Firmware 6.3 and its bugs!

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by beej231

At this point, battery life is my only complaint. A full charge used to last me from approx 10 AM to 8:30 or 9 PM with lots of use (not sure how to clarify usage). Lots, best I can do. <g>

Buy Badass Battery Manager Pro for the Kindle Fire. Its main screen shows screen usage in hours, minutes and seconds. I measure usage since the Last Full Charge. That can be set in the Settings.

Then, when you reach the 15% warning, record the usage number from the BBBM main screen. For me that always reaches about 5 hours and 30 minutes. That was true before the upgrade and after it.

At 15% usage left, my BBBM shows about one hour left of battery usage. That means my total battery life is 6 hours and 30 minutes. That number has not changed.

I've never used any apps not authorized for the Kindle Fire in the Amazon App store.

Originally Posted by Blossom

I hear you. It's disheartening. I'm going to wait for a lighted Kindle. I think it will work perfectly.

For me it is not so much the buggie update 6.3 as it is the fact that Amazon still has never fully implemented KF8. The Fire was introduced 6 months ago with KF8 being touted from every Amazon corner, yet we still don't have KF8 on the eInk models, only partially on the Fire though buggie. The Kindle for iPad app is still the ONLY one to support video within KF8 books, and it has much more flexibility as far as formatting and viewing. And 6 months later we still have that gawd-awful Fire launcher. Give me my darn Collections Amazon!

[Anabran]

"Its possible that some, having lots of bugs, rooted the Kindle Fire or are using non-Amazon Store android apps."

Hmm interesting to see the wide variety of experiences with what is basically the same device.
I unplug my KF from the charger at 5am when I arise for morning Prayer.
I use it of and on all day up to about 11:30 PM
by which time it is usually down to about 45- 50% of battery life left.

I leave the device in sleep /standby when not using it .

I mostly read Epub books with Aldiko and play 3D graphic heavy video games like Shadowgun

99% of my apps are straight sideloaded android apps NOT from Amazon and I am not rooted

[bjones6416]

Originally Posted by beej231

I'm pretty sure Blossom hasn't rooted tho she may have by now. As for using non-Amazon apps, my goodness, almost everyone has tried out 1 or 2 non-Amazon apps.

At this point, battery life is my only complaint. A full charge used to last me from approx 10 AM to 8:30 or 9 PM with lots of use (not sure how to clarify usage). Lots, best I can do. <g>

Agree. Battery life is shorter for me, too, but that seems to be the only issue.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jswinden

For me it is not so much the buggie update 6.3 as it is the fact that Amazon still has never fully implemented KF8. The Fire was introduced 6 months ago with KF8 being touted from every Amazon corner, yet we still don't have KF8 on the eInk models, only partially on the Fire though buggie. The Kindle for iPad app is still the ONLY one to support video within KF8 books, and it has much more flexibility as far as formatting and viewing. And 6 months later we still have that gawd-awful Fire launcher. Give me my darn Collections Amazon!

Actually, the Kindle Touch with the new firmware 5.1 has KF8 support.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by jswinden

For me it is not so much the buggie update 6.3 as it is the fact that Amazon still has never fully implemented KF8. The Fire was introduced 6 months ago with KF8 being touted from every Amazon corner, yet we still don't have KF8 on the eInk models, only partially on the Fire though buggie.

You're a little out of date. The recently-released firmware version 5.1 for the Kindle Touch adds KF8 support to the Touch (as several other nice features).

Wow, six months later they get it released for one of three eInk reader models. Woopity doo! But does it actually function correctly? Does it actually support the whole KF8 format or just bits and pieces thereof? My guess is that it is KF8-Lite.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by beej231

I'm pretty sure Blossom hasn't rooted tho she may have by now. As for using non-Amazon apps, my goodness, almost everyone has tried out 1 or 2 non-Amazon apps.

At this point, battery life is my only complaint. A full charge used to last me from approx 10 AM to 8:30 or 9 PM with lots of use (not sure how to clarify usage). Lots, best I can do. <g>

Nope not rooted and would never root my Fire. I've had enough experience losing my first one to know Amazon isn't happy to replace the Fire if they think you did something to it.

