Google's Nexus 7

[Zax63]

I am curious what other owner's battery life is like. I don't use mine much and it seems like it's down to less than 10% power after about 26 hours of just sitting there. I know stuff runs even if I don't touch it but it seems to be a pretty short standby time.

I suppose I should be turning off GPS & Bluetooth when I'm not using them.

 

[Babbylonian]

I am curious what other owner's battery life is like. I don't use mine much and it seems like it's down to less than 10% power after about 26 hours of just sitting there. I know stuff runs even if I don't touch it but it seems to be a pretty short standby time.

I suppose I should be turning off GPS & Bluetooth when I'm not using them.

I haven't left the thing in standby off charger for that long but yesterday I engaged in very light use - viewing e-mail audio alerts and such - with nothing changed (WiFi on, Bluetooth ready, GPS default) for about 14 hours and when I looked at the charge status I was at 86%.

There are applications which abuse standby mode and draw down the battery life much faster than they should when not in active use. This can be anything from constantly trying to determine location to continuous communication with a server to just not going to sleep properly. You may want to go through the programs you use and see if any of them might be such an app.

There are a couple ways to figure this out. The first is to look for reviews on Google Play - people often give lower ratings and comment on programs that abuse their batteries. You can also check under settings->apps (running) and see what apps are running when you come back from standby. A good processor/battery-intensive program (like a fancy game) should move itself to "cached processes" when it's not actually in the foreground or performing an actual user-requested function in the background.

 

[BowlOfRed]

I am curious what other owner's battery life is like. I don't use mine much and it seems like it's down to less than 10% power after about 26 hours of just sitting there. I know stuff runs even if I don't touch it but it seems to be a pretty short standby time.

I suppose I should be turning off GPS & Bluetooth when I'm not using them.

GPS should turn off when no app is using it. If you don't have navigation or maps up, the little GPS icon on the top bar should go away.

Wifi is normally on even asleep. You can turn that off:
Setttings -> Wi-Fi -> Menu(Advanced) -> Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep.

You can choose, Never, Always, or Only when plugged in.


For seeing what is sucking up the power, try first going to Settings -> Battery. If the battery is low overnight and there's an app there that you haven't run much, it could be waking up periodically to do something that is sucking power.

 

[Babbylonian]

For seeing what is sucking up the power, try first going to Settings -> Battery. If the battery is low overnight and there's an app there that you haven't run much, it could be waking up periodically to do something that is sucking power.

Man, I'm stupid. I never looked at that screen on the Nexus and so didn't realize that the battery usage report was now broken down by app. IIRC, the last time I had an Android device before the Nexus (mostly 1.5 and 2.2) it just had an "apps" category on the battery screen.

FWIW, I'm currently at 85% after 8 hours mostly idle with about an hour of Homerun Battle 2 and an hour of reading in the Nook app/listening via Bluetooth to locally stored Spotify playlists. So, about 2 hours of fairly hard use and about 6 hours of standby time drained 15% - that's good stuff in my book. Also, my last reboot was yesterday morning and I haven't done any process killing.

 

[RandyN]

See this is exactly what I need to know. I think I want (need) some sort of USB drive memory expander to load up some favorite things when traveling or whatever. Any advice on the hardware (brand etc) and apps to make it all happen.

I tinker...or should say I use to tinker when dOs was necessary to "fix up" Windows 94...lol Almost became a pro programmer keeping that POC running.

Now I hesitate to tinker...cant be bothered. In fact in another thread I was... just today... chastised for failing to learn to use the quote function properly on this very site. Guilty. I still left a snarky reply but the truth is I have gotten incredibly lazy.

I was the person who read the instruction manual cover to cover...learned all the buttons etc but now I curse the TV remote for having so many buttons ...when I use maybe 4 and 6 when issues arise. Phones? Forget it...rather than be amazed at all the abilities of the unit... I now curse the complexity...my old head is full...something new in means something old falls out....of my brain. I'm beginning to forget my childrens birthdays and although I am quite sure I carry two or three devices that could easily be set to keep that for me...I remain numb.

