Do you power off your Kindle when not in use?

[KeziaPurrs]

I'm wondering if it is okay to leave the Kindle on (in screensaver mode) constantly between readings? Or is it wiser to turn it completely off.

Thanks,
Lis

[desertgrandma]

Welcome to MobileRead, KeziaPurrs

the consensus seems to be to just let it go to screensaver.

Very little battery drain that way......and please feel free to use the 'introduce myself' link below to meet more of your fellow MR members......

[JaneD]

I just put it to sleep. I used to turn it all the way off when I first got it, then I read on the boards that it was better to send it to sleep mode rather than off.

[birdbrainbb]

I turn it all the way off if I'm not going to use it for an hour or more. (Is that the wrong thing to do?) Otherwise I just stick it on screensaver-- although sometimes I'm too lazy to shut it all the way off and leave it on screensaver all day.

[kevinp]

When you turn off your television, you are just putting it into 'standby mode'. Would it make sense to unplug it if you're not going to be watching it for an hour or more?

[KeziaPurrs]

Thanks, you guys, for all of the responses. I'll continue to keep in standby mode. Only the best for my new toy.

Lis

[shanghaichica]

I always leave it in stanby mode.

[Zerodime]

You can leave it in standby mode for the whole month it has battery life (you should load it though halveway through it).
Putting it in 'Off'-Mode might e contra productive because the kindle isn't designed to eb shut off but to go out without a shutdown sequence.
It has a linux-system underneath it and holding the off-button for a long time (around 15seconds) will let it go out like a PC plugged from the power cable.
It could be ok to let it shutdown by pressing the off-switch for ~7seconds but I'm not sure of this.

[birdbrainbb]

Originally Posted by kevinp

When you turn off your television, you are just putting it into 'standby mode'. Would it make sense to unplug it if you're not going to be watching it for an hour or more?

A Kindle's not a television, though. TVs don't run off of batteries like Kindle do. Surely turning a Kindle all the way off conserves battery life, even if it's just a little bit? Or am I wrong about that?

[kevinp]

Originally Posted by birdbrainbb

A Kindle's not a television, though. TVs don't run off of batteries like Kindle do. Surely turning a Kindle all the way off conserves battery life, even if it's just a little bit? Or am I wrong about that?

My point was that it wasn't meant to be powered off. I haven't actually tried, but based on my experience with batteries, the battery is going to drain down over time no matter what.

[birdbrainbb]

Originally Posted by kevinp

My point was that it wasn't meant to be powered off. I haven't actually tried, but based on my experience with batteries, the battery is going to drain down over time no matter what.

It's not really that big a deal, I guess I'm just confused because I'm used to turning things off when I'm not using them, and even though a Kindle doesn't behave the same way as, like, my iPod, I keep assuming it does, somehow. And then I don't know why turning it off would be BAD for it (unplugging a TV isn't bad for it, just weird, if we're still using that metaphor). Whatever, I don't have a technically-minded brain and I probably wouldn't understand the reasons anyway, so it's cool.

[Piper_]

Originally Posted by birdbrainbb

A Kindle's not a television, though. TVs don't run off of batteries like Kindle do. Surely turning a Kindle all the way off conserves battery life, even if it's just a little bit? Or am I wrong about that?

Yes, the "off" state conserves battery life, just as, or maybe more than, the screensaver state.

It's not the same sort of "off" as you get with a computer, because you don't have to boot it up from the off state. Just slide the button, and it wakes just as from screensaver mode.

I don't know why some say not to turn it off - perhaps it's legacy advice that applied to previous models?

But the Kindle 3 documentation lists the instructions for turning your Kindle Off (with a 7 second slide) right next to the instructions sleeping it.

There is nothing in there, or anywhere else from Amazon I can find, about either choice being preferred.

I like to use the Off method, because that way, I can disable the screensaver.

[duckeedoug]

If you turn the Kindle completely off how is it going to download content via Whispernet? In standby mode your content and blogs will continue to download. So it kinda of depends on what the end user is seeking. If you want your blogs and newspapers to be ready when you hit the road in the morning the unit should be in standby (screen saver mode)

[Piper_]

Originally Posted by duckeedoug

If you turn the Kindle completely off how is it going to download content via Whispernet? In standby mode your content and blogs will continue to download. So it kinda of depends on what the end user is seeking. If you want your blogs and newspapers to be ready when you hit the road in the morning the unit should be in standby (screen saver mode)

Yeah. I just keep wireless off until I actually want things to download. (The manual says it will only continue to check periodically for downloads if you left the wireless on when you put it to sleep.) I just connect when I'm ready, because it only takes mine a minute or so, at most.

I assume that "off" level saves more power than being on standby, when the wireless is completely off.

[birdbrainbb]

Originally Posted by Piper_

Yes, the "off" state conserves battery life, just as, or maybe more than, the screensaver state.

It's not the same sort of "off" as you get with a computer, because you don't have to boot it up from the off state. Just slide the button, and it wakes just as from screensaver mode.

I don't know why some say not to turn it off - perhaps it's legacy advice that applied to previous models?

But the Kindle 3 documentation lists the instructions for turning your Kindle Off (with a 7 second slide) right next to the instructions sleeping it.

There is nothing in there, or anywhere else from Amazon I can find, about either choice being preferred.

I like to use the Off method, because that way, I can disable the screensaver.

Yeah, I was wondering if the "don't turn off" thing was from a previous version of the Kindle, because all I could find about it through Google was for Kindle 1 and 2 (and one random blogger for Kindle 3). One post somewhere said that turning your Kindle off was like pulling the plug out from your computer without booting it down first-- but they were talking about the Kindle 2. With the Kindle 3 it does seem like it's just waking up from a longer sleep, no problems with remembering the last page I was on, etc. like apparently Kindle 2 had? And then there's nothing about on/off problems in the documentation for 3, like you said. Hence my confusion, haha.

Anyway, I don't need anything desperately enough to leave Whispernet on overnight, so I just turn it off. Just depends on the person and what you want, like duckeedoug said.