Tips and Tricks I have found useful for my Tablet

[gurgle]

This is just to help you get the most out of your Android Tablet. If you are like me, you have one of the low cost versions. They are all generally alike. Some have older versions of Android. Mine is one of the basic 1.6 with 1.7.4 Firmware. I ran a system info inspector and such. Every response comes back with Generic. It is a duplicate of some version our there, but it meets my needs.

Many of these things may be obvious. Other items less so.

1. Turn off what you do not need. This does cripple some function. But does wonders to battery life Screen Brightness, Wireless, 3G and Sound all use CPU cycles and will draw on the battery if you have it enabled.

2. Keep a Task killer. This is essential to me. There is some disagreement about this(See Link). I disagree with this Narrative. I use Linux and while some of his points relevant do not seem to hold true for me thus far with my Tablet. My experience has been; the more apps running, the more memory used and will impact CPU utilization which will slow your machine and eat into your Battery life. This is the Task killer I use. Simple and to the point. I run it once a day. Just because you close the app, does not mean you have stopped it running. Please Note I am not saying remove all tasks. Just the Applications you are not using such as the MP3 player or the RDP remote control app.

3. Hibernate over power off to extend battery life. The time it takes to reboot is battery life that you could have used listening to MP3s, watching Video, Browsing the Internet, etc. It also is really boring after a while looking at the little Green Droid.

4. Adjust the screen brightness to be just bright enough. This will extend your battery life. Notice a pattern. I do everything I can to get the most out of my battery while maintaining performance. The default is full bright. My Tablet can be adjusted to dim multiple levels. I adjust according to my lighting

5. .apk files are just zip files. (Geek interest only) This is helpful to inspect the contents.

6. Pull Down from the Top. Hold down on the top task bar, a pull down tab will appear. Just drag it to the bottom. This will show you notifications and open running apps.

7. Icon Delete is just a hold down. Have an Icon on the pane you do not use. Hold down on the icon. Then drag it over to the wastebasket that has appeared. If you hold down on a file in the File browswer, You can cut, paste, rename, etc. To paste a cut or copied item,just hold down in an empty area on the pane and the selection screen will appear.

8. Multi-panes are useful to reduce clutter. The tablets touch screens are somewhat rough in the precision. For scrolling, I find creating multiple panes and leave the bottom third for flipping from one pane to another. I then sort the apps according to the pane.

9. Calibrate using a Stylus: The more precise you can calibrate the easier it is to use the touch and scroll. I have found calibrating using a stylus helps in getting a more precise touch calibration

10.Do not let your battery completely drain. Lithium Batteries do not have memory like old batteries, but full drain and recharge shortens the battery life. These units are not really designed for battery replacement. You can get the battery if you know where to order. But You better have the Electronics repair skills to change it. It is not hard if you know how to solder and know how to bend plastic without break or cracking.

I hope even one of these tips are helpful

 

[joshua.lyon]

The biggest improvement for me has been turning off wireless when the device goes to sleep. There is a setting in Android for it (under Advanced settings in Wifi), but it doesn't seem to always work on my device so I just use a widget for turning off the wifi when I'm done with the device.

 

[vijaykhai]

This info is a wonderful revelation even to someone like me, who is new to Android! Many many thanks and if you have the time and inclination how about expanding on words like - what do you do exactly :
"I run it once a day." - How?
"Hibernate over power off"
5. .apk files are just zip files. (Geek interest only) This is helpful to inspect the contents. - ??
Multi-panes - ?? How to create
I then sort the apps according to the pane. - How and why?

Am I asking too much ? Once again thank you so much. Bless you.
Vijay

 

[xaueious]

Task killers are useless on Android systems that are running correctly. If you have Rockchip, the Android implementation is just short of an abomination because it doesn't have the lowmemkiller driver that is supposed to regulate Android memory use. If you have anything else, don't touch the task killers unless you just ran something made by the chipset manufacturer (because those apps really are terrible on Generic devices).

Great list

 

[gurgle]

This info is a wonderful revelation even to someone like me, who is new to Android! Many many thanks and if you have the time and inclination how about expanding on words like - what do you do exactly :
"I run it once a day." - How?
"Hibernate over power off"
5. .apk files are just zip files. (Geek interest only) This is helpful to inspect the contents. - ??
Multi-panes - ?? How to create
I then sort the apps according to the pane. - How and why?