But I am venturing out...I am attempting my own desktop build now and have some good bits gathered up so far. Not a gamer but I appreciate fast (instant) action. I do enough now to max out my Core 2 Duo HP laptop almost constantly... lots of video processing etc...

Is there anything I can do relatively simply to get a portable memory expander for this Nexus?

Before I bought it I read and studied carefully about the screen issues...I am fairly confident I could change that and a battery myself...no hardware issues with me...I just fear the blue screen of death (whatever they call the android version of that anyway).

Thanks, I appreciate the advice.

 

[Zax63]

Thanks for the info on battery usage. So I shut off location services, bluetooth was already off and I changed a setting on my AccuWeather app so it updates every hour instead of every 15 minutes. I took it off the charger last night and this is where I stand:

85% charge after 6 hours 36 minutes with no use by me at all. The breakdown from the settings page is:
Android OS 76%
AccuWeather 8%
Tablet idle 6%
Wi-Fi 5%
Maps 2%

I have the Battery+ app and it is claiming I have 67.5 hours of standby left.

@RandyN
I rooted my Nexus as soon as I got it and have not had a problem. Instructions can be found here:
http://jailbreakstation.com/google-nexus-7jailbreak-or-root.html

I'm not sure if they are still current but I'm sure you can find the latest with Google.

After that it was a $1.98 microUSB to USB adapter, and the Stickmount app available from Google Play. It works fine with regular flash drives as well as flash card readers if you want to get info from a camera card.

 

[Babbylonian]

Thanks for the info on battery usage. So I shut off location services, bluetooth was already off and I changed a setting on my AccuWeather app so it updates every hour instead of every 15 minutes. I took it off the charger last night and this is where I stand:

85% charge after 6 hours 36 minutes with no use by me at all. The breakdown from the settings page is:
Android OS 76%
AccuWeather 8%
Tablet idle 6%
Wi-Fi 5%
Maps 2%

I have the Battery+ app and it is claiming I have 67.5 hours of standby left.

I don't know about the Battery+ app but that still seems like a heavy drain, especially compared to what I'm getting (as indicated in my previous post I was at 85% after 8 hours including 2 hours of actual use). That could be down to the extra 3 months you've had your Nexus but I wouldn't think the battery would degrade that fast.

I'd think about dropping AccuWeather and trying another weather program if only because that seems like more battery use than should be necessary for what should be a pretty short data transfer once per hour; in contrast, the WiFi would be checking in a lot more often than that just for mail. Unless you really need the alerts, the app titled simply "Google" that gives contextual information (what you see when you swipe from the bottom) also has brief weather information - temp, humidity, wind, precip - with 3-day forecast icons.

 

[Zax63]

Update, 31 hours 47 minutes on Battery. Less than 5 minutes total use and that was in checking settings and battery level.

Battery level is 10%
----------------------------------
Android OS 71%
AccuWeather 12%
Tablet idle 6%
Wi-Fi 5%
Screen 3%
Maps 2%

Battery+ now claiming 8 hours of standby remaining.

Babbylonian, I think I will drop the Accuweather app. I like getting alerts but Philadelphia really isn't all that prone to severe weather. Checking once in 12 or 24 hours would be sufficient. The version I have is the free, ad supported one. I wonder if that could have anything to do with battery life, if it is fetching new ads even though no one is actually looking at the app.

I also wonder about the Battery+ app itself. It is not listed in my battery usage stats but it is clearly running and doing something. It maintains a graph of battery level over time and I have it set to announce when the battery charge hits 10% when discharging and 100% when charging.

It is back on the charger now, I'll try it again without Accuweather and see how it goes.

 

[Babbylonian]

Babbylonian, I think I will drop the Accuweather app. I like getting alerts but Philadelphia really isn't all that prone to severe weather. Checking once in 12 or 24 hours would be sufficient. The version I have is the free, ad supported one. I wonder if that could have anything to do with battery life, if it is fetching new ads even though no one is actually looking at the app.

It's possible that the ads enter into it but I would tend to doubt it - or at least I have enough hope that a programmer wouldn't be that dumb.

