Windows 8.1 tablet, turn off screen while keeping tablet on?

Anonymous

just got a new windows 8.1 tablet ( omni 10 if you need to know for some reason ) and i keep finding myself wanting to turn off my screen while keeping the tablet from turning off or sleeping. i usually us my tablet to download OS updates for my android phone, or other large files, but whenever i push the power button the tablet goes into "sleep" mode and stops downloading everything. the only solution i can find is to keep the screen on, but id rather not do that to keep it from killing the battery faster that it needs to. also cant find anything in the power options about screen power off timer... only sleep timer :/

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Anonymous

2015-07-11T06:53:01+00:00

That's strange. My Surface Pro 3 lets me play music and even press the power button to force it into sleep mode (screen off, fans off) yet the music keeps playing. Basically just like my Windows Phone does.

Microsoft solved this specific problem (impossibility to turn off screen) with small trick. Native apps can hold device in active mode althought you press a power button. On my device it is working good an there is not any time of limitation. Music will play constantly but I discovered one difference. Gap between tracks takes 5-6 secs. Next app wihich cant working continuosly, indenpendent to settings in power plan, is TuneIn radio.

I thing that only way how to beat Microsofts stubbornness is using some tricks. Its sad. :(
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@CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2015-07-11T03:49:38+00:00

Oh I see I didn't give it enough time. I actually want to do this but for another reason. My Surface Pro 3 is my only computer. At night I leave it on and docked (hooked up to several other drives, network adpaters, an external monitor). I leave it on so that it can do regular maintenance, file sync, run backup jobs, or other things). Of course I can turn off the external monitor, but every night I just cover up the Surface screen with the keyboard cover. I hate to think I'm shortening the life of the screen since it can't turn off. I turn off the pixels by using a blank screensaver, but the backlight LEDs stay on. Although that's probably not a big concern, heck it may not even really change the lifetime of the display really, but I definitely don't need that light while I'm trying to sleep, in any case.
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Anonymous

2015-07-11T01:01:30+00:00

That's really the crux of the problem. If you want to listen to music for longer than 10 minutes, the power options seem to prevent that and I haven't found a power configuration that will behave itself both with and without music playing.
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@CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2015-07-11T00:31:55+00:00

For about 4 minutes (I listened to the rest of the song).
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Anonymous

2015-07-11T00:29:21+00:00

Glad it worked for you, Wanda. I am extremely critical of these types of solutions and can't see a downside other than wishing the home button didn't turn the screen back on. Heads up, though; I am now running Windows 10 preview on my daily driver tablet (Venue Core M) and phone (Lumia 1520), after running preview on alternates of the same since preview began, and the screen off gesture isn't working on the Venue w 10. I've not done any troubleshooting, yet, though. Anybody can dm me for status going forward.

-matt
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