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#1 Battery Saving Tip for Android Tablets and eReaders

February 11, 2013 by Nathan

Coby Kyros Android 4.0 Tablets

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.

Filed Under: Android, How To, Tablets

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ruby says

    February 12, 2013 at 8:21 am

    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.

  2. Frank says

    February 12, 2013 at 10:17 am

    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.

  3. Bertha says

    February 23, 2013 at 10:01 pm

    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.

    • Nathan says

      February 24, 2013 at 11:31 am

      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.

  4. leomark says

    December 14, 2014 at 1:15 pm

    Battery Saver HD – Battery saver, energy optimization and task killer to save battery.

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bat.saver

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