Battery Hog

[Paula]

Is it just my battery or PPC or is Palm Reader a memory eater?

I prefer to use Palm Reader to read all of my ebooks, but this puppy eats about 20%(+) of memory per hour. Is it just my 2215 (or memory) or is this about average?

Paula

[Kevin Remhof]

Is it just my battery or PPC or is Palm Reader a memory eater?

I prefer to use Palm Reader to read all of my ebooks, but this puppy eats about 20%(+) of memory per hour. Is it just my 2215 (or memory) or is this about average?

Paula

I have not seen this on my iPAQ 1945. Actually, I've found that the battery lasts a long time in Palm Reader. There may be other factors involved though. I have my backlight on all of the time. It's set to the lowest "on" setting. I also use "Parchment" as my theme.

I read the second half of "The Da Vinci Code" in a weekend on my iPAQ without recharging the battery..

[tanalasta]

I agree with Kevin that it's more likely to be another factor causing your battery loss. Backlight's a big culprit if you have the setting on "bright". The other would be if you were playing any audio files at the same time.

However, 5 hours seems fairly reasonable if you do have your backlight on. Mind you, I'm not sure what the battery rating on your device is!

[WindWalker]

.....I though she was talking about a memory leak, and not battery usage?

[Steven Cedrone]

.....I though she was talking about a memory leak, and not battery usage?

She is talking about a memory leak. Actually, after reading the post again, I'm not sure if we are talking about a battery problem or a memory problem. I think we need a little clarification here...

BTW, what version of the reader are you using? The current version is 2.4.3!

Steve

[Paula]

First let me say what an idiot I am, I kept saying memory and actually meant battery. My memory is great (well not mine, but the 2215's is great). I don't have any leaks.


I have not seen this on my iPAQ 1945. Actually, I've found that the battery lasts a long time in Palm Reader. There may be other factors involved though. I have my backlight on all of the time. It's set to the lowest "on" setting. I also use "Parchment" as my theme.

I read the second half of "The Da Vinci Code" in a weekend on my iPAQ without recharging the battery..

I use the black background/white typeface and (coincidently I am reading Dan Brown's Angels and Demons after reading The Da Vinci Code) I keep by backlight at about 8 notches from the bottom, whatever % that represents. I read and read then I watch my battery life slip away.

I thought 20% decline in battery life was pretty high considering I can play games and and only consume half that % in an hour.

I can leave Palm reader open, a couple of games open and even documents open, then turn my 2215 off, then when I turn it back on several hours later only about 1% of the battery life has been used.

Paula

[Kevin Remhof]

I use the black background/white typeface and (coincidently I am reading Dan Brown's Angels and Demons after reading The Da Vinci Code) I keep by backlight at about 8 notches from the bottom, whatever % that represents. and I watch my battery life slip away.

Weird. That seems very excessive for battery drain. You are talking battery drain and not memory, right? Just checking.

BTW, I finished "Angels & Demons" a few weeks ago and am now on "Deception Point". I'm becoming a Dan Brown junkie. :)

[juni]

I hate the palm reader, only reason I use it is because it is soon the only way to get the content I want for a reasonable price. I think the Microsoft Reader is great, it truly gives the feel of reading a book - and you can even make scribbles on the pages. :grumble:

Windwalker: You really support yourself on voice-acting? I think that is fascinating. :)

[Paula]

Weird. That seems very excessive for battery drain. You are talking battery drain and not memory, right? Just checking.

BTW, I finished "Angels & Demons" a few weeks ago and am now on "Deception Point". I'm becoming a Dan Brown junkie. :)

Yes, as I added to my post above, I did mean battery and not memory.
And I am also becoming a Dan Brown Junkie. The next book I will read is Digital Fortress (I am a big fan of Cryptogram puzzles). I have to confess that I love his work so much, that I not only buy the ebook, I also buy his books in paper form. :D
It is too bad that his next book won't be published until June 2005.

I also use Mobipocket, but I am not very fond of it. I will have to do a test to see which one uses less battery life.

Steve,
I am using version 2.4. Looks like I am due for an upgrade.

Juni,
I haven't tried MS Reader yet, because of the new version/activation hassles.


Paula

[tanalasta]

I thought 20% decline in battery life was pretty high considering I can play games and and only consume half that % in an hour.

If this is the case, maybe it is palm-reader... It's hard to tell though. You're not running any other programs simultaneously are you? Or using a CF microdrive...? Well, see how you go after a program-upgrade and/or using another reader! I'd have thought 5 hours on a medium-bright setting backlight would be acceptable. But then again, I have an antique and not a 2215 :oops:

[Paula]

Tanalasta,
No, I'm not running a CF microdrive. I have installed palm reader and all of my books (50+) on my SD card. There was nothing running in the background when I ran my tests.


