iLiad Battery Upgrade - updated information

Adam B. · 10-03-2007, 10:20 AM

iRex has posted more information about their battery upgrade on their blog: http://i-to-i.irexnet.com/2007/10/03...y-replacement/

A few highlights:

Quote:

All customers that purchased their iLiad prior to the 15th of March are eligible for an optional free battery replacement. We have decided to extend to sign up period until the 1st of November. So customers that have missed this offer previously can still sign up. To sign up go here. Those who signed up earlier do not need to sign up again.

Quote:

All customers that sign(ed) up for the Battery Replacement or Battery Upgrade will be presented with an additional option to upgrade the casing of their iLiad with the iLiad 2nd edition casing for an additional cost of €50 Euro or $70 USD.

The iLiad 2nd edition casing features a fully redesigned backside that looks more elegant and also provides more stability. On the inside the new casing offers better support to the display and electronics.

This Upgrade Option is a temporary promotion and available until the 1st of November.

The signup link is here: http://www.irextechnologies.com/supp...ry_replacement

I'm curious if the upgraded backplane is worth the cost. My iLiad is in a case most of the time, and I'm very protective of the screen. But still, it would basically give me a V2 for a small fee.

CommanderROR · 10-03-2007, 10:54 AM

The question is whether my nice Iliad book-cover would still work.
I somehow doubt it, because it is perfectly fitted to the current Iliad casing...

I'm also pondering whetehr to send my Iliad in for a battery replacement or not...but I think I'll sign up for one...it's free and it might give me a little more battery-life, especially since it's a fresh battery and mine has gone through quite many recharges already...

melmurray · 10-03-2007, 11:02 AM

If I've understood all this people like me who bought our readers in the last few months won't be eligible for a free battery upgrade. Can anyone justify this? Explain this? I get about eight hours out of my reader well short of the 21 hours promised. The new bigger batteries will give 15 hours a significant improvement. But for reasons that absolutely evade me I, and probably many others, are excluded from the free upgrade.

CommanderROR · 10-03-2007, 11:08 AM

I can't explain, but with the "old" battery and the newest firmware you should already be seeing more like 12 hours of reading time...8 hours is a bit too little and sounds like you got a "weak" battery or have a faulty unit.

Shaggy · 10-03-2007, 12:41 PM

When they quote battery times, they're usually talking about reading from internal memory only. Any thing extra you do like having the wifi activated, using the pen, having memory cards attached, will all drain more power. Are you doing any of the above when you get 8 hours, or is that strictly turning pages from internal memory? If you're not doing any of those and still only getting 8 hours, then I'd probably talk to their tech support about it. In that case, it might fall under a warranty replacement if they determine that there's something wrong with your battery.

Also, in case anyone hasn't seen it yet, iRex answered the question about the March 15th date on their forum. Their position is that after March 15th the advertised battery life was changed. So people who bought after that date were not technically promised a battery life that requires the replacement. You can still sign up for it if you want, but you'll have to pay for it.

I'm sure customers will still complain because we always want something better for less. However, from a business perspective it doesn't really make any sense for iRex to give out free upgrades if they don't have to. I assume the reason they're making the replacement free for older iLiad purchasers is that they probably legally have to.

HarryT · 10-04-2007, 06:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaggy

Also, in case anyone hasn't seen it yet, iRex answered the question about the March 15th date on their forum. Their position is that after March 15th the advertised battery life was changed. So people who bought after that date were not technically promised a battery life that requires the replacement. You can still sign up for it if you want, but you'll have to pay for it.

Sorry, but the box of my iLiad (bought in August) clearly says on it "read for 3 hours a day for a week without charging"! I'm not bothered about the battery life personally, but the claim made on the box is demonstrably false.

yokos · 10-04-2007, 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by i to i blog

If you did sign up earlier, you will receive an e-mail in the coming days with the option to also upgrade the casing of your iLiad with the second edition casing.

