Aura Firmware and battery life

e-booklover · 01-20-2016, 04:27 AM

After a long time I finally upgraded my Kobo Aura's (6inch version) 3.12 to the latest firmware version. But now I'm experiencing battery life issues. After banging my head against the wall screaming 'why did I upgrade' I now have a terrible headache, and a question:

Problem 1:
From all the firmware updates available, which has the best battery life? Should I go back to 3.12 or is there a better option? EDIT: Sync and Wi-Fi are off.

Problem 2:
The ereader is very laggy, from the menu's all the way to flipping pages and selecting stuff. There is like a 1-second delay and a fade-in/fade-out effect. My girlfriend's Aura (checking with the same version, same firmware, same book) is snappier. The funny thing is, she has about 40 books on the device, while I have only 2 (2Mb each).So mine is almost empty, yet way slower. Why is that? Our devices are around the same age, mine is from nov 2014 and hers dec 2014.

And a factory reset didn't solve my issues btw.

GeoffR · 01-20-2016, 04:49 AM

I haven't noticed any difference in battery life between firmware versions in the three years I've had my Glo.

However one thing to check is the "Automatic sync" feature (Settings > Syncing and updates > Automatic sync) that was added a while back, if you have that activated then it could account for extra battery use.

davidfor · 01-20-2016, 04:59 AM

Yes, the auto-sync will use battery, especially if you have any network issues. And like GeoffR, I haven't seen any real difference. I'd probably say that the life is a little less with recent firmware, but that could also be the batteries aging and not holding quite as much charge as when new.

e-booklover · 01-20-2016, 05:05 AM

Sync is disabled, so is Wi-Fi. That can't be the problem.

I also have a new problem I forgot to mention. The ereader is very laggy, from the menu's all the way to flipping pages and selecting stuff. There is like a 1-second delay and a fade-in/fade-out effect. My girlfriend's Aura (checking with the same version, same firmware, same book) is snappier. The funny thing is, she has about 40 books on the device, while I have only 2 (2Mb each).So mine is almost empty, yet way slower. Why is that? Our devices are around the same age, mine is from nov 2014 and hers dec 2014.

And a factory reset didn't solve my issues btw.

GeoffR · 01-20-2016, 05:16 AM

I don't know what the issue is sorry, but if two Auras are running the same firmware version and only one has the problem, then it is probably not the firmware version causing it.

e-booklover · 01-20-2016, 05:29 AM

No need to be sorry, hopefully someone else recognises this problem.

And although it is hard to blame the firmware, the issues started when I upgraded. I've been reading for over a year and never encountered a single problem. But since the upgrade and not a day before, I'm having these problems.

davidfor · 01-20-2016, 06:42 AM

If everything is slow, then whatever is causing that is probably causing the power drain.

The things I would try are:

Restart the device.
Check if the database is corrupt. If you use calibre, you can do this with my Kobo Utilities plugin. Otherwise, you need an SQLite database management program.
Reapply the firmware. There are occasionally some weird problems after a firmware upgrade. In a lot of cases, reinstalling the firmware fixes them.
Do a factory reset. When I do this for problems, I take a full copy of the user partition, do the factory reset and test things. Then I decide whether to restore the files, or just continue from where I am.

And if none of that helps, you can do a factory reset and go back to 3.12. Or try one of the versions iin between.

e-booklover · 01-20-2016, 07:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

Check if the database is corrupt. If you use calibre, you can do this with my Kobo Utilities plugin. Otherwise, you need an SQLite database management program.

How will I know it is corrupt? Will there be empty folders of what?

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

Reapply the firmware. There are occasionally some weird problems after a firmware upgrade. In a lot of cases, reinstalling the firmware fixes them.

This I can do by downloading the firmware ZIP and place it in the .kobo folder right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

Do a factory reset. When I do this for problems, I take a full copy of the user partition, do the factory reset and test things. Then I decide whether to restore the files, or just continue from where I am.

How can you restore files? Before I did the reset I did copy all the folders through Window's File Explorer. Does that mean I can re-install my reading hours and finished books stats?

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

And if none of that helps, you can do a factory reset and go back to 3.12. Or try one of the versions iin between.

That was actually my next plan. Now I just need to decide which version is the best.

davidfor · 01-20-2016, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by e-booklover

How will I know it is corrupt? Will there be empty folders of what?

Either method I mentioned will display errors if there is a problem or tell you it is OK.

Quote:

This I can do by downloading the firmware ZIP and place it in the .kobo folder right?

Yes, but you need to unpack the zip file.

Quote:

How can you restore files? Before I did the reset I did copy all the folders through Window's File Explorer. Does that mean I can re-install my reading hours and finished books stats?

If you copied all the files in the partition, you simple copy them all back.

Quote:

That was actually my next plan. Now I just need to decide which version is the best.

