 
Binary visions speaks the truth. If you'd like to test, charge your N7 in the evening and leave the wifi on overnight without browsing or anything. Check your battery stats in the morning. I'm often still at 100% when I do this, even with sync on.
 
If im moving around, like driving my car, is it better to just leave on, or turn off? Will it keep trying to search for a connection?

If i change the options to wifi off when asleep, and then i play music with a streaming radio app or something, will the music stop when i turn off the screen?
 
semus said:
If im moving around, like driving my car, is it better to just leave on, or turn off? Will it keep trying to search for a connection?

If i change the options to wifi off when asleep, and then i play music with a streaming radio app or something, will the music stop when i turn off the screen?
Click to expand...

In that case, it might consume a bit more if you have it set to scan for open networks. You can turn off that option tho.

Apps that stream music should always use a wifi wake lock to keep the device 'awake' and the wifi active. If it's a poorly coded app, it might not but that's a pretty slim chance.
 
binary visions said:
Actually, turning the Wifi off and on is worse for the battery than leaving it on all the time.

Maintaining a wifi connection uses almost no battery life (unless you're in such a fringe coverage area that it keeps dropping and reconnecting). If I leave Wifi on overnight, the battery might drop by 1-2%.

I know the tip above sounds good but I'd urge everyone to resist. Turning the Wifi off when sleeping was the default behavior in an old version of Android, and it was widely noted that changing this behavior vastly improved battery life. It's because it uses a whole lot more power turning on the Wifi radio, scanning for a network, establishing a connection with the network and trading credentials, than it just does maintaining a constant connection.

The wifi being straight blue is okay. I just charged mine last night, I was at 5d 10h since my last recharge, with 5h 30m of screen-on time - and the wifi bar was solid blue :)

If doing this fixes your battery life, I'd look into either your wireless coverage (if it's terrible, it could cause problems - but it'd have to be pretty terrible), or look for an app that is consuming data while the tablet is sleeping. If you're turning off wireless when putting the tablet to sleep, it might be stopping the app from draining battery.
Click to expand...


I may consider a factory reset, but I've had no issues with JB otherwise. I am am OG Android user and remember the days of the Wi-Fi debacle you mention. I appreciate your input, but this doesn't make sense to me. You're saying that my tablet will use less battery constantly hooked to Wi-Fi (syncing, notifications coming in) when its asleep than just connecting back to the network for 5 seconds a few times a day. I understand the thought process, especially if it took a while to connect, like older phones, but it's pretty fast and the results have been great. I don't have any rogue apps or Wi-Fi issues. I've read elsewhere that Google Now constantly on could be the culprit. I may have to FDR just to then test the theory again.
 
Again, correlation does not equal causation.

If your N7 drains 15% in 8 hours, it's very likely because some app keeps waking up and using data during this period. It's not because the wifi is turned on. It's because you have an app consuming data, and it can't consume that data when you turn off the data connection.

Now, if you're happy with the solution of turning off wifi, okay. But turning off wifi every time you put the tablet to sleep is a little excessive. You're also going to disable all the useful background data, like downloading email, syncing calendars and contacts, etc.

If your dog pees on the carpet, you could rip out all the flooring in your house, replace it with plastic, install drains, and hook up a sprinkler system to constantly clean the floors... or you could teach your dog to stop peeing on the carpet. Either way, the problem is fixed, but only one way is actually addressing the cause.
 
Binary, I appreciate your insight and passion. But, as you mention above about losing the full functionality of synching while asleep, that's kind of the point I'm trying to make. I could care less about synching anything on my tablet, unless I'm currently using it because I have my phone during most of the day. And, constantly synching email, calendar, updates, etc. etc. has to be using significantly more battery than allowing to fully sleep. And, when I wake it back up, it immediately and quickly resynchs everything in a matter of a few seconds.

In regards to rogue apps, I haven't found anything to justify it. But, let's be honest, we're all going to deal with some of that from time to time with Android, so why let it suck any battery when unused. I understand your thinking if you're using your tablet as your main device, but I don't and I think most others probably still use their phone as their daily device. A FDR could improve battery life, but why bother with the hassle when I'm content and don't know anything is actually wrong.

I have to be honest, your comparison to dog potty training is a little extreme. I don't see what harm having the device sleep completely can cause, I could argue it's actually better for it. But, I won't because I respect your opinion and we're all friends here on Phandroid. I have to admit, I'm amazed if you guys are getting 5 days on a charge, I've never gotten more than 2-3. But, when I'm home, I can hardly put it down :-)
 
binary visions said:
The wifi being straight blue is okay. I just charged mine last night, I was at 5d 10h since my last recharge, with 5h 30m of screen-on time - and the wifi bar was solid blue :)
Click to expand...

i got my N7 used off craigslist and it already had JB 4.2.1 on it.
i have no idea how good the battery was before the JB upgarde.

i use it about 5hrs a day... and it will need a recharge at end of day...
so i need to get a recharge every night. I assumed this was normal.
like my phone.. i have to charge every night.

how the hell do you get 5days between charges? :(
must be something wrong with my N7.. a rogue app.. got to look into this. :confused:

is everyone else getting more than 2 days between charges.. with about 5 hrs of awake time???
 
dan330 said:
i got my N7 used off craigslist and it already had JB 4.2.1 on it.
i have no idea how good the battery was before the JB upgarde.

i use it about 5hrs a day... and it will need a recharge at end of day...
so i need to get a recharge every night. I assumed this was normal.
like my phone.. i have to charge every night.

how the hell do you get 5days between charges? :(
must be something wrong with my N7.. a rogue app.. got to look into this. :confused:

is everyone else getting more than 2 days between charges.. with about 5 hrs of awake time???
Click to expand...