Can some of you please help me and run a test for me the next time you read a book using any reader. Can you please post how much battery life is consumed after a solid hour of reading.

I appreciate the help.

Paula

[xendula]

Paula, will do the test with MS Reader (reading the last Potter book right now (horrible scan :evil: )) and post the results. Does the book have to be on the card, though?

[Paula]

Xendula,
Hmmmmm.... All of my books are on an SD card. I'm not sure if it matters. I can't believe you don't have Harry on a card, those books are huge. Please do the test anyway and we will see what you get.

Thanks
Paula

[Janak Parekh]

Can some of you please help me and run a test for me the next time you read a book using any reader. Can you please post how much battery life is consumed after a solid hour of reading.
I'm afraid this datapoint isn't going to help all that much. :( On my i700, I can read for at least a couple of hours before the battery starts going down noticeably -- and all my ebooks are on an SD card. In my experience, Palm Reader doesn't seem to suck up more battery than anything else...

--janak

[Paula]

Thank you Janak.

After a couple of hours of reading my battery would be down between 30 and 40 percent. I can't understand why though. It has to be Palm Reader. I can do other things with multiple apps open and after an hour my battery is down about 5%. But try and read a book with nothing else open and my battery get sucked up as if by a sponge.

I am going to try and do a few experiments with other readers and see what happens.


Paula

[Janak Parekh]

But try and read a book with nothing else open and my battery get sucked up as if by a sponge.
In my case, it's worth mentioning I'm using the i700's extended battery, so that makes a big difference. Nevertheless, Palm Reader's battery utilization on my devices seems to be not that different from other applications, like games. Note I'm not using the Pro -- just the free version.

--janak

[Paula]

Janak,
I am using the free version as well. Another thing...I can leave Palm Reader open and turn my PPC off and the battery remains healthy. There is no drain. But the moment I start to page, sluuurp, there goes its life juice. The other day I left the reader open (unit turned off) and 9 hours later only 1% of the battery was used. I didn't use the PPC all day (boy, was that hard). Maybe I should down load the new version of Palm Reader.

Paula

[Janak Parekh]

I haven't updated my Palm Reader in a while, though.

Here's a useful experiment: move the ebook to your iPAQ's main memory, remove the storage card from the device, and then try reading from there.

--janak

[Paula]

Janak,
I had thought about reinstalling Palm Reader in main memory and then a few of the books, but I'm not sure I want to do that. I supose as an experiment I could. I just hate taking up main mem realestate.

Paula

[Janak Parekh]

I had thought about reinstalling Palm Reader in main memory and then a few of the books, but I'm not sure I want to do that. I supose as an experiment I could. I just hate taking up main mem realestate.
I'm not suggesting this as a permanent strategy -- just one where you debug if it's your storage card that's having a hand in the power drain.

--janak

[55Kevy]

I have been using Palm Reader since the good old Peanut Press days. In fact, I have just come back from a trip that included about 40 hours of flight time and used my 2215 extensively for entertainment, including reading. I found that the Palm reader did not drain the battery nearly as much as playing solitaire (yea, I know, a lame game) or WordGame. If I could have stayed awake for the whole trip to South Africa, I'll bet I would've gotten over 5 hours using just the Palm Reader.

Kevin

[Paula]

I'm not suggesting this as a permanent strategy -- just one where you debug if it's your storage card that's having a hand in the power drain.

--janak

I have decided to try this this coming weekend. It will only be a temp measure. I hope it isn't my SD card.

Paula

[ChristopherTD]

FWIW, I use Palm Reader Pro extensively on my iPaq 5550 reading books located on the SD card and it has no additional battery impact. Both Palm Reader and Microsoft Reader are very battery friendly, with the backlight turned down to 5/20 I can read for hours without worry.

High CPU use can drain the battery - are you using themes/fonts in Palm Reader that make it have to work hard? I use Plain white background.

[Paula]

Kevin,
It sounds like I am getting the same battery as you. That is unless after 5 hours of reading you still have 10% or higher left on your battery.



FWIW, I use Palm Reader Pro extensively on my iPaq 5550 reading books located on the SD card and it has no additional battery impact. Both Palm Reader and Microsoft Reader are very battery friendly, with the backlight turned down to 5/20 I can read for hours without worry.

High CPU use can drain the battery - are you using themes/fonts in Palm Reader that make it have to work hard? I use Plain white background.

Well lets see I am using the standard reader, with a black background with white letters (eaasier on the eyes) and tahoma 10 font. My backlight is at 8/20. That is it.

I hope it isn't my SD card. if it is I will move my books and reader to my CF card. I will be doing the test that janak suggested, this weekend.

Paula

[divajess]

Paula,

You might try installing just the reader to main RAM and keeping the books on your SD card. I had Reader on my SD card, but it acted weird so I installed to the main memory of my 1910 and it seems to be happier there. :)

Good luck!
Jess