iRex 800 quickly discharging

[mgmueller]

4 hours (standby, no usage after charging): Still showing 100%.
12 hours: 97% (16,67 days linearly extrapolated)
14 hours: 96% (14,58 days linearly extrapolated)
18.5 hours: 94% (12,85 days linearly extrapolated)

From 16,67 days constantly going down, now to 12,85 days.
Obviously, it's not linear (be it the meter or the battery itself). So linear extrapolation obviously has an error of at least +/- 25%.
So I'll go on, way closer to 0%.

24 hours: 92% (12,5 days linearly extrapolated)
31 hours: 90% (12,92 days linearly extrapolated)
39 hours: 87% (12,5 days linearly extrapolated)

Considering a "drop" I expect in the last 3rd, it looks like less than 2 weeks. But way more than my 4 days of course.
In my poll, most users state 1 week. Does seem about right for the moment.
Let's see, whether I'll have a surprising drop in the next few days...

43 hours: 86% (12,80 days linearly extrapolated)
49 hours: 84% (12,76 days linearly extrapolated)
73 hours: 77% (13,22 days linearly extrapolated)
86 hours: 73% (13,27 days linearly extrapolated)

Hmm, that's all perfectly in line with the rule of thumb from iRex: Close to 2 weeks.
And what most of you give in my poll: 1 to 2 weeks.
Unfortunately, I won't be apple to reproduce, what I've done exactly, before the 4 days have happened. I know which book I've read, of course. But I don't know which, when or how many other documents I may have opened, before going into standby...

95 hours: 70% (13,19 days linearly extrapolated)

EDIT: iRex found a bug, which will be fixed in the upcoming firmware update.
This bug is known to be triggered by PDBs. I only read B&N PDBs. So this obviously did happen with my reader. So I'll end my test and look forward to the firmware update.
iRex definitely gained lots of ground with me here again. Haven't seen such discussions with other manufacturers...

[cmdahler]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Personally, my most miserable experience concerning lifetime of battery was with my iPhone (1st Generation). Train ride into my headquarters is 4.5 hours. It rarely did make it...
Just browsing the web and occasionally even making a phone call...

I agree. Apple's power claims are way off. Any timing they claim for any of their devices from computers to iPods, if you cut it in half you'll be closer to a realistic mark. I haven't seen any tests of their more recent 7+ hour claims for their newer batteries on their laptops, but I'll bet it isn't anywhere close to 7 hours. My MacBookPro of a year old vintage will generally get around 2.5 hours out of a charge if I leave the wireless and bluetooth off and use Adobe InDesign (for some reason, InDesign constantly uses about 6 or 7 percent of the CPU). If I'm not using InDesign and just writing with Pages or reading a PDF, etc., I can get about an hour more out of it. Not anywhere close to the 5+ hours they claim for this particular battery. I expect the iPad to be no different.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by cmdahler

My MacBookPro of a year old vintage will generally get around 2.5 hours out of a charge...Not anywhere close to the 5+ hours they claim for this particular battery....

Same here.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

Yep, I agree. I think in the 4 day case, something wasn't quite right. Whether it was something like not being at 100% when he started, or he's uncovered a bug (maybe not going into standy correctly, or something like the DR1000 issue where it looks like it's shutdown but something got hung and is still running, etc) that needs to be narrowed down further isn't clear yet. Hopefully if he re-runs that test it'll be a little more clear what happened.

Strange thing is, the same did happen with my BeBook Neo about a week ago. About 3 or 4 days as well (and again, others have reported the very same for BeBook Neo and Onyx Boox).
That's why I'm asking myself, whether it may be something about the touchscreens.
WACOM tablets, as far as I know, usually have a sensor, which starts the tablet, as soon as the stylus is taken out of the unit or approaches the screen.
(In BeBook Neo I had the stylus inserted, so this can't be an explanation there.) Wasn't it with iLiad, where the manual stated "don't leave your stylus on the reader, because this permanently leaves the screen activated"?
The screens of BeBook Neo and iRex 800 don't react (when off or in standby) to the stylus, so it shouldn't be an issue. But still I ask myself, whether there might be something "on hold", because I don't have this with any other readers.

[OrcaBlue]

That's an interesting point about leaving the stylus on the reader. I noticed that you don't have to actually touch the screen for the reader to respond. Its sensor's definitely running when on. We don't know whether this is true while in suspend mode or not.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by cmdahler

So wait, let me get this right, you're saying you would consider it insulting to be thought of as an employee of IRex?

