PRS-T1 what is the point of screen saver?

[delphin]

I agree that it's a pain that you can't just have the reader continue to display your last page, then seamlessly pick up the device and return to reading where you left off.

Sadly, it doesn't look like this can be done by hacking the PRS-T1 software, because it would appear that the present generation of hardware can't wakeup on any button press except the power button.

But it's not just Sony . . . ALL the manufactures of eInk devices seem to have totally missed the boat in the way that 'sleep' mode works.

For readers like the Sony and Nook that have physical page turn buttons, a better solution would have been to design the hardware to allow the reader to wake from sleep whenever a page turn button is pressed, and then transparently process the page turn.

In Android, waking from sleep is fast enough, and eInk page turns are slow enough, so the slight added delay would go virtually unnoticed, and 'sleep' would be totally hidden from the user most of the time.

Using this arrangement, the reader would enter and exit sleep transparently without the user even knowing (unless the user specifically WANTS a 'screensaver' type image, and selects one under settings.)

To make this work, the eReader device would need to be designed so that its Power Saving Circuitry can wake the CPU from Sleep and pass it the proper button-press interrupt after ANY button press (including HOME, BACK and Page-Turn buttons)

This approach would take full advantage of eInks zero power page retention along with Androids super quick fractional-second wakeup times, to make the eInk reading experence more like a real book, because the reader would stay on the last page almost indefinitely, while allowing the user to seamlessly return to reading where they left off (unless the battery is so low that a full shut down is necessary).

To avoid accedental button presses (when the reader is slipped into a bag for example) the user would 'lock' the device by simply pressing the power button to manually enter 'sleep-lock' mode. In this mode the screen would freeze on the present page with a small lock icon in the status area (or go to screen-saver image if configured under settings).

This would give the best of both worlds - protection from accedental button presses when needed, but seamless reading without be forced to deal with sleep mode at other times.

This seems so obvious that one wonders how Sony, Amazon and B&N missed it? Duhhh!

Oh well, at least Sony got rid of the totally STUPID 'swipe to wakeup' garbage that most Android devices use, electing instead to just slightly recess the power button to prevent accidental activation. The Nook Color, for example does force the user to deal with this silly Android 'swipe-to-wake' crap (which an eReader needs like a fish needs a bicycle).

This pretty much sums up my frustration with Android (and Linux/POSix type O.S.'s in general) where standardization IS needed there is NONE, and when they DO 'standardize' something it's something STUPID.

[speakingtohe]

To avoid accedental button presses (when the reader is slipped into a bag for example) the user would 'lock' the device by simply pressing the power button to manually enter 'sleep-lock' mode. In this mode the screen would freeze on the present page with a small lock icon in the status area (or go to screen-saver image if configured under settings).

What I cannot figure out is why Sny readers seem to poll the screen even in sleep mode when there is no action available by touching the screen. But something touching the screen when in sleep mode seems to eat up power.

While I cannot actually prove it I am pretty sure this is the case. When my 350 (no cover) sits on a table it's battery lasts for weeks if not used. When it is in a pocket in my backpack in three days it goes into shutdown with one bar remaining.

My T1 has a lighted cover which is flexible and it seems that the reader discharges faster when it is closed. Probably it is crossing the beams.

My 600 has a solid cover and acts the same whether the cover is open or closed.

Why are the beams still active in sleep mode and why does it discharge faster when they are crossed? Rhetorical question, but it annoys me that this seems to be the case.

Helen

[delphin]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

What I cannot figure out is why Sny readers seem to poll the screen even in sleep mode when there is no action available by touching the screen. But something touching the screen when in sleep mode seems to eat up power.

While I cannot actually prove it I am pretty sure this is the case. When my 350 (no cover) sits on a table it's battery lasts for weeks if not used. When it is in a pocket in my backpack in three days it goes into shutdown with one bar remaining.

My T1 has a lighted cover which is flexible and it seems that the reader discharges faster when it is closed. Probably it is crossing the beams.

My 600 has a solid cover and acts the same whether the cover is open or closed.

Why are the beams still active in sleep mode and why does it discharge faster when they are crossed? Rhetorical question, but it annoys me that this seems to be the case.

Helen

Interesting observations, but so far as I have seen, both my PRS-650 and PRS-T1 shut down the IR touch-screen scanning when in sleep mode (or rather, at least, this is the way that they are intended to work).

I haven't seen it yet on my T1, but on my trusty PRS-650, like many others, I have seen one or two instances of dead-battery-in-a-single-day-during-sleep problems, which may be related to a software glitch preventing the sleep mode from fully shutting down everything.

