First Vox software update is now available

[larrymohr]

Originally Posted by pulsar

Has anyone else tried to do the Volume+ and Power unit reset after the update?

I did do the Volume+ and Power reset. However, it did not work the way I remembered. I could not get it to start. I found a thread from pokee titled "Instructions for a factory reset" with a pdf with instructions. When I tried these instructions the Reset worked, however the last part, "keep holding the volume+ until you see "Resetting Your Reader" took quite a long time(30s?).

Hope this will help.

Larry

PS. I was still having issues so I thought "maybe bad hardware" and I exchanged for a new unit. Did the update on that and virtually no problems since. Note also that the update proceeded differently on the NEW unit.

LJ

[Haesslich]

Wait, for everyone having issues... may I ask how much you've changed the Kobo from stock? 49kat's probably not had a chance to delete apps from the Kobo, but what about the others who have rooted?

For the record, my Kobo Vox is my second one - the first died mid-upgrade and had that battery not showing issue that was fixed with the firmware update. I only changed out the launcher to Launcher Pro, I've frozen Rdio, the INQ widgets, and all the stub programs like the Twitter stub, the Gmail stub, the Youtube stub using Titanium Backup. I've rooted the device, and run only one home screen with the Kobo Mosaic widget, Widgetsoid with two widgets (an Airplane mode one as well as a Battery/Wifi Settings shortcut one), and Beautiful Weather. I've also installed Perfect Viewer (which runs at startup), and don't use a live wallpaper but have installed other PDF reader apps as well.

During the firmware upgrade I was connected to my home WiFi, was plugged in, and had previously rebooted twice to fix a wifi issue (wouldn't load the drivers) as well as to unroot and remove the exploit. I let the Kobo tell me there was an upgrade available, downloaded it and ran it from the Notifications menu, then let it restart and watched it go to 75% before it reset itself again, and told me with a popup window that the upgrade had completed successfully. Just to be safe, I also checked the About Kobo Reader settings.

Since the firmware upgrade, I've only had to recharge once (it went the weekend without charging, dropped 40% from two hours of reading, and froze once when being unplugged from USB for a few minutes after I dragged some PDF files onto the external SD card), and only had to reset once. I've never had it fail to come out of sleep yet, although I do turn off WiFi or run it in airplane mode when I'm not browsing the web or downloading something from the cloud.

Today I let it go eight and a half hours unplugged and in my bag, and was still able to turn it on afterwards without any battery drain to speak of (it hasn't dropped 10% yet). This was after opening up the Kobo App to do some reading (which previously caused an freeze the next time it went to sleep). The first time I lost only 10% in 24 hours of standby along with 30-40 minutes of reading and browsing the internet.

What's the difference with these other systems? Are there live wallpapers causing problems? Is it the Advanced WiFi Lock or some other service which starts automatically? Are there any commonalities between software installations and system issues, or is it hardware based?

No wonder the Kobo Vox has had several bad reviews, given how much troubleshooting has happened on this forum... which is a shame, as the screen's lovely and it's nice and speedy when you don't use the Gingerbread Launcher and freeze the useless INQ services.

[oldyellr]

Okay, reading through this thread I see "software" and "firmware" updates. Is this one and the same? I received my Vox on November 25 and it updated when I first started it, so I assume I have the latest build, 201111117, which I take to be November 17/2011.

How will I know when there's another update? Do I have to keep checking through Menu/Settings/AboutKoboEreader/SystenUpdate or read about it here, or will I receive a notification like Windows or Firefox?

So far I've added 2 or 3 apps and have had no issues, other than the auto-rotate disable not working in the eReader, but I'll ask about that in a separate thread.

[pulsar]

System update service always runs in the background (unless you freeze it with Titanium or similar), so any new update should take place automatically. Hopefully, it will give you an option not to install it immediately.

[LauraPony]

Originally Posted by Haesslich

Wait, for everyone having issues... may I ask how much you've changed the Kobo from stock? 49kat's probably not had a chance to delete apps from the Kobo, but what about the others who have rooted?

I am one of the Vox users who had a perfect Vox before the update and now have a Vox that will never wake from sleep (started yesterday, a few days after the update).

My Vox is not rooted and still has very few changes. I spend most of my time reading on the Vox, so I haven't needed many changes. I have downloaded a few apps outside of GetJar, sideload my books and a bit of music from Dropbox, and that is about it. I don't think I downloaded a single app after the updated was applied, though I did use the music player for the first time.

[jiminrussell]

Same here Laurapony, I didn't see the no wake from sleep issue until yesterday when it suddenly stated happening every time I went to use it. Have to hold the power for the 10 second count and then start it up again. This is getting old really fast.

I have tried the advanced wifi sleep policy setting (to never) and that has helped some but has not eliminated the problem.

[pokee]

Did more sleeping tests yesterday and this morning, and I was able to wake my Vox 8 out of 9 times (which is about the same as before the update). I even let it sleep overnight and it woke fine in the morning. Drained about 30% of the battery while sleeping overnight, though.

I also changed wifi sleeping policy to 'never' and put in airplane mode...these changes seemt to make no difference for my Vox...still acting the same as it was with old settings and old firmware...

