PRS-505 battery life experiment

ruth1304 · 07-20-2009, 03:13 AM

Hi all,

I've read a few threads about battery life recently, so I decided to do a bit of an experiment and COUNT how many page turns I actually get from my reader. It has become a bit addictive, and I'm keeping track of it in a spreadsheet now.

I've done one whole cycle - from fully charged to the low battery warning (which I have to admit I've never seen before). I've kept track of how many times I've changed what's on the screen and how many times I've switched the reader on.

Limitations of this first trial:

1) I started off changing font size regularly, then because I wanted to see how many page turns I could get as quickly as possible I switched the font size to L. This sped up my number of page turns per day.

2) I use calibre. I realised while waiting for an lrf file to paginate that this probably uses up battery life as well, so I should probably keep track of that as well.

3) Some days my counting was more accurate than others. It's easier to keep track with lrf files. However I'd say that what you can see is the minimum number of page turns.

I'm going to keep going with it until I get bored ... I'm finding it interesting, and one battery cycle isn't really enough to draw any conclusions. From now on I'm probably going back to using varying font sizes, and I'll make a note of how many lrf files I load up.

Has anyone else done anything like this? (I would say not, as most people would find the counting quite boring, but I know that people here know a lot about their readers!)

Anyway, the spreadsheet is saved here. One sheet per battery cycle, just so you know what to look for.

Any questions let me know.

dreams · 07-20-2009, 03:40 AM

What an interesting experiment..

I think I read somewhere that the battery will deplete over time even when not turned on, although it won't use as much battery as a page turn, etc.

Good luck and keep having fun

sony_fox · 07-20-2009, 05:24 AM

Thanks for running this!

It sort of matches my experience in that the claimed 7000 seems a very long way out.

If you get the opportunity also try in different formats. I think pdf drains a LOT faster than epub, maybe 2x as fast.

When reading standard novels 500+ pages I'll be at 1/2battery by the end of the 2nd.

richman · 07-22-2009, 09:25 AM

I wonder if anyone has the amazing ability to click 7,000 times in a row in one sitting , on a fully charged battery. I'm sure sony used sony's ebook format to do the test, and didn't change font sizes at all to boast page turns and they did it in one day, not over 2 weeks. I'm thinking since the battery is draining , albeit very very slowly if you take the test over 2 weeks in standby, doing the test in one day would probably improve the page turns to get sony's results.

So I'm to understand he got over 4,000 page turns on one charge over a period 12 days , with it being put on standby when not in use and using the zoom many times to change fonts sizes. That seems reasonable , considering if you leave this device on standby without doing anything for 2 or 3 weeks the battery will go down all by itself.

I want to thank first poster for doing the test, it shows a scientific mind and I liked how he explained how he changed zoom levels many times and other helpful info. I can imagine how boring it is to count how many pages you read every sitting. Good job.

New challenge , 7,000 page turns in one day , can you do it? Anyone want to try? My finger would hurt so bad!

ruth1304 · 07-22-2009, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richman

So I'm to understand he got over 4,000 page turns on one charge over a period 12 days , with it being put on standby when not in use and using the zoom many times to change fonts sizes. That seems reasonable , considering if you leave this device on standby without doing anything for 2 or 3 weeks the battery will go down all by itself.

I started the experiment because I thought my battery was running down too quickly (1500 page turns was my estimate) and I wanted to test it "properly". I was pleased with the page turns over the time as I never switch my reader off properly, just leave it in stand by.

A mild anxiety disorder/OCD type thing means that since I was a child I've had a tendency to count things and I find myself counting by accident all the time, so I was quite glad to find a use for it. I also found that on lrf books as long as you know the page you start on and the page you finish on and keep the font size the same you don't need to count continuously. The counting was for the epub books! I'm now slightly addicted to the process and on sheet 2 of the spreadsheet you'll see I've started again.

