Kindle power drain

[Nogg]

Excerpt from an AP article (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071121/..._amazon_kindle):

Sony's Reader, which came out last year and uses the same screen technology, claims a single charge will last for 7,500 pages of reading, or weeks and weeks of use.

The Kindle, by contrast, lasted only 24 hours for me, including about 2 hours of reading, before needing a recharge. Amazon said that result was not typical, and that the device should be able to go two days between charges.

That sure puts the 3-4 weeks of Reader drain into perspective.

I can't imagine they've got the cell modem running the whole time, but I don't know what else could be killing the battery like that. I think the idea is a good one, but I think I'll wait until they decide to up the battery life a bit.

(Oh, and I'll wait until they get someone besides the Tandy team to design the device's appearance)

[HarryT]

The wireless modem has an "off" switch - sounds as if they didn't bother to turn it off. Reports suggest that with the wireless off, you should get something like a week's use between charges.

[Nogg]

That's good to hear. I'd certainly keep that off unless I was actively downloading.

I wonder what else they've got running that's sucking juice so much more than the Reader.

[KlondikeGeoff]

That's interesting, will have to track the battery thing. I think I want a Kindle too, but definitely will wait to see all the bugs that show up, and if any get fixed.

BTW, has anybody ever come close to Sony's amusing claim that you can get 7500 page turns?

[kezza]

Originally Posted by KlondikeGeoff

BTW, has anybody ever come close to Sony's amusing claim that you can get 7500 page turns?

No, haven't gotten close, but then I haven't bothered to count how many times I've had to refresh the screen, total. Bookmarking, going through menus, turning the device on and off, all those things are essentially "page turns," and I imagine that going through menus might take up a bit more processing power than just turning a page in the book.
So far the battery on my 505 seems to last about a week between charges, but I haven't run it all the way down yet. I really need to do that, to ensure the battery is calibrated, but I'm just too selfish -- I don't want to risk running out of power someplace where I can't recharge.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by KlondikeGeoff

BTW, has anybody ever come close to Sony's amusing claim that you can get 7500 page turns?

It's just one of those silly marketing claims, like the MPG rating of a car. You probably would get it if you fully charged the reader, then constantly pressed the "next page" button as fast as the pages would turn until the battery was flat. That's the kind of thing it'll be based on.