[ne0rmatrix]

I found a solution on these forums that worked for failure to wake frrom sleep. I dont know how well it will work for others.

The solution involves keeping wifi on and going to settings - wifi - hitting the option button and clicking on advanced options. Then turn off power saving features for wifi. Oh and turning on airplane mode or turning off wifi will make this inaffective.

So turning off power saving for wifi and keeping wifi on works as a fix for me

[LauraPony]

Originally Posted by ne0rmatrix

I found a solution on these forums that worked for failure to wake frrom sleep. I dont know how well it will work for others.

The solution involves keeping wifi on and going to settings - wifi - hitting the option button and clicking on advanced options. Then turn off power saving features for wifi. Oh and turning on airplane mode or turning off wifi will make this inaffective.

So turning off power saving for wifi and keeping wifi on works as a fix for me

Thanks! I think this has been talked about on this thread as well. The problem for me is that this really wore down my battery during the day. During the weekday, my Vox spends most of its time in sleep mode, but I like to have it to read before work, during lunch, on my commute home, and in bed. So I need a full day's worth of battery charge. It was great for me until I tried this solution.

Now I'm just turning my Vox off after every reading session. I prefer it to the wifi on option. Sigh.

[Haesslich]

That's odd. I've gone a day and a half without charging and some light usage (about 20-30 minutes at a stretch, three times so far) and I'm only down to 80%. Maybe it's the fact I keep my Wifi off when not in use, by turning it off using either Airplane Mode or else by manually going into the settings area to shut down WiFi, versus the sleep policy? As for the changes, what changes did you make, since you said they were 'minimal'? Are there any new running services? My big two were freezing the apps which kept going online (Rdio, Inq) along with all the stub apps (Twitter, Gmail, Facebook) and then using a third-party homescreen launcher and keyboards.

Also, no freezing. I'm starting to think my unit was what the Kobo Vox team were using to test when they deployed this patch...

[oldyellr]

LauraPony and Haesslich, exactly why were or are you not turning off your Vox when you're not using it? Is it because you're too impatient to wait the 30-odd seconds for it to boot in case you decide you need it on the spur of the moment? It's not like a PC with spinning mechanical hard drives that may sustain more wear from repeated starting and stopping. I turn off my Vox when I'm not using it, but you can tell the Green Police that my PCs have been running 24/7 for decades.

[yawar]

Originally Posted by LauraPony

I am one of the Vox users who had a perfect Vox before the update and now have a Vox that will never wake from sleep (started yesterday, a few days after the update).

[...]

Same situation here. I haven't rooted mine or used anything to stop INQ or any other built-in apps from running; just customised the home screens and loaded a few apps from various places.

The no-waking-from-sleep behaviour started yesterday.

This is getting annoying.

[wilbrich]

Originally Posted by jiminrussell

Same here Laurapony, I didn't see the no wake from sleep issue until yesterday when it suddenly stated happening every time I went to use it. Have to hold the power for the 10 second count and then start it up again. This is getting old really fast.

I have tried the advanced wifi sleep policy setting (to never) and that has helped some but has not eliminated the problem.

Let me add my name to this unfortunate list (and I did in another thread as well). No problems at all until the upgrade.

[yawar]

Originally Posted by oldyellr

LauraPony and Haesslich, exactly why were or are you not turning off your Vox when you're not using it? Is it because you're too impatient to wait the 30-odd seconds for it to boot in case you decide you need it on the spur of the moment?

In my case, yes, that's it basically. Also, not wanting to deal with the startup sound every time I want to read my books.

More generally, the user experience of reading on a Kobo device should be almost as easy and natural as that of opening a paper book. If it's not, well, there are other ebook readers out there, and customers will eventually vote with their feet.

[Haesslich]

Originally Posted by oldyellr

LauraPony and Haesslich, exactly why were or are you not turning off your Vox when you're not using it? Is it because you're too impatient to wait the 30-odd seconds for it to boot in case you decide you need it on the spur of the moment? It's not like a PC with spinning mechanical hard drives that may sustain more wear from repeated starting and stopping. I turn off my Vox when I'm not using it, but you can tell the Green Police that my PCs have been running 24/7 for decades.

Sleep mode only - full power off is wasteful with the battery as it has to ramp the CPU to full to boot up and run everything to get the Kobo going (the launcher, background processes) everything versus keeping the system RAM powered and the CPU idling. Airplane mode to turn off the Wifi, or I turn it off in wifi settings.

It doesn't need to spin up disks, but it DOES have to do a lot to get the system going - more so than just keeping power to the CPU and RAM, especially as it doesn't ave to worry about spinning disk platters. Plus, to emphasize yawar's example, do you REALLY want to effectively walk into your library, unlock the bookcase, pull a book out, then go through all the steps every time you set your book down, when you go to read? Or do you keep it at hand and flip it open? There's a reason that these default to sleep mode, just as your phone does - you don't have to go through the full shut down and startup process each time, nor should you have to, especially just to read a book, browse the web, or answer a phone call in the case of a phone. You just pick it up and go.