Touch Overall Satisfaction with Kobo Touch?

[WillysJeepMan]

Originally Posted by SameerH

The vast majority (>90%) of our customers from our latest survey are reporting they are extremely satisfied with their purchase, and our device return rates have been record lows for this particular product, well below industry standards. We're very pleased with these results, it's a great vote of confidence from our customers whom we love.

We also have the following advantages over Nook STR:
Our device costs $10 less, it's smaller, sleeker and lighter.

Most customers love our Reading Life functionality, which allows you to track your reading, gain achievements and share these with your friends, making reading fun and game-like. It's not for everyone, but it's extremely popular.

We have IMO the best PDF viewing experience on a 6" e-ink device out of any of the leading brands.

We have amazing mobile applications, linked to your account, if you are so inclined.

We regularly update the device with features that our customers specifically ask for. B&N's last update took ~2 months and introduced 3 bug fixes only. We listen and we act. We have some pretty cool features on our roadmap too.



Many of our Touch customers are actually in the 55+ range, and I'd venture that age group tends to be less tolerant of faults if anything, however I don't have any data to back that up with

Hope that helps in your purchase decision!

Thank you very much for your detailed and considered reply. Having been a software developer myself for over 30 years, I appreciate regular updates. I know that we can't always get things right the first time, but knowing that there are regular updates makes me more comfortable.

And yes, that definitely helps me with my purchase decision... I am willing to take a chance on the Kobo Touch. (I was already leaning toward the KT with the previously stated reservations)

Thanks again.

[JD Gumby]

Originally Posted by tecweston

I'm not sure what this text reflow problem is, but one thing I'd like fixed is that in certain text sizes, paragraphs will not appear on the page unless the entire thing can fit on the page. So I'm turning page after page that just has one small paragraph at the top of the screen. Again, that's only for certain text sizes, but I use a larger text size at work because the lighting is poor and I can't read smaller text, and the battery dies very quickly because I'm having to continually turn the page.

Yeah, the problem is worst with Kobo's own epubs - it *HATES* splitting paragraphs across pages and will generally (though there are exceptions) only do so if the paragraph is too large to fit on a single screen page, top to bottom. They really need to set it up so that we can turn off that system (ie, to ignore any widow/orphan default settings in the firmware and settings in the epub).

[SameerH]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

Thank you very much for your detailed and considered reply. Having been a software developer myself for over 30 years, I appreciate regular updates. I know that we can't always get things right the first time, but knowing that there are regular updates makes me more comfortable.

And yes, that definitely helps me with my purchase decision... I am willing to take a chance on the Kobo Touch. (I was already leaning toward the KT with the previously stated reservations)

Thanks again.

Awesome. I'm a bit biased but I think you'll really like it.

[filmo]

Early KT software versions took took longer to update database or would sometimes constant cycle through update database discharging battery in hours. I don't have this problem now. Battery life is much better now.

[SameerH]

Originally Posted by tecweston

Yeah, that's true, they should really base it on page-turns or hours spent reading, because I read my Kobo for at least an hour or two per day, and I know people that turn their e-readers on maybe once a week. I'm sure my Kobo touch's battery could last two months if I never used it, but as it is right now I have to charge it once a week.

We were able to get upwards of 40,000 page turns with the Kobo Touch with our test fixture. Your total battery life is, as you indicated, a combination of how often you read and also how much other things you do, (including leaving the device in sleep mode because that also consumes power).

I'd be interested in exploring going back to a 'more' absolute measure such as 'page turns' or perhaps something like the mobile phone industry (stand by time / talk time).

[rashkae]

This is a bit off topic to this thread, but speaking of battery power, I've noticed that one of the remaining 'glitches' with the kobo is that there is still a process getting stuck that can drain the battery very quickly. I noticed it after I had put the kobo to sleep with a full battery.. when I went to use it again, it was frozen and I had to force a reboot. (Hold the power button slider 4 seconds, assume it silently powered off, then press power again to turn on.) The battery had drained halfway overnight. I'm assuming the cpu was running full tilt during the time the kobo was locked up.

