Why Does My Tab SOMETIMES Shut Down to Standby?

[Anchoret]

My new cheap 7" is great, but SOMETIMES when I shut down, it apparently just goes to standby instead of doing a true power-down, though I've manually OKed a power-down. When I press the power switch to reboot, it just comes up from standby instead of rebooting.

What causes this? Some app still running in the background which prevents a clean shutdown, or what?

 

[Traveller]

Normally, Android devices have a standby mode which is activated by a quick press of the power button, and a shutdown mode activated by a long press of the power button. If I were to guess, you weren't holding down the power button long enough to prompt the tablet to shut down.

But why do you want to completely shut down the tablet every time?

 

[Anchoret]

Normally, Android devices have a standby mode which is activated by a quick press of the power button, and a shutdown mode activated by a long press of the power button. If I were to guess, you weren't holding down the power button long enough to prompt the tablet to shut down.

I understand that, but unless I'm really losing my grip, I specifically remember doing the long press and manually pressing the screen option to OK a shutdown.

But why do you want to completely shut down the tablet every time?

To retain the charge if I'm not hooked up to AC? Is that wrong?

Anyway, I'm seeing some REALLY buggy apps doing REALLY weird things to the regular functioning of the unit. 3M (yes, the sandpaper people) are getting into the cloud library business and their frontend is a true trainwreck, as are a couple of corporate mobile site apps. Uninstall them and the peculiarities go away.

 

[Traveller]

No, it's not wrong to shut it down completely but depending on the version of Android you're running may be unnecessary. What version of Android are you running? I know with my tablet running 4.0.3 I can set the tablet into standby and when I go to use it again the following day it will have lost perhaps 1% of the remaining battery. The reason for this is the "fantasy" CPU governor my tablet uses. It's been designed to reduce the amount of drain in standby. In my case, the drain is nearly zero.

 

[Anchoret]

I have 4.0.3 ICS as well. I do not remember seeing a "Fantasy CPU governor" in an apps scan, though. That may be specific to your make/model. Don't see it on Play Store.

Generally, the relatively few problems I've had with this so far are all due to third-party stuff -- most recently the bogus and defective 32MB MicroSDHC I got from an eBay seller for the external memory (ALWAYS TEST YOUR MEDIA FROM eBAY VENDORS!).

 

[Traveller]

The fantasy CPU governor is part of the Android kernel, not an app. You'd have to install an app such as Antutu CPU Master free to see what governor you have.

 

[Anchoret]

The fantasy CPU governor is part of the Android kernel, not an app. You'd have to install an app such as Antutu CPU Master free to see what governor you have.

Hmm. It turns out I have just that very program installed, but when I bring it up and go into the system info, it shows no governor anywhere listed. It'd be nice if it had a cut & paste or save info function. It says I have 4.0.4, though, which I didn't know.

Saving battery charge is a noble quest. Seems like there's a lot of fat to cut. Running "No Wallpaper" saves a bit and results in better visual ergonomics. Several of the 3rd party programs make the stock animated wallpaper malfunction anyway, so good riddance. Also seems like a lot of programs are running that I'm done with and not using at the moment.

Anyway, I'm sure this will make more sense as I go along.