Battery Life

[sparklemotion]

How is everyone finding their battery to last in general with wi-fi on? Mine has seemed on the short side, definitely not 8 hours.

[RainingLemur]

I've been able to see close to 7-ish hours with what I call "regular" use.

If I'm sitting and watching movies or playing games, then that number drops quite a bit.

[Blossom]

Keep WiFi off unless you really need it. Battery life will vary it depends apps and use.

Myself I get 3 days of battery on my Kindle Fire but I keep WiFi off and don't game much or watch movies. I am careful what apps go on my Fire too. If I find one that drains too much it gets uninstalled.

[deannah]

I confess I'm being nosy, Blossom, what apps do you have on your KF? I'm getting overloaded with must have apps, me thinks. Some of which look great, but some I'm not even sure what they do. If you choose not to answer, no problem. Just curious.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by deannah

I confess I'm being nosy, Blossom, what apps do you have on your KF? I'm getting overloaded with must have apps, me thinks. Some of which look great, but some I'm not even sure what they do. If you choose not to answer, no problem. Just curious.

Let's see I have Installed at the moment besides pre installed apps.

• Mantano
• ColorDict
• GoodReads

• TuneIn Pro
• YouTube
• Doggcatcher

• Quick Office Pro
• ES File Explorer
• File Expert
• WiFi Explorer Pro
• Dropbox

• WiFi Switch
• Lock Screen
• Screen Filter
• History Eraser Pro

• Enhanced Email
• Calengoo
• gReader
• Channel Caster
• Opera Mobile

• Angry Birds
• Angry Birds Seasons
• Angry Birds Rio
• Gem Miner
• Drag Racing
• Airport Mania 2 HD
• Bejewel 2

[bjones6416]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Keep WiFi off unless you really need it. Battery life will vary it depends apps and use.

Myself I get 3 days of battery on my Kindle Fire but I keep WiFi off and don't game much or watch movies. I am careful what apps go on my Fire too. If I find one that drains too much it gets uninstalled.

I usually just plug in when I'm going to have an extended session of game-playing because it annoys me to have drained my KF then need to take it with me somewhere without a good charge. Usually I watch movies at night and I don't worry about the battery drain because I tend to charge overnight just like I do with my phone. (I'm hooked on the free 3 seasons worth of Torchwood on Amazon Prime!)

[abookreader]

Mine has been amazingly good - only charging about every two days. The only time it has really went down fast is when I've played movies on it.

Our use is mostly apps (angry birds, puzzle games etc), streaming Pandora and reading books. I keep the WiFi off as much as possible. I have a sick kid at home and he was using it yesterday whenever he was awake. I just picked it up this morning and looked and it still shows about a 75% charge.

When we used the nook color for pretty much the same tasks, I had to charge it at least once a day. So I'm very pleased.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Let's see I have Installed at the moment besides pre installed apps....

Blossom, thanks for that list of apps! I've been taking notes as I read posts here, in preparation for the arrival of my tablet next week (I bought the 10.1" Acer Iconia A500 for $220). Once I've familiarized myself with the device (and Android), I'll consider some of those apps!

[deannah]

Thank you so much, Blossom. Wow, you do have quite a few apps, so perhaps I'm not overloaded after all. Most of mine are utilities with a few for just entertainment purposes. Thanks again. Very helpful info.

[Blossom]

You're both welcome. Every app I have installed is to serve a purpose. If I download an app but don't see a need for it I uninstall it. The games are for hubby. Although I do play Angry Birds once in a while.

[Doc109]

I typically use mine for anywhere between a few minutes to a half hour at a time for reading and apps. Only rare game use and no videos. It's also gotten a lot of use streaming Pandora.

I can only roughly speculate, but I think I'd hit about 8 hours of use based on examining how my bursts of activity relate to battery rundown. No less than 6-7 hours, maybe 8.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by bjones6416

I usually just plug in when I'm going to have an extended session of game-playing because it annoys me to have drained my KF then need to take it with me somewhere without a good charge. Usually I watch movies at night and I don't worry about the battery drain because I tend to charge overnight just like I do with my phone. (I'm hooked on the free 3 seasons worth of Torchwood on Amazon Prime!)

I seldom watch movies unless it's the holidays. I love Christmas movies. I don't watch TV either that's hubby thing. I prefer to curl up with a good ebook instead.

[robertc88]

Guess I'll ask about what apps to download. I noticed the apps Blossom listed and immediately I notice what I've questioned in the past in my mind regarding which ones I should (ie. weather channel, espn) and whether not to bypass it and just do a bookmark to a website that is available that you want to use alot.

From what I can see for the most part at least, there are no apps where there is a website readily available to utilize on her list. Maybe tools, navigators, and the like are best to download an app to make one's tablet experience more friendly.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by robertc88

Guess I'll ask about what apps to download. I noticed the apps Blossom listed and immediately I notice what I've questioned in the past in my mind regarding which ones I should (ie. weather channel, espn) and whether not to bypass it and just do a bookmark to a a website that is available that you want to use alot.

From what I can see for the most part at least, there are no apps where there is a website readily available to utilize. Maybe tools, navigators, and the like are best to download an app to make your tablet experience more friendly.

If it something you use alot then grabbed and give it a test. I have the TWC app on my Phone so no need for me to have it on my Fire. ESPN I'm not into sports unless it's the Superbowl or NASCAR.

I use Opera Mobile's Start page it lets me navigate to pages I want to get to. Silk keeps too much record and put every page on its start page but Opera Mobile only puts the sites I want on it so I can access it fast.

[kbarnsda]

Originally Posted by RainingLemur

I've been able to see close to 7-ish hours with what I call "regular" use. This is of course weighted on the amount of time you spend on the particular application. It does, however, show where you battery use is going.

If I'm sitting and watching movies or playing games, then that number drops quite a bit.

Ditto for me. I am getting at least 7 hours of use. I get lots more if I close apps and listen to Audible instead of reading or movies.

I also installed an app called Badass Battery Monitor. I do wish it had a more socially acceptable name, but it does have quite a few features I use. There is an option called APPSUCKER that shows, listed in order of % battery impact, all your programs you use. Of course, this is weighted on the amount of time you spend on the application so you have to weigh the results against that. It is handy however as it shows you what is using your battery.

I also installed Startup Manager..Blue clock with an arrow wrapped CC around it.
I gambled that the developer will improve the code for the Fire. It seems to let me control what I want to except for the ones Amazon has forced the user to install.
There is probably some file attribute that has been set to be read only....or however the OS accomplishes this.

I would like to credit the persons who recommended these, but I have read so much it is becoming a mush. The battery monitor was free and the startup manager was a tad pricey but I am anal about trying to have things "clean". I am not convinced that having the items in memory does not slow down the system. It seems ro run faster, for me anyway, when I clean up andd/or clean start the system.