Glo Expected Battery Life (and customer service frustration)

[jkr]

Dear all,

I have a glo, currently running 2.8, that I got last December. Currently the battery life is abysmal: if it's fully charged and in standby, it will go down to nothing in a few days. Worse than my wife's iphone, than a tablet, etc.

I assume this is some problem with the firmware/hardware. It certainly wasn't this way when I bought it. My concern is that when I called Kobo to ask about it, they told me that after six months, this is what is pretty much expected. They further said the one month of battery life is based on reading thirty minutes or less with wifi and light off, and then shutting it off altogether. So, essentially 30 x 30 = 900 minutes = 15 hours powered on. Again, worse than almost any tablet or smartphone I've come across.

On the whole, my conversation with (the very nice and polite) customer service was quite frustrating: first my problem was that I wasn't chargin it 4-6 hours a day. When I said I had been, they said that if I was charging it overnight, my problem was overcharging. And so on -- the essential gist was that, after owning it six months, one or two reads in week was what I could expect.

Now, I love the device (this problem notwithstanding) and if this is actually just a rare glitch, I'd probably suck it up and buy the new aura to replace it. But what I'm concerned about is that they swear up and down that this is expected behavior. Is this correct? Should I expect a dead battery after two or three days on standby with future devices? Or was I getting the runaround? That would be annoying, but at least it would mean that a new device would likely not have this problem.

Thanks,
Jesse

[meeera]

No, that's not normal, at least by my experience - mine's a year old and doesn't really drop appreciably on standby, at least not over the periods I leave it alone for (up to about a week or so). Are you leaving the wifi off? And do you have it in an unofficial cover that may have the magnet slightly out of place, or one with an inside pocket flap that could be disrupting the IR beams?

[jkr]

Thanks for the reply. No, no cover at all. And I do keep the wifi off.

Okay, so it sounds like I just have a defective product somewhat. That's more reassuring than the official kobo line which was that (quoting the transcript of the chat they sent me) "Based on the time frame that you have your device. 5 days is
normal because you read on your device every day." That was in context of having owned it 7 months, reading 30-45 minutes a day and leave it in standby the rest of the time with wifi off.

It's gotten worse now, but I see no reason to believe that their response will be different.

I wish they had been a bit more upfront with me, but I do like their device better than the competitors, so I guess I'll just roll the dice on the next one.

[Nightyume]

Originally Posted by jkr

Thanks for the reply. No, no cover at all. And I do keep the wifi off.

Okay, so it sounds like I just have a defective product somewhat. That's more reassuring than the official kobo line which was that (quoting the transcript of the chat they sent me) "Based on the time frame that you have your device. 5 days is
normal because you read on your device every day." That was in context of having owned it 7 months, reading 30-45 minutes a day and leave it in standby the rest of the time with wifi off.

It's gotten worse now, but I see no reason to believe that their response will be different.

I wish they had been a bit more upfront with me, but I do like their device better than the competitors, so I guess I'll just roll the dice on the next one.

You could always point out that a lithium battery should be good for at least 500 charge cycles and that as long as you don't exceed that the drop in capacity at the end of the first year should be less than 20%

Also any decent battery will have a safety mechanism to prevent overcharging (meaning you can leave it plugged in). And 4-6 hours is just overkill as a needed charge time. That's comparable to tablets with seven times the battery capacity.

You might be able to replace the battery yourself. I remember reading somewhere that ereaders basically used dumb phone batteries. But then again I have no idea.

[thel8elvis]

Originally Posted by jkr

Dear all,

I have a glo, currently running 2.8, that I got last December. Currently the battery life is abysmal: if it's fully charged and in standby, it will go down to nothing in a few days. Worse than my wife's iphone, than a tablet, etc.

