Battery life!

[Solicitous]

Not being a Kobo owner, but could the bluetooth module be draining the battery? Does the bluetooth have the option of being turned off??

Secondly, I find it rather interesting that Amazon and now Kobo have in their terms and conditions forbidding people to disassemble their devices. Anyone know why companies are so engrossed on trying to ensure people don't open up their purchased product??

[RedRoverJ]

It is probably more to protect their proprietary information from competitors and is standard for all software and hardware. Also, it is used the void your warranty if you crack open the case and try to repair/modify the hardware.

[terifili]

Just a question, is it possible the charge isn't that great because the usb doesn't fit perfectly into the Kobo? Mine is a little loose, or I should say, doesn't fit tight all the way.

[chlmccann11]

I didn't leave the Kobo on to charge for 3 hours like instructed. Rather I waited until the device's red light came on after about an hour or so, took it off, and started using it. The first charge went quickly. Second charge I left on 3 hours as was instructed. Had a snooze, watched the hockey game...and before I knew it the battery was fully charged.

Can't believe all the people here though whose solution is to return something at the first sign they think they have a problem. Some people must have time to kill.

[terifili]

Originally Posted by chlmccann11

I didn't leave the Kobo on to charge for 3 hours like instructed. Rather I waited until the device's red light came on after about an hour or so, took it off, and started using it. The first charge went quickly. Second charge I left on 3 hours as was instructed. Had a snooze, watched the hockey game...and before I knew it the battery was fully charged.

Can't believe all the people here though whose solution is to return something at the first sign they think they have a problem. Some people must have time to kill.

Well, I think most people are bothered that the battery charge isn't performing as Kobo claimed...

[pholy]

Secondly, I find it rather interesting that Amazon and now Kobo have in their terms and conditions forbidding people to disassemble their devices. Anyone know why companies are so engrossed on trying to ensure people don't open up their purchased product??

Gee, I don't recall seeing those when I opened my box and turned on the reader. How could I have missed that? But I can't just take your word about disassembling my Kobo, can I?

I thought Canada still allowed reverse-engineering... Yeah, I think I'll go with that.

[Duiker]

Originally Posted by chlmccann11

Can't believe all the people here though whose solution is to return something at the first sign they think they have a problem. Some people must have time to kill.

Or rather, some peoples Kobo's work as intended while others' don't. After consistently getting approx 400 page turns per charge I am exchanging mine.

[BongoBong]

Originally Posted by corona

BongoBong, would you let us know how the battery is in your new Kobo? I'm thinking about returning mine, but not it it means more of the same. Thanks!

Well I am on my first charge of my new unit and I am at 1000 page turns with the unit saying i still have half a charge (but from what I read that means little for the first charge?). Either way at 1000 page turns I already have more turns then my previous one with more to go. I will update when I manage to drain it.

[Duiker]

I've been pretty vocal about my poor battery life so I thought I would do a simple test while atthe same time clear out a lot of the books in my "I'm reading menu". Too make a long story short if page through approx 835 pages then checked my battery life. I would say it moved down a little more then an 1/8. So clearly the battery drain on my kobo is not about page turns, so it must be something else. I keep my kobo in my bag and I often pulled it out to find that the menu button has been pushed and the menu is 'up'. I've decided that the best thing to do is wait to buy a proper case and see how the battery issues go once there is no danger of buttons being pushed by accident.

[HamsterRage]

Originally Posted by chlmccann11

Can't believe all the people here though whose solution is to return something at the first sign they think they have a problem. Some people must have time to kill.

I bought mine on the first day they came out, and it's been used pretty heavily since then. Especially since I took it away on vacation (the main reason I picked it up that first weekend they went on sale, because it saved me lugging a stack of paperbacks around), I was aware of the battery life since it's generally less convenient to charge stuff up when you're travelling.

It became pretty clear that I wasn't getting much more than 1K page turns, so I contacted Kobo about it. I was pretty clear that I've spent 99% of my time with it just reading, and not farting around with the menus or other things that might make me expect less than the 8K page turns advertised. I was also careful to turn it off before putting it into my briefcase or bag, to ensure a button wasn't held down for hours by mistake.

The return box arrived last week, and I'll be taking it to Purolator tonight. I've been holding off because I don't want to be without the unit. If I'm lucky the new one might come in by Friday. I'm in Mississauga, so the delivery time should be short. The box came pretty fast.

BTW: The box is huge, with bubble wrap and Styrofoam bracing included. They even give you a strip of tape to seal the box up. That aspect of the return experience has been very well executed by Kobo.

[StealthyScribe]

Kobo posted this on their FB page about an hour ago:

Hey folks,

Was just informed that - for those experiencing battery problems - most of these issues should be fixed by the Kobo desktop update out at the end of June.

Should you still experience problems with your battery, please contact our customer support team at help@kobobooks.com!

Fingers crossed.

[artificial]

Originally Posted by Duiker

Too make a long story short if page through approx 835 pages then checked my battery life. I would say it moved down a little more then an 1/8. So clearly the battery drain on my kobo is not about page turns, so it must be something else.

Nice one. That's great information to help pin down the problem.

My suspicion is also that page turns don't consume a lot of battery, and that those of us with sub-par battery performance (1000 turns or less) are having our battery drained in other ways.

My current focus is on powering the Kobo Reader off between reading sessions. I'm still doing the test, but from my previous charge I got ~750 turns (while the device was left always on), and from this charge I've already had 975, and my battery claims to have about 1/3 of its juice left (but I don't trust the battery status, it seems to decrease in large increments). I will post my final figures once my battery fully drains.

In any case, it seems that I am getting better battery life by powering the device off when I am not reading, which corresponds to advice a few people have given in this thread. If you don't already do so you may want to give that a shot.

I can't remember who, but someone mentioned that on this forum that their Astrak eReader suffered terrible battery life until the first firmware upgrade. This would suggest that battery drain can managed at a firmware level. Perhaps by putting the device to sleep after a period of time or something like that.

[terifili]

Originally Posted by StealthyScribe

Kobo posted this on their FB page about an hour ago:



Fingers crossed.

Well... Mine was packed up and ready to go back, then I read your message... so she is now unpacked and back in her Roots Sleeve
Box will remain open, awaiting the "firmware" update... hope it works to fix my 1000 page battery life... we'll see...

[HamsterRage]

Originally Posted by terifili

Well... Mine was packed up and ready to go back, then I read your message... so she is now unpacked and back in her Roots Sleeve
Box will remain open, awaiting the "firmware" update... hope it works to fix my 1000 page battery life... we'll see...

I too shall wait.

[artificial]

Originally Posted by StealthyScribe

Kobo posted this on their FB page about an hour ago:

Woohoo!

One thing that statement from Kobo doesn't specify: which battery problems exactly will be fixed? Battery life? The battery status only updating after a power up? The red light coming on/off at odd times?

I hope the answer to my question is: "all of the above"!