New "Mars" device from Likebook?

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by romevi

Anyone else using Nova on this thing? I haven't figured out how to change the background wallpaper of the main desktop. It appears as just solid black no matter what.

I just got mine a few days ago and I'm using Nova even though I am stuck with a black background. To me it's so much better than the eink specific ones. I did see someone say that the Google Now launcher works well.

[StaticChromatic]

Hey everyone, just received my Likebook Mars yesterday. Set it all up with Google services, downloaded a few apps (Instapaper, Spotify, Libby, Overdrive).

The battery life is ABYSMAL. It seems that "Android OS" is using all of it, even when the device is sleeping. Overnight, with wifi/BT off, it lost 35% charge, "Android OS" showing as 120% of drain in the battery settings page.

What is everyone's average for battery life on this thing? What could I be doing wrong?

[Sonofrobot]

Originally Posted by romevi

Anyone else using Nova on this thing? I haven't figured out how to change the background wallpaper of the main desktop. It appears as just solid black no matter what.

I had the same issue, so I stopped using it.

Originally Posted by StaticChromatic

Hey everyone, just received my Likebook Mars yesterday. Set it all up with Google services, downloaded a few apps (Instapaper, Spotify, Libby, Overdrive).

The battery life is ABYSMAL. It seems that "Android OS" is using all of it, even when the device is sleeping. Overnight, with wifi/BT off, it lost 35% charge, "Android OS" showing as 120% of drain in the battery settings page.

What is everyone's average for battery life on this thing? What could I be doing wrong?

Do you disable WiFi when you're not using it? I have found that that significantly increased my battery life. WiFi seems to have a huge battery drain atm. Hopefully it's fixed in future releases.

@notimp maybe chill with the philosophical novels you're posting and double- and triple-posting. No offense but so far this thread has been full of helpful responses and it would be nice if it continued on that way.

Has anyone found a way to put the Mars in landscape mode?

[notimp]

Ok - what part of the "and now back on topic" did you miss, so you had to post the passive aggressive "it would be wonderful if this could remain a product support thread" slant?

Why do you have to put down the reflective ("philosophical") excursions? Too little product support in them for you?

Lets make things very clear.

- I came into this thread to post factual shortcomings of this device that no one posted in here before.
- I posted a tutorial on how to enable the best available text to speech solution on this device
- I posted settings for Perfect Viewer ("THE comic viewer on android"), that make it more useable that the default ones
- I posted personalized help for several people in this thread.

I also posted a slight sleight, that instead of posting multiple "can you test this app for me" postings, a user could just as well have taken what had been posted already - and extrapolate his answer from that - instead of bothering everyone with requests for individualized help requests (that involve signing up for webservices).

At which point - I got a "couldnt you be more polite"? Response, I actually didn't mind -

and then your passive aggressive attempt to get YOUR personalized help request in there - because you found this thread so jolly, as long as it is all personalized help requests. From page 1 to page 19.

Then you asked for help.

The question you've asked I've already answered in here as well. But you apparently where so transfixed, attacking long texts that you didnt catch it.

So I'll personalize this little message for you: I don't do individualized support services.

Especially not for stuff, thats already laid out here.

Did those for the better part of four years - couldnt have gotten less of a parting gift for it. Since then I've developed a very understandable grudge against valued forum members that need everything on a silver tablet, and with a smile - or they are out to rally the troops (*chatter**watercoolertalk*).

As a parting question. Do you enjoy telling people to calm down - when they had already moved on? And explicitly stated so?

Do you enjoy riling people on, by telling them that they shouldnt write long texts - short personalized support request answers would do just fine - thank you?

And dont tell me I wasnt helpful. I wasnt polite enough.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by notimp

Ok - what part of the "and now back on topic" did you miss, so you had to post the passive aggressive "it would be wonderful if this could remain a product support thread" slant?

Why do you have to put down the reflective ("philosophical") excursions? Too little product support in them for you?

Lets make things very clear.

- I came into this thread to post factual shortcomings of this device that no one posted in here before.
- I posted a tutorial on how to enable the best available text to speech solution on this device
- I posted settings for Perfect Viewer ("THE comic viewer on android"), that make it more useable that the default ones
- I posted personalized help for several people in this thread.

