WOW, The Kindle's battery life doubles overnight

[boswd]

Originally Posted by mcrow24

I don't pay too much attention to battery life. Most of my reading is done at home where I have a wall outlet and I don't take 8+ hour flights either. Since practically every eReader I've tried gets ~8 or more hours of reading time, battery life isn't a factor for me.

I agree, I have no issues at ALL with my nook classic and my nook color, I have to charge my nook classic on average about 6 days the nook color about 4 depending on how much web surfing I do but could squeeze 5 days out of it.

I always felt if you have some for of mental issues with charging a device once a week you have more issues than battery life.

but that's an old arguement and such.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by ApK

I don't think it shows any fear on Amazon's part to keep up with B&N. Apparently, the power draw and battery capacity are the same for both devices, and B&N was trying to pull a marketing advantage, so Amazon countered. I don't especially like it but I understand it and don't think it shows fear.

Also, with more people expecting to use other features, like wifi for shopping and social features, etc, I don't think page turns would be a very valid measure of battery life anymore, either. People will be doing a lot more than turning pages.

I didn't say fear but Amazon has been reacting to almost every one of BN's move and they wouldn't do the same for say someone like Aluratek or Kobo, no offensive to either one of those two.

Hmm you bring up a good point about the shopping and social features. didn't think of it that way. good point indeed.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by jedifarfy

I'm not surprised. Last summer when B&N dropped the price of the 3G model and debuted the Wifi model, Amazon dropped their prices by exactly $10 within hours. :P

yup

nook wifi then kindle wifi

nook lendme then kindle lendme books

nook tablet (if rumors hold true) possibly a kindle tablet

nook touch - well we'll wait and see

but it does seem Kindle is always on it's heels.

[abookreader]

odd - my Kindle battery life is exactly the same.

I agree Boswd. Amazon has been quite intent on never letting Barnes and Noble develop any sort of advantage.

But when you think about it, didn't Barnes start the one up game by coming out with an eReader AFTER Amazon ramped up the Kindle?

[khalleron]

I wouldn't say 'fear' either, but it does seem that Amazon is taking BN more seriously than its other competitors.

I wasn't impressed with the Classic Nook nor any of the Kindles, but I have to say that the new Nook is tempting enough that I might just get one when it's time to say farewell to my beloved PRS-505.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Battery life based on minutes per day of reading time.

Amz (old): 1 month = 60 min/day = 30 hours

B&N (new): 2 months = 30 min/day = 30 hours

Amz (new): 2 months = 30 min/day = 30 hours

When Amazon releases the Kindle Touch later this year, I fully expect a 4 month battery life (15 min/day = 30 hours)

I think it would be much more useful to give the % charge lost per hour of reading time and the percentage lost per hour of standby time with and without wifi.

That way we can calculate the number of DAYS we can get out of the thing. For example, I can get 2-3 days of heavy reading from the nook before needing to charge it when the "spec" says 10 days. It is rare for me to read as little as 1/2 hour a day.

[maianhvk]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

As it stands in practical use I get about a week with WiFi off and reading quite a bit.

These days when my pace increases, I think "What? This is supposed to last a whole month? Ridiculous!" WiFi off and it merely lasts 1 week, 8-9 days - top. Now they say it should last 2 months. WOW.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Joykins

I think it would be much more useful to give the % charge lost per hour of reading time and the percentage lost per hour of standby time with and without wifi.

"Reading time" has no measurable effect. How fast do you read? How many times you turn pages in that time? What if the font were set smaller?

As long as all the manufactures calculate the same way (or at least state how they calculate) then you can at least see that one reader has more or less battery life than another, regardless of if the numbers actually represent real use. Just like comparing EPA mileage values on cars. I may not get 35MPG out of the car, but if it claims 35MPG then I know it's more fuel efficient than one that claims 25MPG.

[Giggleton]

My battery ran out on the train the other day

But I charged it when I got home

[mcrow24]

Probably the best way to rate batter life for an ereader would be the number of page turns. Even that isn't going to be accurate for hours of use.

I read at about 400 words per minute with about 80-100% comprehention according to tests I've taken.

For average ebook that's probably close to 1-2 pages per minute. I know people that read much faster than I do. I know people that read closer to 200 wpm as well.

So, I don't think there is a good way to measure it but like another person said if they at least use a standardized measurement we will at least know which one has the better battery.

[copyrite]

Doesn't it also depend on how big the font is (bigger the font more page turns to get to the end of the book)?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by copyrite

Doesn't it also depend on how big the font is (bigger the font more page turns to get to the end of the book)?

Umm...yes:

Originally Posted by ApK

"Reading time" has no measurable effect. How fast do you read? How many times you turn pages in that time? What if the font were set smaller?

[copyrite]

Clearly I'm not reading every word. LOL

[Joykins]

So I'm losing battery power at a faster rate when I'm skimming, at a few seconds/page?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Joykins

So I'm losing battery power at a faster rate when I'm skimming, at a few seconds/page?

On an eink device, absolutely.
Unlike an LCD device, which constantly has to light and update the display, the eink device consumes virtually no power when just displaying a page for you to read (essentially in standby, except for whatever computational tasks are going on in the background, like indexing, etc).
Only when the screen has to change what it is displaying, like when you change pages, or worse, scroll around a website or zoomed-in pdf, does it draw a lot of power.
This is why eink devices are as power efficient as they are, and why page-turns have been an appropriate unit of battery life measurement.

Of course using any other features of the device, like playing audio and using wifi, changes the numbers greatly.

ApK