a raw newbie with a couple of questions

[kopavi]

Me -- the Nexus 7 is my first tablet and my first venture into an Android system.

We purchase our Nexus about 3 weeks ago.  With purchase the salesdroid talked my wife into an extended coverage program for $50 which is refundable up to 30 days after purchase. 

Question 1.  Is this a needed option?  Are folks finding that these things break within a year that you need this above and beyond the normal warranty?  I can still take it back but I'm running out of time on this one.

For the first 10 days or so, everything was fine.  Now for the last week or so, we've noticed that the battery goes dead very quickly.  It can be 60% in the evening and dead before morning.  We have a simple cover for it, but we do not turn in off "hard", just close to the tablet and put it into what I thought was a sleep or idle mode.  I wonder if some program I'm not aware of might be draining the system above normal "idle" time.  I've had that with my iPhone.

Question 2.  It is necessary to turn the Nexus 7 off "hard" to keep charge?  I would not think so and feel that there may be an issue with ours.  We didn't before and never had it go dead overnight. 

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Bill J.

[bjs229]

Welcome to thee forums !

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[birdastrompgman]

Welcome Bill,

None of us have had our Nexus 7s for 5 months yet, so no one knows about longevity issues.  Electronic device failures typically appear early (ergo 'infant mortality'), and are covered by warranty, so I've personally never bought an extended warranty.

Your battery problem is probably from an app gone wild.  Go to Settings > Battery, and note what's running.  Screen should account for ~95% of battery use when sleeping.  If it's down to about 70%, something else is using an inordinate amount of your battery life.  Typically, the battery hog shows as something generic - perhaps Android OS or Media Services.

To identify the battery hog, go to Settings > Apps > Running tab, and note which apps are running.  Close everything you don't need.  That should fix your problem.  Or install OS Monitor to identify operating processes.

Normally, you should be able to let your N7 start the night with a 60% charge, and see ~50% in the morning.  Drawing it down to 0% ten nights in a row likely will damage your battery.

[kopavi]

Exactly the info I needed and didn't have a clue where to find it or what to do.  I did find a mess of apps running that we did not need running.  I suspect it might have been the map/travel program.  In any case, I turned a mess of the apps off and will watch.  Yes, I did install an OS monitor and will be watching and learning which apps are battery hogs.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

One more question.  I've spent some time (not enough I suppose) in the Nexus 7 Guidebook that comes installed on the tablet.  Is that the best place to learn about such issues and problems or is there a better place to pick up on details of maintaining this marvelous tablet.  I do find this forum a marvelous source. 

Thanks,

Bill J

[JayJ]

Android isn't like Windows, and it doesn't need free RAM to open applications and the processes and services which you think are running are a waste of time being closed because Android will restart them again...

Sent from my 32GB Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2©

[kopavi]

Yep, I've noticed.  I've been watching the battery against use.  First off, my battery never gets to 100% full, it will get to 97-99%. I will stop virtually all apps and overnight it will drop to 70% full, I'm losing ~28% charge just sitting there.  Is this normal???

I've shut down on apps like maps at night and they reopen my morning. 

This battery behavior is becoming bothersome.

Any comments?

Bill J

[JayJ]

It's normal for apps to start on their own, it's how Android works but your battery drain isn't normal...

Turn on Airplane mode, and leave over night and see if you suffer the same drain...

Sent from my 32GB Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2©

[kopavi]

Left it plugged in overnight.  Got all the way up to 41% charge.  It's going back today.  Bought it at a local Staples.  Next post will tell of the adventure of returning it for a new one.

Bill J

[S.Prime]

Keep us posted.