So all who have registered in earlier times will get a e-mail "soon".

nekokami · 10-04-2007, 09:00 AM

I'm not sure I'd be eligible anyway, as I bought mine second hand. I wonder if they'll offer a battery upgrade for a fee, for those of us not covered under the "free" upgrade?

tribble · 10-04-2007, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nekokami

I'm not sure I'd be eligible anyway, as I bought mine second hand. I wonder if they'll offer a battery upgrade for a fee, for those of us not covered under the "free" upgrade?

Yes, they do: http://i-to-i.irexnet.com/2007/10/03...y-replacement/

Antartica · 10-04-2007, 10:45 AM

I'm still considering whether to upgrade the battery or not...

Is it known how it will be done? Does the iliad have to be sent to iRex? If so, who pays the shipping?

Thanks :-).

nekokami · 10-04-2007, 11:48 AM

75 Euros is too steep for me. Tribble, didn't you have the same batteries for sale for those of us who are out of warranty and want to try our own replacement? I think I can live without the new fancy backside, too.

jgrnt1 · 10-05-2007, 10:48 AM

I have to agree with Harry regarding the March 15 date. I bought my iLiad on May 14th. The box clearly states:

Very low power: You can read three hours a day for more than one week, from the iLiad without recharging the battery.

Mambo · 10-05-2007, 12:09 PM

I am not sure if I want the battery update after all.

I mean 10-12 vs 15 hours is not a huge difference for me. 21h would be, but obviously not the case.
Also I'm not sure if it's worth investing in the new housing, although 50 EUR looks like a small fee.

What I am more interested in is the screen replacement to the new Vizplex or anything that is better than how the current one looks. That would be value adding. For 100 - 150 Eur I would be in. (Obviously not for 295 Eur or more.) Otherwise it's just too much hassle.

But I know I'm just dreaming...

As someone who is involved in programming as well, I still can't conceive why suspend mode is not possible. Usually when I'm stuck at some point I can't sleep and move on until I figured out how to fix the situation, I don't care what is the reason, how much time and money it takes, you should fix what you messed up and deliver what you promised.

I don't care if it is hardware related or not. Offer a motherboard replacement that provides suspend functionality that would be a fair move from iRex. That is why I invested into this reader a year ago (for 21h reading not 15 not 10). And for close to paper readability which is obivously not the case yet - not iRex's fault though they used to advertise with extremely white screen on their homepage.

When I subscribed for the battery upgrade I thought it was 15h + CPU throttling, close to maybe 18. but they said no, its 13H + CPU throttling = 15h.

HECK. Why couldn't they just put in 2x bigger battery? What a waste of economic resources and effort to upgrade +20% the battery capacity. If you do an upgrade why do you do such a miniscule increase??? This is just crazy.

Even for my laptop I can choose between 4200mAh, 7200mAh, 9600mAh not upgrade from 4200 to 5000. That is just ridiculous.

Sorry guys for ranting. Otherwise I like all of you, have a good weekend.

BKeeper · 10-05-2007, 04:48 PM

I agree Mambo.

Between v1 and v2 iRex had more than enough time redesign and fix everything. I've always said Power Management should be a key design goal with e-ink. If you get this wrong... well better try something else.

Still when I realised this was the best they could do do I finally decided to buy the iLiad V2. Funny, after 40 minutes it just stopped working.

As far as I was concerned that was legally a DOA unit, so I thought iRex would immediately ship a brand new replacement.

But they have their stuff all figured out,

so I had to wait for a week for them to send me a stupid EMPTY BOX (exactly like the original box) to ship my iLiad back.
But there is more: unless one is joking, what's the point of sending a UPS express return box trough UPS standard?

Hell, wouldn't it be easier, faster and cheaper to just send an email with the UPS shipping number? (and just put a sticker on the retail box: "Keep it for later."

Now on top of that I'll probably get a repaired unit, after 2 or 3 weeks.
And I won't get into their abnormally high failure rate, (definitely not statistically normal....)