I played around with one of the weather apps but when I was getting alerted about "freezing fog" multiple times a day I decided that I'd take the weather as it comes, which philosophy served me well most of my life.

I also wonder about the Battery+ app itself. It is not listed in my battery usage stats but it is clearly running and doing something. It maintains a graph of battery level over time and I have it set to announce when the battery charge hits 10% when discharging and 100% when charging.

I'm leery of all continuously running "performance enhancing apps," especially if your device is already running fine. The Nexus comes with nothing draining out of the box and, obviously, everything else is negotiable in the sense that you can kill any process anytime and you can uninstall anything you've previously installed. Since you can reset to factory and start from scratch without penalty, even that "nuclear option" is only going to cost some time. So, adding a program that you know is going to run pretty much constantly is counterintuitive.

I just finished 2 hours of listening to podcasts (Stitcher Radio, The Best Show!) via Bluetooth stereo headphones and my Nexus is still at 94% charge (from 100% when I started), so my best guess is that - in the absence of a manufacturing defect - the Nexus has fine battery life by default.

 

[quadraginta]

<snip>

@RandyN
I rooted my Nexus as soon as I got it and have not had a problem. Instructions can be found here:
http://jailbreakstation.com/google-nexus-7jailbreak-or-root.html

I'm not sure if they are still current but I'm sure you can find the latest with Google.

<snip>

Another good source for the most current (as well as past) solutions for rooting just about any Android or Windows device is the forum at XDAdevelopers.

It isn't anywhere nearly as intimidating as the "community founded for developers by developers" slogan would suggest. Lots of great stuff, sorted by device where needed.

 

[Captain_Snort]

The only reason I can see for rooting the Nexus 7 at present is for the OTG stuff to access external storage over USB (A glaring error with the current Nexus products). I had my nexus 7 rooted for this very reason, but actually found I have hardly used it, and, with the recent update to 4.2.2, it has gone back to being unrooted.

I thought I would be very constrained by the 32GB on the Nexus 7, and the 16GB on the Nexus 4 having upgraded from a HTC desire (32GB SD card) and an Acer Iconia A500 with 16GB onboard and 32GB card (Do not buy anything acer, in my experience you need to return it 2-3 times to get one that works, then it will undoubtedly break a month after your warranty is up due to shockingly bad build quality, I ask you, powerswitch on a tablet motherboard not physically fixed to it, saves how much? anyway, Never ever buy Acer! rant over.) I have found it is more than enough for me mainly as I have switched over from having music to using Google Play as all of it is now held happily in the cloud, though you do need to have an unlimited data plan, or never away from wifi, to really see any benefit.

 

[CORed]

I am curious what other owner's battery life is like. I don't use mine much and it seems like it's down to less than 10% power after about 26 hours of just sitting there. I know stuff runs even if I don't touch it but it seems to be a pretty short standby time.

I suppose I should be turning off GPS & Bluetooth when I'm not using them.

I get decent battery life on mine. My biggest beef is the rate of charge. If I am using my Nexus 7, even when plugged in it will often lose charge; i.e. the charger doesn't provide enough current to keep up with consumption. If it is powered off or asleep it will charge in a few hours.

ETA: Turning off GPS and bluetooth when you are not using them will help with standby battery life. Or you could just power down when you are not using the device instead of letting it sleep.

 

[CORed]

The only reason I can see for rooting the Nexus 7 at present is for the OTG stuff to access external storage over USB (A glaring error with the current Nexus products). I had my nexus 7 rooted for this very reason, but actually found I have hardly used it, and, with the recent update to 4.2.2, it has gone back to being unrooted.

I thought I would be very constrained by the 32GB on the Nexus 7, and the 16GB on the Nexus 4 having upgraded from a HTC desire (32GB SD card) and an Acer Iconia A500 with 16GB onboard and 32GB card (Do not buy anything acer, in my experience you need to return it 2-3 times to get one that works, then it will undoubtedly break a month after your warranty is up due to shockingly bad build quality, I ask you, powerswitch on a tablet motherboard not physically fixed to it, saves how much? anyway, Never ever buy Acer! rant over.) I have found it is more than enough for me mainly as I have switched over from having music to using Google Play as all of it is now held happily in the cloud, though you do need to have an unlimited data plan, or never away from wifi, to really see any benefit.

