sleep or power off: which is more battery friendly?

paola · 02-08-2013, 03:08 PM

From the discussion in a couple of threads I got the impression that the general consensus is that putting the reader to sleep is preferable to powering off. As a newbie, I was assuming the opposite was true: can anyone please confirm that keeping the device always on sleep depletes power less than a power off?

/I though about asking the question in one of the threads I mentioned, but perhaps a new thread may help other newbies when they search.

ottdmk · 02-08-2013, 03:46 PM

It's a question of how often you turn on the device to read. A boot-up can consume more power then just leaving the Kobo in sleep mode for a while. However, if you're walking away from the Kobo for a few hours at a time, you're probably going to want to power it off.

TechniSol · 02-08-2013, 04:08 PM

It's not a simple question.

I think most people would agree that if you're not using the device for a significantly long period, like until the next day, powering it OFF would save more battery. Some people have made the case that putting it in sleep mode if you're powering up more frequently can consume less power than turning it on and off since booting up from the OFF state seems to consume a fair amount of power each time.

The other issue that some(only a few that I've noted posting) seem to be suffering from is that it appears that with certain side loaded epubs the reader can consume a significant amount of power if left in sleep mode reducing battery life to 48-60 hours or so. There may be more to it than that, and I haven't experienced this personally, but there is a current thread devoted to investigating the issue. I believe the current theory is that some epubs may be badly formed and somehow that's causing the reader to keep processing them or not enter sleep mode completely and draw more power. It's mostly pure conjecture as to what is happening so far, but interesting. It's also possible that this may not be an issue for everyone, and certainly appears to only be an issue with certain epubs.

kobokobe · 02-08-2013, 07:06 PM

I think the general consensus goes:

If you use the device once a day (ex. only before bed) or less frequently, it'd be better to turn the device completely off after use.

If you use it multiple times a day (maybe during morning and evening commutes, during lunch or before bed) putting it in sleep will likely conserve battery.

This is pretty much the rule I follow. Well, I used to follow it, but now that I use a sleepcover, I can never be bothered to actually use the power slider..The battery does seem to hold power pretty well, even after 2-3 days of sleep (obviously not as well as if it was powered off.)

Edit: That's all ignoring the issue TechniSol mentioned regarding some sideloaded epubs, since I'm not very familiar with that particular problem.

Danger · 02-08-2013, 07:29 PM

Currently testing this out: Sleepcover vs Switch to set to sleep vs turning device off completely. Going to take a bit of time to post my results though.

JD Gumby · 02-08-2013, 08:01 PM

The power on/off cycle chews badly on my Touch's battery, I find (it's more than a year and a half old now).

I'm getting better battery life (though not great, thanks to recent firmwares that generate the covers of sideloads every single time they're needed instead of just storing a copy of the image) than when I was powering off every night. I now only power it off if it's frozen or I'm not going to be using it for several days because I've picked up a paper book.

GeoffR · 02-08-2013, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JD Gumby

I'm getting better battery life (though not great, thanks to recent firmwares that generate the covers of sideloads every single time they're needed instead of just storing a copy of the image) than when I was powering off every night.

This only happens with books stored on an external micro SD card, covers for books stored on the internal card are only generated once and then saved for next time. That is the main reason I've stopped using an external card and upgraded the internal card instead. I hope they change it in the future so books are treated consistently whichever card they reside on.

On topic, I probably don't leave my Glo long enough to be much help, but I have never noticed any battery drain while in sleep mode. Even when I had a faulty micro SD card that was draining the battery very quickly while reading, the problem didn't ocur in sleep mode. I don't think I'd bother turning the Glo off unless I was not going to use it for a few days or more.

theinfamousj · 02-09-2013, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paola

From the discussion in a couple of threads I got the impression that the general consensus is that putting the reader to sleep is preferable to powering off. As a newbie, I was assuming the opposite was true: can anyone please confirm that keeping the device always on sleep depletes power less than a power off?

/I though about asking the question in one of the threads I mentioned, but perhaps a new thread may help other newbies when they search.

I tested this on my Kobo, and in all cases of leaving the Kobo for more than 30 minutes (which is all I tested; from a half hour of non use to 15 days of non use) a power off resulted in longer battery life. It appears that sleep's main purpose is to reduce the annoyance you feel at the slowness of the boot up if you are impatient to return to your book.

I have a Kobo Wifi. Results may be different for different models.

paola · 02-09-2013, 03:37 AM

guys, thank you all for your detailed replies!

Quote:

Originally Posted by theinfamousj

It appears that sleep's main purpose is to reduce the annoyance you feel at the slowness of the boot up if you are impatient to return to your book.