I am tempted to try the 7000 page turns in one day next, as I have a 5000+ page book so I don't think it would be too bad. I just need something to listen to on the radio while I do it so I don't get too bored while I can't read. Next time my reader is fully charged I'll try it if I have time. I will let you know!

richman · 07-22-2009, 04:25 PM

Thanks , we will have to place your name in the record books on this site if you can do 7,000 pages in one day! Supposedly 5x the book WAR and PEACE. I look forward how you do? It could be cool if on the day you do it, you post updates every few hours, letting us know how your marathon is going! "I'm on page 2,000 pages after turning the last 2 hours, thumb shaky and drinking plenty of fluids, I'll keep at it" And the rest of us can offer you our cheers!

igorsk · 07-22-2009, 04:29 PM

PRS-700's manual says this about the "7500 pages":

Quote:

Measured using a fully-charged battery and counting consecutive BBeB format page-turn at approx. 1 page per sec. Actual battery life may vary based on usage patterns and specific device.

HarryT · 07-23-2009, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreams

What an interesting experiment..

I think I read somewhere that the battery will deplete over time even when not turned on, although it won't use as much battery as a page turn, etc.

The battery will only drain very slowly if the Reader is switched off.

However, very few people turn the Reader off (ie using the "Shutdown" menu command). Sliding the so-called "power switch" does NOT turn if off - it merely blanks the screen and locks most of the buttons. In that mode, a battery charge will last perhaps 2-3 weeks.

richman · 07-23-2009, 09:12 AM

I wish there was a faster way to turn the unit completely off, is there a shortcut like there is for advancing 10 pages by holding down the page forward button.

You have to back out into main menu, and go to settings, then advanced settings, then device shutdown, and then hit bookmark button, too many steps to get it to just turn off.

I wonder if someone can make a hack to shut it down with holding the volume on the 505 or one of the other buttons.

HarryT · 07-23-2009, 09:15 AM

I believe that pressing in the "power" switch for a few seconds on the 505 will do a full shutdown. Perhaps someone else could confirm that?

richman · 07-23-2009, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I believe that pressing in the "power" switch for a few seconds on the 505 will do a full shutdown. Perhaps someone else could confirm that?

No that will not work, but if you download prs customizer from this site and check the first option , you can make the 505 shutdown if you hold the joypad for about 5 seconds. I just used that hack about 5 minutes ago and tested it out. It works. You can if you want use 2nd option and make the volume keys turn off the 505 too, if you want.

p.s. It was strange, I already used that prs customizer to change fonts and do other stuff, funny I couldn't remember that it had the option to do shutoff too.

As an aside, anybody know what the option in prs customizer is to turn off right justification means?

dordale · 07-23-2009, 11:00 AM

If you turn off right justification, you're LRF files will no longer be fully justified. In other words, they'll have raggedy right edges like Epub files.

dordale

HarryT · 07-23-2009, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dordale

If you turn off right justification, you're LRF files will no longer be fully justified. In other words, they'll have raggedy right edges like Epub files.

dordale

No, that's not true. LRF files are always displayed fully justified.

JSWolf · 07-23-2009, 12:09 PM

When you count page turns, count turning it off and turning it back on as 2 and menu changes are a page turn. Font size changes are page turns as well. Anything that changes what's on screen counts as a page turn.

ruth1304 · 07-23-2009, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Anything that changes what's on screen counts as a page turn.

That's what I did - the only thing I wish I'd noted that I didn't was the number of times I loaded up an lrf file and changed the font size for the first time - that takes a while because I use calibre rather than the sony library and I'm sure uses some battery power.

07-20-2009, 03:13 AM	#1
ruth1304 Addict Posts: 394 Karma: 1546 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Bristol, UK Device: Waiting for a kindle!	PRS-505 battery life experiment Hi all, I've read a few threads about battery life recently, so I decided to do a bit of an experiment and COUNT how many page turns I actually get from my reader. It has become a bit addictive, and I'm keeping track of it in a spreadsheet now. I've done one whole cycle - from fully charged to the low battery warning (which I have to admit I've never seen before). I've kept track of how many times I've changed what's on the screen and how many times I've switched the reader on. Limitations of this first trial: 1) I started off changing font size regularly, then because I wanted to see how many page turns I could get as quickly as possible I switched the font size to L. This sped up my number of page turns per day. 2) I use calibre. I realised while waiting for an lrf file to paginate that this probably uses up battery life as well, so I should probably keep track of that as well. 3) Some days my counting was more accurate than others. It's easier to keep track with lrf files. However I'd say that what you can see is the minimum number of page turns. I'm going to keep going with it until I get bored ... I'm finding it interesting, and one battery cycle isn't really enough to draw any conclusions. From now on I'm probably going back to using varying font sizes, and I'll make a note of how many lrf files I load up. Has anyone else done anything like this? (I would say not, as most people would find the counting quite boring, but I know that people here know a lot about their readers!) Anyway, the spreadsheet is saved here. One sheet per battery cycle, just so you know what to look for. Any questions let me know.