Am I asking too much ? Once again thank you so much. Bless you.
Vijay

Hello Vijay

I will say up front. I am learning like you. I have had mine about 1 month and already use it as a routine
My daily use habits are:
Morning
1. Unplug my Tablet from power adapter
2. Turn it on from Hibernation, wait for about 10-15 seconds for it to redo Micro-SD card, Turn on Wireless wait for DHCP to allocate my unit with an IP address.
3. Check my GMail. I access my Gmail only from my Tablet. Google the news
4. Hibernate. 10-20 Minutes total for Steps 1-3

Lunchtime
(At Work Either Work Guest WLAN (Don't Tell ;-) or eatery with Wireless )
Redo Steps 1-3 with the additional step of accepting the user agreement for the WLANs
4. Read an E-Book or watch You-Tube or Video I have Ripped (Turn off WLAN if watching local video or reading)
5. Hibernate, 35-50 minutes total. Down to about 65% if I watch video or use WLAN

Evening
(Home again)
Redo Steps 1-3 above
4. Reply to emails or forward to other account
5. Read some more, Hibernate, Plug-In to power and go to bed
6. Total time about 30-45 minutes Down to about 20%
Total Maximum use in a day thus far about 3:40 before Plug in warning comes on of constant use. That was using my most agressive power saving efforts. If I am careless, I get the warning at about 2:30-3 hours of use.
My personal opinion is I could get better/longer life if I had had the ability to get a larger capacity battery. The specs say 2100, but am unsure until I open it. I personally think I have only an 1800-1900 battery.

In regards to Item #5: I play,I hack I try to get inside my device to understand. I am currently trying to master and use my Linux knowledge with ADB. The reason I mention what an apk file is only a zip file is the same reason, making people aware CBZ and CBR are nothing but JPG images stored in a renamed zip or RAR file. CBZ=Comic Book ZIP, CBR=Comic Book RAR. The usefulness of knowing what is in the apk is that if you have the ability to read and inspect XML, and the contents inside, you can discover things you did not know like switches or extended features.

Creation of a another pane is easier for me to do than describe, One way involves filling your screen with too many icons and then it will automatically create another pane, BUT a word of warning, Getting rid of the extra pane is harder than creating one. I have a spare pane that I am still trying to figure out how to remove. I will describe both creation and removal once I figure out how.

 

[gurgle]

Task killers are useless on Android systems that are running correctly. If you have Rockchip, the Android implementation is just short of an abomination because it doesn't have the lowmemkiller driver that is supposed to regulate Android memory use. If you have anything else, don't touch the task killers unless you just ran something made by the chipset manufacturer (because those apps really are terrible on Generic devices).

Great list

Thanks for that. I am still trying to decide my position after making my prior post. Further research verified what you state. I understand the Linux memory logic versus the more hoggish MS Windows issues. Personal statement: The Win Temp API is awful in both how it writes files and manages memory.
I will keep this in mind and try to determine if it is just partially baked firmware that I am experiencing or if I am getting false positive warm fuzzies.

 

[tipstir]

#10
Battery should be ran out then recharge per full cycle, but this hold true on other mobile devices. 1/2 charged you can recharge it. Battery should be kept fully charged at all times.

#2
Task Killer - like Advanced Task Killer Pro

Free up Some Extra RAM
Memory recycling Manager - Memory Lite

 

[gurgle]

#10
Battery should be ran out then recharge per full cycle, but this hold true on other mobile devices. 1/2 charged you can recharge it. Battery should be kept fully charged at all times.

I won't argue your point because your mileage may vary. I am just going by personal experience and what sources like this (BatteryUniversity) say. I do know from experience that heat kills Lithium-Ion Batteries. So keep them cool. Leave your tablet in your car too many times on a hot day, and you have shortened the battery life a lot. I know this from my Cameras and other notebooks.
One reason why I talk up batteries is that unless you like to MAKE or HW hack, all of the basic Android tablets are throw-away once the battery is gone. Changing the battery does not look to be too hard. But, you will need to a.Source it, b.Buy it, and c. install it. I MAKE and HW hack so I may write up a How to upgrade your Battery. I would be thrilled if I can source and slip in a flat compatible 3000mAH Lithium battery. Talk about extended Battery life.

 

[tipstir]

I won't argue your point because your mileage may vary. I am just going by personal experience and what sources like this (BatteryUniversity) say. I do know from experience that heat kills Lithium-Ion Batteries. So keep them cool. Leave your tablet in your car too many times on a hot day, and you have shortened the battery life a lot. I know this from my Cameras and other notebooks.
One reason why I talk up batteries is that unless you like to MAKE or HW hack, all of the basic Android tablets are throw-away once the battery is gone. Changing the battery does not look to be too hard. But, you will need to a.Source it, b.Buy it, and c. install it. I MAKE and HW hack so I may write up a How to upgrade your Battery. I would be thrilled if I can source and slip in a flat compatible 3000mAH Lithium battery. Talk about extended Battery life.

