iLiad Battery Upgrade - updated information

[realityloop]

I have to say I'm quite disappointed to find that after filling out the initial battery replacement form, to now find that I am not eligible due to the date I purchased my Iliad (March 28th 2007).

This even though when I filled out the form there was no mention of date limits on free replacement, see the linked image taken from archive.org showing that as late as Jul 11, 2007 the form made no mention of date ranges and noted that it was a free battery replacement offer:

Imagine my elation after reading I could elect to purchase the updated back panel, then my deflation to find that iRex have now decided that I'm not eligible for free battery replacement, even though I filled out the form well before there was any mention of date limits to the eligibility.

I find this very disenchanting, and would now find it quite difficult to recommend friends to buy and deal with iRex in the future given this turn of events.

[HarryT]

Are you really that bothered about an extra hour or so of battery life? The iLiad more than gets me through a working day, or a transatlantic flight, on a battery charge. I'm not personally bothered about it doing more than that. Because of that, I'm afraid that I find it difficult to "imagine your elation" .

[CommanderROR]

I think the battery replacement option is more of a "peace gesture" than anything elese (and if I remember correctly Angel even confirmed that suspicion in an email conversation we had a long time ago).
The bigger battery won't really make the die-hard battery-life-freaks happier and it won't so anything for the people who are already happy with their device either (obviously). It just shows that iRex is doing something to at least reduce the gap between what the promised and what they delivered.
Why they can't redesign the device hardware to make suspend possible or change the battery life figures on new Iliad-boxes is anyone's guess...but I'd say that these features will probably be included in the Iliad 2.0 (the version that is selling now is more like a version 1.1), along with who know what else...it'll probably make us all go made with hope and enthusiasm like the last time...oh what fond memories...

While I can't forgive iRex for the obvious mistakes they made, I am actually quite happy with the way the device has progressed, especially the openness for user-developed applications and the addition of mobipocket really brought me back to the Iliad after I had almost completely given up on it.
And who knows...there might yet be a "big bang" in Iliad development that brings a solution to the battery-life problems...stranger things have happened after all...

[bigumpah]

Commander,

Hiya!

I purchased my Iliad at the end of of June. Let me assure you that receiving a battery that will perform between 12 to 15 hours will surely placate me than my current measly battery performance of 7 to 8 hours.

Vincent

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by bigumpah

Commander,

Hiya!

I purchased my Iliad at the end of of June. Let me assure you that receiving a battery that will perform between 12 to 15 hours will surely placate me than my current measly battery performance of 7 to 8 hours.

Vincent

But it won't. The new battery will give you around 20% longer lifetime. You'll get another hour or so, tops.

[benong]

I've been following this thread for a while and would like to add some comment:-
1) If battery life is unsatisfactory, then the useful life of iLiad will be much reduced;
2) Given a fixed number of charge circles available for the batteries, that means batteries will have to be replaced sooner than the expected time of 3~4 years;
3) When the batteries die, than owner will have to send back for batteries replacement, which will incur (a) cost of shipping; (b) cost of batteries and labor costs; (c) opportunity cost for not being able to use it for 2~3 weeks; (d) the danger of damage or lost while in transit to and from iRex.
All these will translate into much higher operating cost for owning the iLiad and as a potential user, I've have to think twice before committing myself to an iLiad, although it is no doubt a first-clase machine.
Of course, this can be avoided if the owner can do his/her own batteries replacement procedure. For this to happen, I need some advise as to (1) how difficult it is to open up the iLiad, (b) how difficult it is to find similar batteries in the open market and (c) how difficult it is to connect up the batteries and reassemble the machine.
Any comment will be very much appreciated.

[DeGodefroi]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But it won't. The new battery will give you around 20% longer lifetime. You'll get another hour or so, tops.

Really? I read that it would add 50% more, so 10 hours would lead to 15 hours.

But I am indeed satisfied with the Iliad. Though the display seems to have some problems (severe ghosting), but that is more a manufacturers error then policy from Irex.
I'd love the extra time though, and Irex did handle this in a bad dumb way.
There are enough ways to show good faith to the customers.
For example, say OK new battry but 4-5 months later after the pre-15 march buyers.
Or give a voucher for a free replacement when the battery has died/lost its load below a certain percentage.
So it will not bankrupt Irex or cost Irex so much money that they cannot work on a newer model or improved software etc etc.

