Likebook Mars Battery Issue with Bluetooth on

airbus02 · 03-05-2020, 03:31 PM

I moved from the LIkebook Plus to the Mars primarily to use Google Docs. While I use my LIkebook as a reader 95% of the time, I do like having the option of being able to use it for word processing, pocket, and limited browsing while outdoors. fwiw the Plus is a very good reader, but the main reason to buy an Android reader is that you don't use it just as a reader. I moved from the Kindle Paperwhite, because I wanted a device that did a few more things.

The extra memory, the sd card, and the faster processor of the Mars actually do make it a useable tablet, compared to the Plus which I felt was marginally useable. It woud never be my first choice indoors, but it serves me well when I'm outdoors, waiting in line, or need to check something while reading an e-book. While e-ink itself is pretty slow, I find that editing and writing with the Mars is really quite good.

Here's my problem. As a reader, the Mars's battery life is just fine. With wifi and bluetooth on, it's awful. My best guess is that I get about 2.5 hours of word processing time. Some people seem to be suggesting that they get 5-6 hours of tablet time. I don't know if it's all the screen rewrites that come with actual word processing or if I have a setting wrong.

I know there are dedicated e-ink word processors that claim dramatically better battery life. Is it because they're not using bluetooth/wifi? Would fiddling with the Mars to make the USB connector true OTG give me better battery life with a USB instead of bluetooth keyboard?

pazos · 03-05-2020, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by airbus02

I moved from the LIkebook Plus to the Mars primarily to use Google Docs. While I use my LIkebook as a reader 95% of the time, I do like having the option of being able to use it for word processing, pocket, and limited browsing while outdoors. fwiw the Plus is a very good reader, but the main reason to buy an Android reader is that you don't use it just as a reader. I moved from the Kindle Paperwhite, because I wanted a device that did a few more things.

The extra memory, the sd card, and the faster processor of the Mars actually do make it a useable tablet, compared to the Plus which I felt was marginally useable. It woud never be my first choice indoors, but it serves me well when I'm outdoors, waiting in line, or need to check something while reading an e-book. While e-ink itself is pretty slow, I find that editing and writing with the Mars is really quite good.

Here's my problem. As a reader, the Mars's battery life is just fine. With wifi and bluetooth on, it's awful. My best guess is that I get about 2.5 hours of word processing time. Some people seem to be suggesting that they get 5-6 hours of tablet time. I don't know if it's all the screen rewrites that come with actual word processing or if I have a setting wrong.

I know there are dedicated e-ink word processors that claim dramatically better battery life. Is it because they're not using bluetooth/wifi? Would fiddling with the Mars to make the USB connector true OTG give me better battery life with a USB instead of bluetooth keyboard?

Hi airbus2. I did try a likebook mimas and it has really poor/broken power management. The device is not mine, but I was tunning it for a friend. It turned out that the major battery eater (besides wifi) was Google Play Services.

Disabling both wifi and play services (and replacing word with Markor) helped to double the on-screen time from 3 to 6 hours. Bluetooth was on as it was used to input text on the program.

There are other things that can be done to improve battery life, but they're harder to do, as they would require messing with boot.img / system.img and replace the cpufreq governor.

Both OTG/USB host and low-level cpu frequency scaling tunning are impossible as kernel sources aren't available.

airbus02 · 03-05-2020, 05:46 PM

Not really great news, since Google Docs lets me go between devices more easily, but quite likely what's going on.
So, I take it that Boyue might be able to do something about this, given that most android tablets don't have massive battery drains from google play services?

airbus02 · 04-03-2020, 03:40 PM

I still have my Likebook Plus and got it out to try using the bluetooth keyboard with it. Much to my surprise, it gets closer to 5-6 hours of battery time, even though it has the google framework, though it just lets me read files from google drive, use the calendar, etc. but not google docs.

Fwiw, it's a pain to word process on the Plus, though it's very doable. It's noticeably slower with the screen rewrites, even though it's the same screen and key presses sometimes turn into repeat presses without my intending them to be (backspaces or deletes especially).

In th meantime, Dropbox doesn't really work with android 4.1 any longer, though I imagine there's some sort of workaround.

03-05-2020, 03:31 PM	#1
airbus02 Enthusiast Posts: 43 Karma: 3134 Join Date: Jul 2018 Device: kindle pw3	Likebook Mars Battery Issue with Bluetooth on I moved from the LIkebook Plus to the Mars primarily to use Google Docs. While I use my LIkebook as a reader 95% of the time, I do like having the option of being able to use it for word processing, pocket, and limited browsing while outdoors. fwiw the Plus is a very good reader, but the main reason to buy an Android reader is that you don't use it just as a reader. I moved from the Kindle Paperwhite, because I wanted a device that did a few more things. The extra memory, the sd card, and the faster processor of the Mars actually do make it a useable tablet, compared to the Plus which I felt was marginally useable. It woud never be my first choice indoors, but it serves me well when I'm outdoors, waiting in line, or need to check something while reading an e-book. While e-ink itself is pretty slow, I find that editing and writing with the Mars is really quite good. Here's my problem. As a reader, the Mars's battery life is just fine. With wifi and bluetooth on, it's awful. My best guess is that I get about 2.5 hours of word processing time. Some people seem to be suggesting that they get 5-6 hours of tablet time. I don't know if it's all the screen rewrites that come with actual word processing or if I have a setting wrong. I know there are dedicated e-ink word processors that claim dramatically better battery life. Is it because they're not using bluetooth/wifi? Would fiddling with the Mars to make the USB connector true OTG give me better battery life with a USB instead of bluetooth keyboard?

03-05-2020, 05:46 PM	#3
airbus02 Enthusiast Posts: 43 Karma: 3134 Join Date: Jul 2018 Device: kindle pw3	Thanks Not really great news, since Google Docs lets me go between devices more easily, but quite likely what's going on. So, I take it that Boyue might be able to do something about this, given that most android tablets don't have massive battery drains from google play services?

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04-03-2020, 03:40 PM	#4
airbus02 Enthusiast Posts: 43 Karma: 3134 Join Date: Jul 2018 Device: kindle pw3	I still have my Likebook Plus and got it out to try using the bluetooth keyboard with it. Much to my surprise, it gets closer to 5-6 hours of battery time, even though it has the google framework, though it just lets me read files from google drive, use the calendar, etc. but not google docs. Fwiw, it's a pain to word process on the Plus, though it's very doable. It's noticeably slower with the screen rewrites, even though it's the same screen and key presses sometimes turn into repeat presses without my intending them to be (backspaces or deletes especially). In th meantime, Dropbox doesn't really work with android 4.1 any longer, though I imagine there's some sort of workaround.

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