Well I am just going by experience with devices from laptop, netbook, and cell phones. I still got my two 5 year old 3 and 12 cell batteries still charge up to full 100% in one of my laptops. I completely drain them or 1/2 way depends. Some cell phone batteries really can't do much with them. I have three from Samsung and they always got to be on the charger. Some other brands never had these issues. But again even if you use the tablet and until it hits orange or saying 14% left. Then charge it. I haven't left my tablet in the car yet?

If you can get the back cover off you just unsnap the old mAH for larger mAH. It should work.

 

[bmszabo]

I have a problem with the hibernation mode from my Android tablet (1.7.4) from day 1; although it enters hibernate mode allright, after some time (10 min -2 hours) it wakes up to standby mode (green LED on, screen dark) spontaneously. I have tried to uninstall all my 3rd party software, turn on airplane mode before hibernation, use a taskkiller (actually 3 different).. but no results, still waking, and thus draining battery..
Anybody with any idea, solution, please?

 

[gurgle]

That sounds similar to a friend of mind who has a VIA 8505 Chipset unit with the 1.7.4 build. What he discovered is he has a combination problem.
1. It does not really go into hibernate. If he presses the Menu button, it comes back on with low power (50%) display. He then has to press the button of OK again for it to go into hibernation mode.
2. Then he thought he had it licked. But it happened for no reason inside his tab holder. I helped him pop the case. (Do not attempt unless you have figured out the secret. I can describe, but do not advise as it will immediate Void your warranty. But I go by the Maker Motto: You do not own it unless you open it) The Tab's power button was super sensitive. I said we could lightly file down the plastic surface of the switch so it did not rest on the Circuit micro-switch. Or he could just not Hibernate. We lightly sanded, maybe a .002 off. It takes a bit more of the push of the button to power on or off and to hibernate, but he no longer has that problem.

But it might be something else entirely

Best of luck.

 

[bmszabo]

That sounds similar to a friend of mind who has a VIA 8505 Chipset unit with the 1.7.4 build. What he discovered is he has a combination problem.
1. It does not really go into hibernate. If he presses the Menu button, it comes back on with low power (50%) display. He then has to press the button of OK again for it to go into hibernation mode.
2. Then he thought he had it licked. But it happened for no reason inside his tab holder. I helped him pop the case. (Do not attempt unless you have figured out the secret. I can describe, but do not advise as it will immediate Void your warranty. But I go by the Maker Motto: You do not own it unless you open it) The Tab's power button was super sensitive. I said we could lightly file down the plastic surface of the switch so it did not rest on the Circuit micro-switch. Or he could just not Hibernate. We lightly sanded, maybe a .002 off. It takes a bit more of the push of the button to power on or off and to hibernate, but he no longer has that problem.

But it might be something else entirely

Best of luck.

Thanks for the tips! Tip 1 already have tried, but even after pushing 'OK' it wakes up.. As for tip 2; if You could send me (on the forum or mail?) the instruction, I would like to try it.. anyway, for the great amount of USD 80 it looks me worth to take a look inside the case..

 

[edforce1]

Hi

I notice you have a Wits 81e, could you recommend a screen rotation app.

Cheers

Karl

 

[Matt262]

In regards to battery life, I'm unaware but am inclined to believe that lithium batteries don't have memory based off what everyone's saying, but, couldn't frequently charging be detrimental to how Android regards reporting battery life?

The reason I ask, and I'm not sure if the same is true of the tablets as the cell phones, but I assume it would be since it's the same underlying OS...but when flashing a different recovery on a rooted phone, under the Wipe options you can wipe battery stats in an effort to calibrate how the kernel views the charging statistics of the battery -- which leads me to believe, while letting the battery drain completely may not be detrimental to the battery itself, could it possibly confuse Android as to how much life the battery can in fact hold? From what I glean, the battery indicator is a software level application, and the recovery on any device would be the kernel level, and if you can wipe battery stats at the kernel level, it would benefit and report accurate stats to the application (pseudo-OSI explanation)

*having improper statistics in Android could lead to a battery that DOES have power, BUT is reported to be dead thus forcing Android to shut down automatically*

 

[vk8366]

Thank you. I just got my "generic tablet" off ebay and seems to work OK. I am a novice so most functions are intuitive but your notes are very helpful. The version I have is Firmware1.6 with a 2.0.1 build but sound much like yours. The manual I have is about as big as postage stamp and about as much use.
1. Does anyone have a Good, Android for Dummies manual out there. I know I can get more use from this tablet if I knew how to manage the storage properly ( like all 3 ), connect to a Linux Nas box I have, get more APPS to work correctly after downloading them, etc, etc.

vk.