Thread: Battery life!
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Old 06-10-2010, 11:57 PM   #212
artificial
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Posts: 179
Karma: 6328
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Device: Kobo eReader
Anyone who's been following this mammoth thread might have seen me mention that I have been trying to extend my Kobo Reader's battery life by powering the device down between reading sessions.

A few people (sorry, I can't remember who) have offered anecdotal evidence to suggest that if you leave the device turned on all the time that the battery drains very quickly, and I decided to test this theory by turning my Kobo off when I wasn't using it (i.e. a full power down using the blue button on top of the device).

Having achieved battery life that I consider to be sub-optimal (750 page turns on my previous charge), I decided I had nothing to lose by powering down between sessions, and I have to say I have been very pleased with the results of my experiment.

On my current charge (an overnight charge), I have read 1361 pages over the course of nine days. I still have some battery life left, and I'm fairly confident I would be able to reach 1500 page turns, but I don't want my battery to die during my train ride home so I'm aborting the experiment and giving my Reader some more juice.

I realise 1500 page turns is not close the the mythical 8000, but it is a heck of a lot better than 750!

Based on my results, I feel confident in saying that (in my case, at least) turning off the device significantly increases battery life, perhaps even doubling it.

I have to admit, this result is quite the opposite of what I expected. Previously, I believed that powering the device off/on was a big drain on the battery. That may be true, but I now believe that much more power is consumed by leaving the device 'always on'.

If you are experiencing poor battery life, and currently leave you Kobo Reader turned on between reading sessions, try powering if off and see if that helps you in the same way it has helped me.

(Note: I am done with battery experiments. I will now be charging my battery regularly. Except maybe when the firmware is released. I'm sure I will be curious to know if it really does extend battery life! :P)

Last edited by artificial; 06-11-2010 at 12:03 AM. Reason: spelling
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