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how to save battery in my tablet when the sim isn't in it?

ichor
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

I noticed that my tablet still connects to the cell system even when the sim card isn't in it.  I can't do anything cellular (but it does look like I might be able to make emergency calls??), but it has little bars to say how strong the signal is and it got me thinking, maybe the tablet is using battery to seek out and communicate with the cell network.

 

The cell signal at home is weak and I read long ago that one of the biggest drains on a batter is when it's seeking out and trying to connect to a weak signal.  

 

So how do I tell the tablet to stop trying to communicate when there's no sim card in it? Will the picture of the aeroplane work and still give me access to wi-fi?  

 

Any other hints on saving battery life on a cellular tablet? 

 

(sorry for the low-tech skills) 

8 REPLIES 8

srlawren
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@mpcdesign wrote:
  1. Close the apps when they are not using; so, every app is running in the background when they are on another app

@mpcdesign little note here:  this advice can actually work against you, depending on the app, how you have the app configured, and your app usage patterns.  If the app is something that likes to refresh a feed automatically in the background (Facebook, Instagram, that type of thing) and you don't have it set to control that, then yes leaving it in the background can be detrimental to your battery life.  However, if the apps are fairly static when not being actively used, and/or you go to them frequently, you're actually better to leave them running.  The power consumed by re-opening the app every time you want to use it can actually outweigh the power consumed running in the background (for a well-behaved and configured app).


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ichor
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@mpcdesign wrote:

@ichor, my parents drive me crazy, they do this to their tablets all the time.


gosh, it's like standing in front of the fridge with the door open complaining about the electrical bill.  

 

Thank you so much for the list.

 


@mpcdesign wrote:

Another thing, when was the ast time you updated the OS on your tablet. 


Yesterday.  

 

It's still fairly new to me, so I'm trying to make it will ask me before updating apps.  With the old tablet, I used to update everything once a week when charging.  But this one seems to want to update on its own schedule.  

mpcdesign
Mayor / Maire

@ichor, my parents drive me crazy, they do this to their tablets all the time.

They don't....

  1. Close the apps when they are not using; so, every app is running in the background when they are on another app
  2. Turn off the wi-fi when they don't need it
  3. Turn off airplane mode when they are not even on a plane
  4. Turn off BlueTooth, since they are no longer needing to pair it up to the phone, computer or car
  5. Streaming a video when they are not even watching (yes, my parents are super old!----but, I still love them)
  6. Use the 'low power mode' to optimize the device display
  7. Reduce the brightness of the display, way to bright for our eyes. I think I need sunglasses if I want to use their tablet
  8. Location-based services? Really, my parents play games and surf the web, they are not buying anything or doing anything that needs to know there location


@ichor, do the opposite as per above, and your battery will be conserved. Go under your Settings > Power for most of these, or manually turn off each one. 

Another thing, when was the ast time you updated the OS on your tablet. 

will13am
Oracle
Oracle

I turn my tablets that don't have a celluar service to airplane mode and then turn WiFi on from there.  For WiFi turn off open network notification.  These measures do save a bit of power but not that much.  

Staliger
Mayor / Maire

@ichor Airplane mode helps. it doesn't allow you to use your phone data and sim card signal, but allows to use WIFI.

ichor
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

it says Samsung on the outside.  I think it might be galaxy tab something.

 

I tried turning cell data off in the 'settings' (looks like a cog) menu but it still had the little bars telling me how strong the cell service is.  

 

I tried the aeroplane picture and it let me turn wi-fi back on without the cell bars being on.  This might do the trick.  

kselmak
Mayor / Maire

I use airplane mode, if you don't it will be constantly scanning.

Then enable WiFi

Also make sure that tablet can go into sleep with WiFi turned on, if you don't and forget to turn off WiFi it will devour your battery. That way you don't have to charge for days if you are light user

Triguy
Mayor / Maire

What brand and model of tablet do you have ?  You should be able to turn off data in the settings.

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