I also posted a slight sleight, that instead of posting multiple "can you test this app for me" postings, a user could just as well have taken what had been posted already - and extrapolate his answer from that - instead of bothering everyone with requests for individualized help requests (that involve signing up for webservices).

At which point - I got a "couldnt you be more polite"? Response, I actually didn't mind -

and then your passive aggressive attempt to get YOUR personalized help request in there - because you found this thread so jolly, as long as it is all personalized help requests. From page 1 to page 19.

Then you asked for help.

The question you've asked I've already answered in here as well. But you apparently where so transfixed, by long texts that you didnt catch it.

So I'll personalize this little message for you: I don't do individualized support services.

Especially not for stuff, thats already laid out here.

Did those for the better part of four years - couldnt have gotten less of a parting gift for it. Since then I've developed a very understandable grudge against valued forum members that need everything on a silver tablet, and with a smile - or they are out to rally the troops (*chatter**watercoolertalk*).

As a parting question. Do you enjoy telling people to calm down - when they had already moved on? And explicitly stated so?

Do you enjoy riling people on, by telling them that they shouldnt write long texts - short personalized support requests would do just fine - thank you?

And dont tell me I wasnt helpful.

How about if I tell you that you weren't helpful? It's difficult to read through your novels in this thread and find helpful information.

[notimp]

Then its a perfect match. White Knight Sonofrobot found Purple Lady at the water cooler.

I will still write postings just as long as I'd want though.

I'm sorry I didnt help you, but I certainly helped others. You didnt sound like you needed help at the time.

On a serious note. All my postings so far have been about not lowering your standards, just because people would find it easier, and not always helping people out on a personal support level - but helping them out nevertheless - and then arguing why this is actually an ok thing to do - despite a forum rule that says - always be polite.

(Posting whats wrong with this ereader after 19 pages of praise, added probably the most value.)

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by StaticChromatic

Hey everyone, just received my Likebook Mars yesterday. Set it all up with Google services, downloaded a few apps (Instapaper, Spotify, Libby, Overdrive).

The battery life is ABYSMAL. It seems that "Android OS" is using all of it, even when the device is sleeping. Overnight, with wifi/BT off, it lost 35% charge, "Android OS" showing as 120% of drain in the battery settings page.

What is everyone's average for battery life on this thing? What could I be doing wrong?

I just left mine sitting for 5.5 hours and only used 1% battery. I leave wifi on, but in advanced battery settings I use "keep wifi on during sleep only when plugged in. I've installed a lot of apps, and also gone into power management and set a bunch of them to ok background activity and boot from boot.

I don't use instapaper, Spotify, or Overdrive, but I do use Libby. You don't need Overdrive if you have Libby.

Among other apps I have: Amazon app store, Nova launcher, FX file explorer, MoonReader Pro, Calibre Companion, Dropbox, Tapatalk, and the Kindle app.

The battery doesn't record what uses it very well. With other Boyue tablets it always showed the screen as 100% even if it was only on a few minutes. I'm on V1.0.3.

The only thing I could suggest is to uninstall likely problem apps and see if that helps, or do a factory reset.

[fduniho]

Originally Posted by Sonofrobot

Has anyone found a way to put the Mars in landscape mode?

Yes, I installed Smart Rotate, which lets me change the screen orientation by selecting what I want in the notification area. For this to work, you have to allow the app to run in the background.

[StaticChromatic]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I just left mine sitting for 5.5 hours and only used 1% battery. I leave wifi on, but in advanced battery settings I use "keep wifi on during sleep only when plugged in. I've installed a lot of apps, and also gone into power management and set a bunch of them to ok background activity and boot from boot.

Thanks! I'll also post my response from another thread, in case it helps anyone here:

So, I think I've found the culprit. It seems that certain services (location, certain apps, etc.) ping the CPU pretty often when turned on, even with WiFi off. Everything off, with Greenify forcing all apps to hibernate (and the device to enter "doze mode"), in battery saving mode, I reduced the overnight charge from 35% to 1%. That's without the device's "auto-shutdown", which Boyue recommended having on (but I didn't like having to boot up my device each time to use it).

