Most ebook readers have the option to use sleep mode or turn them off completely when not in use, but I’ve come to the conclusion that powering them off is an unnecessary endeavor that serves very little purpose.
The problem with powering off is it takes longer to startup when you want to read again. Some devices like Onyx and Kobo ereaders will automatically power off after 60 minutes when not being used.
Luckily both Onyx and Kobo devices have the option to turn off the auto power off option in settings.
I did so long ago and have observed virtually no difference in battery life.
Powering off is basically just a pointless waste of time, especially if you’re reading every day.
Apparently Amazon feels the same way because Kindles have no power off option, just sleep mode. Even if you hold down the power button on a Kindle, there is no option to turn it off.
Holding down the power button on a Kindle brings up the option to restart or turn the screen off, and turning the screen off is the same as sleep mode, minus the screensaver.
If you use your ebook reader regularly, there really is no need to power it off after each use. If you don’t plan on using it for a few weeks, powering off may have some benefits over sleep mode. But from my experience, the battery on Onyx and Kobo ereaders only goes down about 1-2% per day in sleep mode when not being used. That’s hardly enough to worry about powering them off after every 60 minutes and then having to wait for them to boot up every time.
As I have three eReaders (2 Kindle Voyage, 1 tolino epos), two are always just lying around, but I noticed that the Kindles even with sleep-mode have serious power drain.
The Kindles tend to try to connect once a day to WiFi, staying online for 15min, even in sleep-mode ! At night ( 10pm to 07am) I have switched off WiFi in my router, so if they try during that time (mostly they do it during day time, say 9am, or 9pm), that might drain power.
Tried experimenting with airplane mode, not sure, wether that solves the problem, it may be unrelated to WiFi.
It may be some other issue, even firmware related, as I cannot pin it down. But it is less than a week of power, and sometimes even a day where the display showed 75-90% charge. Both Kindles have sleep-cover, and I even guessed, maybe it was a mistake to stack both together?!
That said, I tend to charge them full at least once a week, which is quite often, imho.
Unless you’re constantly downloading from Amazon, why not just leave them in airplane mode? They’re programmed to check in once a day, and they’re constantly checking for signal, both of which eat battery. My Paperwhite stays in airplane mode unless I need something from the internet – yeah, it takes two minutes to go to the menu, connect and synch, but it buys me days more battery, which is worth it.
I have noticed more of a battery drain when my wifi is on and for that reason I keep my wifi off unless I am expecting a or needing to download a book. It isn’t very difficult to turn it on and off and it does seem to save a little battery life.
I keep my kindles in airplane mode unless I need to sync and they keep battery charge much longer than airplane off.
I have a kindle keyboard and a paperwhite 3. Keyboard battery lasts best.
Indeed. I probably should have mentioned that keeping Wi-Fi turned off and using airplane mode definitely helps the battery last longer when not powering off.
So if the wifi is off, then the “not used” e reader battery will not draining, right? Because isn’t that the point of e-ink screen? What other task the e-reader might have beside wifi, while not being read?
Exactly. Leaving the screen on shouldn’t even matter, really.
That’s not true of all Kindles – that there is no power off option, is it? I love my old Kindle Keyboards and those can be powered off by sliding and holding the button until it shuts down. And while I haven’t done it in some time, I thought that if I depressed and held the button on my Kindle Paperwhite, it too would shut down (maybe I’m wrong about that one?).