Why turn off eink device?

[BongoBong]

Well I am currently in the market for an eReader and the kobo coming out is one of the ones I am looking at (along with jetbook lite). I noticed in a review it mentioned a load up time of 40 seconds which I thought was pretty long/a disadvantage. So my question is since from what I have read eInk devices basically don't draw power once a page is put on screen why would I turn the device off ever? Why wouldn't I just leave it on and then when I start reading again ill be at my old page and not have to do the 40 second powerup? I am assuming there is some reason not to do this like wear and tear or something but if I don't have to power down then that could cross one downside off the kobo.

[dreams]

The only Reader I have experience with is the Sony 505. I've had it since Christmas 2008 and have never turned it completely off. I just slide the switch and it goes into a standby mode (I think that is what is called). I just slide the switch and it is on again, right where I left off. I reload books and top it off about every 2 or 3 weeks.

Which formats will be your main purchase? Will you be reading best sellers, technical manuals, or comics? Have you checked which stores will be available for you to purchase from?

[dmaul1114]

No reason not to leave them in standby--battery lasts pretty much as long as being turned off.

Other than turning it off for take off and landing on airplanes when everything should be turned off of course.

[lene1949]

I never turn off my kindle2... I do turn off wireless.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by BongoBong

Well I am currently in the market for an eReader and the kobo coming out is one of the ones I am looking at (along with jetbook lite). I noticed in a review it mentioned a load up time of 40 seconds which I thought was pretty long/a disadvantage. So my question is since from what I have read eInk devices basically don't draw power once a page is put on screen why would I turn the device off ever? Why wouldn't I just leave it on and then when I start reading again ill be at my old page and not have to do the 40 second powerup? I am assuming there is some reason not to do this like wear and tear or something but if I don't have to power down then that could cross one downside off the kobo.

The SCREEN doesn't use any power when displaying an image, but a bookreader is a computer and, like any computer, the CPU, memory, etc, all do continue to use power, albeit a small amount.

Some readers are designed to be left permanently on - eg the Sony devices and the Kindle; all that the "power switch" does on those devices is basically to lock the buttons to prevent accidental button presses. Other devices are better turned off between reading sessions to preserve the battery. Generally speaking, though, they start up sufficient quickly that this is not a problem.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

No reason not to leave them in standby--battery lasts pretty much as long as being turned off.

Not true with all devices. Many devices have a battery life of a few days in "standby" mode, but will, of course, last much longer when turned off.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Not true with all devices. Many devices have a battery life of a few days in "standby" mode, but will, of course, last much longer when turned off.

"many" eInk devices may be a bit of an exaggeration. Yes there are a few that for some reason do not go into full "sleep" mode as they should with the key lock set. The current BeBook Neo seems to be one of those. The first firmware for the Astak PocketPRO was also like that, but that firmware was fixed in a subsequent update. Any eInk device that uses the ARM processor should be able to "sleep" with the only power being used to keep the SDRAM refresh operating from the low frequency sleep clock. The ARM processor itself is completely powered down in "sleep" mode. The power to keep the SDRAM refreshed is only a very few milliwatts, so the device can easily go several weeks in "sleep" mode and still have plenty of remaining battery. Any eInk device with an ARM processor that can only "sleep" for a couple of days must have some deficient hardware or software design, IMHO.

[HarryT]

Of the devices I have personal knowledge of, rather more do NOT have a good standby life, than do.

The following devices have a decent battery life in standby mode:

Sony PRS-500/505
Amazon Kindle
Hanlin V3/V5 and clones (BeBook, Aztak, etc)

While the following devices do NOT have a good standby battery life (a week or less):

iRex iLiad, DR1000, DR800
Bookeen CyBook, Opus
Sony PRS-600
BeBook Neo/Onyx Book 60
B&N nook
Pocketbook 360

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by HarryT

While the following devices do NOT have a good standby battery life (a week or less):

iRex iLiad, DR1000, DR800
Bookeen CyBook, Opus
Sony PRS-600
BeBook Neo/Onyx Book 60
B&N nook
Pocketbook 360

The ARM processor has been specifically designed to be able to power down all peripherals and enter an extremely low power "sleep" mode ever since the ARM 7 architecture back in the mid 1990s. Any eInk device using the ARM architecture and not taking full advantage of the sleep mode is deficient in design, in my book. But, that is just me.

I guess that in light of your extensive research above that I should retract the statement "'many' eInk devices may be a bit of an exaggeration." I did not realize that so many were so poorly designed in the power management area of design. I did know that the initial Astak and BeBook Hanlin V5 devices had deficient power management in the initial firmware release, but that was subsequently corrected.

[andygates]

A leftfield reason to power down: so that what you're reading isn't on display to the world.

Seems that cheesy romance novels are a huge sleeper hit for publishers, and the thinking is that people want to read them, but don't want to be seen reading them.

[BongoBong]

Originally Posted by dreams

Which formats will be your main purchase? Will you be reading best sellers, technical manuals, or comics? Have you checked which stores will be available for you to purchase from?

Ill probably mostly be reading best sellers, classics, scifi/fantasy, history, stuff like that. Doubt ill read many if any manuals or comics.

As far as formats go i have not looked to far into it as I have read that calibre can do converting and drm can be stripped if needed, but I would imagine mainly things like epubs, pdfs, and such.

[dreams]

Originally Posted by BongoBong

Ill probably mostly be reading best sellers, classics, scifi/fantasy, history, stuff like that. Doubt ill read many if any manuals or comics.

As far as formats go i have not looked to far into it as I have read that calibre can do converting and drm can be stripped if needed, but I would imagine mainly things like epubs, pdfs, and such.

Have you looked into library book borrowing? If you have access in Canada, you will be able to read best sellers for free with some Readers.

I haven't played with scripts for removing pesky DRM yet. I'm not very tech savy, and don't live close to family members who are.

I only read plain pdf's from feedbooks using their custom template. I mainly use ePub and lrf.

Good Luck on making your choice.

[slm]

It is a good idea to power down occasionally.
As someone else already pointed out, these devices are computers. Most run a version of Linux. And almost all computer operating systems eventually build up crud in memory. (Some are worse than others, Linux is pretty good.)

Turning it off is like a "restart" on a computer and will fix any memory leaks. I use to have Kindle problems every couple of weeks if I didn't turn it off now and then. (Now I have no Kindle problems because my mom has my Kindle.)

[Magnesus]

Originally Posted by slm

And almost all computer operating systems eventually build up crud in memory. (Some are worse than others, Linux is pretty good.)

I know people who don't turn off their Ubuntu driven desktop computers for months without any problems. If the firmware doesn't have significant bugs (memory leaks) you should be fine running a device with embedded linux for YEARS without the need to turn it off.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by dreams

Have you looked into library book borrowing? If you have access in Canada, you will be able to read best sellers for free with some Readers.

I haven't played with scripts for removing pesky DRM yet. I'm not very tech savy, and don't live close to family members who are.

I only read plain pdf's from feedbooks using their custom template. I mainly use ePub and lrf.

Good Luck on making your choice.

I know that the Toronto library system, and I'm pretty sure that the Vancouver library, offer the option of taking out e-books. There are probably other library systems in Canada that offer it as well, so it might be something to take into consideration before purchasing.