Give it a factory reset, you should see better battery life
 
I turn wifi off when leaving the house to work, and leaving work to the house (30-45 minutes each way). I turn it off from about 10PM to 9AM each night. My Nexus drains 1% with it off, 8-10% with it on, no other changes. Drains nothing in the 1.5 hours travel time (with off), left it on a couple times, drains 1-2% during that time.

I do have GrooveIP on my device, and connects with wifi, so it may be the drain if left on. Don't like disabling with sleep, since I want GrooveIP to stay connected when wifi is on. I'd rather just use my widget to turn off and on when I'm not near wifi.
 
Omar Days said:
Give it a factory reset, you should see better battery life
Click to expand...

ok..
then... I am seeing a very fast battery drain. cant have that!!!


if i am going to factory rest.. then i might as well root it. because i am going to loose everything anyways.
 
breynolds007 said:
I could care less about synching anything on my tablet, unless I'm currently using it because I have my phone during most of the day.
Click to expand...

Well, of course my example was deliberately ridiculous.

My point being, though, that you're not correcting the source of the problem. Additionally, you are crediting something else as the source of the problem and recommending that other people turn it off to "solve" their issue - when, in fact, it is not the issue and may (is likely to) make their battery life worse, not better.

If people are having problems with an app consuming a lot of battery while the tablet is asleep, it's okay to take whatever step they want to fix it - but they should know why it's happening. It seems to make intuitive sense that turning off wifi might help battery life - but it's not. Stopping an app from consuming data is helping battery life.

dan330 said:
i use it about 5hrs a day... and it will need a recharge at end of day...
so i need to get a recharge every night. I assumed this was normal.
like my phone.. i have to charge every night.

how the hell do you get 5days between charges? :(
Click to expand...

5 days, but around 5.5 hours of time with the screen on. I typically get 6-7 hours of time with the screen on between charges - some nights, I use it more than others. So if you're recharging it after using it with the screen on for 5 hours, that's probably not bad - some activities take more battery than others.

If I didn't use it, I could probably get two weeks out of a charge.
 
binary visions said:
Well, of course my example was deliberately ridiculous.

My point being, though, that you're not correcting the source of the problem. Additionally, you are crediting something else as the source of the problem and recommending that other people turn it off to "solve" their issue - when, in fact, it is not the issue and may (is likely to) make their battery life worse, not better.

If people are having problems with an app consuming a lot of battery while the tablet is asleep, it's okay to take whatever step they want to fix it - but they should know why it's happening. It seems to make intuitive sense that turning off wifi might help battery life - but it's not. Stopping an app from consuming data is helping battery life.



5 days, but around 5.5 hours of time with the screen on. I typically get 6-7 hours of time with the screen on between charges - some nights, I use it more than others. So if you're recharging it after using it with the screen on for 5 hours, that's probably not bad - some activities take more battery than others.

If I didn't use it, I could probably get two weeks out of a charge.
Click to expand...
+1, I charge mine about once a week, maybe twice if I use it alot. And mines rooted, running Paranoid 4.2.1 with stock kernel, gtalk always on, gmail, and update notifications. ;)
 
gvc said:
I use a wifi on/off widget on my main homepage to manually turn off wifi when I know I wont be using the tablet for a while. works like a charm.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/...mNvbS5jdXJ2ZWZpc2gud2lkZ2V0cy53aWZpb25vZmYiXQ..
Click to expand...
No need to download a separate widget with an unnecessary and scary permission.

read phone status and identity
Allows the app to access the phone features of the device. This permission allows the app to determine the phone number and device IDs, whether a call is active, and the remote number connected by a call.
Click to expand...
Creating your own custom shortcut widget is easy. Go to your app drawer and scroll to the right to the widgets. Scroll to the "Settings shortcut", long press it and put it on your home page. A box will appear and you need to click wifi. When you press on this shortcut it will take you to the wifi settings and the on/off toggle is at the top of the page.

Even easier if your using JB 4.2.1 is down swiping the upper right side of your screen and you should have the option to disable wifi right there in front of you.

Also, there is another widget pre-installed called power control that allows you to toggle wifi, bluetooth, location access, auto rotate and screen brightness. Once on your home page you can long press it to resize it smaller if you desire.
 
I tried this last night. My wifi says it was on all night even though my nexus was in sleep mode for about 23 hours. Battery went from about 95% down to 77%.
 
One thing that I read to improve battery life:

Disable automatic syncing for all apps unless absolutely necessary.

I did this after I noticed my Nexus 7 used a huge amount of data to sync all my Google accounts to the tablet (mostly photos I think), and that it was set up to do so automatically, all the time. I didn't, however, do an A:B comparison to see how much battery it saves.
 
cendroid said:
One thing that I read to improve battery life:

Disable automatic syncing for all apps unless absolutely necessary.

I did this after I noticed my Nexus 7 used a huge amount of data to sync all my Google accounts to the tablet (mostly photos I think), and that it was set up to do so automatically, all the time. I didn't, however, do an A:B comparison to see how much battery it saves.
Click to expand...

That's my thinking, if nothing is running to use battery while asleep, it will save battery. I just don't see the reason to have anything connected. I basically just don't want to have to turn it off and restart each time I use it.
 
I'm running 4.2.x. My Nexus 7 gets around six solid hours of use per work day. I'm highly mobile so having this to use instead of my laptop for basic tasks like email and the web is fantastic. I find myself using it far more than I ever anticipated. Its reduced my smartphone use dramatically.

I usually charge mine at night after enjoying about 6 to 7 hours of run time on the battery. I'm very happy with my N7.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom