From iLiad to LBook V3: Infinite battery life

[Malder1]

I have got iLiad since October 2006. It's great, but even with recently replaced battery it doesn't work more than 12 hours and I don't like long turning on/off.

So I decided to change it and in a shop of my city I've found LBook V3 (e-ink too). It's manufactured in Ukraine and based on Jinke (China).

Since next day after purchasing of LBook V3 I had a two week's travel to Great Britain and found the next moments with using of LBook in comparisson with iLiad:

Plus:
+ I *never* turned off LBook. It was always *enabled* during two weeks and it battery still shows 50%. I've read two 600 pages books. People say that LBook usually works 3-4 weeks. So needn't to take a power charger to a travel.

+ Although screen is only 6", it has more better contrast then my iLiad. I'm guessing that my old iLiad had a better contrast after purchasing, but now LBook in two times better.

+ LBook (without cover) weights in two times less (220 g. vs 440 of ILiad).

+ LBook V3 directly supports FB2/RTF formats and I can change font size on the fly and LBook remembers my settings. Also I can install own font (I like Georgia).

+ Font rendering MUCH BETTER on LBook. Text looks crisp, not blurred as on iLiad (On iLiad I even used my own text rendering to images in PDF for better reading.)

+ It quickly works.

+ It possible to easily replace a battery (usual for some Nokia mobile phone).

+ 512 MB built-in memory + SD card.

+ Enough cheap, same price as for Sony Reader 505

+ Supports embedded folders for books (Sony can't).


I found only one serious problem. SD card reader in LBook had damaged pin contact and SD card didn't work, so because I had to go the travel, I opened a case of LBook and corrected the SD pin contact in LBook. I have no warranty more. In the forums I found several reports about similar problem from other users.

Other minuses:
- No touch screen,
- No Wi-Fi
- No Ethernet.
- I've bought LBook V3 in Russia, so I'm doubt that you can find it in Europe.
- Need to install latest firmware (downloaded from website) to support own fonts for FB2/RTF and better text rendering.

All connections via usual mini-USB (including power charging)

Anyway I will use only lBook V3 now instead iLiad, because it looks more like book, because no need to turn it off.

It sadly that iLiad had so strange hardware that it can't be suspended betwen turning of pages. So it's not very plesant to travel with iLiad.

I didn't try Sony Reader 505, maybe it also can work during weeks.

[axel77]

You say it, there are 3 major things I don't understand why iRex can't do them right are:

* suspend (okay this needs a bit of work, but's it not that hard. IMHO all you need to do is to turn of the onboard clock generator, and have any key also make an interrupt to turn it on again, no need to safe to disk, only the RAM and the cpu without clock take AFAIK hardly much current)
* user replaceable battery (I know many devices today come without, starting with all the apple devices. But is it really so hard to make it a socket where you click in/out the battery?)
* SD card reader (This should really be a no brainer, I cannot understand why they come up with the book edition without upgrading the MMC reader, did they fire their whole tech team?)

[orcinus]

Originally Posted by axel77

* suspend (okay this needs a bit of work, but's it not that hard. IMHO all you need to do is to turn of the onboard clock generator, and have any key also make an interrupt to turn it on again, no need to safe to disk, only the RAM and the cpu without clock take AFAIK hardly much current)

It's been stated by iRex that the iLiad's hardware isn't capable of being suspended. I.e. the CPU simply doesn't have a power state that halts it completely and can only be downclocked (which is what it does now, to a degree).

A few people suggested some hibernate-like schemes, but i doubt we'll ever see that either.

Regarding OP, i don't see how either LBook V3 (as described) or Jinke compete with iLiad - they have completely different target audiences and are intended for completely different tasks (i.e. book reading vs. general document reading + annotating). Also, except for the folder support, i don't see how LBook V3 is any different than Sony's Reader (again, as described in the post).

[axel77]

Originally Posted by orcinus

It's been stated by iRex that the iLiad's hardware isn't capable of being suspended. I.e. the CPU simply doesn't have a power state that halts it completely and can only be downclocked (which is what it does now, to a degree).

I agree that with the current hardware is very likely not do-able, but I don't think given a hardware revision it would be so a difficult thing to do.

[scotty1024]

Originally Posted by orcinus

It's been stated by iRex that the iLiad's hardware isn't capable of being suspended. I.e. the CPU simply doesn't have a power state that halts it completely and can only be downclocked (which is what it does now, to a degree).

Yes well the Kindle stamps "liar" all over their foreheads. It has the same CPU chip and yet it can suspend between page flips enough to run weeks between recharges and do so with a smaller battery.

[wallcraft]

If the E-book Reader Matrix is correct the batteries are similar in size (Amazon 1530mAh; iLiad 20% larger than the original 1100mAh). The Kindle is the 2nd most power hungry E-Ink reader, but there is no doubt that iRex would have sold many more iLiads if it lasted as long on a charge as the Kindle and had a quick wake-up hibernate mode like the Kindle.

[scotty1024]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

If the E-book Reader Matrix is correct the batteries are similar in size (Amazon 1530mAh; iLiad 20% larger than the original 1100mAh).

Yes, but the Kindle's battery is single cell and the iLiad has two. When comparing batteries it's best to compare Watt Hours.

Kindle: 5.66 Watt Hour
iLiad v1: 8.14 Watt Hour
iLiad v2: 9.77 Watt Hour
Segway i2: 427 Watt Hour (now there's a battery to run an iLiad!)

[frimbob]

I just don't how I would be able to read the pdfs I have without a touch screen, so I know that my $900 AUD purchase was worth it, but if I was only going to read novels I can understand peoples complaints about the iliad.

It's really just about right device for you at the right price.

[axel77]

Originally Posted by frimbob

I just don't how I would be able to read the pdfs I have without a touch screen, so I know that my $900 AUD purchase was worth it, but if I was only going to read novels I can understand peoples complaints about the iliad.

It's really just about right device for you at the right price.

The iRex is currently still uncontested on:
* touch screen.
* open to development.
* screen size

And I agre for the "scientific reader" currently almost the only choice.

[scotty1024]

Originally Posted by axel77

And I agre for the "scientific reader" currently almost the only choice.

Out of 134632 available Kindle ebooks, 22596 are science titles. It is by far the largest category of all categories (other than Fiction/Non-fiction). The next biggest category, Business and Investing, has 12504 titles.

Two of my favorite Kindle science ebooks.

http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Liquid...4883747&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Simul...4883747&sr=1-2

[axel77]

Originally Posted by scotty1024

Out of 134632 available Kindle ebooks, 22596 are science titles. It is by far the largest category of all categories (other than Fiction/Non-fiction). The next biggest category, Business and Investing, has 12504 titles.

Two of my favorite Kindle science ebooks.

http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Liquid...4883747&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Simul...4883747&sr=1-2

No. You don't get it, its not counting titles available its about the way of reading, that is working with text by making underlinings, sidecomments and all kind of marks. Also "the scientific" reader is more interested into downloading the pdfs of the journals his university is subscribed at onto the iLiad instead of buying some books frmo amazon. Especially in the natural sciences monographies have become a not so important source.

PS: Why are you posting in the iLiad section after all? All you do is spreading negative hate around.