07-22-2009, 09:25 AM	#4
richman Addict Posts: 269 Karma: 58 Join Date: Jul 2009 Device: sony prs-505 BLUE,itouch,netbook	I wonder if anyone has the amazing ability to click 7,000 times in a row in one sitting , on a fully charged battery. I'm sure sony used sony's ebook format to do the test, and didn't change font sizes at all to boast page turns and they did it in one day, not over 2 weeks. I'm thinking since the battery is draining , albeit very very slowly if you take the test over 2 weeks in standby, doing the test in one day would probably improve the page turns to get sony's results. So I'm to understand he got over 4,000 page turns on one charge over a period 12 days , with it being put on standby when not in use and using the zoom many times to change fonts sizes. That seems reasonable , considering if you leave this device on standby without doing anything for 2 or 3 weeks the battery will go down all by itself. I want to thank first poster for doing the test, it shows a scientific mind and I liked how he explained how he changed zoom levels many times and other helpful info. I can imagine how boring it is to count how many pages you read every sitting. Good job. New challenge , 7,000 page turns in one day , can you do it? Anyone want to try? My finger would hurt so bad! Last edited by richman; 07-22-2009 at 09:42 AM.

07-22-2009, 04:25 PM	#6
richman Addict Posts: 269 Karma: 58 Join Date: Jul 2009 Device: sony prs-505 BLUE,itouch,netbook	Thanks , we will have to place your name in the record books on this site if you can do 7,000 pages in one day! Supposedly 5x the book WAR and PEACE. I look forward how you do? It could be cool if on the day you do it, you post updates every few hours, letting us know how your marathon is going! "I'm on page 2,000 pages after turning the last 2 hours, thumb shaky and drinking plenty of fluids, I'll keep at it" And the rest of us can offer you our cheers! Last edited by richman; 07-22-2009 at 04:29 PM.

07-23-2009, 09:12 AM	#9
richman Addict Posts: 269 Karma: 58 Join Date: Jul 2009 Device: sony prs-505 BLUE,itouch,netbook	I wish there was a faster way to turn the unit completely off, is there a shortcut like there is for advancing 10 pages by holding down the page forward button. You have to back out into main menu, and go to settings, then advanced settings, then device shutdown, and then hit bookmark button, too many steps to get it to just turn off. I wonder if someone can make a hack to shut it down with holding the volume on the 505 or one of the other buttons. Last edited by richman; 07-23-2009 at 09:16 AM.

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07-20-2009, 03:40 AM	#2
dreams It's about the umbrella Posts: 25,112 Karma: 56250158 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: Sony 505\| K Fire \| KK 3G+Wi-Fi \| iPhone 3Gs \|Vista 32-bit Hm Prem w/FF	What an interesting experiment.. I think I read somewhere that the battery will deplete over time even when not turned on, although it won't use as much battery as a page turn, etc. Good luck and keep having fun

07-20-2009, 05:24 AM	#3
sony_fox Zealot Posts: 109 Karma: 84 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Manchester Device: Kobo Auroa H2O	Thanks for running this! It sort of matches my experience in that the claimed 7000 seems a very long way out. If you get the opportunity also try in different formats. I think pdf drains a LOT faster than epub, maybe 2x as fast. When reading standard novels 500+ pages I'll be at 1/2battery by the end of the 2nd.

07-23-2009, 09:15 AM	#10
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	I believe that pressing in the "power" switch for a few seconds on the 505 will do a full shutdown. Perhaps someone else could confirm that?

07-23-2009, 11:00 AM	#12
dordale Wizard Posts: 1,731 Karma: 3472866 Join Date: Apr 2008 Device: Sony PRS-650 & 350; Kindle Voyage; Kobo Aura HD, Aura One, and Forma	If you turn off right justification, you're LRF files will no longer be fully justified. In other words, they'll have raggedy right edges like Epub files. dordale

07-23-2009, 12:09 PM	#14
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,983 Karma: 128903378 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	When you count page turns, count turning it off and turning it back on as 2 and menu changes are a page turn. Font size changes are page turns as well. Anything that changes what's on screen counts as a page turn.

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