[OFFICIAL] Why did Kobo change the Sleep/Power Off behaviour?

[zoltanmikker]

I've always appreciated the candor and openness of Kobo's people, and commend direct responses like this one. But at heart, this is a major setback that clearly handicaps the Kobo compared to the competition, especially with their recently reduced prices. Not unlike the Apple email of a few days ago, where the signal recalculation update was promised to bypass the real issue that the iPhone 4 has a faulty design, this firmware update's chief improvement is to manage the battery for you, bypassing the real issue that the Kobo drains to dead at an alarming rate when left idling. This is a battery problem that I'd wager is impossible to fix with software updates, but a less intrusive solution would've been to admit that being powered on is a major, not a minor, power drain for the Kobo, and to caution users to turn the device off themselves when not in use. I was already alerted to this issue when my ereader repeatedly died after being left unused for as little as 5 days, and I've since responsibly managed when it is on and when it is off myself, and seen a great improvement to battery life: close to the advertised two weeks. Now, when I upgrade my unit I'll no longer have the option to leave the Kobo on and drain the battery -- an annoying but sometimes acceptable trade-off when you want to work at your set pace -- when I break for 30 minutes after focused reading sessions; I'll have to boot at its discretion.

I appreciate the delicacy of the situation: new product, bad battery, lots of complaints, good rapport with customers to date. And I understand that this change is meant to be user friendly for grandma who forgets to power down when she goes out in the evening. But frankly, for even moderate users who spend afternoon sessions with the device with periodic breaks, this shift changes the Kobo from a serviceable but bare-bones ereader to a painfully clunky device that takes as long to boot up between short reading sessions as a brisk laptop. An ereader, mind, is not a laptop, and the more it approaches the laptop's load times while offering none of its versatility, the more attractive comparably priced pieces of hardware that can stay idle without draining the unit will be.

One last thing. To reiterate, I appreciate that Kobo was proactive in getting this information out directly to its most active/discerning users in this forum. But the explanation for why powering off is now set by the device is not convincing, and I'd hope most early adopters like me would also expect better. It's nice that Kobo is concerned that users don't prematurely kill their batteries by going through a lifecycle every week, as I was in my example up there, but any company could issue that same rationale for any product: e.g. it's in the interest of your battery, iPhone users, that if you haven't used it in 30 minutes, it turn itself off. (Not such a stretch of a comparison when you think that both phones and ereaders are expected to be in a ready state all the time, based on how they are used.) If Kobo would need to replace my battery well before its 'normal lifespan' because I was prone to leaving the device for longer than 15 minutes unattended, something is wrong with the device's battery, not my usage of it.

Looking forward to some serious discussions about this...

[wrenn1]

I am not tech savvy enough to know whether you are right or whether you are looking for a confession from Kobo but thank you for showing me that I am able to read a huge amount of text with back lighting.

:-)

[Duiker]

Originally Posted by the hatter

Ok, then why does the Kobo need to power fully off after 15 minutes, if it is already consuming minimal power in sleep mode? I would really like a sleep mode that stays that way. I know that's how the Kindle behaves (ie. you can just leave it permanently in sleep mode, so it starts within 1-2 seconds when you want to read again). It must be also be possible to do this with the Kobo.

Exactly!
How about push the power button for sleep mode and push and hold the power button for full shut down? I'm not a developer so I don't know for sure but is that too complicated?
I haven't installed the update and I don't plan to. This sleep mode is a deal breaker for me due to the way in which I read.

[roguefan99]

Glad to hear the covers are coming back with the option in the next firmware. I understand that people dont read as a general rule (anyone who has worked in IT support realises this).

Personally I have no problem with the boot up time and the sleep times that have been set. But then again when I sit down to read I'm gonna be reading for a while (i.e 15 mins) and I generally read so fast that I'm not more than 15 mins per page

[tpw]

Originally Posted by roguefan99

But then again when I sit down to read I'm gonna be reading for a while (i.e 15 mins) and I generally read so fast that I'm not more than 15 mins per page

Hmmm, maybe the auto sleep is to encourage readers to take less than 15 min per page. Maybe they should implement non configurable auto page turning after 3 minutes to save battery. Or only allow tiny fonts so there are less page turns per book.

Kobo, these are jokes, please don't implement them

[corona]

Originally Posted by tpw

It seems to me that there is largely a consensus on this thread (and other threads).

1 - People don't like the auto power off, and want a sleep mode that continues. Regardless of boot speed it will never be as fast as a resume from sleep.

2 - People are willing to trade slightly reduced battery lifetime for greatly increased usability. It's my device, let me worry about how long it lives.

3 - People resent the attitude that the engineering team are dictating a non configurable user experience based on some perception of a largely ignorant majority of users.

I think it's really asking a lot that on a device like this, which is meant to be really simple to use, a whole bunch of stuff should be user-configurable. I think it's a compromise, and I do think there are some of us here who are satisfied. I'm definitely not resentful -- that's a big word! I really appreciate the way they are getting on here and talking with us. I think they definitely paid attention to what was being said here about needed changes. That they didn't make them exactly the way all of us would have liked is just how it goes, IMO.

[PeterT]

JCKobo; you mention developpers are looking for alternate means to save time on reboot. I wonder if it is possible to implement a "hibernate" feature on the Kobo eReader? This would mean that rather than a reboot restarting all proccesses on the device, it would merely have to restore the RAM from the hibernation file. Of course, hitting the reset button would still do a cold boot.

