Kobo eReaders and Heat

[PeterT]

I do a fair amount of reading while waiting for people sitting in a vehicle with the engine off and no cooling. I've noticed that I often have weird hangs / crashes under these circumstances and was wondering if others have seen this.

I'm referring to things like a page turn on a book that is nowhere close to being finished suddenly returning me to the home screen with the book now flagged as finished, or the device hanging and then rebooting itself.

While it is not as warm as some summers have been in Toronto, the interior of the car (dark gray colored) does get quite warm, and I quite often leave the Glo sitting on the dashboard while driving.

[Anak]

Regulatory Compliance Statement

8. Avoid storing your device in temperatures lower than -10° and higher than 60° C (14° to 140° F). Operation of the device should occur in temperatures between 0° and 45° C (32° to 113° F). Dramatic changes in temperature or humidity may affect the functioning of the device due to the formation of condensation.

Regulatory Compliance Statement (NA)

[Ripplinger]

I read out in the direct sun a lot in the summer, and while I've never had it cause a crash yet or return to the home screen, it can start getting sluggish turning pages, and I always get the stripes down the page unless I refresh the page more often. I remember another post from someone who said their wife left her reader laying on a patio table in the direct sun for 30 minutes or so and had problems when going back to it like you described.

I would suggest you not leave the reader sitting on the dash in the direct sun. That's something I'd never do with any electronics. Put it in a glove box or even behind you on the floor to keep it out of the direct sun.

[dakini]

I live in a very hot place ... it's been about 47.7* recently (118-119*F). The time of year it gets about 38* or so, I noticed my Glo tends to crash if I read it out in the sun for more than 10 or 15 minutes. So I bring paperbacks to the pool. Cheaper if they get wet, anyway.

It's amazing how hot the interior of a car can get, due to the sun and all that glass. I'd recommend keeping your reader in a knapsack or something -- that will insulate it from the heat of surfaces, and also from the direct sunlight.

[Liesse]

I live in England where it is obviously mostly cold and wet. Three weeks ago, I happened to be on holiday on the south coast and it did not rain! So me and my boyfriend decided to risk it and go sit on a beach for an afternoon. I took lots of factor 30 so my skin didn't frizzle (I am practically blue and would take a week of sunbathing to turn white) & my kobo glo.
After about half an hour in the direct sunlight, the kobo started acting a bit odd. Like me, it is obviously not used to warm weather, but it seemed to be so overwhelmed by sitting on a beach in Cornwall in July and it not raining, that it started to freeze. It refused to page turn. It randomly went to the home screen. I held the power button a bit and it reset, but still kept acting strangely. I had to give up on reading and watch people instead. It was most annoying. The boyfriend fetched an ice cream which cheered me up a little, but of course, I'd rather have been reading.
Perhaps I should have taken the kobo out of its neoskin cover to help the heat a bit, but it is always in that cover. It was England anyway, not flipping Arizona.
We have booked a break to Majorca in October and I am worried about my kobo.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

I read out in the direct sun a lot in the summer, and while I've never had it cause a crash yet or return to the home screen, it can start getting sluggish turning pages, and I always get the stripes down the page unless I refresh the page more often. I remember another post from someone who said their wife left her reader laying on a patio table in the direct sun for 30 minutes or so and had problems when going back to it like you described.

I would suggest you not leave the reader sitting on the dash in the direct sun. That's something I'd never do with any electronics. Put it in a glove box or even behind you on the floor to keep it out of the direct sun.

It's not a Kobo issue. My 650 gets sluggish in the heat. I think its an eInk screen issue.

[Dark Raven]

My Aura has never crashed so far, but it got slower under direct sunlight with temperature around 30°C or more and even without direct sunlight when above 35°C

[dakini]

Originally Posted by Liesse

Perhaps I should have taken the kobo out of its neoskin cover to help the heat a bit, but it is always in that cover. It was England anyway, not flipping Arizona.
We have booked a break to Majorca in October and I am worried about my kobo.

I've tried a few things in the heat ... I have a cover like this and being in doesn't seem to affect it in the heat. If anything, it keeps it cooler by decreasing direct sunlight on the case.

What seems to help the most is shielding the kobo from direct sunlight ... reading under a deck umbrella, or in the shade of my torso.

If I were the one on holidays in Majorca, I'd bring the Kobo, as well as some magazines or a paperback as backup ... though if I'm not mistaken, Majorca in October should be 20-25* ... so there shouldn't be any problem with your reader.

[moffattm]

Yeah I think it's something to do with e-ink devices rather than the Kobo specifically.

Here's a link to a forum with people discussing the same sort of problems with Nooks.

Of course any electronic device can have problems when they get too hot. I've had my phone sitting in a cradle in my car with direct sunlight on it and it started acting weird.

[filmo]

Problem is not just heat. I believe sun light at certain angles can overpower UV touch screen enough that you touch doesn't registered unless screen angle is changed or screen is shaded from sun. New Aura with capacitance touch screen is not affected this way.

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's not a Kobo issue. My 650 gets sluggish in the heat. I think its an eInk screen issue.

I never suggested it was just a Kobo issue. It does seem to affect all e-ink screens. Although I'll admit the lines that form vertically on the screen seem to be probably more caused by the light layer. Again, probably not limited to Kobo's front-lit screens either.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by moffattm

Of course any electronic device can have problems when they get too hot. I've had my phone sitting in a cradle in my car with direct sunlight on it and it started acting weird.

I've seen an iPad shut down due to getting too hot.

[EndlessWaves]

It's worth pointing out that Lithium Ion batteries don't like the heat either and they'll age faster at higher temperatures than at lower ones, although it's less of a problem with eReader than it is with higher power devices.

[GeoffR]

No crashes and no problems with the touch response on my Glo, but I find ghosting is worse on hot days, a more frequent screen refresh is needed.