I assume this is some problem with the firmware/hardware. It certainly wasn't this way when I bought it. My concern is that when I called Kobo to ask about it, they told me that after six months, this is what is pretty much expected. They further said the one month of battery life is based on reading thirty minutes or less with wifi and light off, and then shutting it off altogether. So, essentially 30 x 30 = 900 minutes = 15 hours powered on. Again, worse than almost any tablet or smartphone I've come across.

On the whole, my conversation with (the very nice and polite) customer service was quite frustrating: first my problem was that I wasn't chargin it 4-6 hours a day. When I said I had been, they said that if I was charging it overnight, my problem was overcharging. And so on -- the essential gist was that, after owning it six months, one or two reads in week was what I could expect.

Now, I love the device (this problem notwithstanding) and if this is actually just a rare glitch, I'd probably suck it up and buy the new aura to replace it. But what I'm concerned about is that they swear up and down that this is expected behavior. Is this correct? Should I expect a dead battery after two or three days on standby with future devices? Or was I getting the runaround? That would be annoying, but at least it would mean that a new device would likely not have this problem.

Thanks,
Jesse

Was just about to post a similar thread.

I have only had my Glo since july. Last night, it went from 41% while reading for about 30 minutes, to needed to be charged when I woke up this morning. (I always put it sleep, not off, and wifi is never on)

I searched the forum, but didn't see any agreed upon methodology for testing battery life. I left the light on for about 8 hours on day, and that hardly made a dent in the battery, just a few percent. So either there is a firmware bug(I'm on 2.8.1), or a problem with the infrared 'touch' sensors, or something else entirely.

I am hesitant to contact customer service, because the battery is a "consumable" and I don't want to get the same run around as you appear to have received. But the battery life doesn't sounds like what others have reported.

I'm open to suggestions. Does anyone have experience with customer service who can say they might actually replace it ?

Or a decent way to measure battery performance ?

[jkr]

Originally Posted by thel8elvis

I'm open to suggestions. Does anyone have experience with customer service who can say they might actually replace it ?

If so, I too would love to hear about it. But I'd be surprised. I actually called them once before the above-mentioned conversation, and then this past time, had both an online chat and a discussion on the phone. So that's three times total. They seem very hesitant to admit that it's a problem, and consistently stood behind a claim that a month of battery life meant :30/day with it powered off completely the rest of the time.

Disappointing, given the good things I had read about their customer service from others on this forum.

But if you do hear of anything, or come across any strategies for dealing with them (or for improving the battery life) please do mention it here!

[byblo]

Originally Posted by thel8elvis

I have only had my Glo since july. Last night, it went from 41% while reading for about 30 minutes, to needed to be charged when I woke up this morning. (I always put it sleep, not off, and wifi is never on)

Same here. When at 100%, it takes ages to go down. But once it reach 40-30%, the next day I can expect to find my Glo asking for a recharge (which will start from 0% BTW...)

[robko]

Originally Posted by jkr

Okay, so it sounds like I just have a defective product somewhat. That's more reassuring than the official kobo line which was that (quoting the transcript of the chat they sent me) "Based on the time frame that you have your device. 5 days is normal because you read on your device every day." That was in context of having owned it 7 months, reading 30-45 minutes a day and leave it in standby the rest of the time with wifi off.

It's gotten worse now, but I see no reason to believe that their response will be different.

I wish they had been a bit more upfront with me, but I do like their device better than the competitors, so I guess I'll just roll the dice on the next one.

5 days if you're reading every day and using some wifi is likely normal. If it's just on standby with wifi off, it should last longer than that. I got mine the day they were released and used it heavily (1-2 hours/day plus daily newspaper download over wifi) until the Aura HD came out and it mostly sits around on standby at this point with little or no loss in battery. If you're not even getting 5 days on standby and not reading every day and no wifi use I would push customer service because that's not normal battery life.
In terms of the rapid drop after 40%, the meter has been known to be a little flaky at times with older firmware version (somewhat better currently)
In fairness to Kobo, if you look at the fine print on any of their advertising (and most of the other companies too for that matter) they say they base their "month of reading" on 30 minutes per day with no wifi use, so that's not just something that customer service is making up. IIRC about the time the 1st Kobo's came out they were all claiming 2 weeks (based on 1 hr/day) then Barnes and Noble (I think) went to 1/2 hr/day so they could claim longer battery life and everyone else also went to 1/2 hr/day after that. Light really doesn't effect battery much, so most of them now include light usage in their numbers). And in reality 1/2 hour doesn't mean much because it's actually the number of page turns/refreshes in that time that are going to determine battery drain more than the actual length of time.

