Acer Iconia W4 poor battery life

shinyk
shinyk Member Posts: 6 New User
in 2014 Archives

Hi

 

I have a W4 since few months, and I really enjoy it.

 

The main issue is the battery: I see review praising the 10 hours of use; but I am really not impressed of the battery life.

 

I use it mainly in the evening in bed, to watch youtube videos or read articles. Occasionally I play casual games, for 10-20 minutes not even every night. Overall my usage is not that intensive.

 

The battery sometimes just go down like nothing, when the tablet is mostly in sleep mode on my desk. I need to recharge it probably every 2-3 days. Considering that the battery should last 10 hours; I would expect to recharge the device probably once a week, like I used to do with an old iPad 2.

 

I am not sure if I have a defective unit, or if there is something wrong on how I use the device. I have also a 10 inch Asus with Android 4.4, with similar usage (my wife use it), and I recharge that one less often than my Iconia. Which is strange since the screen is bigger and the OS is not as optimized as Windows 8 ( I assume).

 

What could I do to find out what is causing this ? I quit apps every time that I finish to use them; the only one that usually stay open is youtube, since I pause videos and continue them the day after, so I can start from where I left off; but the device is in sleep state all day, so should not use power at all.

Answers

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,234 Trailblazer

    Often excessive battery use can be traced to either the wireless netowkr or bluetooth. There are settings on them to leave them active while sleeping, to allow for a faster wakeup time. You might be able to convince them to shut down all the way while the tablet is asleep.

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • hkstiong
    hkstiong Member Posts: 21 New User

    Hi

     

    There seems to be no published sleep /standby time to check against your experience.  So Billsey's suggestion is the best at the moment.

     

     

  • shinyk
    shinyk Member Posts: 6 New User

    I will check both; btw how do I figure out if they are active or not? I see no setting, beside shut them down completely.

     

    I was in network and sharing center, selected the wifi adapter and check the settings, but I do not see any entry that relate to sleep activity. There are few entry related to wake on events, but none of them ring a bell.

    The adapter is broadcasting at 100% power, and it is in power saving mode; looking at the settings.

     

    Bluetooth is always off, so I did not even check it.

     

    I am amazed that W8, which is a full OS, is not able to give such options easily. My old ipad can go on without any setup for days, so I was expecting that W8 would be at least on par, if not better.

  • shinyk
    shinyk Member Posts: 6 New User

    I did some search, and all that the various review mention, is the up time; which means the time that you actually spend using the device; but I can't find data related to the usage type that I do.

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,234 Trailblazer

    The best way to get to the detailed settings is through Device Manager. Either search for it from the Charm Bar or right click on My PC from a Windows Explorer window and select Manage, then pick Device Manager from the list at left. Try properties on the network device and try to find the underlying USB device (not always easy).

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.

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