Just my 2 cents.

[Shaggy]

Really? I read that it would add 50% more, so 10 hours would lead to 15 hours.

I've never seen them say that. It's always been 20% as far as I know.

[ig88]

I purchased my iLiad in July, I spent a lot of time researching the iLiad before deciding to purchase.

I KNEW that the battery life was not as originally advertised.

I KNEW that people were ticked about it.

I KNEW that a free battery replacement would be offered to people when the new battery was available.

NOWHERE did I read that it would only be for people who purchased before they updated their website.

[HarryT]

Let me ask you, ig88, how important is it to you if your reading time goes from, say, 10h to 12h? That's the level of improvement that the replacement battery would give you. You've already got that same type of improvement "for free" by upgrading to o/s v2.11, due to the fact that it now "throttles down" the CPU when it's idle.

[ig88]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Let me ask you, ig88, how important is it to you if your reading time goes from, say, 10h to 12h?

It would be nice.

It is not that I read 12 hours frequently, either but:
1. You get less than that if you use Wi-Fi and or Notes

2. You can go longer between charges, which is kind of a big deal for me, because the cable/adapter-thingy is a kludge. It is hard for it not to take a lot of room on my desk. I do most of my reading in bed, which leaves me with a long gangly cord in an inconvenient location. It would be much more convenient to recharge every night with a convenient dock that I could just drop the book onto (taking a small vertical space, rather than a HUGE horizontal space - not only do you have to accommodate the surface area of the iLiad, but because of the shortness of the dock connector cable and the weight of the adapter, you have to have enough room to also support the adapter to maintain a secure connection and reduce the possibility of breaking the connector port on the iLiad due to wear from too much pressure and prying by the connecting plug.) As such, I only charge when I need to, and of course, you never know when you might need a full charge, so sometimes when I find myself with a lot of reading time, and I only have a short battery time. Which a little bit longer battery isn't going to change completely, but every little bit helps.

So, yes, I do appreciate the longer battery life, and while it was not a CRITICAL factor in my purchase, I always had in the back of my mind that I would be able to get the extended battery if I needed to.

Also, as to your argument that 2.11 update with extra battery time due to throttling the CPU was not a known factor when I ordered my iLiad. (Neither was the improvement found when they fixed the Wi-Fi always on bug, for that matter).

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ig88

Also, as to your argument that 2.11 update with extra battery time due to throttling the CPU was not a known factor when I ordered my iLiad. (Neither was the improvement found when they fixed the Wi-Fi always on bug, for that matter).

Sorry, I think you misunderstand me. What I meant was that running 2.11 with the old battery has given us a roughly equivalent battery life "boost" to what we'd get by running 2.10 with the new battery. In effect, therefore, we've already received our free battery lifetime improvement, just by a different route.

[ElaHuguet]

I'm in a quandary over this replacement offer, so maybe somebody more expert in the matter (Tribble? do you know?) could give me some advice on this business about "On the inside the new casing offers better support to the display and electronics." Does this mean a) that while the new battery fits in the old casing, it's sort of squashed up/not quite as should be? b) That they've realized over time "duh, we should've added this little bit of plastic, much better now"? c) That they've said "ooops, without this bit of plastic it might all come loose"? How much is it worth it to pay the 50 euros for the new casing? The aesthetics on the outside I couldn't care less about, btw.

Thanks in advance.

[Adam B.]

Originally Posted by ElaHuguet

I'm in a quandary over this replacement offer, so maybe somebody more expert in the matter (Tribble? do you know?) could give me some advice on this business about "On the inside the new casing offers better support to the display and electronics." Does this mean a) that while the new battery fits in the old casing, it's sort of squashed up/not quite as should be? b) That they've realized over time "duh, we should've added this little bit of plastic, much better now"? c) That they've said "ooops, without this bit of plastic it might all come loose"? How much is it worth it to pay the 50 euros for the new casing? The aesthetics on the outside I couldn't care less about, btw.

Thanks in advance.

My bet is that it's closer to "B".

I'm guessing it's a "Hey, if we put this thin piece of metal here, the screen can take X lbs more force without cracking"

[ElaHuguet]

Thanks, Adam... so, would you/will you go for it?