Quirky problems: touch calibration, battery

[jackpine]

Hi everyone,

I have some weird stuff going on here. Hoping someone can help, the MS forums haven't been very helpful.

1. Swiping down from the top to close an app is flaky. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes the app opens the 'options menu' (the one that comes up when you flick quickly, as opposed to a long swipe) or moves slightly then rebounds right back to the top (think rubber band). I've tried calibration (but then the charms bar on the right side stops activating and develops the same problem). A two button shutdown gets it working... for a few days, then it stops again.

2. The taskbar popup at the bottom of Metro apps has the same problem: it doesn't always show when I bring the mouse to the bottom. The close/minimize buttons (titlebar) always pop up at the top, but the taskbar is flaky. Windows+T works but the mouse doesn't. In this case, after a two button shutdown it will work for a day or two (just like the swiping down) and then quit entirely (no on-and-off-ness - it either works or it doesn't. Also, they both flake out separately!)

3. Battery life: I have my screen at pretty low brightness and keep my apps pretty clear. I only have Avast (antivirus), onedrive, dropbox, and bluetooth running and I'm usually only web browsing, reading, whatever. I get around 5 hours max, and don't understand how people get 7+ hours out of this thing with wifi and browsing? What am I missing?

Any thoughts? Thanks a bunch!

 

[GreyFox7]

I have a theory that Bluetooth as a significant impact on battery life because I don't use it and get good battery life.
Bluetooth and wifi are on the same chip and that seems to cause interference so wifi has to work harder. If your syncing OneDrive and Dropbox that too will increase battery demand. ID look at changing the sync frequency of those. Lastly, up to x hours means under optimal conditions you can get this much. I know everybody knows that except when they don't. many days I get 8-9 out of it but I'm not syncing constantly although I almost always have to scroll my open browser tabs.

Sounds like you're using a Bluetooth mouse... ugh! and the mouse in the house is not getting along with the blue cat.

Closing apps: I hate the Swipe top to bottom on the SP3 size screen, too long of an action and prone to user error (Technically it's a user error although falling from a high wire is also a user error it's asking a bit much in the skill dept.) Alternatively Return to, the Start Screen then use the app list on the left and drag the app from the list to the bottom. it works even though it's going around your back to scratch your elbow. I hope the return the X to the upper right of the Window If you just swipe from the top like with the mouse. Until then welcome to the App Penalty Box.

 

[jackpine]

Thanks for the reply! I'm actually not using a mouse at all, just the type cover touchpad, so I can probably just turn BT off and let's see what happens. Although I need it for the pen quick boot... but wouldn't hurt to test. Any thoughts if this isn't the problem? I can't understand why batt life would be so low if I'm barely using the machine.

OneDrive and Dropbox both only sync when there's a change server side I think so that should be ok.

Yeah I can definitely use the app list, it's just that it seems like there is something up with the driver which is worrying me? The gesture worked flawlessly on my old Venue 11 Pro so I'm not sure what the problem is here. Ditto the taskbar, any thoughts on that?

Thanks

 

[nipponham]

1. I used to have problems swiping down to close metro apps too, until I started using this WinAero utility. You can adjust the distance you need to drag down from the top until the app starts to close and also quicken the time for the window to flip around so the app is completely shut down. No more swipe-to-close problems for me. As a bonus, I also found that it makes snapping apps much easier.

2. It’s strange how the cursor hits the top of the window and stays on screen while when you drag it to the bottom it disappears off screen. In any case, I find that you have to drag the mouse all the way to the bottom of the bezel where you can’t see the cursor, (as opposed to the bottom of the visible window) before the taskbar shows up. In other words, you might not be dragging the cursor down enough.

3. Battery life is a hit-or-miss thing. It all depends on what kind of apps you use, your pc settings, the kind of security you have running, etc. When I first started using SP3, I found I had about seven hours of battery life, pretty much in the middle range of what other users were reporting. I experienced keyboard problems that forced me to do a refresh and changed antivirus from Trend Micro to Kaspersky for personal reasons and now I’m getting over eight hours of battery life. Changing antivirus what the only change made, (other than the refresh) and still use the same apps as before. Keyboard problems still come and go, but battery life has definitely improved.

One thing I would recommend is to perform a battery status report to see that it is in error-free condition. I was once experiencing random wake-ups from sleep and the status report showed me two errors that was quickly resolved by resetting my power plan.

 

[markusbeutel]

Hi everyone,

I have some weird stuff going on here. Hoping someone can help, the MS forums haven't been very helpful.
3. Battery life: I have my screen at pretty low brightness and keep my apps pretty clear. I only have Avast (antivirus), onedrive, dropbox, and bluetooth running and I'm usually only web browsing, reading, whatever. I get around 5 hours max, and don't understand how people get 7+ hours out of this thing with wifi and browsing? What am I missing?

Any thoughts? Thanks a bunch!

Honestly, you're probably just more of a power-user when it comes to certain activities like browsing. I usually have anywhere from 5-8 tabs open in metro IE, and get around 5 hours like you. I'd recommend getting the Power Cover for extra battery life. I now get anywhere from 7-9.

 

[adrians]

Regarding the battery, if you're using Chrome, it's likely the main reason for poor battery life. They've addressed this issue to some degree in the latest version, but I think it still uses more juice than the other browsers.

 

[jackpine]

Thanks for the replies guys.

WinAero: I could perhaps use that, but I'm more worried about underlying driver problems since it goes back to normal after a 2-button reset.
Taskbar in metro apps: I do know that I have to bring the mouse completely down I have done that many times and it works, and then it randomly stops. Again, some sort of driver problem. Does this happen to anyone else?

Battery life: the funny thing is, I don't use Chrome (metro IE or Firefox) and I never have more than 4 tabs open. I like to keep things clean and simple so I usually only just have 1-2 open at a time. So something else is going on here...

 

[joekville]

To address touch issues,I delete the calibration info and just let the screen pick up what it will. Works better than trying to calibrate it for touch or pen. This fixes issues with not being able to bring up the charms bar or choose apps by swiping down on most surfaces I've dealt with.