[ale] need help with android power management on standby

[Ron Frazier (ALE)]

Hi gang,

I'm having a load of fun playing with my new Android Acer Iconia A500 
tablet, and occasionally doing a bit of work with it.  I used to think I 
wanted a 7" tablet, like the Nook.  But, now, after using this 10" unit, 
I love it.  There are a lot of web pages I wouldn't want to try to read 
on a smaller screen.  This is the way portable computing should work.  
VERY portable, and it does 85 - 90% of what my laptop does.  Of course, 
I can haul my laptop around if I need to.  At the moment, I can totally 
recommend this tablet ... caveat, after only a week of experience.  This 
has pretty much all the features I wanted earlier when I posted my other 
thread.  Micro Center has units refurbed by Acer on sale for $ 300, but 
you only get a 90 day warranty.  Thanks to Damon Chesser for reminding 
me about Micro Center.

I've got K9 Email, Dolphin HD web browser, audio books, ebooks, 
podcasts, live radio, weather radar, Evernote, Dropbox, Adobe reader, 
and misc other things all working.  I like to store some media on the 
device, for when I'm away from wifi.  However, even audio podcasts will 
chew up a memory card very quickly, so 16 GB (12 after formatting) 
doesn't go too far as it turns out, if you subscribe to 10 each of 16 
podcasts.

It's running Honecomb 3.2.1.  I need some help controlling battery usage 
on standby.  I hit the power button briefly the other day to lock and 
blank the screen.  A day and a half later, the battery was at 50%.  I 
know it comes on periodically and does things.  This device has wifi, 
bluetooth, and gps (which I'm not using).  It does not have cellular.  
What I want is the following:

1) If the unit is plugged into the charger, I want everything running 
full blast, wifi, bluetooth, gps if needed, background sync, the works.

2) If the unit is running on battery, AND the screen is unlocked, I 
still want it running full blast.  I will control the brightness 
manually.  I can turn off wifi manually if needed.  And, I only turn on 
GPS if I want it.  In this case, I still want background syncing, etc.

I will address battery consumption while active later.  Right now, I'm 
concerned about battery consumption on standby.

3) If the unit is running on battery, AND the screen is locked, I want:
      a) the screen to blank after a few seconds, which it may do anyway
      b) the unit to go to sleep
      c) all the radios, gps, etc. to be off
      d) and absolutely nothing else to happen

When it's locked and the screen is off, I don't wanting it doing a 
single solitary thing that will use battery, except maybe maintaining 
critical memory and updating the clock, and other internal critical 
housekeeping chores.  I don't want it waking up.  I don't want it 
syncing.  I don't want the screen coming on.  I don't want the GPS on.  
NOTHING!

When I turn the screen back on, I want everything to come back alive.  
Bluetooth, at least, has to come alive while the screen is locked, since 
I need to use the Bluetooth keyboard to enter my unlock password.  I 
don't want to actually shut it down, since I want to be able to restart 
in 3 seconds and not 30 - 45 seconds.  Can anyone tell me how to get 
this done?  Any help is greatly appreciated, as always.

PS - Is there a way to reboot, as opposed to shutting down, then restarting?

PPS - Is there a good way to control / limit which apps can run 
background processes.  For example, my Kobo ebook reader likes to load a 
background process to do something whether I'm running the app or not.  
That's totally superfluous to my needs.  I'd like to stop it from 
cranking up, or routinely kill it as soon as it does.

Sincerely,

Ron


-- 

(To whom it may concern.  My email address has changed.  Replying to former
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Ron Frazier

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linuxdude AT techstarship.com