Friday Five: Improve Your nook's Battery Charge

One common complaint (and one recognized by Barnes and Noble, at that) is that nook’s battery just doesn’t hold up to the technical specifications. Officially, BN state that your nook could conceivably run for 10 days with wireless off, while using wireless and/or playing music will force you to plug in after two days.

This isn’t so much of an issue for nook users with electrical outlets on all four walls, but if you’re going to be mobile, you need your nook to grow some wings, too.

So, what are the ways you can stretch your battery and make the most of a single charge?

1. Turn on “Airplane Mode.” In the LCD screen, go to “Settings.” Press “Airplane Mode,” and tap “On.” Airplane Mode will prevent the 3G or WiFi antennae from draining battery. Remember to turn Airplane Mode “Off” when you want to check The Daily or browse the Shop.

2. Reduce the “Touchscreen Brightness.” Go to “Settings,” and tap “Display.” Scroll down to “Touchscreen brightness.” (Push up from the middle-bottom of the touchscreen to scroll.) Slide the brightness scale towards the left. Play with settings until you find the brightness level that works for you. Personally, I have my brightness scaled to less than 10 percent.

3. Turn off “Auto adjust brightness.” This option is also under “Settings”=>”Display.”No need to have nook generate more backlit anti-goodness when you’ve dialed down the brightness. Generally speaking, it will always make the screen brighter than you’ve set it (if you’ve gone low enough)–unless you’re in direct sunlight–so switch it off so it doesn’t sabotage your low-lit nook.

4. Reduce the “Touchscreen timeout.” (Yup. You’re still in “Settings”=>”Display.”) Currently, nook allows you to choose between 10, 30, or 60 seconds. Set it at 10 seconds. That way, it’s draining less battery and you’re swishing your way through your eBook as quickly as possible. Win/win.

5. Buy an additional battery or a portable battery charger or build your own Minty Boost! I’m cheating a bit here, but if you’re in need of more juice on the go, buying a backup battery or a portable charger is probably a good choice. You’ll use both items, and they’ll make your life more enjoyable. (I don’t see the purpose of paying for these accessories if you’re rooted at an electrically-friendly location most of the time since you can just plug-in when needed.)

You can also wait for the next update and see if that vastly improves battery life. Do you have any tips or tricks for improving battery life, or are there any topics you’d like to see addressed in the Friday Five? Share them with us here or at the nookverse forum.