[thel8elvis]

Originally Posted by robko

<>
In terms of the rapid drop after 40%, the meter has been known to be a little flaky at times with older firmware version (somewhat better currently)
In fairness to Kobo, if you look at the fine print on any of their advertising (and most of the other companies too for that matter) they say they base their "month of reading" on 30 minutes per day with no wifi use, so that's not just something that customer service is making up. IIRC about the time the 1st Kobo's came out they were all claiming 2 weeks (based on 1 hr/day) then Barnes and Noble (I think) went to 1/2 hr/day so they could claim longer battery life and everyone else also went to 1/2 hr/day after that. Light really doesn't effect battery much, so most of them now include light usage in their numbers). And in reality 1/2 hour doesn't mean much because it's actually the number of page turns/refreshes in that time that are going to determine battery drain more than the actual length of time.

I have the current firmware, so the battery meter shouldn't be too off, I would hope.

If we just take their numbers for page turns and ignore time (since time is less relevant) , that's still ~900 page turns, light on or off.

I don't make it close to that.

My nook simple touch ... it seems like I have only recharged that a few times ever. But every time I just look at my glo the battery reading goes down a few percent !

I want to love it, but it's crashed more than a few times, and the battery life really doesn't seem to be what it should be. I'm disappointed.

[Uschiekid]

@jkr

sorry, I wasn't clear...when you have your kobo ON, is the wi-fi ON or OFF?
I got that you keep the wifi OFF when in sleep mode.

If OFF, then that is definitely NOT NORMAL. I've had my glo almost a year and I read probably something like 6-7 hours a week at least, use wi-fi fairly intermittenly (and tend to do it when it needs charging anyway...but do use it occasionally), but always leave it in sleep mode and I probably get at least 2 weeks, but likely 3 weeks or more.

You say, no cover, which is usually when people have trouble with something disrupting the IR beams as the kobo goes into sleep mode. How do you leave your kobo, simply turn the switch and lay it down on a table or desk? This may be a far-fetched solution, but try cleaning with a soft brush along the sides to see if there is something disrupting the sensors.

I expect though, someone will come along and give you better advice. But I wouldn't run out and buy a new Aura just yet. I would definitely give people a chance to chime in and give you possible solutions.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by thel8elvis

I have only had my Glo since july. Last night, it went from 41% while reading for about 30 minutes, to needed to be charged when I woke up this morning. (I always put it sleep, not off, and wifi is never on)

It is normal for my Glo to need charging soon after the battery meter reaches the 25-30% mark, and it drops from 100% to 90% very quickly too, but between 90% and 30% I get about 40-45 hours reading time over about 2 weeks. I have had it 10 months and this hasn't changed noticably, though I haven't done a careful test recently.

Originally Posted by thel8elvis

I searched the forum, but didn't see any agreed upon methodology for testing battery life. I left the light on for about 8 hours on day, and that hardly made a dent in the battery, just a few percent. So either there is a firmware bug(I'm on 2.8.1), or a problem with the infrared 'touch' sensors, or something else entirely.

One thing that did cause problems when I first got the Glo was a faulty SD card. It made my battery drain quickly so I only got about 8-10 hours reading time per charge. But that problem disappeared as soon as I replaced the card with another. I haven't seen anyone else report a similar experience though.

