Touch Kobo Touch feedback

Wanapitei · 07-18-2011, 02:20 PM

Overall I'm pleased with Kobo Touch and do not regret its purchase. But there are unaddressed problems.

1. The touch algorithm is wonky, inefficient. Far too often there is no response, requires repeated and/or prolonged touching. Or shut down, a relaunch and try a second time. I suspect the code is not efficient in taking out the garbage, that is, the code is chasing itself in an infinite loop and thus isn't paying any attention to a new touch. Examples include the Connect button when a computer is detected. Sometimes it will respond, sometimes not. The edit Highlights button. The delete highlights button. This wonkiness of touch takes some getting used to and may discourage adoption of Kobo Touch.

2. When a string of text has been highlighted there are signs the code hard wires the location's page number rather than its absolute position within the current chapter. If the user has reduced the point size of the type so as to highlight a continuous passage, then resumes a more readable point size, then Kobo will not satisfactorily find the passage, presenting a page where the highlighted text does not appear. This is quite consistent.

3. The tool for selecting text for highlighting is troublesome. There are two handles, one as the beginning and another at the end. The user is now required to select a handle and extend or reduce the selection. Except, much of the time the handles won't select. The code seems to be off on some infinite loop and not paying attention. Plus there's another related problem to these selection handles. They're smaller than a finger pressed on the screen and thus impossible to detect whether the handle has been activated, ready for dragging.

4. Documentation is scanty and dumbed down, incomplete. There are many very necessary tools for electronic reading in Kobo, but they are described in marketing-language generalities. There a phone service available to talk to a live person, but they themselves have barely scratched Kobo's surface. There's also help by eMail. While that service appears to be well structured, there's been a lack of follow through on issues.

All of which might suggest avoiding purchase of Kobo Touch, but not so fast. In the four weeks I've owned my Kobo Touch, the operating system has been automatically upgraded twice to new versions adding useful features and solving bugs. Likewise the matching Kobo application that runs on my Mac has been upgraded three times. Kobo is a moving target, really in public beta rather than a polished and fully tested tool. Kobo is considerably lighter and easier to hold for prolonged reading than either of the two iPads in circulation. Whether I'm still reading with Kobo next year depends on whether Kobo discovers the importance of excellence in the details of their software and docs.

SCION · 07-18-2011, 03:55 PM

Have you considered posting this in the Kobo forum (particularly your first three concerns)?

taming · 07-18-2011, 05:45 PM

It's odd--for readers that are released and never (or almost never) updated, users are annoyed because nothing changes until an entirely new device is released. For Kobo--which marketed their Touch only with the features they had available at the time --no promises of changes to come--people seem to need to see the fact that it is continuously improving as meaning it is a beta product. Sounds like a lose-lose situation to me.

moffattm · 07-18-2011, 07:44 PM

"You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time" -- Quote by someone famous

filmo · 07-19-2011, 12:32 AM

1.9.6 software update is great dictionary works good. Response to closing dictionary by touching X is slow. Sketch can be useful even with this first edition. I'm liking Kt more with each days use.
Thank you.

TedJ · 07-19-2011, 01:02 AM

I also get feedback with my Kobo Touch, but only when I read my Jimi Hendrix biographies... please help!

siraks · 07-19-2011, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TedJ

I also get feedback with my Kobo Touch, but only when I read my Jimi Hendrix biographies... please help!

nice

HD10180 · 07-19-2011, 10:38 AM

Love the kobo touch!

It's a gem! What's a piece of marvelous technology.

Its support for PDF, custom font and SD card and does not lock on proprietary format is a real winner.

Custom font is a big plus besides the fix for dictionary. I can now read books with foreign character encoding using custom font which is probably not supported by other devices.

