Battery Life

[rubikscube99]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I think this is an urban myth. My power meters have worked fine from day one. What do you think happens to make it more accurate? You think there is some AI in it?

BOb

AI as in American Idol or Artificial Intelligence? ... ? *screw adam lambert* ... anyways...

ya i think your right pilotbob, the power meter on all my fancy gadgets: iphone, macbook, pc notebook, electric toothbrush... have worked fine since day one. If power meters were not calibrated out of the box; there would be no point in having a power meter on the display. Therefore, i think that amazon should really fix their website where they state that a kindle 2 user should get 2 weeks of reading with whispernet off. Due to my miraculous battery increase out of nowhere, my battery is lasting longer than what i had predicted. I am nearing the end of the fifth day since a full charge up (yes it is night over here), and i still have that same amount of battery i mentioned in the first couple of posts earlier (or maybe a little less.. but still quite a bit more than half), so another 3-4 days and im seeing a total of 8.5 days on a charge. NOT 2 WEEKS AMAZON!!!!!! dont LIE to your customers. (if anyone IS getting 2 weeks on a kindle 2 please inform us of this miraculous happening )

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by rubikscube99

so another 3-4 days and im seeing a total of 8.5 days on a charge. NOT 2 WEEKS AMAZON!!!!!! dont LIE to your customers.

Um... where does Amazon say 2 weeks? Here is what I found on the Kindle 2 page:

Longer Battery Life: 25% longer battery life; read for days without recharging

So, if you are getting 8 days, then that is certainly reasonable based on the above. Also, it really depends on your daily usage too. If you read 6-8 hours a day you will certainly get less days than if you read 1 hr a day.

Originally Posted by rubikscube99

(if anyone IS getting 2 weeks on a kindle 2 please inform us of this miraculous happening )

I get two weeks, maybe more per charge. I read about 1-2 hours a day I would estimate. (but I have a K1)

BOb

[dmaul1114]

I charge my Kindle 1 about every other week so far (bought it used in early March, don't know how much use it got by the old owner).

But I normally just read 1-3 chapters a night before sleeping. If I'm using the whispernet I'll have to charge more often.

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Longer Battery Life: 25% longer battery life; read for days without recharging

I believe someone above posted the description from Amazon for the Kindle 1 which said two weeks....so if they claim the K2 gets 25% more then obviously they're claiming two weeks or more.

[weatherman]

The Whispernet really sucks the battery life. I used to go two weeks on a charge with my old PRS-500, and I purchased that used. My new K2 goes for about 3 days between charges if I leave the Whispernet on. I read periodicals about an hour a day, and I think those are a little more battery intensive because there's a lot more back-n-forth page turning, and I read novels for between .5 and 1 hour a day. It's not disappointing really, since I know that I could just turn the Whispernet off and not have to worry about charging it as often, but I am still a little bit surprised. You'd think that the WN could just check 1/hr whether there was anything in the queue and then sleep between checkins. It'd be nice to have a little more user control over that - more options than just "on" and "off"

[sirbruce]

If I read 1 hr/day I think I could get close to 2 weeks. But I usually read 2-3 times that and usually have to recharge before the week is over. With wireless on briefly once/day.

[rubikscube99]

i guess it all depends on the number of page turns..

pilotbob:
from the kindle website: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00154JDAI

under tech details it clearly states:
Battery Life: Read on a single charge for up to 4 days with wireless on. Turn wireless off and read for up to two weeks. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as shopping the Kindle Store and downloading content. In low coverage areas or in 1xRTT only coverage, wireless usage will consume battery power more quickly.
(god i love that chin scratch guy)

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by rubikscube99

pilotbob:
under tech details it clearly states:
Battery Life: Read on a single charge for up to 4 days with wireless on. Turn wireless off and read for up to two weeks. Battery life will vary based on

Still... "up to two weeks" is not a promise that it will absolutely work for two weeks. I really don't see that they said anything wrong, lied to or mislead you in any way. Also, you have a 30 return time frame. If it isn't satisfactory to you return it and they will refund your money.