[tpw]

Originally Posted by corona

I think it's really asking a lot that on a device like this, which is meant to be really simple to use, a whole bunch of stuff should be user-configurable. I think it's a compromise, and I do think there are some of us here who are satisfied. I'm definitely not resentful -- that's a big word! I really appreciate the way they are getting on here and talking with us. I think they definitely paid attention to what was being said here about needed changes. That they didn't make them exactly the way all of us would have liked is just how it goes, IMO.

I appreciate what you're saying but the device already offers configuration options regarding text size and font, book and cover display etc, and will likely add the purely cosmetic option to configure blank vs book cover in shut down mode. Surely an additional option to configure something as fundamental as auto shutdown is not too much to ask?

Resentful might be a big word but is is smaller than "perplexed and somewhat p***d off", which appears to be how quite a few people on this forum, not just me, are feeling about having choice over a fundamental aspect of the user experience taken away.

We're all aware of and very happy about the fact that Kobo are active and responsive on these forums. A consultative company = happy customers = more sales. But as I stated in a previous diatribe, at no point was the issue of battery lifetime raised as a concern, nor was the suggestion of an automatic shutoff.

OK, I'm off to have a cup of tea and a good lie down.

[mylesau]

Originally Posted by JCKobo

If we left it on the same screen, how would you know to press the power button?

As I said in my original message:

Originally Posted by mylesau

If it's just to lock the buttons, why not just leave the current page displayed for the 15 minutes - perhaps with a little lock symbol top right.

The lock symbol (sleep symbol or whatever) would indicate that the Kobo was in sleep mode and requires a power button press to unlock/wakeup. This would allow the reader to begin reading immediately upon picking up the Kobo and any time taken to come out of sleep mode would be taken up by reading the currently displayed page. So the 'perception' of startup time would be reduced.

So perhaps sleep mode could display the current page, but power off mode would show the cover? Lots of ways to do it and many different opinions and preferences.

I have no clue of the limitations on the device but if it could 'cache' the last page shown and display that sooner on startup, then the startup time again would be 'perceived' to be shorter.

[fred_yu_job]

....I have a feeling... that the auto-shutdown feature is from some "manager"...and maybe when this manager pushed this feature into the new firmware, the others didn't agree! so, now this manager takes all the posts against this feature as against him?

forgive me and my durty story.

[the hatter]

Originally Posted by Duiker

Exactly!
How about push the power button for sleep mode and push and hold the power button for full shut down? I'm not a developer so I don't know for sure but is that too complicated?
I haven't installed the update and I don't plan to. This sleep mode is a deal breaker for me due to the way in which I read.

This is how it works in the current implementation. However, when you put your kobo to sleep, it only stays asleep for 15 minutes before completely shutting off. That's what the problem is. That they've arbitrarily decided that if you put your device in sleep mode for more than 15 minutes, you must really want it powered off instead.

[anathema]

Hi Jordan. I don't actually own a Kobo, but was going to go pick one up today at chapters since I broke my PRS505 and was looking for a basic reader to replace it.

I don't need annontation, touch screens, mp3 playing etc. I want to read novels and thats it.

After reading all the problems with battery life and turn on time I'm not sure I'm still going to go today to get one.

An ereader that has none of these fancy features really should be able to kick butt on battery life compared to the competition.

I could read forever on my PRS505 and it -never- shuts off unless the battery dies. How do they do their batt management? Is it possible to match it?

To me, it appears it enters a limited sleep between every page turn and I really get like 7000 page turns per charge. I go weeks in between charges.

Are there any plans to make the battery life proper (meeting the advertised 8k page turns) without shutting the device off, since no other device on the market has to rely on this?

Thanks again for posting and dealing directly with your customers (and potential customers) it is always very appreciated when a higher level person (not just PR drone) talks to the customers and makes changes based on their feedback. This alone heavily tips the scales in favour of your company when considering purchases.

Thanks!

-J

[J. Strnad]

First, let me say that my wife and I both LOVE our Kobos. Even after the price reductions on other e-readers, I have no buyer's remorse. I didn't "settle" for the Kobo because of the price...it had the feature set I wanted, didn't have the stuff I wanted NOT to have, and the price was decent. It feels better in my hands than any other e-reader I've tried, and that counts for a lot (the way the feel of a keyboard is so important).

The font issue was HUGE. It has been fixed.

The rest of this stuff is minor, to me. When reading forum messages on ANY issue on ANY device, you lose perspective and start thinking that it's the end of the world. I would prefer the sleeping/power off thing to work more the way some of the posters suggest, but as it is, it's nothing more than a minor annoyance.

Most of the time that I'm using my Kobo, I'm reading and loving it!

Other e-readers have their issues, too. Check out their forums.

[dixieknits]

I have never just gone off and left my ereader on, so I doubt my battery will suffer from software version 1 and since I don't leave it on unattended, software version 1.4 will not really affect me . A good solid operating battery is of great importance to me since my Jetbook died way before it's time due to an internal battery problem and it's battery was not replaceable, hence I"m here with a new Kobo and starting to become very fond of it. Will see what they come up this month before I upgrade the firmware.

[LargePig]

I've read a log of negativity about the 1.4 firmware.
I just wanted say that I'm very happy with the update, not at all bothered by the sleep/shutdown behaviour.
I like that I can resize fonts without messing with the CSS, that it doesn't appear to scan my SD card every time I turn it on anymore, and that syncing doesn't lose my place in books anymore.
That's without even talking about what was probably the most professional and user friendly firmware update process I've ever gone through!
If you guys DO put in a setting to change the shutdown times, great, but I probably will leave it as default.