I'm saying that it is insulting that rather than respecting that someone may have a different opinion than you, you accuse them of being a PR shill instead. Besides I know nothing about business/marketing/PR. If throwing around accusations helps you ignore the fact that some actually have a positive opinion of iRex, at least accuse me of being one of their developers.

Regardless, I think it should be obvious to anyone following the IRex corner on MobileRead that IRex on the whole has one of the most miserable records as far as battery and power management goes in the entire e-reader industry. It appears to me to be a constant complaint along their entire product line

Absolutely true statements for the iLiad and DR1000 up until now.

and it doesn't seem to be an issue they show any real capability of fixing.

From what many of us have seen so far with the DR800, they certainly seem to have fixed it (or at the very least made a vast improvement, if you don't consider several weeks of standby to be "fixed").

[Dellaster]

Does anyone know what the switch does when "locked" to the right? After a few seconds the DR800 stops responding to buttons or pen while the screen stays un-blanked. Is this just a standby without white screen or does it force the Wacom to shut down? Just wondering if locking it to the right would change battery usage at all.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by SCION

You express yourself very well and directly to the point.

Thank you.

I believe it can be difficult to grasp the tone of someone's post. Adding emoticons and sensitive wording helps to appear more amiable.

Well, I'm a Software Engineer, and before that I was a Physicist. I usually am more concerned with data and analysis than I am with being sensitive and amiable. Maybe that's part of the problem.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by OrcaBlue

That's an interesting point about leaving the stylus on the reader. I noticed that you don't have to actually touch the screen for the reader to respond. Its sensor's definitely running when on. We don't know whether this is true while in suspend mode or not.

Just to make sure: I didn't leave the stylus on the reader. But maybe there is such a sensor and it did activate itself? Or maybe the reader permanently checks, whether a stylus is in range, thus consuming energy?

Similar report (3 to 4 days as well) for Onyx Boox: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=248

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Wasn't it with iLiad, where the manual stated "don't leave your stylus on the reader, because this permanently leaves the screen activated"?

The way it used to work with the iLiad is that when the stylus is in the slot, the WACOM screen is powered down. Also, in theory, if the stylus is out of the slot but you don't use it for a certain amount of time it was supposed to power down as well (although I don't think it really worked). There was some extensive testing done that showed that whether the WACOM layer was powered or not doesn't have a significant impact on the iLiad battery life. What does impact it is when you are actively writing on the screen. If you left the stylus resting on top of the reader, the WACOM layer effective reacted like you were constantly writing with it.

With the DR series, they changed the behavior based on those findings. The WACOM layer doesn't power down automatically anymore due to inactivity (or placing the stylus in the slot on the DR1000), because there was no real power savings in doing so. It is currently unknown whether or not it is powered down when the DR800 goes into standby.

The one difference with the DR800 is that we're talking about power drains over a much longer period of time. So what may not have been significant during a 12 hour battery life may be more of an issue when you're trying to get the device to last for weeks.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by OrcaBlue

That's an interesting point about leaving the stylus on the reader. I noticed that you don't have to actually touch the screen for the reader to respond. Its sensor's definitely running when on. We don't know whether this is true while in suspend mode or not.

Right, we don't really know. That's a good question, for those that are seeing relatively short standby times, where is the stylus in relation to the device during that time?

[OrcaBlue]

Originally Posted by Dellaster

Does anyone know what the switch does when "locked" to the right? After a few seconds the DR800 stops responding to buttons or pen while the screen stays un-blanked. Is this just a standby without white screen or does it force the Wacom to shut down? Just wondering if locking it to the right would change battery usage at all.

I just tested by slid the switch to the right into "lock" mode. Flipping the bar would not turn the page; however, the stylus still works. You can check battery and navigate. From that I would say turn the switch to "lock" doesn't disable the touch sensor.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by Dellaster

Does anyone know what the switch does when "locked" to the right? After a few seconds the DR800 stops responding to buttons or pen while the screen stays un-blanked. Is this just a standby without white screen or does it force the Wacom to shut down? Just wondering if locking it to the right would change battery usage at all.

Good question. I think it's intended to prevent accidental input from the buttons, but I don't know if it's supposed to be a power mode and what effect it has regarding battery life.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Shaggy

Right, we don't really know. That's a good question, for those that are seeing relatively short standby times, where is the stylus in relation to the device during that time?

My stylus rests left of the reader. About 3cm to the left and another 3cm below (iRex resting on another reader and an extra cover).

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Or maybe the reader permanently checks, whether a stylus is in range, thus consuming energy?

I don't think so. If that were true then the rest of us would be having that problem as well. I didn't do anything special to disable the stylus when I got 2 weeks out of mine.