[Nexus 7 (2013) General] TheContinental:
I got tired of my Nexus 7 draining its battery just sitting there in standby. Even if I turned the tablet all the way off, somehow the battery still drained itself (more slowly, but still…). I came up with the tips below so that I wouldn’t have to turn off the Nexus 7 completely between uses. I believe that a tablet should be in standby and ready to go at all times.

I now get more than a week of battery life in standby. For the first time, I feel like my Nexus 7 is a useful alternative to my iPad Air.

The biggest battery drain culprit during idle time is behind-the-scenes software — continuously running, polling the Internet, or updating. On a Google device such as the Nexus series, most of that power-hungry activity comes from Google itself. So here’s what we're gonna do. Before we get to the Google stuff, let’s tweak some overall settings and Play Store settings to reduce battery drain in those areas:

First, let’s make sure you’re on the latest OS version for the 2013 version of the Nexus 7. (I’m guessing these settings will work in the 2012 version also, but I don’t know for sure.) In Settings, swipe down to About Tablet, choose that, then swipe down to “Android version”. When I wrote this in mid-February 2015, the latest OS version was 5.0.2. Check for updates on the same screen, and update to the latest version if necessary. If rooted, install the latest custom ROM of your choice.

Once updated:

Hit your Play Store icon. Click the three-bar menu at the top left. Select “Settings” near the bottom.

Under “Auto-update apps,” choose “Do not auto-update apps.” (Why? Because that “feature” uses battery juice to download and install stuff whenever it feels like it, instead of whenever you say.)

On the same page, under Notifications, make sure “Notify me about updates to apps or games that I downloaded” is checked. That way you will know if something needs updating.

On the same page, uncheck “Add icon to Home screen for new apps.” Because it’s annoying, not because it uses battery.

Go to your tablet’s Settings.

Choose “Wi-Fi”.

Tap the three-dot symbol at top right.

Tap “Advanced.”

Make sure “Scanning always available” is unchecked.

On the same settings screen, under “Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep,” choose “Never”. (Don’t worry: If Wi-Fi is enabled, it will wake up instantly every time you turn on the tablet.)

While in Settings, let’s turn off some radios:

If you don’t travel with your tablet, disable Location (GPS).

If you don’t use Near Field Communication (NFC) for tap-to-pair features, disable that. You can always re-enable it when ready.

Disable Bluetooth when not using it.

Obviously, keep your device’s screen brightness as low as is comfortable. (The display is the biggest power hog on your device.) You can change the display brightness settings under Settings, Display.

While in Display Settings, disable Ambient Display. (Well, first Google it, because you might actually like the feature. But I think it’s more of a smartphone feature than a tablet feature.)

When disabling or uninstalling Google apps, DO NOT uninstall anything essential to the smooth running of your tablet. That includes:

Google Search

Google Chrome (unless you replace it with another browser)

Google Settings

Hangouts (you can disable Hangouts once you’ve replaced it with an aftermarket texting app)

Google Now (although we will disable many of its features and opt-out later)

Google Play

Gmail

Now let’s clean up a few apps. We will stay away from system apps, such as Email — because people can get into trouble uninstalling essential system apps.

It’s impossible to know every time an app is working in the background or polling the Internet. So, in my opinion, you should uninstall any app that you didn’t specifically put on the tablet yourself (system apps not included). For example, I uninstalled:

Google Earth

Google +

Hangouts (after I replaced it with Textra)

Google Docs

Google Drive

Google Sheets

Google Slides

Google Fit

Any downloaded apps I’m no longer using, such as wallpaper apps.

For smartphone owners, Google Now can be a godsend — always reminding you of what’s next, keeping you out of traffic jams, and keeping you on schedule. But tablet owners might not need the features. Additionally, with Google Now, the Nexus 7 mic is always on and listening for that “OK Google” search command — which obviously uses battery power and is more of a smartphone than tablet feature.

I found that I didn’t need Google Now at home, where my Nexus 7 is 100% of the time. If you’re like me, you can opt-out of Google Now — or at least stop the mic from listening.

We’ll start with the least draconian measure: stopping the mic from listening for the “OK Google” command from any screen:

From your main home screen, swipe up to get to the Google Now screen.

Tap the three-bar symbol at top left.

Choose Settings.

Choose Voice.

Choose “OK Google” Detection.

Uncheck “From any screen.” Leave “from the Google app” checked, then Google can listen for the command only when you have a search window open.

If you don’t want Google Now at all (I don’t like it because it’s always updating something or doing something in the background), here’s how you disable it completely, while leaving full Google Search functionality intact:

Start by disabling “OK Google” voice detection for screens other than Google Search as shown above (or you can disable it in Google Settings below).

Then, in your Applications, open the Google Settings app.

Tap “Search & Now”.

Tap “Now cards.”

Uncheck “Show cards.”

You will see a message that asks if you really want to turn off Google Now. Go ahead and do that.

From now on, you can still easily search by swiping your finger up from the bottom of any Home screen. And you can still do voice searches by tapping the microphone on any Google Search screen.

I hope these battery-saving features do as much for you as they did for me!