# Kindle Fire 8 Battery Life



## Grrarrgh (Aug 10, 2010)

I got the Kindle Fire 8 a few months ago when they were on sale. I received it in October, in fact. The battery life isn't very good. I've had several tablets, I'm not expecting miracles, but it just doesn't seem to be lasting very long. And it takes a very long time to charge. The other day I had it charging for a while, pulled it off the charger, glancing at the icon to make sure it had charged fully, and 2.5 hours later when I pulled it out of my purse to use it, the battery had drained to 83%. Just sitting in my purse for 2.5 hours, turned off, and not in use. I watched a movie on it, and that drained it down to under 20%. I put it back on the charger and 4 hours later, it had charged to about 70%. I've closed all the apps I had open and it's not helping. My next step is calling Customer Service, but I wanted to see if anyone else has noticed this, or if maybe this is just normal for the Fire. 

Thanks!


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

I took my Fire 8 off charge about two hours ago. Since then I've spent about 5-10 mins using it and I do have bluetooth set to 'on' permanently as I have it in a case with a bluetooth keyboard.

I just checked and the battery level is on 97%. If yours is going down to 83% in the same period without anything being in use, it does seem to be worse than mine. Are you out of wi-fi range - is it maybe using power searching for a wi-fi connection? I can't really think of anything else it could be.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

They did just push out an OS update . . . . or you can go get it manually. Might help.

Also check to be sure that you don't have a boatload of apps running in the background!


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## tsemple (Apr 27, 2009)

As some suggest, it could be struggling to maintain a WiFi connection, which will drain the battery faster, not sure if that explains why it drains so fast in your purse. I know if it is charging, the screen can be locked and it will still turn on WiFi to check for downloads, not sure if it also does that when it is not charging (hopefully not). Would be interested to discover the answer.

I assume you streamed the movie? If you have space, and content permits downloading, you should download, then turn off WiFi, and that will help reduce energy consumption overall particularly if the WiFi is not solid (you cannot tell by signal strength alone, that can be high and you can still have bad WiFi due to interference or walls reflecting, etc.). I'm sure that is how they calculate benchmark for 'hours of video': 'offline' viewing. Two hours of that should not take it down 60% in that mode.

One thing I notice about my HD6 is that the Amazon cover slides around pretty easily, and that can trigger random unlock when it is jostled around in my backpack. Another scenario involves my Scott-eVest with its pockets, which have magnetic closures that can trigger random unlock with a device in one of the inner pockets, as I eventually learned. You may have something similar going on inside your purse.

I would try experiments if you have patience for careful observation:
1 - put in airplane mode before putting it in your purse and compare drain (this eliminates wifi being at cause)
2 - turn it off before putting it in your purse and compare (should be near zero drain, if it isn't probably something wrong with the device)
3 - secure the cover more with rubber bands or something so it won't slide around and check for rogue magnets (to test random unlock theory)


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