Quote:
Originally Posted by emellaich
Good comment about battery life. As I mentioned in another post to Robert, my comments about price were as a comparison. As long as I'm buying a compromise device I expect prices similar to other portable electronics. If it is a superior device for ebook reading I don't mind paying extra for the features. Unfortunately, the devices available TODAY have too many compromises. I'm not ready to pay a premium (again) for a product with clear shortcomings (fragile, slow, poor button layout).
Specifically in regard to the battery life, I don't think you will find eink (today) anywhere close to the advertised battery life. Nobody will say for sure, but I think you have two problems:
1) Each e-ink page turn is actually 2 page refreshes. First it flashes the screen to clear off all of the previous content. Then it writes the new screen. If your device is rated at 8,000 page turns, turning the page 4,000 times with two refreshes each would run out your battery.
2) The battery life is not really only dependent on page turns. The processor also burns up juice. I suspect that the 8,000 is an ideal figure that assumes the processor is only running to turn pages (continuous page turns). In real life, there is probably some idle time with the processor running between page turns, and definitely processor use every time you start up and shut down the life. This also reduces battery life.
The bottom line is that I've never had problems finishing an entire book with my e-ink (reading books with up to 150,000 or so words), but I wouldn't count on finishing a second book without a recharge. This is a real improvement over laptops and pda's but its not a device that can run a week at the rate I read books -grin.
Michael
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Michael knows his stuff here. E-ink devices advertise 8,000 pages of text to a charge. That is really great. And... frankly, in use I just know it lasts and lasts and lasts in the form of my EZ Reader. The concept of E-ink is that NO power is used to display a page. You can leave the same page up all day and not use power. It is when you turn pages or play music or scroll thru your library that you draw power.
HOWEVER... the biggest thing I have heard from MobileRead Forum people is:
MAKE THE BATTERY REPLACIBLE! The EZ Reader HAS a rather EASY one screw replacible battery. The battery is teeny and can be carried anywhere. Our website will sell spare batteries. There is no reason you cannot carry a spare battery if you are at all worried about having enough power.
Robert B