Using external USB storage devices is a good reason to root. I initally rooted mine so I could edit the hosts file, as I wanted to access computers on my home network by name rather than IP. The hosts file is in /system/etc, and the /system filesystem is not accessible unless the tablet is rooted.

 

[Babbylonian]

I get decent battery life on mine. My biggest beef is the rate of charge. If I am using my Nexus 7, even when plugged in it will often lose charge; i.e. the charger doesn't provide enough current to keep up with consumption. If it is powered off or asleep it will charge in a few hours.

That depends on what you're running while plugged in. For example, if I read comics I gain power slowly, with books I gain power a little quicker (mostly because I have the brightness way down when I read text), but with games I tend to lose power very slowly. The screen is the most power-hungry part of any mobile device, so the increased power use is mostly caused by the brightness level and how often the screen changes.

For better or worse the Nexus 7's power is from a standard USB->MicroUSB connection and the power available is determined by the specification and is very small. This is the main reason iDevices have proprietary connections - so that users can get faster charges. Implementing such a connection would add cost though, so Google stuck with the cheaper, more common USB connection; they also did so because the standardization ensures compatibility with a wide variety of existing devices.

 

[malicus]

That depends on what you're running while plugged in. For example, if I read comics I gain power slowly, with books I gain power a little quicker (mostly because I have the brightness way down when I read text), but with games I tend to lose power very slowly. The screen is the most power-hungry part of any mobile device, so the increased power use is mostly caused by the brightness level and how often the screen changes.

For better or worse the Nexus 7's power is from a standard USB->MicroUSB connection and the power available is determined by the specification and is very small. This is the main reason iDevices have proprietary connections - so that users can get faster charges. Implementing such a connection would add cost though, so Google stuck with the cheaper, more common USB connection; they also did so because the standardization ensures compatibility with a wide variety of existing devices.

Depends also on where the USB is plugged in. I tend to have mine into a PC port which couldn't pull the electric charge off a rice pudding, but just takes the edge of the battery flying down whilst streaming video / TwitchTV.

Plugging into the mains, at worse it maintains charge under load.

 

[zooterkin]

For better or worse the Nexus 7's power is from a standard USB->MicroUSB connection and the power available is determined by the specification and is very small. This is the main reason iDevices have proprietary connections - so that users can get faster charges. Implementing such a connection would add cost though, so Google stuck with the cheaper, more common USB connection; they also did so because the standardization ensures compatibility with a wide variety of existing devices.

They could have done what HP/Palm did with the Touchpad, and have a MicroUSB connector, but have a higher rated power supply. You can charge it from a regular MicroUSB charger, but it will take longer.

 

[quadraginta]

<snip>

For better or worse the Nexus 7's power is from a standard USB->MicroUSB connection and the power available is determined by the specification and is very small. This is the main reason iDevices have proprietary connections - so that users can get faster charges. Implementing such a connection would add cost though, so Google stuck with the cheaper, more common USB connection; they also did so because the standardization ensures compatibility with a wide variety of existing devices.

I' not sure if this is true. My Note 2 uses juice like a champ when everything is wide open. There's a reason they put that monster 3100mAh battery in it .

Yes, if I charge it through the USB port on my laptop, or from one of the standard output USB chargers most devices ship with, it'll take a while to top off and won't be happy about working on lots of things while it does it.

And you're right. This makes it compatible with a whole universe of charging gizmos.

But the 2 amp charger it ships with can handle charging under load just fine, and charges the device quite quickly when just left alone.

I don't believe the USB connection itself is as much of a design bottleneck as you seem to be indicating.

I suspect 'iDevices' have proprietary connections for the same reason other manufacturers choose to use them ... to compel people to purchase their unique charger, and discourage 3rd parties. It's a common enough ploy.

If Apple wants to try and persuade the gullible that there's some magical power capacity reason it chose to go with a proprietary connection that's just dandy, but I'm sitting next to evidence that it isn't so.