How to Get Better Battery Life on an Android Tablet

Android tablets are awesome, powerful devices, perfect for work, school, or my favorite, wasting time on the Internet. Unfortunately, when you're using a giant touch screen and a fast processor, you're going to run into battery issues. Even the most efficient Android tablets on the market only get from 4-8 hours of battery life, and depending on how you use your tablet, you might see an even shorter battery life.

Here are a few tips to help you keep your Android tablet running for longer on a single battery charge.

Auto Brightness. One of the quickest and easiest ways to improve your tablet's battery life is to turn on your auto brightness settings. Auto brightness uses your tablet's light sensor to keep the brightness setting as low as possible while still keeping the screen bright enough for easy use. It can save a tremendous amount of energy, as a bright screen depletes your tablet's battery by 20% faster or more.

If you're one of those people who enjoys a dim display, however, you can just turn your tablet's brightness down in the Settings menu--the auto brightness setting is actually less efficient than constant low-lighting, so keep this in mind if you do most of your computing indoors.

Charge Right. The lithium batteries in an Android tablet need to be charged correctly, or they'll lose more and more of their capacity over time. Most people are aware of the basics of lithium batteries by now, but they still charge their devices incorrectly.

When you first received your tablet, you should have charged it to 100% of its capacity. Hopefully, you did--if not, well, you've learned something today.

Try to wait as long as possible before charging your Android tablet, as the battery's "energy memory" will last longer this way. Don't just leave it plugged into the wall all of the time, and resist the urge to plug it in if you haven't used at least 70% of the battery.

Be Wary Of Multitasking. One of the great things about an Android tablet is that it offers true multitasking. Tabs like the Xoom and the Asus Eee Transformer are capable of running a ton of apps at the same time, but it's a double-edged sword; you can easily zap the device's batteries if you multitask haphazardly.

Make sure that you're not running any apps that you don't need, as they can suck some juice from your tablet's battery, even if they're running in the background. The process for closing apps will vary depending on your Android distribution, but you can usually shut down extraneous apps pretty easily from your Android's main menu. There are also special apps in the Android app store to kill unwanted tasks.

Have any other tips for getting more out of an Android tablet's battery? Post in the comments section below.