New Info RE PW on Amazon??

[xendula]

I like how Kobo solved the light column problem, and Amazon may push a firmware update to copy this.

[scrapking]

Originally Posted by Rizla

The Kobo lighting does look slightly better than the Amazon attempt. Who'd have thought it?

Kobo started with a plan of offering simple and cheaper devices than the competition. That plan, however, changed a couple of years ago when they started planning the Kobo Touch. They released it a year and a half ago, and Wired rated it higher than any other e-ink reader available in 2011. So for the last 2-3 years (ever since they laid down plans for the Kobo Touch), Kobo's decided they wanted to raise their prices, and their quality, to that of their competitors.

The Kobo Glo is just the next step in that plan. Kobo deserves legitimate criticism on some of the recent firmware update issues, and I hope they get that issue nailed down, but Kobo is releasing some of the best e-reader hardware on the planet right now.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by scrapking

The Kobo Glo is just the next step in that plan. Kobo deserves legitimate criticism on some of the recent firmware update issues, and I hope they get that issue nailed down, but Kobo is releasing some of the best e-reader hardware on the planet right now.

Good hardware is no good without reliable firmware. You only have to look at Pocketbook, iRex, etc, to see that.

[esin]

So it's a choice between poor hardware or poor firmware?
Awesome.

[Yolina]

Originally Posted by esin

So it's a choice between poor hardware or poor firmware?
Awesome.

Maybe Amazon and Kobo should work together

[l_macd]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Good hardware is no good without reliable firmware. You only have to look at Pocketbook, iRex, etc, to see that.

With the Glo yhey look to have done a better job than Amazon on the hardware at the moment, and I guess only time will tell if they've made improvements regards the firmware too. Who knows, they might have learned from the issues with the Kobo Touch, and if they have, they could be onto a winner with the Glo.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Barty

I think the dark strip of shadow at bottom on the kobo is less bothersome than the cones on the pw. But that bright strip on the top looks distracting. And I think they went overboard and left too much empty space at bottom. They could easily squeeze in one extra line of text.

By default, ADE supports widows and orphans. So that empty space you see at the bottom of the screen could be because of widows and orphans. Personally, I turn them off. I don't like the uneven space they leave at the bottom of the screen.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by xendula

I like how Kobo solved the light column problem, and Amazon may push a firmware update to copy this.

How do solve a hardware problem in firmware?

[tilia]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

How do solve a hardware problem in firmware?

I think she means the dark band behind the page numbers on the Kobo. If Amazon wanted to, they could add that to the firmware.

[7hir7een]

Originally Posted by tilia

I think she means the dark band behind the page numbers on the Kobo. If Amazon wanted to, they could add that to the firmware.

If they did, I'd hope they'd make it optional. Based on those pictures, I find it distracting, particularly because the black box is surrounded by an outline of light. The shadows down there are less of a disturbance to me.

[jswinden]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Good hardware is no good without reliable firmware. You only have to look at Pocketbook, iRex, etc, to see that.

Agree, but I would add good hardware is no good without reliable firmware and a good bookstore. Having to side load books is a PITA and often means no syncing capabilities, so a well stocked bookstore is important too.

[xendula]

Originally Posted by tilia

I think she means the dark band behind the page numbers on the Kobo. If Amazon wanted to, they could add that to the firmware.

Thanks tilia, that's what I meant. That would solve the light cones issues.
Hoepfully, better QC will solve the pastels background issues.

[xendula]

I agree with Jack and Harry, and have one addition: the store.
I dislike the Kobo store, its horrid search, Kobo's higher book prices, and the more limited availability of certain books.
I love their devices, but you get them to read on them, after all. If Amazon offered "send to Kobo" epub functionality to their store, I'd get the Kobo Glow in an instant.

Edited to add: Amazon lets me deactive devices from their website, while, apparently, you're SOL with Kobo:

...
And then the damned thing went missing from my bag. I don't know whether it fell out, or if it was taken, but it was most definitely gone.

I immediately bought another one, and set it up with the desktop app, whilst dashing off an email to Kobo customer support asking if there was a way I could deactivate the old one, just in case someone had actually nicked it (I'd already removed my credit card details from the account). Kobo replied by saying that the safest thing to do would be to deactivate my old account and create a new one, and they'd transfer my library across. "Go ahead," says I...

[scrapking]

Originally Posted by esin

So it's a choice between poor hardware or poor firmware?
Awesome.

I said that only in the interests of giving Kobo critics the benefit of the doubt. I own two Kobo e-readers (the Vox and the Glo) and have absolutely no firmware problems whatsoever. And the Glo supports font weight and other features that a lot of the competition doesn't offer, so I'm actually thrilled with their firmware. I think the Glo is the complete package, arguably the best hardware in the industry right now, and (in my experience at least) rock-solid software. I just didn't want to sound like a Kobo commercial as it's a little off-topic for this forum, but since you made that statement I wanted to address it.

Back on topic. The big question remain IMO is whether the Kindle PW problems are a quality control in nature, or a design problem. Are they just having an unusually large number of defective units, and making the mistake of shipping them out because of supply constraints? Or in their attempts to make it look really white did they do something that screws up the colour patterning for a lot of users? To me, that's the real question in all this.

[HarryT]

Or is it simply a matter of unrealistic expectations on the part of some users?