IT Service Professional - I Just Want a Device to Be Productive

[kopavi]

So here is the latest.  First off, we've had the device 3+ weeks and Staples was not in a position for a return for refund (two week limit).  No problem, I was unaware of that but makes sense.  I did talk with the Staples Nexus go-to person and we decided that a complete reset might allow for a revisiting of possible issues/solutions.  I did that, taking the pad back to out-of-the-box state.  I charged it, and it went to 100% charged, I had not seen that recently.  I installed two apps, one is the Overdrive reader and an OS monitor.  We downloaded a couple of books read for a bit and then I charged it, again it quickly went to 100%.  I let it sit overnight and this AM was at 93%.  This seems to be within the norms for Nexus overnight draining based on comments in this thread.

I will now presume that there is no issue with the Nexus device.  I probably had some app that was not doing right by us.  I did what I presume many do, right off the bat I downloaded a whole mess of apps, many of which I will never use.  One of them was doing something naughty.  I will now download a couple a day and watch the monitor.  (I did the same thing with an iPhone and quickly learned that one, once launched, used the GPS continuously and never turned off, a classic charge drainer.) 

I consider this all a part of the learning curve with a new OS.

I did go to the Google web site to see if I could learn anything there.  What I did learn is that getting help for a specific question might be difficult.  These forums are GREAT!!!

Thanks for the continued help.

Bill

[birdastrompgman]

Welcome Bill,

None of us have had our Nexus 7s for 5 months yet, so no one knows about longevity issues.  Electronic device failures typically appear early (ergo 'infant mortality'), and are covered by warranty, so I've personally never bought an extended warranty.

Your battery problem is probably from an app gone wild.  Go to Settings > Battery, and note what's running.  Screen should account for ~95% of battery use when sleeping.  If it's down to about 70%, something else is using an inordinate amount of your battery life.  Typically, the battery hog shows as something generic - perhaps Android OS or Media Services.

To identify the battery hog, go to Settings > Apps > Running tab, and note which apps are running.  Close everything you don't need.  That should fix your problem.  Or install OS Monitor to identify operating processes.

Normally, you should be able to let your N7 start the night with a 60% charge, and see ~50% in the morning.  Drawing it down to 0% ten nights in a row likely will damage your battery.

So, why didn't you follow my advice to identify the battery hog app?

I'm not the lowest of the low, but I am the slowest of the slow (49.6 mpg over 38k miles in  Scion xB)

[kopavi]

But I did try.  I didn't see anything all that obvious.  I watched it for a bit and still was not satisfied that I found the culprit.  The foolproof method was to wipe the slate clean and start over.    (That life could be as easy.)

As I suggested earlier, I will now add apps more slowly and watch each on the monitor.  OK, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I make up for it by being slow on the uptake.   


BUT--as long as I have your attention, I see how to add email accounts.  I see no information in the Guidebook at to removing an email account.  Anyone??

Thanks,

Bill

[JayJ]

It's not always easy to weed out the culprit when an app out of many is misbehaving, I think your plan to install a couple a day and keep an eye on them is a good one.

Glad you've sorted it though mate and now you can enjoy your Nexus 7 again.

EDIT: What email client are you wanting to remove an account from? If it's the stock email client (yellow & white icon) then tap the three dots in the top right corner and select settings, select the account you want to delete and scroll to the bottom to find "Remove account".

Sent from my 32GB Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2©

[birdastrompgman]

I've experienced a couple of runaway battery hogs, and unfortunately they weren't repeatable.  The first one was a Facebook sub-process.  I'd put my Nexus to bed with ~60% battery, and woke up with 6%.  I plugged it in to the charger, and it barely gained on the ferocious battery consumption.  So I checked what was using battery consumption.  Screen normally uses 95-98%, but that morning it was 70%, and Facebook was 30%.  So I closed Facebook, and it reappeared,  Then I uninstalled Facebook, and IIRC, its Zombie was still gobbling battery power.  I traced it to a Facebook subprocess named Katana.  I reinstalled FB a couple of weeks later, and have never had a similar problem with it.

Another time it was an innocuous 'Android OS,' which was impossible to track.  A third time it was Google Media Services, another generic cloak for 100 possible causes.