[JD Gumby]

Definitely the current claims about battery life are verging on false advertising and need to point out that it's based on just a couple of hours a day reading, wi-fi off, and powering off instead of letting it go to sleep during the day. (Rather than the more normal couple of hours of a minute here and 5 minutes there through the day, including maybe an hour straight before bed or whatever, and leaving it in sleep mode between sessions and only powering off when they go to bed. On that schedule, I lose maybe 1/4th of a full charge per day)

[Psyke]

Originally Posted by SameerH

We were able to get upwards of 40,000 page turns with the Kobo Touch with our test fixture. Your total battery life is, as you indicated, a combination of how often you read and also how much other things you do, (including leaving the device in sleep mode because that also consumes power).

I'd be interested in exploring going back to a 'more' absolute measure such as 'page turns' or perhaps something like the mobile phone industry (stand by time / talk time).

I'd love to see that, along with a resetable total page turns within the reading stats page

But Sameer, can you tell us what the "1 month of battery life" is based on?

[CdnBloodlust]

One more vote for "Yep, I'm happy with my purchase". Maybe in the next iteration it'll have more pixel density and bigger screen I'm hoping.

[Benjamin Buford]

In the future I'd like higher resolution too (iRiver already did it with the Story HD), but I tend to think that the form factor (i.e. size) is near perfect for reading fiction.

[bibahbuzemann]

Originally Posted by SameerH

...Most customers love our Reading Life functionality, which allows you to track your reading, gain achievements and share these with your friends, making reading fun and game-like. It's not for everyone, but it's extremely popular. ...

Many of our Touch customers are actually in the 55+ range, and I'd venture that age group tends to be less tolerant of faults if anything, however I don't have any data to back that up with

OK, MOST like the SocNet BS, and "many", who are intolerant of faults, would actually like to use a dedicated ereading device for reading! However I don't have any data to back that up with. Jeese! using it to read, ha.

[SameerH]

Originally Posted by Benjamin Buford

In the future I'd like higher resolution too (iRiver already did it with the Story HD), but I tend to think that the form factor (i.e. size) is near perfect for reading fiction.

Higher res would definitely be cool, but would need higher res screen hardware.

[WillysJeepMan]

Originally Posted by WillysJeepMan

Thank you very much for your detailed and considered reply. Having been a software developer myself for over 30 years, I appreciate regular updates. I know that we can't always get things right the first time, but knowing that there are regular updates makes me more comfortable.

And yes, that definitely helps me with my purchase decision... I am willing to take a chance on the Kobo Touch. (I was already leaning toward the KT with the previously stated reservations)

Thanks again.

My Kobo Touch finally arrived today (BestBuy.com took forever to process the order). I bought the white with the grey back. My initial impressions are that although the buttons feel a little on the "cheap" side, it overall feels like a good well-made device. Very nice size, nice sized bezel, good and balanced weight.

Setup was easy. I inserted an 8GB microSD card and used Calibre to sync over a few ePubs, CBZ, CBR, and PDF files. I am extremely impressed with how well it handles all 3 of those formats. The zoom and rotate functionality are lightyears ahead of my experiences with the nook color and nook classic. eInk isn't the best technology for color comics, it's serviceable, but some of my CBZ/CBR files are actually b&w magazines... and for THAT it does a very good job.

I'm enough of a gadget freak to know that the "honeymoon" with any device does not last long, but if the first 15-30 minutes of experience with the KT is any indication, I will consider it to be an excellent purchase.

[Ninjalawyer]

I'm already on my third Touch (the first had a defective screen and the USB connector broke on the second), but I still love the device. So I guess they're doing something right.

[Latch]

I'm enough of a gadget freak to know that the "honeymoon" with any device does not last long

Same here, but I'm still on a high after 6 weeks. I feel a little embarrassed that I haven't cooled on it, like I'm some cheese-eating high school boy or something, but I know I'm watching a LOT less TV these days.