KOBO launches 3 new devices: Mini, Glow ereaders & Arc Tablet

[Suzanna]

Originally Posted by anonymoose

If it's anything like how the Touch interface looks now, that's just the view when you are on the recommended page. That's not the first screen that shows up when you start up the Touch. There are some current screen shots over at http://blog.kobobooks.com/new-and-im...op-experience/.

That's correct, anonymoose. If you look at the page for the Kobo Mini on the Kobo website - https://www.kobo.com/kobomini/ - you can see that the home screen is the same as the home screen on the Kobo Touch and the Kobo Glo. (It's also highlighted on the Design page banner - https://www.kobo.com/kobomini/design/)

And interchangeable snap on backs for the Mini! DH and I will be getting the new Glo model (our daughters already want us to give up our Touches) but I lust after this feature.

[taming]

Originally Posted by stewacide

2.1.1 is nearly perfect on the current gen touch, but strangely they won't officially release it.

After seeing the s-storms on MR with the release of builds that are nearly perfect, I applaud them for taking their time on this one.

[spindlegirl]

Looks like the mini will be a good little reader then.

[AnemicOak]

A couple of questions for current Kobo users...

Has Kobo come up with a way to organize things on your reader yet? Can it be done off device and if no how hard is it to do on device?

My impression, which may be wrong, is that every Kobo device to come out has been buggy and had buggy firmware releases true or not? It just seems to me I see more complaints about it than I do other devices.


Thanks for answering. The new readers look like an interesting possibility.

[JAcheson]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

Is this accurate? On The Kobo Glo (supposedly "the company's answer to Barnes & Noble's Nook SimpleTouch with GlowLight"): "The display's got a resolution of 1024 x 768 and can do 16 levels of gray scale."

That's far more than an answer to the STwGL.

If the KG uses an e-ink screen, you have to wonder whether the stated resolution is a mistake. There's no mention of resolution in the Kobo press release on which the Engadget article's based.

1024 x 768 would make sense for an LCD screen, an e-ink screen should be around 300 DPI, so a minimum of 1200x900 "pixels." Unless this is the blockiest e-ink screen ever made.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by JD Gumby

Kobo doesn't seem to believe in page turn buttons, having used a d-pad for their first two ereaders and, of course, touchscreen for their third (a huge mistake - the infrared system used isn't nearly sensitive enough and so page turning is quite dodgy).

I have a 650 with IR and it's sensitive enough for page turns. I've used the page turn buttons maybe 3 times.

[elemenoP]

Originally Posted by JAcheson

1024 x 768 would make sense for an LCD screen, an e-ink screen should be around 300 DPI, so a minimum of 1200x900 "pixels." Unless this is the blockiest e-ink screen ever made.

All of the major 6" readers on the market now (Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Sony) use an 800x600 screen, so this is an improvement, not the blockiest e-ink screen ever made.

eP

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by JAcheson

1024 x 768 would make sense for an LCD screen, an e-ink screen should be around 300 DPI, so a minimum of 1200x900 "pixels." Unless this is the blockiest e-ink screen ever made.

Technically, the Kobo Glo resolution is 768x1024.
Standard XGA portrait resolution.
It's real.
LG has been making them for months and several of the small hardware-only vendors have been using them.

[anonymoose]

AnemicOak - they have this bookshelf option on the device where you can sort titles into groups. It doesn't show up in the file system when you connect your Touch to your PC though; I set up my own file system in that end for my own organizing sanity. Calibre is usually what people use for sorting, and is much easier to use. I usually ignore the Kobo Desktop program altogether.

The firmware is not perfect but it is a billion times better since the initial release. For me at the moment, the lingering issues that I have is once in a while the book pages won't turn or the book freezes. To fix it I just close the book or restart the Kobo. I personally haven't noticed any other major issues since the last firmware update at the beginning of July (and I use it every day). You should have a peek in the Kobo Reader section of this forum, and in the latest firmware thread: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=184373

Edited to add: The developers also keep an eye on the Kobo Reader section of this forum and take requests for firmware changes there. It's nice to be heard.

[JD Gumby]

Well, looks like the Kobo Arc is dead in the water. The new Kindle Fire is going to be more powerful than the old (thus way more powerful than the Arc) - AND cost only $159. Even if it too lacks a dedicated GPU and microSD slot (the latter's a given, of course), it will blow the Arc away.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/...pt-14-for-159/

[Suzanna]

Originally Posted by JD Gumby

Well, looks like the Kobo Arc is dead in the water. The new Kindle Fire is going to be more powerful than the old (thus way more powerful than the Arc) - AND cost only $159. Even if it too lacks a dedicated GPU and microSD slot (the latter's a given, of course), it will blow the Arc away.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/...pt-14-for-159/

Last I checked, the Fire was only available in the U.S. I'm not about to jump through any hoops to get one, and then have to go through back door channels to try to access any content for it. Life's too short to bother with that. Isn't that one of Amazon's main selling features - ease of use and access to content? Last I checked, that ease of use and access is only available to those in the U.S. No thanks, even if the specs are better. There are too many other (non-forked) tablets out there that grant me ease of use. Yes, even the Arc.

[Latinandgreek]

I am so glad to see that the 5 inch e-ink form factor is not dead! Also, the higher resolution screen sounds fantastic, I can't wait to see these puppies at Chapters! Bravo, Kobo!

[taming]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

A couple of questions for current Kobo users...

Has Kobo come up with a way to organize things on your reader yet? Can it be done off device and if no how hard is it to do on device?

My impression, which may be wrong, is that every Kobo device to come out has been buggy and had buggy firmware releases true or not? It just seems to me I see more complaints about it than I do other devices.


Thanks for answering. The new readers look like an interesting possibility.

There are now bookshelves on the Kobo Touch. They are somewhat awkward to get to, but they work. Only kepub books sync with the bookshelves and are remembered after a factory reset. In part, at least, it is a privacy related issue.There is a new Calbre driver in the works that improves on them and makes the shelves more usefull for ePUB and other formats.

My sense (and I am a huge Kobo fan) is that quality control has taken a few steps forward since they have deep-pocket Rakutan on-board. I have always been torn about how Kobo releases new features. On the one hand, they don't make folks wait for new hardware before adding improvements. On the other hand, some of the in-between releases definitely need work.

Currently some folks are using a release that was never intended to be used outside of Japan, whilst the beta group is continuing to help out as what looks like a universal release is still being tested. Folks are impatient and asking for the release before it is fully baked. If it were to be released today, tomorrow people would be singing the blues about quality.

As I said, I am torn.

[sharphamster]

That 5" mini is pretty tempting. My little hands appreciate the little devices. Wish it had a microSD slot, but I can deal with a gig of memory for my sideloaded books.

I'll definitely be making a trip to the store to check them out when they show up.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Suzanna

Last I checked, the Fire was only available in the U.S.

Things change fast these days:
http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/06/ama...-at-129-in-uk/

Blink and there'll be one just down the street.