Kobo Operating Temperature

[SchrodingersCat]

2012 update. It's been a bit chilly this week, -12C on Monday, -25C yesterday, and when I was waiting for the bus to go home today, -29C and -48C with the windchill. My kindle was not a happy camper. First page turned ok. Second page ghosted along the side of the third page. Tried turning it off and both pages plus screen saver were on the edge, plus random letters throughout the page.

As soon as I got on the bus it started to get better. After getting home and letting it warm up for 10 minutes, it was good as new (thank goodness!).

This doesn't surprise me nearly as much as the fact that my phone actually works as usual under these conditions. Three cheers for AMOLED!

[FJames]

Kindle -> full screen refresh on every page turn
Kobo Touch -> full screen refresh adjustable from 1 to 6 pages

If ghosting is bothering you in the cold, why not just set the page refresh to every page?

[The Terminator]

Originally Posted by FJames

Kindle -> full screen refresh on every page turn
Kobo Touch -> full screen refresh adjustable from 1 to 6 pages

If ghosting is bothering you in the cold, why not just set the page refresh to every page?

This thread is was before the Touch came out, so he was talking about the Kobo 1.

[SchrodingersCat]

Originally Posted by FJames

Kindle -> full screen refresh on every page turn
Kobo Touch -> full screen refresh adjustable from 1 to 6 pages

If ghosting is bothering you in the cold, why not just set the page refresh to every page?

I have page refresh set to every page (K4), because ghosting bothers me even at room temperature. But this has nothing to do with the fact that when you put it to screen saver mode, the previous 3 pages display over top of each other. The device always refreshes to display the screen saver, so that's unrelated.

My point was that in the extreme cold, the refresh was failing completely. Even when I turned the device to screen saver, it would still display sections of the previous three pages. My understanding is that the technology uses liquid oil as a medium for the "ink", and that below a certain temperature, the liquid turns to solid and the technology fails.

This isn't a design or software flaw, it's simply the fact that these devices were not build to be used at -30C (-22F), especially when the wind chill pushes it down to -48C (-54.4F). Fortunately, the devices recover fine when brought back to room temperature, at least initially. I haven't done repeated testing for long term affects...

[TonyToews]

I suspect the silicone cover on the Kindle which was mentioned would make a difference for a while. It would retain some heat and insulate the Kindle. But is a while one minute or twenty minutes at -10 or -30 or walking into the wind vs with your back to the wind? Who can say.

Oops, I never noticed that this was initially a very old thread.

[The Terminator]

Originally Posted by TonyToews

I suspect the silicone cover on the Kindle which was mentioned would make a difference for a while. It would retain some heat and insulate the Kindle. But is a while one minute or twenty minutes at -10 or -30 or walking into the wind vs with your back to the wind? Who can say.

Oops, I never noticed that this was initially a very old thread.

I don't know how much that would do because the screen is what gets cold.