Five ways to increase your Kindle Fire's battery life

If the Kindle Fire has become your closest companion, the last thing you want is for it to die on you.

With apps, books, the Web, and music running in the background, you might find that your tablet's battery life doesn't last as long as you expected. As ZDNET points out, "the Kindle Fire consumes battery like, well, an Android tablet."

You'll be lucky if you get the estimated 8 hours Amazon promises.

To fix your battery woes, you could carry around the charger (no, thanks!) or use some of these battery-saving tricks:

1. Disconnect Wi-Fi. One of the Fire's most convenient features is quick access to important settings, like Wi-Fi. By tapping the gears icon at the top bar, you can quickly turn Wi-Fi on or off. So, whenever you don't need the Internet, disconnect from Wi-Fi to save a lot of battery life.


2. Perform a monthly charge cycle. Like any device with a lithium ion battery, the Kindle needs to go through charge cycles. This simple, but highly effective task prolongs the battery's short-term and overall quality. To perform a charge cycle, completely drain the battery once a month, then charge it until it's at capacity. This is important, so set a monthly calendar reminder if you need to.


3. Decrease brightness.This one is a no-brainer. Like the Wi-Fi setting, you can quickly access the screen brightness through the settings toolbar. Just tap the settings icon in the top bar and use the slider to decrease brightness as much as your eyes allow. Only switch to full brightness when it's necessary, like when you're using your Fire in the daylight.


4. Keep it in neutral temperatures. Here's something else to know about lithium ion batteries: they don't like extreme temperatures. Always aim to store your device in room temperature, as very high temperatures can permanently damage the battery. Cooler temperatures are more forgiving, though. If your Kindle sits in a cool environment, battery life will temporarily be decreased, but return to normal when it warms up again.


5. Watch out for battery-hungry apps. Sometimes a terrible battery life can be the result of a hungry app. To find out if a specific app is killing your Fire's battery life, head to the appstore and download the free Badass Battery Monitor. Once installed, launch the application and tap "app usage." Here, you'll see a list of apps sorted by power usage.