Before update and this was with many apps I was charging every two days after 6.3 I'm now charging every other night. No 3rd party apps but Opera, ES File Explorer, Dropbox, BABM, Screen Dim, Lock and WiFi.

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Nope not rooted and would never root my Fire. I've had enough experience losing my first one to know Amazon isn't happy to replace the Fire if they think you did something to it.

Before update and this was with many apps I was charging every two days after 6.3 I'm now charging every other night. No 3rd party apps but Opera, ES File Explorer, Dropbox, BABM, Screen Dim, Lock and WiFi.

Peek at your BABMP main screen. What is the screen time right before you recharge and what is the percentage left? Sometimes I even go down past the 15% mark to 10% (I have BABMP flag me there).

Also, at times the BABMP main screen percent and time gets frozen as compared to the number in the overlay icon. Then just do a shutdown to sync the main screen to the proper numbers. Do the measurement from "Last Full Charge" since shutdowns would be ignored then.

Days one uses it are not comparable since usage may vary. Screen time used in the BABMP table is the only proper measure. My days between full charges have varied from 2 to 5 both before and after but they cannot be used for comparison purposes.

My screen time before the recharge has ranged from 5:38 to 5:53 before the firmware upgrade on March 29 from 5:23 to 5:53 after the upgrade. I have seen no significant change either way.

Finally, what is "KF8?"

[Skydog]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

I have seen no significant change either way.

This has been my experience as well.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

Peek at your BABMP main screen. What is the screen time right before you recharge and what is the percentage left? Sometimes I even go down past the 15% mark to 10% (I have BABMP flag me there).

Also, at times the BABMP main screen percent and time gets frozen as compared to the number in the overlay icon. Then just do a shutdown to sync the main screen to the proper numbers. Do the measurement from "Last Full Charge" since shutdowns would be ignored then.

Days one uses it are not comparable since usage may vary. Screen time used in the BABMP table is the only proper measure.

My screen time before the recharge has ranged from 5:38 to 5:53 before the firmware upgrade on March 29 from 5:23 to 5:53 after the upgrade. I have seen no significant change either way.

I don't use the overlay icon. I only use the Kindle Fire for one thing and that is to read with. I use to be able to read for 3 hours and barely a dent in the battery and now it sucks the life of it right down.

[Skydog]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

Finally, what is "KF8?"

KF8 = Kindle Format 8

It is replacing the mobi format but will be backwards-compatible.

[Skydog]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I don't use the overlay icon. I only use the Kindle Fire for one thing and that is to read with. I use to be able to read for 3 hours and barely a dent in the battery and now it sucks the life of it right down.

Which app is the biggest offender?

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Skydog

Which app is the biggest offender?

Launcher or Kernel is the biggest offenders. The only app I use is the Kindle Reader app, BABM and Screen Dim running when I am using my Kindle Fire.

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I don't use the overlay icon. I only use the Kindle Fire for one thing and that is to read with. I use to be able to read for 3 hours and barely a dent in the battery and now it sucks the life of it right down.

Even if you don't use the Overlay Icon, you had mentioned you use Big Ass Battery Manager Pro earlier. First use Settings \ More \ Device and note the percentage of the battery energy left before you do your Full Charge.

Then tap BABMP in the Notification Bar and make sure the BABMP Main screen reads the same percentage left as the previous reading. If not, do a Shutdown to correct the BABMP Main screen. That table tends to freeze from time to time and usually needs a Shutdown to reflect the proper energy percentage left and the correst usage time.

Then look at the Main screen on the "Screen" line. It records Usage Time in hours:minutes:seconds. Note the hours:minutes right before you do a Full Charge. Report it back here and I can tell you if your firmware is within the proper time usage range before you need a Full Charge.

My biggest battery energy usage app is "Amazon Kindle" which is the eBook reader for Amazon ebooks. Kernel uses close to that one. Launcher uses virtually near zero energy.