Battery life

[oldyellr]

There has been a lot of talk about short battery life. I though the battery was going down too fast, so yesterday I did an experiment.

I started reading about 11 a.m. with a fully charged battery. Whenever I put the Vox down to do other things, I put it in sleep mode. All I used was Aldiko to read a book and didn't use any other apps or wifi, which I keep in airplane mode. Once in a while I would check the battery level and what was using it (Menu/Settings/About Kobo eReader/Status & Battery Use) At about 11 hours 19 minutes up time, I got the 10% charge warning. I guessed I might have been actually reading for maybe 4 hours, the rest of the time the Vox was in sleep mode. However, when I checked Battery Use, there is a graph at the top of the screen showing the battery level over time. The x-axis is a line with black and blue segments which appear to be when the Vox was asleep and awake and it appeared as if the ratio was about equal. I could see where the downward slope was steeper when awake than when asleep. (I also noticed that the upward slope when I started charging again was a lot steeper, about 45°, and in the hour or so that I read before turning in for the night it was back up to 70%.)

Now, here's something curious. When I got the low battery warning, I checked Battery Use and saw this:

Display - 54%
Kobo eReader Idle - 43%
Android OS - 3%
Aldiko - 2%

What's all that about? I never used the Kobo eReader at all, only Aldiko. Could the Kobo Reading Live be working in the background, sucking down the battery? I have shut down Reading Life, as far as I know, but I still get that windowshade thingby accident sometimes when scrolling.

[DHR]

According to https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...2&postcount=18 "Kobo eReader Idle" counts idling while not asleep. I have no idea if that is true but it is plausible.

[Cdesja5]

Is it possible they mean the Vox itself? It is on "stand by" unless shut down therefore would consume power same as any other electrical device that is plugged in / on stand by?

[oldyellr]

Yes, I wondered myself whether "Kobo eReader" means the whole device, not just the Kobo reader app. All this information is in "About Kobo eReader" and most of the items there are not just about the reader app.

[oldyellr]

When I dig a bit deeper, I see that Display time and Kobo eReader Idle time add up to the total up time. So it looks like sleep mode saves a little juice, but not a huge amount.

[DHR]

I' had my Vox asleep for most of this battery cycle (19 hours; 90% left). When it wasn't sleeping, I was browsing a web server.

94% Kobo eReader idle
4% Wi-Fi
4% Display

So it looks as if "Kobo eReader idle" includes the power used during sleep.

For other reasons, this machine went through a factory reset yesterday so it is pretty vanilla at the moment.

Hmm. If you look at the battery use screen, it turns out that you can tap on parts of it. If you tap on "Kobo eReader idle", it gives you a screen that says, among other things, "Battery used when Kobo eReader is idle".

It is worth poking around on that screen.

[oldyellr]

On the battery use screen, when the battery is full, you see a grey rectangle at the top with the total time on battery on it. When the battery is partially discharged, you'll see it's not a rectangle, but the top slopes down to the right; it's a graph. When you press on the graph it goes full screen and the legend and usage vs. time is below it. Very educational. Maybe someone who is rooted and can do screen captures can post an example here.

[Wigmaker]

Posted in more detail in a similar thread:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...49#post1943249

The display appears to eat 90+% of my battery. Idle services that cannot be permanently turned off (only force-quit every time you turn the Vox on, e.g., that damn undelete-able Globe & Mail thing, Kobo and System updates) seem to be the secondary culprits.

I like the device functionality, but I'm really not impressed with the battery at all. If I could return it now I would, but I'm beyond the return date. I really don't think Kobo should have launched with such a clearly inadequate battery pack... (are you out there Kobo tech support?)

My .02,
-WM

[mr_nobody]

Originally Posted by Wigmaker

Idle services that cannot be permanently turned off (only force-quit every time you turn the Vox on, e.g., that damn undelete-able Globe & Mail thing, Kobo and System updates) seem to be the secondary culprits.

Root, and delete or freeze with titanium, these can all be dealt with if you care enough.

[Wigmaker]

Originally Posted by mr_nobody

Root, and delete or freeze with titanium, these can all be dealt with if you care enough.

Glad to hear that you are willing to pay your cash and then overlook the elementary shortcomings of the device as the retailer provides it to you -- I however am not, I expect the retailer to provide me with a quality product with adequate functionality, that does what they say it should. I kinda-sorta expect to get what I pay for.

...Or do you regularly buy a car with the expectation that you'll need to replace the engine as soon as you get it?

-WM

[Kboland]

Originally Posted by Wigmaker

Glad to hear that you are willing to pay your cash and then overlook the elementary shortcomings of the device as the retailer provides it to you -- I however am not, I expect the retailer to provide me with a quality product with adequate functionality, that does what they say it should. I kinda-sorta expect to get what I pay for.

...Or do you regularly buy a car with the expectation that you'll need to replace the engine as soon as you get it?

-WM

I bought my vox fully knowing that it had shortcomings, that I was prepared and excited to try to deal with. I enjoy the tinkering and did the research before purchasing, knowing what to expect and how to try to deal with it. You shouldn't assume that people are 'overlooking' things, in that they simply might like the challenge of using a device that was clearly not ready to be released to market. In the end, the consumer must do their due diligence to fully research a product prior to making any large purchase, car,e~reader or otherwise.

[DHR]

Originally Posted by Kboland

I bought my vox fully knowing that it had shortcomings, that I was prepared and excited to try to deal with...

Me too. And I found it at a seriously low boxing-day price.

But that's not how Kobo Vox can become a successful product. Wigmaker is 100% right about what most users should expect and get.

No general-purpose tablet has the battery stamina of good e-ink ebook readers. But some are better than others. Although I haven't done careful testing, I find the Vox has much worse battery life than my iPad (original model). Perhaps that is because 7" tablets don't have as big batteries as 10" tablets.

I suspect/hope that the Kobo will be able to sleep more efficiently with revised firmware. It isn't quite as likely that the Kobo can do better while on, but that is very important too.

[mr_nobody]

Originally Posted by Wigmaker

Glad to hear that you are willing to pay your cash and then overlook the elementary shortcomings of the device as the retailer provides it to you -- I however am not, I expect the retailer to provide me with a quality product with adequate functionality, that does what they say it should. I kinda-sorta expect to get what I pay for.

...Or do you regularly buy a car with the expectation that you'll need to replace the engine as soon as you get it?

-WM

I think your expectations are too high for a $200 android tablet/ereader. Perhaps you should have been more critical within your return window.

[paulsalter]

Would like to see some improvements made to battery life (mainly while its in standby mode)

I mainly use the Vox for reading books, usually get 6 to 7 hours reading out of a charge

Charge it for a few hours per day when doing something else, then switch it off a night when finished with it, doesnt always need charging every day, but I am in the habit of charging when I am not using it (same with mobile/cell phone, charge this every night)

[Kboland]

Originally Posted by DHR

But that's not how Kobo Vox can become a successful product. Wigmaker is 100% right about what most users should expect and get.

First, the Vox will never be a successful product in the current market, too many bugs on hardware that is a year old at best. Second, if the proper research was done before the purchase, the short battery life/knowledge of potential hardware problems out of the box should come as no surprise. All in all, the Vox should never have been released in the state it is. Just remember to always follow the following rule:
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caveat_emptor