Poor battery life: Any news?

ziphnor · 06-20-2010, 01:31 PM

We have two Onyx Boox 60 (or rather one Bebook neo with onyx firmware and one actual Onyx) and both of them exhibit rather poor battery life in standby (a few days). Compared to other ereaders which (supposedly at least) can survive for weeks in standby, this seems rather poor.

Turning it completely off is a poor solution as the boot time is significant enough to be annoying and more importantly powering it on brings you to the menu, not the last book you were reading.

As others have reported the Wacom screen stays operational even with the stylus in its slot. I dont know if this is a significant cause of power consumption however.

We have tried some of the newer firmware, but it doesnt seem to improve battery life.

Has anyone contacted either Endless ideas or Boox and complained about the battery life? If so, what has been the response?

Brandobras · 06-21-2010, 02:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziphnor

Turning it completely off is a poor solution as the boot time is significant enough to be annoying and more importantly powering it on brings you to the menu, not the last book you were reading.

Hello, as for me, the solution was to turn it off completely. it's not a big problem to wait less than 30 seconds and to push three times a button to open the last read book.
i push the on/off button when i take the reader from my library and before sitting down on the sofa it's on.
moreover as i usually read for an hour or more, 30 seconds are not really important.
The difference: boox in standby, a new charge every 5 days (+-); boox switched off, a new charge every 15 days (+- without using wifi).

Best regards

ziphnor · 06-21-2010, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brandobras

Hello, as for me, the solution was to turn it off completely. it's not a big problem to wait less than 30 seconds and to push three times a button to open the last read book.

Well, it is a problem for us, especially considering this isnt an issue for other ereaders as far as i understand

Its not so much the boot time (though that is also annoying compared to opening a real book at a bookmark) as the the need to click around afterwards thats so annoying.

Even a PC can partially handle this by using Hibernate to turn off completely while still ensuring that you power on into whatever you were working on.

pietvo · 06-22-2010, 03:16 PM

Well, I have to push four times a button to open the last read book. And what is also annoying, if you don't push the on/off button long enough it goes to standby mode and you have to awake it again and try to switch it off another time.

weedfreak · 06-26-2010, 10:28 AM

The battery life of my Book is complete rubbish.

Without using the wifi or wacom options I get about 600 page turns maximum whether I turn it off or onto standby between reading sessions, so 2 to 3 days between charging. I does in fact lose all power after about 4 days even if it is fully charged at the start and left turned off.

I tried a test for the last few days, I left it connected to a power source and in standby. It displayed one of the pointless pictures, ( I have no idea why they are called screensavers,) two or three times a day I have noticed the picture has changed or it is displaying the last page read. This implies to me that it is turning itself on and back to standby several times a day which may be accounting for the short battery life.

The fact that it can lose charge even when turned off may also be due to it turning itself on and off even when supposedly totally off. It has behaved this way with several firmwares.

It would be interesting if anyone else's Boox displays the same defect.

Dulin's Books · 06-26-2010, 07:24 PM

if get a "screensaver" then it is only in stand by not off. touching any button at that point make it return from standby. if you have a timer set for it to do so then it will go back to standby.

to turn it Off you have to hold the power button for 4-5 seconds until you see the hour glass. then it will go to a blank screen.

blank screen is off. any picture is just standby. it cannot turn itself on from completely off

TimMason · 06-28-2010, 03:43 AM

I have never seen an hour-glass; the screen goes blank, and that's all. Perhaps I'm not switching it off, but it seems to be juiceless, and I have to press the power button for three or four seconds for it to come on again. It certainly does not seem to have good battery life. Also, the power button is not very easy to use: I have to connect with my thumb-nail and push with some determination.

weedfreak · 06-29-2010, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

if get a "screensaver" then it is only in stand by not off. touching any button at that point make it return from standby. if you have a timer set for it to do so then it will go back to standby.

to turn it Off you have to hold the power button for 4-5 seconds until you see the hour glass. then it will go to a blank screen.

blank screen is off. any picture is just standby. it cannot turn itself on from completely off

In standby mode the unit turns itself on and off at least 3 times a day without me touching anything, all the power save functions are off so it should not go to standby, but then again it should not come out of standby either.

