1. Besides the terrible (Prestigio) boot screen, the boot time of the device is terrible. Is there a way to speed up the boot (some utility or possible firmware upgrade)?
I am personally not aware of any utility that would speed up the boot. The only thing that can I think worth of doing in terms of speeding up the boot is removing all the bloatware. And this has been already done almost perfectly by donald. I doubt we will get further than that.
The first cleaned up version by donald was fastest in booting.
Prestigio 2.1.2 RU (especially latest donald's clean version) is slower in booting (for me) but smoother in interface and apps.
2. The boot speed issue shows another issue of mine: I always turn off my device when not using it. Is it smarter to just put it in stand-by? Is battery depleted much faster when in stand-by, in comparison to ordinary shut down?
Of course it is depleted much faster in stand-by than while turned off. Especially if you leave the Wifi on, or have some apps running. In the first weeks I used to deplete approx. 50% of the battery for reading and light surfing and then I would let it go to standby. The next morning it was empty. I think the batteries don't like getting completely discharged and kept like that. So now, I turn my tablet off when I know I won't be using it any time soon. Usually at around 50%. Next morning it is still at approx 40%. I can use it again until it depletes.
It is a slow, but I think it's bearable. I just took the time on mine. 1:32 until I'm all the way in. I'm using the latest Presitigio 2.1.2 RU ROM cleaned and rooted by donald. At this point I already installed around 15 apps, so it would be faster completely clean. The first 2.1.2 by Donald was faster in booting.
3. Does anybody have a general list of changes/improvements made in the newest Prestigio firmware?
I'd like to see that one too, but I doubt anybody but someone from Prestigio can really tell us that.