Get Better Power Performance with these Tips!

[sake]

This is my first post on Android Life, so it feels kind of weird. Like trying out a new pair of skates or something. I admit to being a relative newb to Android, but have been tech blogging for Thaddeus computing tech sites and magazines since 2006. I stay pretty plugged into the tech industry through this affiliation, but admit I haven't kept up as well with the latest Android versions, outside of running the dev kits on my PC on occasion. In recent years, like a few techies, I have mostly focused on iOS and it's realm of influence. A few weeks ago, I nabbed a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 at the local Best Buy to return to the world of Android, and though I am loving it, I noted almost immediately the need to constantly charge the dang thing (at least compared to my iPad mini)! Since it was my first problem to resolve, it is fitting to start my first post with some power tips.

Android is Hungry

Well, I should amend that to say that Android and the apps therein loaded on my particular device seemed quite hungry for power after a week or so of usage. The situation had become one of power drain that was practically observable when viewing the power meter (which had not occurred the first week). I can attest my Apple devices can suffer pretty short charge cycles under heavy use, but I have a pretty good eye for spotting an abnormal condition, which this power problem was evolving into. For a smaller tablet like the Galaxy Tab 4, I would expect several days of battery life to suffice under casual to moderate usage (mostly idle conditions with an hour or two gaming and email). I was starting to see a very aggressive drain, and could not understand why. Time to start poking into things...

I pondered whether maybe the battery was defective, as the unit can get a little warm when running some apps (usually games). I started searching around in the forums, and noted that other Tab users had reported similar behavior with older models. I laid off game usage to see if that would make a difference which still did not curtail the drainage. I turned on Power saving mode (Settings >> General), which can be used to throttle the CPU and tune the screen. Since I had first configured the device and thrown a few apps and games on there, I had not performed a system restart. I found a few articles mentioning a procedure for battery calibration to be effective, so tried doing a couple of complete power downs and let the unit sit overnight. I was still noting the excessive drain afterward.

Apps, Apps, Running Everywhere!
Android on the Tab has great utilities baked into the operating environment (which I love). You can close all apps with a tap or two! This is in stark contrast to the rather anemic control of apps on iOS. On the Tab, one can easily view all running apps, the status of each, force them to stop, even move them from device memory storage to an SD card (at least some of them). This is a liberating experience for an iOS enthusiast who has been chafing at Apple's rather heavy handed control of applications on iOS. I needed more info on the running (maybe runaway) apps I had loaded...