Yes, some devices from other brands do have the option of taking a snapshot of the last page you were reading when you power the device off, and use that as an image on bootup, so you can start reading where you left off while the devices wakes up. Perhaps this could go in a future firmware...

soulfuldog · 02-09-2013, 06:54 AM

I thought all e-ink e-readers were the same in that as long as you have wi-fi turned off, the difference between off and sleep should be pretty negligible, as it shouldn't be doing anything while in sleep mode?

theinfamousj · 02-09-2013, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by l_macd

I thought all e-ink e-readers were the same in that as long as you have wi-fi turned off, the difference between off and sleep should be pretty negligible, as it shouldn't be doing anything while in sleep mode?

At least on my Kobo Wifi, sleep does do something: it blinks the power light every minute or so, using power. It also seems to keep the OS awake to respond to any button pushing, no matter how accidental. I turn mine off just to keep from coming back to random pages or books from when the buttons get pushed accidentally while residing in my bag. The battery life extension was an unexpected, added treat.

For the record, I keep wifi off at all times with my reader.

moffattm · 02-09-2013, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paola

Yes, some devices from other brands do have the option of taking a snapshot of the last page you were reading when you power the device off, and use that as an image on bootup, so you can start reading where you left off while the devices wakes up. Perhaps this could go in a future firmware...

That's an excellent idea and should be fairly easy to implement. Just make it an option that people can turn on and off in case you're reading a dodgy book!

paola · 02-09-2013, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moffattm

That's an excellent idea and should be fairly easy to implement. Just make it an option that people can turn on and off in case you're reading a dodgy book!

I posted it here in case you wish to second it, though I am not sure on what basis these proposals are actually followed adopted in some form.

soulfuldog · 02-10-2013, 11:23 AM

Hmmm, interesting. I guess I'm just used to using my Kindle more than anything. It can't actually be switched completely off, you are really just putting it to sleep with either the screensaver showing or the display switched off, but it still wakes up from sleep either way, and only ever boots up when it's re-set. But with WiFi off the battery doesn't run down much at all - although it's never been left for longer than a couple of days without use, and the battery has never dropped noticeably in that space of time, but maybe it would over a week or more.

I've never even looked at switching the Sony off, it just gets put to sleep and as it's used more intermittently, sometimes when I go back to switch it on, it takes a while to power back up and the battery does deplete a little on it.

jlg432 · 02-16-2013, 12:18 PM

I guess it depends on how many books you have on your reader and if you have just added some recently.

I get free books from Amazon due to a free daily mailing list that I receive. As I can't read faster than they come I now have over 3500 books on my 8 gig micro sdhc card.

Coming out of sleep is fast and as it is a Glo the only button is the power switch.
Coming out of Power off though is much slower and if I have added any new books or even removed/re-inserted the SDHC card while the reader is powered up a media scan will take place to verify the database. Also editing an existing shelf takes much longer. The exception is adding books to shelves from the Library is faster providing there are not many (4 step process). These are the circumstances that I find adds to my power drain. If I don't play with search, shelf updates or adding more books, the power drain is very acceptable.

I should note that the power drain is noticeable when I do file management work but not extreme as to force an immediate re-charging of the battery.

To summarize - In my case Sleep is easy on the battery than a power off - unless I am putting it away for an extended period of time (which is rare).

02-08-2013, 03:08 PM	#1
paola Wizard Posts: 2,840 Karma: 5843878 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: UK Device: Pocketbook Pro 903, (beloved Pocketbook 360 RIP), Kobo Mini, Kobo Aura	sleep or power off: which is more battery friendly? From the discussion in a couple of threads I got the impression that the general consensus is that putting the reader to sleep is preferable to powering off. As a newbie, I was assuming the opposite was true: can anyone please confirm that keeping the device always on sleep depletes power less than a power off? /I though about asking the question in one of the threads I mentioned, but perhaps a new thread may help other newbies when they search.

02-08-2013, 07:06 PM	#4
kobokobe I am what I am Posts: 179 Karma: 52789 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: An enormous, polar bear infested igloo that we call north of the 49. Device: Kobo Glo, Kobo Touch	I think the general consensus goes: If you use the device once a day (ex. only before bed) or less frequently, it'd be better to turn the device completely off after use. If you use it multiple times a day (maybe during morning and evening commutes, during lunch or before bed) putting it in sleep will likely conserve battery. This is pretty much the rule I follow. Well, I used to follow it, but now that I use a sleepcover, I can never be bothered to actually use the power slider..The battery does seem to hold power pretty well, even after 2-3 days of sleep (obviously not as well as if it was powered off.) Edit: That's all ignoring the issue TechniSol mentioned regarding some sideloaded epubs, since I'm not very familiar with that particular problem. Last edited by kobokobe; 02-08-2013 at 07:09 PM.

