IQ Pocketbook iq freezes all the time

[Samybubu]

Ever since i got my iq it's very slow and keeps freezing and the apps keep crashing (from games to books, everything), but now i tapped the settings icon on the main screen (not the "home" screen but where you see your background) and the settings icon lit up like it's supposed to and the entire thing froze. I tried to turn it off but it won't work, it's just there and doesn't react to anything. I thought of removing the battery but i'm not quite sure what's the safe way so I rather didn't. Do i have to wait until the batteries die? It's been like this for over 15 mins now. Is this normal that everything keeps crashing and freezing?? I only installed apps that are compatible with the device and i try not to run many at a time, but even reading books is a pain in the butt. One example is when i accidentally rotate the screen while reading a book (eg i put it down) and the screen goes black except for the status bar at the top of the screen and eventually a message pops up that the app is not responding. And again even if it doesn't crash it's painfully slow. It takes minutes to open a book and seconds to change the page. Is there anything i can do about it? I have not yet installed a new firmware because i want to back everything up on the sd card before i do so. Would that help, am i doing something wrong or is there something wrong with my device?
Sorry for the load of questions but i'm very new (and let's face it quite stupid) to this but i don't think this is how this should work..


Edit: just as expected it turned off when the batteries died and now it's working. I still don't know what caused it to freeze like this