I'm not sure if this was a software problem on Boyue's side, but with many of their default Android settings on, the battery drain was massive. Luckily, with some tweaks, it's greatly increased.

I've also been speaking with some devs at Boyue on how to better improve the battery life via slowing down the CPU, so hopefully it will be further improved in a later update. Their customer service has been very helpful so I'm hopeful

[romevi]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I just got mine a few days ago and I'm using Nova even though I am stuck with a black background. To me it's so much better than the eink specific ones. I did see someone say that the Google Now launcher works well.

I tried the stock Boyue Launcher, a revised Yotaphone launcher, Relaunchx, and Google Now, but I kept going back to Nova.

Maybe it's the familiarity, but Nova seems far better as a launcher even for e-ink screens. I cannot fathom why e-ink launcher designers put so much pressure on file navigation; if it's for an Android device, there already are very good file managers, so all we need is a launcher that combines simplicity for e-ink devices with customizability for Android.
Nova almost bridges that gap were it not for that black wallpaper. I already was able to get the icons stark black and a simple layout which suited me far better than purportedly e-ink-driven launchers.

Originally Posted by Sonofrobot

I had the same issue, so I stopped using it.

I'm still using mine, but I've reverted to keeping my main reading apps in the dock, make the dock plain white, and just keep everything else in the apps drawer.
At least the dock has a white background...

[enekomh]

Hi all.
I got my Mars yesterday and though thus far I'm happy with it, I'd like to change the default reading app to use Librera. Is there any place on settings where I can set this or am I stuck with it as it comes and have to open the app manually in order to read my books on Librera?

[Sonofrobot]

Originally Posted by fduniho

Yes, I installed Smart Rotate, which lets me change the screen orientation by selecting what I want in the notification area. For this to work, you have to allow the app to run in the background.

Exactly what I need. Thanks for the tip!

Originally Posted by StaticChromatic

Thanks! I'll also post my response from another thread, in case it helps anyone here.....

So, is Greenify solving your problems or acting more as a Band-Aid until Boyue fixes the real issue?

Originally Posted by romevi

I tried the stock Boyue Launcher, a revised Yotaphone launcher, Relaunchx, and Google Now, but I kept going back to Nova.
...

I feel the same way about RelaunchX. It doesn't do it for me at all. Ideally, I would like to have a launcher like the stock one that we have but have it integrate with your reader of choice. I use my Mars for reading and not much else so a launcher that's focused on that activity would be my best candidate. Hopefully Boyue will tweak it more in the coming months and make it more attractive. Is the Yotaphone launcher you used the "eInk Launcher" I posted about a few pages back or a different one?

Originally Posted by enekomh

Hi all.
I got my Mars yesterday and though thus far I'm happy with it, I'd like to change the default reading app to use Librera. Is there any place on settings where I can set this or am I stuck with it as it comes and have to open the app manually in order to read my books on Librera?

If you long press on a book, you can set it to open in Librera by default. I believe this will affect all books of that format but I'm not 100% sure. What it will not do is reflect your progress or anything else from Librera in the stock launcher.

[enekomh]

@Sonofrobot thanks! That worked perfectly!

[romevi]

Originally Posted by Sonofrobot

So, is Greenify solving your problems or acting more as a Band-Aid until Boyue fixes the real issue?

I've wondered whether Greenify eliminates memory or adds more since it has to be on all the time and monitor apps.

Originally Posted by Sonofrobot

Is the Yotaphone launcher you used the "eInk Launcher" I posted about a few pages back or a different one?

Yes, it's that one! I found out it was a modified version someone had made for the Yotaphone (at least I think it is); I used it for about an hour but reverted back the stock launcher.

[Waiting4somethin]

Originally Posted by crane3

Likebook Mars does support USB OTG; BUT the Android 6 bug is still there. i.e. you have to get to developer mode & toggle the usb from mtp to charging then back to mtp. Also after powered off, you have to toggle the usb mtp mode again, I thnk, & not each time one wants to use it.

So you can connect a mouse, or keyboard?