PW2 battery life

[goldberry]

Have a very unhappy spouse. I got her the PW2 for Xmas and she has fully charged it twice and it is currently she reports down to just over 50%.

This is pretty abysmal compared to her original keyboard Kindle on which she got about a week between charges and she reads probably from 5-8 hours a day.

Haven't found a lot of threads on this but it seems this rapid battery discharge is being experienced by a lot of heavy readers. I suggested she dim the screen but she says that just defeats the purpose of the paperwhite. WiFi is always off. Today her amazon cover came so we will see if that makes a big difference. I somehow doubt it

Are other new users who read a lot finding this same need to recharge every 2-3 days.

[pidgeon92]

If she is keeping the screen light at a very bright setting, and is reading as much as you indicate, it's getting very good battery life.

I suggest getting a wall charger for the bedroom so she can plug it in at night when she's done with it in the evening, so it can charge overnight. That's what I do.

[dordale]

goldberry--Did your wife load a lot of books on it right away? When books are initially loaded onto the KPW2, the KPW2 performs indexing on the books--which from what I've read can cause the battery to drain more rapidly. So, that might be part of the problem. Once the indexing is done (could take several hours--maybe even a couple of days, if a lot of books were loaded on at once) the battery usage should be better.

I do agree with pidgeon 92--charging overnight with a wall charger is a good idea.

I use my Kindle PW2 on average probably about 2-3 hours a day and charge about once a week. When I charge the meter usually shows about 50% charge remaining.

[sirmaru]

I get 18 to 20 days on my PW 2013 until the battery charge indicator turns on. I read on it about 1 hour per day and leave WiFi off all the time except when I am reading on it. I use the standard PW cover from Amazon to turn it on and off.

The battery icon needs a full discharge at the beginning to be properly calibrated.

[Dragoro]

How do you check to see if its indexing books?

[GoSharks]

Originally Posted by Dragoro

How do you check to see if its indexing books?

Do a search on a nonsense word like "pkkl".

[VictoriaP]

While I agree the battery life on the PW2 sucks when compared to previous e-ink Kindles, it sounds to me like your wife's experience is pretty average. Amazon's wording is a bit deceptive on this point:

A single charge can last up to eight weeks (based on a half hour of reading per day with wireless off and the light setting at ten), unlike tablets that need to be charged each night.

Any serious reader will look at that and laugh. Half an hour a day is nothing. And setting the light at ten...well, some of that is dependent on the enviroment you choose to read in, while some is a matter of preference. I do read on level ten--in full dark, in bed at night. Daytime indoor reading? I'm usually most comfortable at level 14-15. And no, the cover doesn't really change anything power consumption-wise, just makes it a bit more convenient to turn on and off.

Translating Amazon's marketing doublespeak, eight weeks x 7 days x 30 minutes = 28 hours on level 10 with wifi off. So under their ideal conditions, your wife's reading habits mean she'll have to charge every 5-6 days...IF she reads at level 10 with wifi off. Realistically, she'll be charging every 3-4 days, and pidgeon92`s suggestion of charging every night or two is a practical way of handling the PW2's power needs.

My reading habits right now are similar to your wife's. I personally bought the Amazon PowerFast charger, and charge about twice a week. I turn on wifi only when I'm actively downloading or looking up phrases that require translation, and turn it off as soon as I'm done.

The battery life is my least favorite part of the PW2. But having the built-in light more than makes up for it in my opinion.

[FacebookVirus]

Battery life on my PW2 is noticeably less than on my older, non-lighted Sonys. Surely.

A lighted ereader is much more useful than I expected, however. I'm finding it to be a major benefit over my previous readers.

I'm a pretty heavy reader, and a charge twice per week is plenty. I keep the light setting no higher than 10, and turn it down to the lowest setting in daylight.

[barryem]

I have 2 PW 1's and a PW 2. I haven't done any testing or measuring but battery life seems to me about the same on all of them. I use all 3 about the same amount.

I always leave the Wifi on on the one I'm currently using. I keep the light a little above the middle setting. I charge them somewhere between 70% and 80% so they always get light charges. I charge all 3 every Saturday and occasionally once during the week if I read a little more than usual.

Barry

[NickyWithNook]

I've only had problems with battery life when I'm reading a LOT. If I have a day where I read four hours, then I'm going to have to re-charge the battery. It doesn't take long to recharge though. If I see it's getting low, I put it on the charger as I start making dinner, and then by the time we're finished eating and have cleaned up after dinner, it's charged up and ready to go.

[vxf]

My PW1 is a 3g model. With wifi and 3g always on and screen at about 14, I get about 12 hours.

My PW2 is wifi only. I keep wifi always on and the screen at 12 or so. So far, I got about 16-18 hours.

I am not sure why the difference is so marked. Overall, they both are pretty disappointing for e-ink devices, but it's not the end of the world.

I noticed that how I use it seems to make a big difference too. When I read newspapers/magazines and 'jump around a lot' in documents, battery life suffers.

[cadele]

My PW2 needs recharging more frequently than my non-lit Kindles. I'm not bothered by it as the advantage of the light far outweighs that minor inconvenience. I also usually leave my wifi on so there are no extra steps when buying a book.

All in all, I think the battery life is fine, particularly when compared to that of a phone or tablet.

[Joykins]

This happened to me (short battery cycle) when I downloaded several hundred books and put them into collections but when I charged and then just read with wifi off, light at low setting, it's lasted a week now and has about 1/4 of the battery power left (and I'm sure I read more than 8 hours for a couple of those days).

Suggestions:

* turn wifi off
* light at lowest comfortable setting
* test battery cycle when not downloading books/playing with collections.

My conclusion was that downloading/indexing is a HUGE drain--much larger than previous Kindle 4 NT.

[Joern]

With my PW2, with WIFI turned off and Light very low (5) and not loading books or do collections, the Battery Cycle is about 2 Weeks or so with reading 2 to 4 hours a day.