I like the Libre but so so battery life has me thinking about e paper reader

[bob1xxx]

pocket book 360 maybe another e paper screen reader like the astak pocket pro I really don't need a bigger than a five screen. I want a device thats pocket portable (big guy my libre fits in my back jeans pocket ) And Im not interest in newspapers or adobe technical files just books. I check out some e ink readers they seem slow and sluggish compaired to Libre (all so far are the sonys) and the 300 was the only one that offered equal reading quality experience, the other touch screen models had way too much glare and 300 lack memory card store is a turn off for me plus it dog slow. Are the pocket pro 360 or the astak pocket pro as god awful slow as the sonys? The best so far between re charges with my Libre is five hours . Is the battery life of the e ink screen ebooks readers that much better in the forty to sixty hour range ? or are those grossly over stated claims like the Libres twenty hour claims before recharge? Im curious especially you floks out there with both the libre lcd and e paper screen readers to the recharge numbers hold water or they just more over stated manufactor hype? Im curious because battery life is getting worse not better on a fairly new device.

[Solicitous]

I don't know what you mean by slow, are you talking about page turns? Well LCD ereaders are faster than e-ink. I have an Astak Pocket Pro, and yes there is a little delay while the page flashes but I find it fairly quick and does not impeded my reading at all (by the time I press the page turn button and move my eyes from the bottom of the screen back to the top the page has turned).

E-Ink does not use power while not in use (with the exception of a few models, such as the Kindle and Nook which are rated for number of days). You will find e-ink battery life is generally rated for number of page turns. I tend to read 2-3 hours a day and recharge the reader about every 5-6 weeks, so that well and truly exceeds your 40 hours you are asking about. Bootup time is not an issue as the e-ink doesn't use power between page turns, there is no need to turn it off.

[Kralik]

If I didn't already own a jetBook, I would probably get a Pocketbook 360. If you check the available video reviews, you will see that the page refresh is rather fast.

HOWEVER, since you are getting < 5 hours of battery on your Libre, I think perhaps you should contact support and have it replaced. The claims of 20 hours are not exaggerated... I and many others on these forums do get that much. Perhaps there is something wrong with yours...?

I can attest that my Libre allows me to read 4 to 6 hours per day for at least 3 or 4 days before I get the low battery warning. Although I've never actually written down and added up the time, I think it goes at least 12 hours and probably over 20 hours on a charge. As long as you are near a computer with a USB port or an AC wall outlet, you only need as much battery longevity as you can read in a single day because you could charge it every night if necessary. Vacations and travel would be the exception of course.

I would reset the device then charge it all the way up until the charging animation stops animating. Then read until you get the battery low warning message and charge it all the way up again. Repeat this at least 3 times to condition the battery. If this doesn't help then you probably have a bad battery.

[bob1xxx]

yes maybe I should return my libre because I rarely read more than two hours a day and on the thrid day the low power warning is driving me insane so maybe Ive got a bad battery. Solictous maybe with the Astak pro being a newer ereader with a more powerful processor than the sony 300 series it has faster page turns and startup times. The model I played with it could take up to 5 seconds to complete a page turn (just text) and take about 5 minutes from cold start to where you could read something , so yes compair to almost instant on and lighting fast page turns of the Libre the sony 300 felt slug like slow and lord was it heavy and glassly. I got look at a non working model of Astak 6" easy reader and it seen to weight 75% less than the sonys . Too bad it wasnt charged up to see what a more modern epaper runs like.

[Desertway]

I also get a lot more battery life out of my Libre than you do, so I think it is a problem battery. If you go eInk compare the Astak to the Pocket360. The 360 is what I was planning to buy until I found the much cheaper Libre.

The Sony page turn delay drives me mad. I definitely had to pause in my reading while testing a 300 in Best Buy. There are videos of the 360 in comparison to other devices, and it looks much faster. See if you can find similar videos for the Astak.

We should probably be careful with the term epaper as different manufacturers mean different things when they use it. Some use epaper to mean a non-backlit LCD like the Libre has. Others use it when they really are referring to an e-Ink screen. Still others use it and who knows what they mean by it! So epaper is a confusing term.

BTW, I've got a Sony PRS300. However, I first strip the DRM then use Calibre to modify the Sony purchased ePubs as Sony ePubs are very slow to open and scroll through. I think Sony books have a lot of bloat. Even after modifying the ePubs, it is still slightly slower at page turning and occasionally does take a long time to start if you add a large ebook or several ebooks. Normally though it is about the same speed-wise as my Libre. But I prefer the screen on the Libre to the e-Ink screens, especially in lower lit areas. It seems easier to read, but of course everyone's eyes are different. I hope that one day the Libre will have the functionality of the Sony PRS300 as I really like having TOC capability.

[Kralik]

bob1xxx, let me ask you this: Does the Libre turn off the screen when it is not in use (after 5-10 minutes, perhaps), or does it stay on constantly? Unlike e-ink, the LCD does take power when the screen is on.

[bob1xxx]

No I've have the power setting to sleep / power down after 10 minutes. There seem to be some debate whether or not the off button turns off the libre or just puts in a sleep mode which still draws power (which could be one of the real major reason for its so so battery life).

[Begemot]

I am 99% sure that on/off button puts libre in a sleep or hibernate mode. Most likely sleep(which means some power is being spent on refreshing RAM)

Why am I so sure?
Because boot up on my Libre for the first time takes much longer than 1-2 seconds. In fact 1-2 seconds is very fast for a real boot up of embedded Linux.

Still, it would be possible to fine tune Linux to boot that fast on Libre, but remember, it also has to load that huge pdf you have read last night, and that can take a while, but on/off button brings it up instantly. Thus, my conclusion that on/off button toggles some sort of sleep mode.

In any case, I have no complaints about battery on my Libre. Can read 2-3 days comfortably(4-6 hours a day).

[Kralik]

The sleep mode draws a negligible amount of power (similar to e-ink screens which actually do draw some even when not refreshing the page). I know there's a user here who reads about 3 hours a day with a week between recharges. I charge mine about every 2 weeks since I read less. I think you got a lemon.

[bob1xxx]

Ok I'll check my receipts and see if I can exchange or return my libre. I love the ebook experance and lcd screen is easy to read and the key lay out is great and the price of 159.00 is good.

[bob1xxx]

Yep I returned my white Libre tonight and exchanged for a new Black Libre at Frys at Burbank close to where I work, hopefully this one will offer better life . I almost bought a astak 6" ez reader but I couldnt justify paying $100.00 more when all I really want is a book reader. Will see this black libre works out.

[Kralik]

Originally Posted by bob1xxx

Yep I returned my white Libre tonight and exchanged for a new Black Libre at Frys at Burbank close to where I work, hopefully this one will offer better life . I almost bought a astak 6" ez reader but I couldnt justify paying $100.00 more when all I really want is a book reader. Will see this black libre works out.

Let us know!

[bob1xxx]

LOL one thing that's weird is my Libre is really a deep dark brown color not black the killer Keno in the "Big Sleep" would approve, beacause the Libre would match his all brown suits LOL And btw Raymond Chandlers "The Big Sleep" is one of the e books I've got loaded on my libre.