The only explanation I can think of is that some companies think it's cheaper to have their customers not only do their beta testing but also their quality control.

AFAIK iRex should replace every single iLiad until V2. (if iRex hasn't been sued it's because most of their customers are enthusiasts)
But what can you expect when they get the most basic stuff wrong?

Don't get me wrong I'd love to see iRex succeed. But that's the problem, for that to happen I can only wish, rather than wait.

Almagne · 10-06-2007, 12:30 PM

Does anyone know if there is an acknowledgment page that comes up after submitting the Irex form.

I hit the button and nothing happened other than page reset to the top (like hitting the page up). There was not information that I filled it out wrong or whether it was successfully sent.

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10-03-2007, 10:54 AM	#2
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	The question is whether my nice Iliad book-cover would still work. I somehow doubt it, because it is perfectly fitted to the current Iliad casing... I'm also pondering whetehr to send my Iliad in for a battery replacement or not...but I think I'll sign up for one...it's free and it might give me a little more battery-life, especially since it's a fresh battery and mine has gone through quite many recharges already...

10-03-2007, 11:02 AM	#3
melmurray Enthusiast Posts: 39 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2007	If I've understood all this people like me who bought our readers in the last few months won't be eligible for a free battery upgrade. Can anyone justify this? Explain this? I get about eight hours out of my reader well short of the 21 hours promised. The new bigger batteries will give 15 hours a significant improvement. But for reasons that absolutely evade me I, and probably many others, are excluded from the free upgrade.

10-03-2007, 11:08 AM	#4
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	I can't explain, but with the "old" battery and the newest firmware you should already be seeing more like 12 hours of reading time...8 hours is a bit too little and sounds like you got a "weak" battery or have a faulty unit.

10-03-2007, 12:41 PM	#5
Shaggy Wizard Posts: 4,293 Karma: 529619 Join Date: May 2007 Device: iRex iLiad, DR800SG	When they quote battery times, they're usually talking about reading from internal memory only. Any thing extra you do like having the wifi activated, using the pen, having memory cards attached, will all drain more power. Are you doing any of the above when you get 8 hours, or is that strictly turning pages from internal memory? If you're not doing any of those and still only getting 8 hours, then I'd probably talk to their tech support about it. In that case, it might fall under a warranty replacement if they determine that there's something wrong with your battery. Also, in case anyone hasn't seen it yet, iRex answered the question about the March 15th date on their forum. Their position is that after March 15th the advertised battery life was changed. So people who bought after that date were not technically promised a battery life that requires the replacement. You can still sign up for it if you want, but you'll have to pay for it. I'm sure customers will still complain because we always want something better for less. However, from a business perspective it doesn't really make any sense for iRex to give out free upgrades if they don't have to. I assume the reason they're making the replacement free for older iLiad purchasers is that they probably legally have to.

10-04-2007, 09:00 AM	#8
nekokami fruminous edugeek Posts: 6,745 Karma: 551260 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northeast US Device: iPad, eBw 1150	I'm not sure I'd be eligible anyway, as I bought mine second hand. I wonder if they'll offer a battery upgrade for a fee, for those of us not covered under the "free" upgrade?

10-04-2007, 10:45 AM	#10
Antartica Evangelist Posts: 423 Karma: 1517132 Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Madrid, Spain Device: quaderno, remarkable2, yotaphone2, prs950, iliad, onhandpc, newton	I'm still considering whether to upgrade the battery or not... Is it known how it will be done? Does the iliad have to be sent to iRex? If so, who pays the shipping? Thanks :-).

10-04-2007, 11:48 AM	#11
nekokami fruminous edugeek Posts: 6,745 Karma: 551260 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northeast US Device: iPad, eBw 1150	75 Euros is too steep for me. Tribble, didn't you have the same batteries for sale for those of us who are out of warranty and want to try our own replacement? I think I can live without the new fancy backside, too.

