The number one battery saving tip for tablets and ebook readers is quite simple: turn off Wi-Fi. Obviously you want to keep it on when you have need of it, but you’d be surprised how much Wi-Fi drains the battery when you aren’t even using the device.
That’s why I always keep Wi-Fi turned off on my ebook readers unless I’m downloading or shopping for an ebook, and one of the first things I always do when getting a new Android tablet is to go into advanced Wi-Fi settings and set it so that Wi-Fi automatically turns off when the device is in sleep mode.
I do this because I’ve notice that Android tablets drain considerably more battery power when Wi-Fi is left on, especially during sleep mode when you aren’t even using the device.
An example, the other day I went to turn on my Nook HD+ after fully charging it the day before, but I found it wouldn’t turn on because the battery was totally dead. The reason it died is because I left the HD+ turned on overnight after installing an updated N2A card that I forgot to go into setting and make it so it turns Wi-Fi off when the device is asleep.
Just by leaving that default setting where Wi-Fi is always on managed to drain the entire battery overnight. After re-charging I remembered to go in and change Wi-Fi protocol to turn off when in sleep mode. That simple setting makes a huge difference. Now I can leave the Nook HD+ sitting idle overnight in sleep mode and the battery only goes down a few percentage points.
Some Android tablets don’t have this option in settings or they are automatically set to turn Wi-Fi off when the screen is off. Most open Android tablets you have to manually go into settings and set this yourself.
To set it so Wi-Fi turns off on your Android tablet while in sleep mode, open the settings menu then go to Wi-Fi. Generally there’s a menu icon with three vertical dots in the corner that brings up some additional options. Select “Advanced” then “Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep”. From there you can select “Never”, “Always”, or “Only when plugged in”.
Most Android tablets are set to keep Wi-Fi on during sleep mode, and as a result the battery drains much faster when the device is sitting idle. By changing that single setting you can often see a drastic improvement in battery life.
Thanks Nathan, great tip. I tell this to most people and most people are surprised by the idea. I, myself, still forget from time to time so this is a nice reminder.
If one has 4G service and turns off the WiFi, will the device switch to the 4G. And, it if does – and one has a limited data plan – it could result in excessive data use and fees.
Please give simple instructions on how to update N2A cards. I looked on the site and read the instructions, but it was too complicated for me. I am at a loss.Thank you.
Perhaps someone else who has updated an N2A card the official way will chime in. I didn’t have much on-device content so the way I did it was just to re-download the file and then start back over from scratch by creating a new card. I used the Google backup feature in settings to reinstall all my apps.
Battery Saver HD – Battery saver, energy optimization and task killer to save battery.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bat.saver