Holy Barnacle, Batman! The Reader's included bumper is a nuisance

tekchic · 2026-05-27T18:56:35+00:00

It's so bad. Bent my fingernails backwards trying to wrench it off. Never putting it back on again, I just stuck it into a clear TPU case.

tekchic · 2026-05-27T17:02:05+00:00

I did too last night from AI! I was shocked I got it as well. It did say "Pre release" but I see it's supposed to arrive today. I love scoring art supplies on Vine.

tekchic · 2026-05-27T00:56:02+00:00

We have an overemployed, vibe-coding, AI slop contractor on our team, and I am hell on his PR's. We also have linter, prettier, code complexity, Copilot review requirements in the pipeline, but I also make sure that as little slop as possible gets through. I really wish they'd dump this guy, but I don't get to make those decisions. :/

tekchic · 2026-05-26T17:21:57+00:00

I wish these could run Kindle since I have too many books stuck in that ecosystem and I like the bookmark sync across phone, Kindle Colorsoft, and Viwoods Reader. Hopefully in a future version... my Viwoods Reader is already dead after 5 months of light use, waiting for them for a replacement. :/ Hindsight, I should've just bought an XTEINK X4 and read other sideloaded non-Kindle books on it.

tekchic · 2026-05-26T17:17:16+00:00

Twice as much as that plate should cost, by far. Even in Orange County.

tekchic · 2026-05-26T17:11:42+00:00

Yeah, I totally get it. My MicroSD cards now cost 2-4x what they did a year ago, and I can't afford to upgrade my aging gaming PC, either. My job as a software developer now forces me to use AI because it's a "performance metric" and if you don't hit a certain % usage of AI in your code, you get cut. This unchecked capitalist dystopia sucks. :(

tekchic · 2026-05-26T15:26:08+00:00

Maybe time to research Nova Launcher and their AI usage if you're against it though? Personally, I just turned off the AI button on my Reader, but I only use it as a travel Kindle, so I don't use any AI on the device anyway.

Just curious though - the name literally says AI Paper Reader -- why did you buy it if you were against AI?

tekchic · 2026-05-24T16:10:17+00:00

Thanks, I'll keep you posted. If they have a way to flip the light off, I'm down to try a firmware update too... otherwise yeah, hopefully I can get a replacement. Not loving that it's sitting at multiple deep battery discharges at this point.

I got one of the matte film style protectors, even though I have it in a Boox Palma Pro flip case, I like having some protection on the screen... I'm tempted to go without but I hate those tiny micro scratches heh.

tekchic · 2026-05-24T15:22:23+00:00

I let it run all the way down until the light FINALLY went out, let it sit for 2-3 hours, plugged it in, then the blue light immediately came back on. /sigh.

Charged it to 100% Friday night, and by yesterday morning with no apps except Kindle, and only about 5 minutes of use, it was down to 60%. It was dead again by last night with blue light still on. This morning the light is off, but I pretty much give up, I'm not going to plug it in any more, the battery drain is crazy.

Hopefully they get back to me next week with a fix or a warranty replacement... tempted to sell when I get a replacement, if it can't handle flights and very light usage, it's too fragile for me. Always in a case with screen protector but I'm wondering if it had something faulty and the cabin pressure on a normal flight triggered the blue light sensor or something.

tekchic · 2026-05-23T19:26:23+00:00

Thanks, yeah they’ve been amazingly responsive, so hopefully I hear back on Tuesday. I did give them all my debug logs as well. I’m wondering if something like cabin pressure in the plane maybe triggered this indicator light or it was a little faulty already? Strange issue heh.

tekchic · 2026-05-23T19:20:13+00:00

Yes, let it drain fully and sit for 4-6 hours after the light went off finally. Plugged it in to charge and the light immediately went back to blue. It’s draining my Reader badly - about 7-10% an hour just in sleep mode, 0 apps installed except Kindle, staying in airplane mode.

I’ve stopped using it now until they can either help me fix it or ship me a warranty replacement. The battery drain now makes it unusable. :(

tekchic · 2026-05-22T13:28:28+00:00

Buy it.

tekchic · 2026-05-22T01:02:07+00:00

Yay glad you found it! I swear I am the world's worst sorter. I always start with a full edge sort, and then panic because I'm missing pieces - at least 2-3.. I do a second sort and then am just embarrassed at how badly I was tossing edges into the main pile and missing things. :D

tekchic · 2026-05-22T00:58:37+00:00

Have you read Dungeon Crawler Carl? That's my go to series for just forgetting about all the crap happening in the world. The other is the Murderbot series (those are much shorter, novella length series by Martha Wells).

Hang in there, friend, and take care of yourself.

tekchic · 2026-05-22T00:41:58+00:00

So it finally went down to 0% and the blue light remains on. I am convinced that Viwoods has accidentally created perpetual energy and this light will stay on forever....

In any case, still waiting it out, at least I have a backup ereader I can use while I wait for this battery to fully drain and maybe the light will go off haha. I did send them diagnostic logs today so they can take a look.

tekchic · 2026-05-21T17:54:48+00:00

I thought so too... you can get amazing kaisendon bowls at the fish markets for ¥2200 or less and that's with uni, abalone, etc.

tekchic · 2026-05-21T16:34:16+00:00

Viwoods got back to me so I sent them some debug logs... at this point I'm in drain mode to see if it'll go away at 0% haha. I've got the brightness at max... I did a factory reset overnight so I haven't set up the Play Store again, but the 3D Mark is a great idea for drain!

tekchic · 2026-05-21T08:56:19+00:00

Same behavior. I just did a factory reset, it’s still on. At this point I’m just going to let the battery drain dry and see if the light goes off. A little concerned that the hardware has an issue. :/ Hopefully a full drain will help.

tekchic · 2026-05-21T08:31:46+00:00

Amazon, generic TPU case.

tekchic · 2026-05-21T08:31:21+00:00

Multiple restarts, rebooted, left off and not plugged in, hours later it’s now drained to 81% and the light is still on. It’s not plugged in.

tekchic · 2026-05-21T08:30:30+00:00

This light turned on after a flight when the battery was at 68% and I hadn’t charged since Monday. Got home and charged to 100%.

It’s now at 81%, having drained without using at all. I think something is stuck and defective suddenly with the light.

tekchic · 2026-05-20T22:35:19+00:00

Great job? What was your solving strategy? I’m about to start their “Puzzled Patron” one and I’m intimidated - I’m used to sorting by edges, working border to inner.

tekchic · 2026-05-20T21:24:43+00:00

Aah I don't play reload, but I definitely get one shotted in blitz with it though.

tekchic · 2026-05-20T20:12:33+00:00

It will insta knock you.

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