BOb

[sirbruce]

I will say 4 days with wireless on is not happening for me; I barely get 2. But I've read that if you're in an area with poor signal strength, you'll use up the battery faster with the modem shifting speeds all the time. So that could explain it.

Amazon's battery life claims are certainly "optimistic", to say it kindly. But I see no problem with having to recharge my Kindle once or twice a week with wireless off.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I think this is an urban myth. My power meters have worked fine from day one. What do you think happens to make it more accurate? You think there is some AI in it?

BOb

Definitely NOT a myth with the readers I've used, Bob (Sony, iLiad, CyBook). It appears that the firmware stores data about battery voltage vs. time and uses that information to improve the calibration of the battery meter.

[rubikscube99]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Still... "up to two weeks" is not a promise that it will absolutely work for two weeks. I really don't see that they said anything wrong, lied to or mislead you in any way. Also, you have a 30 return time frame. If it isn't satisfactory to you return it and they will refund your money.

BOb

geez man... im not returning it. I love the device, hold thy horses

[Richie]

Spoke to Kindle support today and I being told by the rep that my battery is draining faster than it should because I have a SD memory card with HC. They do not recommend HC because it draws more power.

I asked where it said that in the user manual and she said that it does not, and it should have.

She thinks the Kindle keeps indexing causing battery drain.

The technical dept is analyzing data downloaded form my Kindle to make a determination.

It's been 5 days waiting for their analysis.

[e2c]

Originally Posted by Richie

The technical dept is analyzing data downloaded form my Kindle to make a determination.

It's been 5 days waiting for their analysis.

Don't hold your breath on this... last week I was told that the developers would get back to Kindle CS on my 1st K2's problems (pretty severe, not just battery life stuff) within 2 working days. i waited 3 days, then called again, only to be told by a Kindle CS rep. that the wait time was actually 7-10 business days. On the day i called, my K2 literally wouldn't work at all unless it was plugged into a wall outlet, and ... I finally (after getting really irked) was able to get the rep. to talk to his supervisor about getting a new unit, etc. etc. etc.

And - this seems amazing to me - during both conversations, nobody suggested any of the basics, like doing a restart, or reflashing the device, or... it was totally crazy.

They clearly need a tech support number for people to call, and they need to stop putting people off with this story about "the developers" looking at the device's logs.

I'm not suggesting that you give them a hard time; but being somewhat assertive (in a polite way) might help your case.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by rubikscube99

geez man... im not returning it. I love the device, hold thy horses

I see. You just seemed very unhappy and adamant about amazon lying to you and all.

Enjoy your Kindle.

BOb

[mdibella]

My Kindle 2 was showing some dreadful battery life. I had it fully charged, and it was down to about 50 percent after reading for about 5 hours (whispernet is OFF).

I called Amazon and the customer service rep, while she clearly WANTED to help, was kinda clueless. First she tried to tell me that using any content not purchased from Amazon could adversely impact the battery life (oh come on, do I look like I just climbed out of the turnip patch??)

Then she asked me if I had a lot of books on the device. Well, yes I do, in fact well over a thousand. She suggested I remove all books from it, reset to factory settings, then move back JUST the one I am actually reading, and see if that made a difference.

And it DOES make a difference! So having a lot of books on it reduces battery life??? That's strange.

With my K1, I kept most of my books on a memory card and just put it in the device long enough to swap something in or out of the reader. Then I removed it. This is clearly not gonna work for K2. sigh.

How strange is THAT, for battery life to be destroyed by having too many ebooks on an ebook reader???

[sirbruce]

No, having a lot of books does not reduce battery life on the K2. I have 1,200 on mine.

However, if you addded those 1,000 books all at once, the K2 *does* have to index them all. And that will take 1-2 days and considerably drain the battery. After it's done indexing, your battery life will go back to normal.

So you were right the first time. The customer service rep WAS clueless.