The main problem with testing battery life is that it varies greatly depending on exactly how you use the device. I find one minute of using the web browser can use as much battery as an hour or more reading with wifi off. Browsing the library listings uses a lot more power than reading too. In fact, doing anything except reading seems to use a lot more power than reading. The device seems to be optimised for reading. Luckily that is mainly what I use it for.

I did one careful test with my Glo, and others here have done similar, keeping wifi turned off, not plugging in to USB, never powering off, and mainly just reading. Result was about 45 hours reading time over two weeks on one charge. It takes some effort for me to do this sort of test though, as normally I want to do a wifi sync or connect to Calibre more often than once every two weeks, which would mess up the test. (One wifi sync can use as much battery as 2-3 days reading!)

[TechniSol]

IIRC, and I usually do, I performed a similar test of reading and sleep mode only and got roughly 46+ hours over a two week plus period with the LED lighting at10%. I'd guess that's the approximate norm if others are confirming it.

I can think of a few reasons that might contribute to shortened battery life:

1. There is some object, usually a sleep cover pocket interrupting the IR just above the screen just prior to trying to enter sleep mode with a magnetic cover. This seems to leave the reader in a state where it continues to leave the IR going or the Neonode hardware powered up despite you're thinking it may be in sleep mode. I think most reported the battery dying in 24 hours or so, maybe 36.

2. Some have complained a "bad" epub that the reader could not process may be draining the battery. I assume the conjecture is that it somehow continues processing and consuming power ad infinitum...

3. Maybe the firmware gets messed up and throttles or governors are not functioning or get stuck, so perhaps a complete power down or factory reset are required.

4. Some problem with an SDHC prevents correct processing of the card and the firmware continues attempting to process epubs from it. Maybe reformat the card, or reboot and remove/reinsert the card.

I'd remove the SDHC and see if things changed. I'd also leave it plugged in charging past the point where it indicates it's fully charged and then run down as far as I could a few cycles, do a factory reset, etc., and see what happens... Hit all the highpoints as it were.

When in doubt, and/or pressed for time, employ the old shotgun approach.

[thel8elvis]

Thank you all for your informative posts.

I have never gotten anywhere near 30-40 hours, even with various factors taken into consideration.

I also do not have a cover, or an SD card in the slot.

I think i have a poor battery, plain and simple. I am having quite a battle convincing their support email of this, though.

I am not sure why they are so reluctant to send me a replacement unit. They are insisting that I email them photos of the USB port ! I have no problem sending my unit, and waiting until they receive it for a replacement, but I do have a problem wasting more time trying to follow their silly support scripts. I had heard kobo had good support, but I am not feeling the love. :-(

[TechniSol]

Well, the USB thing is easy to explain, it's the only accepted way to charge the device and people have had their device knocked off a table, etc., while charging and had the USB port damaged. So, they're checking it out. They're also reluctant, no doubt, to replace a device that may be damaged in some non obvious way as I'm sure the vast majority of their complaints come down to damaged screens considering the relative delicacy of e-ink screens. Kobo seems to be pretty tough on screen related replacements from what one reads in the forum.

As far as I know, the firmwares have not improved with respect to accuracy concerning the battery curve.(They apparently didn't integrate the known curve for a lithium battery, or their specific one, and so just offer a linear percentage on a non linear discharge curve -plain sloppy, one equation properly approximating the curve would allow them to plug in the A/D values they're likely using now and get them awfully close to being correct percentagewise.) It's not uncommon to see the battery percentage drop much more rapidly from 35-40% downward. In fact, when I did a long term test, if the battery discharge according to the percentage indicator had remained as constant below 50% as above, I'd have gotten nearer 65-70 hours of reading overall, IIRC. The % also seems to hover around 100% far longer than one might expect. I've also noted instances where it seems pegged at a value for a long time and then drops 3-5 points or more... I wonder that there may be conditions under which the percentage does not update smoothly.

[Jukets]

I read the book with light (7%) most of time, like 90% of time. With this battery works 15-20 hours. I think it is ok.