02-16-2013, 12:18 PM	#15
jlg432 Addict Posts: 237 Karma: 15786 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: jetBook, ALP, Pandigital 7"Color(Black+ White), Kyros MID7015a	I guess it depends on how many books you have on your reader and if you have just added some recently. I get free books from Amazon due to a free daily mailing list that I receive. As I can't read faster than they come I now have over 3500 books on my 8 gig micro sdhc card. Coming out of sleep is fast and as it is a Glo the only button is the power switch. Coming out of Power off though is much slower and if I have added any new books or even removed/re-inserted the SDHC card while the reader is powered up a media scan will take place to verify the database. Also editing an existing shelf takes much longer. The exception is adding books to shelves from the Library is faster providing there are not many (4 step process). These are the circumstances that I find adds to my power drain. If I don't play with search, shelf updates or adding more books, the power drain is very acceptable. I should note that the power drain is noticeable when I do file management work but not extreme as to force an immediate re-charging of the battery. To summarize - In my case Sleep is easy on the battery than a power off - unless I am putting it away for an extended period of time (which is rare). Last edited by jlg432; 02-16-2013 at 12:41 PM.

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02-08-2013, 03:46 PM	#2
ottdmk Wizard Posts: 1,217 Karma: 3804496 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Libra 2, Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus, Lenovo Tab M9	It's a question of how often you turn on the device to read. A boot-up can consume more power then just leaving the Kobo in sleep mode for a while. However, if you're walking away from the Kobo for a few hours at a time, you're probably going to want to power it off.

02-08-2013, 04:08 PM	#3
TechniSol GranPohbah-Fezzes r cool! Posts: 1,056 Karma: 3151024 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Nook STRs, Kobo Touch, Kobo Glo	It's not a simple question. I think most people would agree that if you're not using the device for a significantly long period, like until the next day, powering it OFF would save more battery. Some people have made the case that putting it in sleep mode if you're powering up more frequently can consume less power than turning it on and off since booting up from the OFF state seems to consume a fair amount of power each time. The other issue that some(only a few that I've noted posting) seem to be suffering from is that it appears that with certain side loaded epubs the reader can consume a significant amount of power if left in sleep mode reducing battery life to 48-60 hours or so. There may be more to it than that, and I haven't experienced this personally, but there is a current thread devoted to investigating the issue. I believe the current theory is that some epubs may be badly formed and somehow that's causing the reader to keep processing them or not enter sleep mode completely and draw more power. It's mostly pure conjecture as to what is happening so far, but interesting. It's also possible that this may not be an issue for everyone, and certainly appears to only be an issue with certain epubs.

02-08-2013, 07:29 PM	#5
Danger Evangelist Posts: 490 Karma: 1665031 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Vancouver Island, Nanaimo Device: K2 (retired), Kobo Touch (passed to the wife), KGlo, Galaxy TabPro	Currently testing this out: Sleepcover vs Switch to set to sleep vs turning device off completely. Going to take a bit of time to post my results though.

02-08-2013, 08:01 PM	#6
JD Gumby Cynical Old Curmudgeon Posts: 1,085 Karma: 8495696 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Halifax, Canada Device: Kobo Mini, Kobo Arc, HTC Desire C	The power on/off cycle chews badly on my Touch's battery, I find (it's more than a year and a half old now). I'm getting better battery life (though not great, thanks to recent firmwares that generate the covers of sideloads every single time they're needed instead of just storing a copy of the image) than when I was powering off every night. I now only power it off if it's frozen or I'm not going to be using it for several days because I've picked up a paper book.

02-09-2013, 06:54 AM	#10
soulfuldog I ♥ Calibre Posts: 2,073 Karma: 5678911 Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis, Voyage, Sony PRS-350, Hudl2	I thought all e-ink e-readers were the same in that as long as you have wi-fi turned off, the difference between off and sleep should be pretty negligible, as it shouldn't be doing anything while in sleep mode?

02-10-2013, 11:23 AM	#14
soulfuldog I ♥ Calibre Posts: 2,073 Karma: 5678911 Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis, Voyage, Sony PRS-350, Hudl2	Hmmm, interesting. I guess I'm just used to using my Kindle more than anything. It can't actually be switched completely off, you are really just putting it to sleep with either the screensaver showing or the display switched off, but it still wakes up from sleep either way, and only ever boots up when it's re-set. But with WiFi off the battery doesn't run down much at all - although it's never been left for longer than a couple of days without use, and the battery has never dropped noticeably in that space of time, but maybe it would over a week or more. I've never even looked at switching the Sony off, it just gets put to sleep and as it's used more intermittently, sometimes when I go back to switch it on, it takes a while to power back up and the battery does deplete a little on it.

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