What you can do is start with one, step through them until you get one you like. But, skip 3.16.10 and 3.17.0.

kndlewis · 01-22-2016, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

What you can do is start with one, step through them until you get one you like. But, skip 3.16.10 and 3.17.0.

Definitely skip 3.18! (refresh issues)

JSWolf · 01-22-2016, 05:33 PM

3.18 only has a refresh issue if you use kepub. If not, it's not a problem.

dura · 01-23-2016, 07:14 AM

Sounds like a software problem to me, a firmware update gone wrong. On my Aura 3.19 works perfect, and since it finally solves the pinch-to-zoom-off, that is the one I would reinstall. Good luck.

01-20-2016, 04:27 AM	#1
e-booklover Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2016 Device: kobo aura	Firmware and battery life (+lag) After a long time I finally upgraded my Kobo Aura's (6inch version) 3.12 to the latest firmware version. But now I'm experiencing battery life issues. After banging my head against the wall screaming 'why did I upgrade' I now have a terrible headache, and a question: Problem 1: From all the firmware updates available, which has the best battery life? Should I go back to 3.12 or is there a better option? EDIT: Sync and Wi-Fi are off. Problem 2: The ereader is very laggy, from the menu's all the way to flipping pages and selecting stuff. There is like a 1-second delay and a fade-in/fade-out effect. My girlfriend's Aura (checking with the same version, same firmware, same book) is snappier. The funny thing is, she has about 40 books on the device, while I have only 2 (2Mb each).So mine is almost empty, yet way slower. Why is that? Our devices are around the same age, mine is from nov 2014 and hers dec 2014. And a factory reset didn't solve my issues btw. Last edited by e-booklover; 01-20-2016 at 05:06 AM.

01-20-2016, 06:42 AM	#7
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	If everything is slow, then whatever is causing that is probably causing the power drain. The things I would try are: Restart the device. Check if the database is corrupt. If you use calibre, you can do this with my Kobo Utilities plugin. Otherwise, you need an SQLite database management program. Reapply the firmware. There are occasionally some weird problems after a firmware upgrade. In a lot of cases, reinstalling the firmware fixes them. Do a factory reset. When I do this for problems, I take a full copy of the user partition, do the factory reset and test things. Then I decide whether to restore the files, or just continue from where I am. And if none of that helps, you can do a factory reset and go back to 3.12. Or try one of the versions iin between.

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01-20-2016, 04:49 AM	#2
GeoffR Wizard Posts: 3,821 Karma: 19162882 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Te Riu-a-Māui Device: Kobo Glo	I haven't noticed any difference in battery life between firmware versions in the three years I've had my Glo. However one thing to check is the "Automatic sync" feature (Settings > Syncing and updates > Automatic sync) that was added a while back, if you have that activated then it could account for extra battery use.

01-20-2016, 04:59 AM	#3
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	Yes, the auto-sync will use battery, especially if you have any network issues. And like GeoffR, I haven't seen any real difference. I'd probably say that the life is a little less with recent firmware, but that could also be the batteries aging and not holding quite as much charge as when new.

01-20-2016, 05:05 AM	#4
e-booklover Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2016 Device: kobo aura	Sync is disabled, so is Wi-Fi. That can't be the problem. I also have a new problem I forgot to mention. The ereader is very laggy, from the menu's all the way to flipping pages and selecting stuff. There is like a 1-second delay and a fade-in/fade-out effect. My girlfriend's Aura (checking with the same version, same firmware, same book) is snappier. The funny thing is, she has about 40 books on the device, while I have only 2 (2Mb each).So mine is almost empty, yet way slower. Why is that? Our devices are around the same age, mine is from nov 2014 and hers dec 2014. And a factory reset didn't solve my issues btw.

01-20-2016, 05:16 AM	#5
GeoffR Wizard Posts: 3,821 Karma: 19162882 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Te Riu-a-Māui Device: Kobo Glo	I don't know what the issue is sorry, but if two Auras are running the same firmware version and only one has the problem, then it is probably not the firmware version causing it.

01-20-2016, 05:29 AM	#6
e-booklover Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2016 Device: kobo aura	No need to be sorry, hopefully someone else recognises this problem. And although it is hard to blame the firmware, the issues started when I upgraded. I've been reading for over a year and never encountered a single problem. But since the upgrade and not a day before, I'm having these problems.

01-22-2016, 05:33 PM	#11
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,625 Karma: 145864263 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	3.18 only has a refresh issue if you use kepub. If not, it's not a problem.

01-23-2016, 07:14 AM	#12
dura Groupie Posts: 174 Karma: 1062434 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Netherlands Device: Kobo H2O (2th edition), Kindle PW11	Sounds like a software problem to me, a firmware update gone wrong. On my Aura 3.19 works perfect, and since it finally solves the pinch-to-zoom-off, that is the one I would reinstall. Good luck.

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