To turn the unit off I need to press the power button for exactly 3.2 seconds, any more or less it will only go to standby.

At least once the unit has come on after several hours of being totally off, i.e. not in standby.

I have never managed to read two books without recharging, often I need to recharge to finish one book.

With the unit off, no image displayed, the battery will drain within about 5 days, as I said this is possibly due to it turning on even when it cannot, though I have not yet proved this theory.

Turning the unit off there is never an hour glass, if I got the 3.2 seconds right it just goes blank otherwise it reboots and wastes even more power with several screen refreshes. Very occasionally when restarting from what is called off it will start up with the book I was reading open at the right page which implies that it was not off but was displaying a blank page.

Dulin's Books · 06-29-2010, 04:34 PM

Sorry about the hour glass- thats another device.

IF the boox goes to a blank page then it should be completely off. you can test it by pushing the ok button. If its only in stand by it will start right back up.

As for it coming out of standby by itself- one of the buttons must be pressed to return it from standby. if the device is just sitting by itself then perhaps it is something to do with the cover pressing the buttons enough to cause it to wake up. If you can sit it on a counter/table out of a cover by itself and it goes in and out of stand by then you might want to return it.

weedfreak · 06-30-2010, 09:15 AM

I have it sitting on a shelf out of its cover where it cannot be touched accidentally.

I am fairly sure that there is something wrong with the on/off switch / circuitry and would of returned it earlier but did not want to risk getting it swapped for one with a defective screen which would be more of a problem.

Dulin's Books · 06-30-2010, 10:07 AM

yes that is definitely a bad unit. You shoudl talk to whom you purchased it from about getting it swapped out. They should by now have good stock that has been checked for the screen defect.

water515 · 08-24-2010, 10:33 PM

If I could get a week I would be happy. I have to charge my boox every other day. I never use wifi and rarely touch the stylus. I love everything else about the boox, but if I had known I would only get a couple days on a charge I never would have bought it.

Dulin's Books · 08-24-2010, 11:52 PM

The newest firmware definitely extends the battery life between charges. Its only available in the russian version at the moment but should be out for everyone else soon.

if you would like to try it out, there is more about the new firmware and a download link https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94909

remember not to put the language file on the boox or your menus will be in russian. also with this firmware the browser will default to google.ru. you can just touch the "english" button on the page if you need to search or use the "www" button in the lower right to open the address bar.

pietvo · 08-25-2010, 08:48 AM

I have tried this new version with the Boox on standby but it doesn't improve the battery life. I charged to Boox on Sunday, had it on standby and on Tuesday it was down to 2 bars. So I have gone back to the practice of shutting down between reads. I wonder what these improvements on power management are.

water515 · 08-27-2010, 01:18 AM

New version is no good for me either. Two days and dead.

06-20-2010, 01:31 PM	#1
ziphnor Enthusiast Posts: 26 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: none	Poor battery life: Any news? We have two Onyx Boox 60 (or rather one Bebook neo with onyx firmware and one actual Onyx) and both of them exhibit rather poor battery life in standby (a few days). Compared to other ereaders which (supposedly at least) can survive for weeks in standby, this seems rather poor. Turning it completely off is a poor solution as the boot time is significant enough to be annoying and more importantly powering it on brings you to the menu, not the last book you were reading. As others have reported the Wacom screen stays operational even with the stylus in its slot. I dont know if this is a significant cause of power consumption however. We have tried some of the newer firmware, but it doesnt seem to improve battery life. Has anyone contacted either Endless ideas or Boox and complained about the battery life? If so, what has been the response?

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06-22-2010, 03:16 PM	#4
pietvo Reader Posts: 519 Karma: 24612 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Utrecht, NL Device: Kobo Aura 2, iPhone, iPad	Well, I have to push four times a button to open the last read book. And what is also annoying, if you don't push the on/off button long enough it goes to standby mode and you have to awake it again and try to switch it off another time.

