E-Readers: Less and Less Battery?
An important phenomenon has passed a little silence on some new models of high-end ereaders. Today, we will talk about the autonomy of Kobo Aura One and Kindle Oasis 2.
These two readers are incredible reading lights with a different technology, although equivalent in appearance, other models.
Why are high-end ebook readers different?
The main difference lies in the size of the two reading lights screens.
While the simpler and more classic ereaders use a 6-inch screen, here are the screen sizes of these two high-end reading machines:
Kobo Aura One: 7.8-inch illuminated touchscreen
Kindle Oasis: 7-inch illuminated and touch screen
As can be seen, these two readers have a screen much larger than average.
The autonomy of the ereaders (comparison)
Now, if we read the figures of the autonomy of these machines found throughout the forums, it seems that they offer a battery that lasts much longer than other readers.
See yourself the autonomies of the ebook readers found on the US forums (I averaged for each machine but you should see a little at home):
Kindle: about 25 hours
Kindle Paperwhite: about 22 hours
Kindle Oasis: about 15 hours
Kobo Aura One: about 19 hours
These figures are not provided by manufacturers but by real users.
The use is made Wifi disabled but with the ebook reader (if available, the simple Kindle not having this function) at about 15 to 20%. (preview here in the comments)
We see immediately that high-end readers, although more expensive, have a lower autonomy than cheaper ereaders.
Why does the ebook readers battery last less?
We have just seen, schematically, that the larger the screen, the less the battery of the e-reader lasts a long time.
This is true for a variety of reasons:
lighting: there is more surface to illuminate and therefore it needs a more powerful light or with more LEDs,
The bigger screen: even if the electronic ink screens consume little energy, it is still necessary to feed them – as well as the tactile overlay. So the bigger the screen, the more energy it consumes.
The ereaders are thinner and there is less room to put a big battery: we are going towards a reduction of the weight and the size of the reading lights, so we have less room inside to place a battery of a big capacity.
a more powerful processor: these high-end readers have a more powerful computing processor to display the ebook, pdf and interface faster and with greater fluidity than the entry-level models. So the processor also consumes more energy.
There must also be other reasons that an engineer could explain to you.
I think these factors, independently of each other or all together, explain pretty well the problem faced by high-end ereaders.
Is it a problem?
Is a reading light with a lower than average autonomy a problem in everyday life?
It’s a good question. But to know it, you have to do the math.
If we assume that we read every day at least one hour per day with brightness at 20% and the Wifi switched off, then we will have to reload the Kindle Oasis 2 twice a month.
This is quite reasonable compared to another device like the smartphone.
But, it would obviously be wise for e-reader manufacturers to improve this parameter in their future models.
There may be a market segment to take on the reading lights that have a great deal of autonomy. Imagine a machine that you only have to recharge 5 or 6 times a year! (autonomy of 2 months or 60 days of reading for one hour per day).
In this regard, we remember that Bookeen had worked on a solar cover for the reading light Ocean (more available at the moment). It may be a good time to bring out a similar device …
What do you think?