10-05-2007, 10:48 AM	#12
jgrnt1 Member Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2007 Location: Dallas, TX Device: iPad	I have to agree with Harry regarding the March 15 date. I bought my iLiad on May 14th. The box clearly states: Very low power: You can read three hours a day for more than one week, from the iLiad without recharging the battery.

10-05-2007, 12:09 PM	#13
Mambo Gadget fan Posts: 147 Karma: 3968 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: London Device: RM Tablet PC, iLiad, PRS 505, iPod Touch	I am not sure if I want the battery update after all. I mean 10-12 vs 15 hours is not a huge difference for me. 21h would be, but obviously not the case. Also I'm not sure if it's worth investing in the new housing, although 50 EUR looks like a small fee. What I am more interested in is the screen replacement to the new Vizplex or anything that is better than how the current one looks. That would be value adding. For 100 - 150 Eur I would be in. (Obviously not for 295 Eur or more.) Otherwise it's just too much hassle. But I know I'm just dreaming... As someone who is involved in programming as well, I still can't conceive why suspend mode is not possible. Usually when I'm stuck at some point I can't sleep and move on until I figured out how to fix the situation, I don't care what is the reason, how much time and money it takes, you should fix what you messed up and deliver what you promised. I don't care if it is hardware related or not. Offer a motherboard replacement that provides suspend functionality that would be a fair move from iRex. That is why I invested into this reader a year ago (for 21h reading not 15 not 10). And for close to paper readability which is obivously not the case yet - not iRex's fault though they used to advertise with extremely white screen on their homepage. When I subscribed for the battery upgrade I thought it was 15h + CPU throttling, close to maybe 18. but they said no, its 13H + CPU throttling = 15h. HECK. Why couldn't they just put in 2x bigger battery? What a waste of economic resources and effort to upgrade +20% the battery capacity. If you do an upgrade why do you do such a miniscule increase??? This is just crazy. Even for my laptop I can choose between 4200mAh, 7200mAh, 9600mAh not upgrade from 4200 to 5000. That is just ridiculous. Sorry guys for ranting. Otherwise I like all of you, have a good weekend.

10-05-2007, 04:48 PM	#14
BKeeper Groupie Posts: 186 Karma: 728 Join Date: Jul 2006 Device: Kindle PW	I agree Mambo. Between v1 and v2 iRex had more than enough time redesign and fix everything. I've always said Power Management should be a key design goal with e-ink. If you get this wrong... well better try something else. Still when I realised this was the best they could do do I finally decided to buy the iLiad V2. Funny, after 40 minutes it just stopped working. As far as I was concerned that was legally a DOA unit, so I thought iRex would immediately ship a brand new replacement. But they have their stuff all figured out, so I had to wait for a week for them to send me a stupid EMPTY BOX (exactly like the original box) to ship my iLiad back. But there is more: unless one is joking, what's the point of sending a UPS express return box trough UPS standard? Hell, wouldn't it be easier, faster and cheaper to just send an email with the UPS shipping number? (and just put a sticker on the retail box: "Keep it for later." Now on top of that I'll probably get a repaired unit, after 2 or 3 weeks. And I won't get into their abnormally high failure rate, (definitely not statistically normal....) The only explanation I can think of is that some companies think it's cheaper to have their customers not only do their beta testing but also their quality control. AFAIK iRex should replace every single iLiad until V2. (if iRex hasn't been sued it's because most of their customers are enthusiasts) But what can you expect when they get the most basic stuff wrong? Don't get me wrong I'd love to see iRex succeed. But that's the problem, for that to happen I can only wish, rather than wait.

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10-06-2007, 12:30 PM	#15
Almagne Enthusiast Posts: 27 Karma: 11 Join Date: Jan 2007	Does anyone know if there is an acknowledgment page that comes up after submitting the Irex form. I hit the button and nothing happened other than page reset to the top (like hitting the page up). There was not information that I filled it out wrong or whether it was successfully sent.