HD

07-18-2011, 02:20 PM	#1
Wanapitei Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Device: none	Kobo Touch feedback Overall I'm pleased with Kobo Touch and do not regret its purchase. But there are unaddressed problems. 1. The touch algorithm is wonky, inefficient. Far too often there is no response, requires repeated and/or prolonged touching. Or shut down, a relaunch and try a second time. I suspect the code is not efficient in taking out the garbage, that is, the code is chasing itself in an infinite loop and thus isn't paying any attention to a new touch. Examples include the Connect button when a computer is detected. Sometimes it will respond, sometimes not. The edit Highlights button. The delete highlights button. This wonkiness of touch takes some getting used to and may discourage adoption of Kobo Touch. 2. When a string of text has been highlighted there are signs the code hard wires the location's page number rather than its absolute position within the current chapter. If the user has reduced the point size of the type so as to highlight a continuous passage, then resumes a more readable point size, then Kobo will not satisfactorily find the passage, presenting a page where the highlighted text does not appear. This is quite consistent. 3. The tool for selecting text for highlighting is troublesome. There are two handles, one as the beginning and another at the end. The user is now required to select a handle and extend or reduce the selection. Except, much of the time the handles won't select. The code seems to be off on some infinite loop and not paying attention. Plus there's another related problem to these selection handles. They're smaller than a finger pressed on the screen and thus impossible to detect whether the handle has been activated, ready for dragging. 4. Documentation is scanty and dumbed down, incomplete. There are many very necessary tools for electronic reading in Kobo, but they are described in marketing-language generalities. There a phone service available to talk to a live person, but they themselves have barely scratched Kobo's surface. There's also help by eMail. While that service appears to be well structured, there's been a lack of follow through on issues. All of which might suggest avoiding purchase of Kobo Touch, but not so fast. In the four weeks I've owned my Kobo Touch, the operating system has been automatically upgraded twice to new versions adding useful features and solving bugs. Likewise the matching Kobo application that runs on my Mac has been upgraded three times. Kobo is a moving target, really in public beta rather than a polished and fully tested tool. Kobo is considerably lighter and easier to hold for prolonged reading than either of the two iPads in circulation. Whether I'm still reading with Kobo next year depends on whether Kobo discovers the importance of excellence in the details of their software and docs.

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07-18-2011, 03:55 PM	#2
SCION Séduisant Posts: 4,706 Karma: 2107018 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Texas, USA Device: Boox Note Air2+; Kobo Libra2; Kindle Scribe, Oasis3; iPad Mini6	Have you considered posting this in the Kobo forum (particularly your first three concerns)?

07-18-2011, 05:45 PM	#3
taming Trying for calm & polite Posts: 4,012 Karma: 9455193 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Mostly in Canada Device: kobo original, WiFI, Touch, Glo, and Aura	It's odd--for readers that are released and never (or almost never) updated, users are annoyed because nothing changes until an entirely new device is released. For Kobo--which marketed their Touch only with the features they had available at the time --no promises of changes to come--people seem to need to see the fact that it is continuously improving as meaning it is a beta product. Sounds like a lose-lose situation to me.

07-18-2011, 07:44 PM	#4
moffattm Addict Posts: 333 Karma: 1440670 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Device: Kobo Original, Kobo Glo	"You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time" -- Quote by someone famous

07-19-2011, 12:32 AM	#5
filmo Wizard Posts: 1,326 Karma: 1077205 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Kobo Touch, Sony T1, Kobo Mini	1.9.6 software update is great dictionary works good. Response to closing dictionary by touching X is slow. Sketch can be useful even with this first edition. I'm liking Kt more with each days use. Thank you.

07-19-2011, 01:02 AM	#6
TedJ Groupie Posts: 189 Karma: 86778 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Brisbane, Australia Device: Kobo Touch	I also get feedback with my Kobo Touch, but only when I read my Jimi Hendrix biographies... please help!

07-19-2011, 10:38 AM	#8
HD10180 Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: Kobo Touch	Love the kobo touch! It's a gem! What's a piece of marvelous technology. Its support for PDF, custom font and SD card and does not lock on proprietary format is a real winner. Custom font is a big plus besides the fix for dictionary. I can now read books with foreign character encoding using custom font which is probably not supported by other devices. HD