This kind of glitch could indeed leave the touch-screen active, so who knows?

But even baring this kind of abnormal operation, even when the reader is working properly, there are a few things that can mimic the kind of behaviour you described.

First, are you really really really sure that you tapped the button and manually put the reader to sleep BEFORE closing the cover, or like me, did you figure that letting the reader shut itself down is just as good? (or better because it saves wear and tear on the power switch).

Letting the reader shut down itself, rather than forcing it to do so manually, does indeed save wear and tear on the power switch, but if you close the cover before the reader puts itself to sleep, IT MAY NOT BE ABLE TO PUT ITSELF TO SLEEP DUE TO CONSTANT FALSE TOUCH SCREEN INTERRUPT ACTIVITY.

Another factor that can kill the battery in only a few hours while reading is if the reader has dust on the screen, or is used under lighting conditions that interfere with the infra-red touch screen scanning and cause false touch screen inturupts.

For example, setting the reader down on a desk near a bright Halogen light (which have a lot of IR mixed with the visible light emitted) could also create enough 'IR noise' to keep your reader from sleeping properly. I can't positively verify this based on official information in the manual, but it does make sense given how the touch screen scanning works, and anecdotally I can report that I have seen the reader loose half it's charge in only a few hours when set on a desk too close to a nearby light.

To avoid these kinds of issues, I am careful now to always either manually shut down the reader (or verify that it has gone to sleep itself), BEFORE closing the cover (or laying it open on a desk under a bright desk lamp) and, since making this change, haven't seen a single case of rapid-battery-discharge.

[speakingtohe]

First, are you really really really sure that you tapped the button and manually put the reader to sleep BEFORE closing the cover, or like me, did you figure that letting the reader shut itself down is just as good? (or better because it saves wear and tear on the power switch).

Yes I am really really sure I have a 600 that never shut itself off unless you did it manually so it is hard to not hit the off switch for me.

Then this has happened literally dozens of times. On the table long battery life. In the backpack pocket 3 days at most before down to one bar. On the table with something set on it inadvertantly 2 days from full charge to one bar.

The 350 is the reader for the bus etc. and one bar is good enough although I have to recharge when Iget home. If I shut it down totally it does not lose power. Wish I could remember to do that. As for the IR noise, I have no experience.

When I used the 350 all the time it didn't sit in a pocket with cloth touching its screen and the charge lasted a long time. I lent it to my mother for a week when her kindle was being replaced and the battery lasted fine. Just when I put it in my pocket or my backpack pocket that this occurs. So I could leave it on the table but would forget to bring it on the bus

Helen

[delphin]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Yes I am really really sure I have a 600 that never shut itself off unless you did it manually so it is hard to not hit theI off switch for me. s
Helen

On both my 650 and T1 I have noticed that when you do either a shutdown, or put them to sleep, there is still system activity (as indicated by the colored LED near the power switch) that goes on for several seconds AFTER you think it has finished based on the screen image.

During this time I suspect that the internal operating system software is dealing with shutting down various services and putting the device to sleep.

So if you shut the device down, but then, within the next few seconds accidentally hit a button, close the cover, or just jam it into your bag, then the software could still try to process that event, while it's in a half-way-between unstable partially shutdown state.

I know that you would think that the programmers would take these kinds of situations into account and protect against this kind of problem, but believe me, after 20 years of testing software professionally, this is EXACTLY the kind of issue that they DON'T bother with (it's all that most idiot programmers can manage these days to keep their damn software from crashing when you do everything right, so forget about asking them to deal with this kind of 'out-of-bounds' special cases).

I posted something about this several months back, after experiencing a couple rapid-battery-discharge episodes on my PRS-650. Since then, I have been careful to make sure that my readers don't see any kind of accidental button presses or screen swipes until they are FULLY finished going to sleep or shutting down (for at least 10 seconds) - and since adopting this approach, I have had ZERO problems with my readers battery running down prematurely.

This seems to work for me, and may not be as out-there as you think, because Sony has already had at least one 'official' bug related to a similar issue where folks were hitting a button or tapping the screen a second time while opening a book (which would lock the reader requiring a reset). If the Reader's internal software couldn't even deal with these kinds of stray inputs while it is fully up and running normally, imagine what could happen if it gets bothered by a stray input at a critical time like when starting up or shutting down.

Bottom line - if you are putting your reader to sleep, you not only have to hit the switch, you have to make sure that the reader is completely finished going to sleep (which takes several seconds AFTER the screen changes) before letting it see any stray inputs. Otherwise, it may be possible that something in the software will fail to fully shut down and drain the battery.

Just a thought . . .

[delphin]

Sorry duplicate post . . .