Re: Increase battery life
settings change to ensure wifi and sync are off during sleep mode
turn off sync mode until you NEED to do a sync, wifi when you need that, then turn off again when complete. turn off bluetooth when not in use, etc.
turn off anything else like system sounds that are not required to max battery life.
get a battery monitoring app if you don't like the built in functionality and check to ensure that screen is the major user of battery vs apps - you can see how much battery % is used by the various functions/apps in the device and remove any pigs. Some apps run way too much in the background, sync way too often, do not close, serve advertising whenever they feel like it, etc.