06-26-2010, 10:28 AM	#5
weedfreak Addict Posts: 302 Karma: 185297 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Ankh Morpork Device: calibre	The battery life of my Book is complete rubbish. Without using the wifi or wacom options I get about 600 page turns maximum whether I turn it off or onto standby between reading sessions, so 2 to 3 days between charging. I does in fact lose all power after about 4 days even if it is fully charged at the start and left turned off. I tried a test for the last few days, I left it connected to a power source and in standby. It displayed one of the pointless pictures, ( I have no idea why they are called screensavers,) two or three times a day I have noticed the picture has changed or it is displaying the last page read. This implies to me that it is turning itself on and back to standby several times a day which may be accounting for the short battery life. The fact that it can lose charge even when turned off may also be due to it turning itself on and off even when supposedly totally off. It has behaved this way with several firmwares. It would be interesting if anyone else's Boox displays the same defect.

06-26-2010, 07:24 PM	#6
Dulin's Books Wizard Posts: 2,806 Karma: 13500000 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Portland, OR Device: Boox PB360 etc etc etc	if get a "screensaver" then it is only in stand by not off. touching any button at that point make it return from standby. if you have a timer set for it to do so then it will go back to standby. to turn it Off you have to hold the power button for 4-5 seconds until you see the hour glass. then it will go to a blank screen. blank screen is off. any picture is just standby. it cannot turn itself on from completely off

06-28-2010, 03:43 AM	#7
TimMason Big Ears Posts: 191 Karma: 2229 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Pontoise, France Device: Onyx Boox 60, iPad	I have never seen an hour-glass; the screen goes blank, and that's all. Perhaps I'm not switching it off, but it seems to be juiceless, and I have to press the power button for three or four seconds for it to come on again. It certainly does not seem to have good battery life. Also, the power button is not very easy to use: I have to connect with my thumb-nail and push with some determination.

06-29-2010, 04:34 PM	#9
Dulin's Books Wizard Posts: 2,806 Karma: 13500000 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Portland, OR Device: Boox PB360 etc etc etc	Sorry about the hour glass- thats another device. IF the boox goes to a blank page then it should be completely off. you can test it by pushing the ok button. If its only in stand by it will start right back up. As for it coming out of standby by itself- one of the buttons must be pressed to return it from standby. if the device is just sitting by itself then perhaps it is something to do with the cover pressing the buttons enough to cause it to wake up. If you can sit it on a counter/table out of a cover by itself and it goes in and out of stand by then you might want to return it.

06-30-2010, 09:15 AM	#10
weedfreak Addict Posts: 302 Karma: 185297 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Ankh Morpork Device: calibre	I have it sitting on a shelf out of its cover where it cannot be touched accidentally. I am fairly sure that there is something wrong with the on/off switch / circuitry and would of returned it earlier but did not want to risk getting it swapped for one with a defective screen which would be more of a problem.

06-30-2010, 10:07 AM	#11
Dulin's Books Wizard Posts: 2,806 Karma: 13500000 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Portland, OR Device: Boox PB360 etc etc etc	yes that is definitely a bad unit. You shoudl talk to whom you purchased it from about getting it swapped out. They should by now have good stock that has been checked for the screen defect.

08-24-2010, 10:33 PM	#12
water515 Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: Onyx Boox	If I could get a week I would be happy. I have to charge my boox every other day. I never use wifi and rarely touch the stylus. I love everything else about the boox, but if I had known I would only get a couple days on a charge I never would have bought it.

08-24-2010, 11:52 PM	#13
Dulin's Books Wizard Posts: 2,806 Karma: 13500000 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Portland, OR Device: Boox PB360 etc etc etc	The newest firmware definitely extends the battery life between charges. Its only available in the russian version at the moment but should be out for everyone else soon. if you would like to try it out, there is more about the new firmware and a download link https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94909 remember not to put the language file on the boox or your menus will be in russian. also with this firmware the browser will default to google.ru. you can just touch the "english" button on the page if you need to search or use the "www" button in the lower right to open the address bar.

08-25-2010, 08:48 AM	#14
pietvo Reader Posts: 519 Karma: 24612 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Utrecht, NL Device: Kobo Aura 2, iPhone, iPad	I have tried this new version with the Boox on standby but it doesn't improve the battery life. I charged to Boox on Sunday, had it on standby and on Tuesday it was down to 2 bars. So I have gone back to the practice of shutting down between reads. I wonder what these improvements on power management are.

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08-27-2010, 01:18 AM	#15
water515 Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: Onyx Boox	New version is no good for me either. Two days and dead.