Help Help with Samsung Galaxy Tab A

[ImonAndroidNow]

I was just wondering how long the battery should last for this device. When I look at battery usage, I don't get why it says my device has been active for 22 hours since my last full charge, and that it says my SCREEN has used 50% of my battery, though it has only been on for 5 hrs. Last time I checked, 50% of 22hrs was 11hrs, not 5hrs.

And through combined usage of my applications, I had had only used 68% of my batttery (which was something like 7 hrs), was the other 32% used through my Tab A just sitting on my shelf in it's rest mode thing (where the screen goes black and it seemingly turns off, but still uses battery at a slower rate. I don't know the formal term for this feature).

Can someone, I guess... explain how the battery menu works, I'm confused as heck. Thanks in advance.

Edit: What does device idle mean. Is it when the screen has timed out (
I think that's the formal name for the rest mode like feature), or just when you leave the screen on when your watching youtube or Netflix, or maybe reading a news article (basically you not touching the screen)?

Also, my device tells me Youtube has only contributed to 2% of my battery use, even though it's basically the only app I use... Whaaaaaaa?! Again, thanks in advance for any answers.

One more question, how many minutes is one percent worth for this kind of tablet, the 8 inch model, that is, NOT the 9 inch model. Thanks in advance...

 

[lunatic59]

I don't get why it says my device has been active for 22 hours since my last full charge, and that it says my SCREEN has used 50% of my battery, though it has only been on for 5 hrs. Last time I checked, 50% of 22hrs was 11hrs, not 5hrs.

Every time you charge your device to 100% (full) the counter is reset, so what it's telling me is that you last charged your tablet 22 hours ago. Of that 22 hours, your screen has been on for 5 hours and between on and idle you have used 50% of the charge.

One more question, how many minutes is one percent worth for this kind of tablet, the 8 inch model, that is, NOT the 9 inch model.

That's going to vary based on how you use your tablet. After a few charge/discharge cycles Android will start to estimate remaining time and you could probably extrapolate a general number based on your past usage, but it's not going to be the same for everybody.

 

[ImonAndroidNow]

Every time you charge your device to 100% (full) the counter is reset, so what it's telling me is that you last charged your tablet 22 hours ago. Of that 22 hours, your screen has been on for 5 hours and between on and idle you have used 50% of the charge.

What do you mean by "idle." Do you mean the feature where the screen goes black after being timing out, or do you mean something else I don't know about. Also, don't device idle and and screen have separate battery usage icons, in the battery menu. But I think I get what your saying, my device used half of It's battery in 5 hours, from screen time, and another 15 or so percent was used from other applications, e.g. Youtube, Google Play etc. That would then leave 25, or so, percent of battery left, that would be used up while the device is "idle." Am I correct? Thanks in advance

-You're reading this... I see my assassins have failed... hmmm...

 

[lunatic59]

I'm not entirely sure what is reported as 'idle'. I would think it's power consumed when no activity is happening with or without the screen on.

 

[ImonAndroidNow]

Two more things... say youtube, screen, device idle and all that other good stuff have used up 70 percent of your battery, what thing uses up the other 30 percent of the battery.

And about what is the average time for 1 percent of battery, is it something like under or around 3 minutes, or is it closer to 4 minutes or above...

 

[lunatic59]

If your battery monitor is showing 70% used that means the 30% is left. As for average consumption, that's relative based on usage.

 

[ImonAndroidNow]

If your battery monitor is showing 70% used that means the 30% is left.

Not to sound rude, but I know that. I know very complicated maths, actually. But what I don't get is: I look at my battery percent, and I have 27 percent left. I then go into settings> battery. My device tells me that I have used 77% (first confusing thing, I have used exactly 63% of my battery as I have 27% left) of my battery, as six different apps have used up that amount: screen, 60%, Youtube, 6% (makes sense so far), Android System, 4%, Android OS, 3%, mediaserver, 2%, Device Idle, again 2%. Add that up, you get 77%, correct?

So my device is basically saying I have used up 77% of my battery, although I'm on 27% Whaaaaaaaaa?!

So that is the first question, I guess I'll post again for my second question. Also thanks a lot, it's really awesome when experienced users help newbies.

 

[lunatic59]

Oh, oh, sorry, now I get your question.

So my device is basically saying I have used up 77% of my battery, although I'm on 27% Whaaaaaaaaa?!

No, that's not quite what it's saying. Let's make it simpler.

Hypothetically you look at your battery indicator and it says you have 25% power remaining. That would mean you used 75% of a full charge. Then you look at individual app usage and you see Screen used 50%, YouTube used 20% System used 10% and Android OS used 5% ... that is 85%. But, it is 85% of total power used, not total power, so it's 85% of the 75% or 63.75% of total power. The remaining 15% power used not reported is used by everything else that used so little power individually that it doesn't get reported in detail.

 

[chanchan05]

Basically, all the apps listed under the battery menu will add up to 100%. Does not matter how much battety you have left.

For example, you have 50% of battery left, and checking the menu, it says Screen used up 60% and Youtube used up 25%. That means screen used up 30% battery (which is 60% of 50%), and Youtube used up 12.5% (which is 25% of 50%).

Further, there is no 'usual time per percent' on battery usage. It depends on how the phone is setup. For example, my phones are set up to have lots of things automated. Like I use Tasker to change how long my screen stays on depending on what app is open. My old Note 2 lasts about 12hrs on a single charge. However, when my mom started using that phone after I got a new one, it lasts 2 days on her with a single charge because she has very basic settings.

 

[ImonAndroidNow]

Oh yes, one last (I think) question. On the Android Authority review for the Samsung Galaxy Tab A, under the battery section, how in the world has the thing's screen been on for 7 hrs but the device for 14 hrs. Please, someone explain. Also, I get the battery usage thing now. You use 50% of your battery life. Youtube uses 10% of 50% (5%) , screen uses 50% of 50% (25%), and other things use up another 40% of 50% (20%), and all those percentages in brackets add up to 50%. Correct me of I'm wrong. If not, then have a peice of cake, you taught an unresponsive idiot something...

 

[lunatic59]

Are you referring to these images?

Screen time refers to the amount of time the screen is illuminated and active. Total time is how long the device has been on since last full charge whether the screen is on or off (sleeping)

 

[ImonAndroidNow]

Yes, those ones. I get what the two things mean, but isn't this a review website? In that they tested the device. So I think they were timing the screen time, but shouldn't they have the same screen and use since last charge time as the screen should've been on for the whole time they were testing the time for use.

In other words, wasn't the screen supposed to be on the same amount of time as the use since last charge time... ??

 

[lunatic59]

Probably not, but you'd have to ask them how they perform their reviews. From a user standpoint, you will see most commonly a much greater amount of idle time, unless you keep movies streaming constantly.

 

[chanchan05]

They did specifically say that the devices lasted for 14hrs with 7hrs screen time, hence they weren't testing the total screen time capability of the devices.