Quote:
Originally Posted by nekokami
Yes, exactly. Even when we're just reading, the battery lasts for a much shorter period of time than the Sony or Cybook. I always thought this was because the Wacom screen was drawing power. Apparently it isn't. Is it because the CPU is always on? Does the Sony actually stop the CPU between page turns?
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Yes, the Wacom has almost nothing to do with it. The real reason is that the iLiad has no suspend mode of any kind. This is due to design. The iLiad was designed to be an "always on" device, so although it uses low power when on, it can't be made to sleep and wake up. By contrast, the Sony Reader is basically designed at the hardware level to turn almost everything off whenever it's not doing something. The tradeoff is that the Sony is only good for reading. It isn't good for anything too interactive. In contrast, the iLiad provides scribbling and other things that require the iLiad to be actually on, ready to go.
With more work it might be possible to design highly customized hardware that can allow scribbling and interactive features, yet still sleep and wake nearly instantly. But that would be tricky and much more complicated than building something using standard techniques.
All of the above is my limited understanding of the hardware situation. If I'm missing anything, I would love to be enlightened!