Touch New Kobo Touch - initial experience

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by Danger

Just to point out, the touch screen works by IR and not by how hard or soft you touch the screen. So it registers a tap (or is suppose to) when your finger or stylus breaks the beam that is just above the screen. Seems to be a common misconception of the KT. Personally I find a stylus (ones with the fat rubber end) works much better for taps than my finger.

I've found that a light touch seems to work better than a firm press for whatever reason.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Peakcrew

Now, I have discovered something irritating - logging back into my account needs a computer, either to use the Kobo desktop, or get into the database with an SQL editor. That's going to be great help if I run into difficulties with no computer access! (Seriously - very poor idea, Kobo. What's wrong with allowing login from the device itself?) I am now left with in a bit of a quandary - I like to have my books on removable media so that, in the event I need to do a reset whilst away from a computer (I don't like taking computers on holiday), I can do it and then have my library complete. That option is now taken from me, so I'm left up the creek without a paddle either way. Essentially, I don't need an SD card with this level of messing around: my Calibre library is stored on a Google drive, so if I can get to a computer to sign in (assuming that, say, an internet cafe computer would let me install Desktop or an SQL editor), I can get to my books. This has seriously dented my confidence in the KT: does anyone have any workarounds?

Get a USB drive and put the portable calibre on it with you library. Then you can reload it from any computer. If you add the Kobo desktop software, and you can install this temporarily, you can get around the reset. Or put a SQLLite browser on it to doctor the Kobo's database.

Anyway, following login via the Desktop, I am now able to make Shelves again, which is good news, but why on earth isn't there a search function on the page to add books to Shelves? Come on, guys and girls at Kobo!

The shelves are nice, but the maintenance is not. Until the calibre driver can do it.

One thing, if you setup the shelves and then sync with Kobo (either the desktop or wireless) it remembers the folders and can sync them back. It puts the kepubs back on the shelves, but I am not sure about the sideloaded epubs.

Right, I have just put the SD card back in the KT, and powered it up. The first time, it completely ignored it, but after switching it off and on again,it is at least recognising new content, though it is much slower than last time (four minutes to 17%, ten minutes to 26% - it's like watching paint dry). I think it is safe to say that the KT has issues with SD cards!

Well, it took just under an hour to process the content, but the database seems to be good, and the Shelves showing up nicely.

I wonder if the performance here is due to the database size. It might need a compress or reorg or something to clean up after the adding and removing all the books on the SD card. While I have done some testing with an SD card, I was only testing with three or four books. This was purely to find out how well the calibre driver handled them.

I have just Removed the books from the SD card using Calibre, without the same difficulties as above, but now Calibre fails to recognise that there any books on the device at all, despite the fact that that the KT sees them, and selected ones open. Whatever - I'll give it a rest now.

Were you looking at the library list or the device list? If the device list shows nothing, then there was an error reading the database or the metadata.calibre file on the device. If the device list is populated, but the library doesn't show anything that any of the books are on the device, then it either means a change happened so things didn't match (changing title or author can do this or changing the plugboard used will also do this) or there was a different error reading the devices database or metadata.calibre file.

I'm on holiday for a week from tomorrow, so I'll no doubt have more to report when I get back!

I'm sure you will, but remember to use the Kobo for what it is intended for: reading not as a toy to play with. If you do that, it should be fine.

[PeterT]

Sideloaded books are not returned to shelves via a sync; you will get the shelf itself but it will be empty. (Here speaks someone who has done many MANY resets of late)..

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Peakcrew

Again, thanks to Davidfor for the information about the carousel. It makes a bit more sense as to how it is populated, but I still don't like it - it's ugly, and I'd like the option of a text list instead of those differently-sized covers if it has to open into the home screen from off (I can't see why it doesn't give the option to open immediately at the place I finished reading reading, actually).

Are you letting the Kobo turn itself off after time out or just sleep? I only let it sleep (turn off is set to never). It only goes back to the home screen after connecting to my PC or I ask it to (press the home button or finish a book). With this, I still get well over a weeks use (at least two hours a day) without recharging.

[stewacide]

I think not turning with your thumb reliably has to do with the accidental input filtering the OS is doing. I know that I can for instance wipe by screen of debris or whatever so long as I use my palm. If the Kobo sees anything larger than a finger should be I think it assumes you've touched the screen without intending to turn a page, i.e. you've turned it upside down or are carrying it or whatever.

[Peakcrew]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I'm sure you will, but remember to use the Kobo for what it is intended for: reading not as a toy to play with. If you do that, it should be fine.

Excellent advice - I promise to be good!!

See you in a week!

[Peakcrew]

Right - back from holidays with some new observations about the KT.

First of all, I was very good, and didn't do much playing with it. As a reader it is lovely - the screen is great, the text clear, and, missed page turns aside (I still haven't got used to just giving the screen the slightest brush!), the page-turn speed is only a fraction slower than my old Jetbook (which had a TFT screen). I successfully created shelves which have given no problems, and I haven't had the problem of the wrong cover showing. All to the good, no?

Ah, weeeelllll ... there are some oddities I've discovered. Nothing I can't cope with, but, well, they are odd!

1. I have been making a lot of use of the "Annotations" function - it is great to be able highlight a spelling mistake or grammar error and make myself a note so that I can edit them later. However, I cannot work out what system is used to order the annotations. The last note rarely takes up a position at the beginning or the end of the list (where I would expect to find it), and it doesn't seem to be alphabetical. For instance, one short story has four notes, which are in the order: 1 - p10 (Screamed), 2 - p6 (tag-along), 3 - p9 (bad), 4 - p3 (-). If there is a way to order them myself, I haven't found it, and there doesn't seem to be a way to search for highlighted items. This makes it potentially a great tool, but not terribly useful at the moment. (I haven't looked yet to see if I can extract the annotations file and do anything useful with it, or (idea just occurred!), whether there is something in the Kobo Desktop that will allow manipulation of the file.)

2. Also from making notes, I found that the drag-along highlighter has a mind of its own! More often than not, when dragging the marker at the end of a section, the marker at the start will jump to the top-left corner of the page. This might be something to do with my technique, as with page turns, but it is a nuisance. Sometimes it does work properly, but I don't know what, if anything, I'm doing differently.

3. The screen became distinctly less sensitive in high temperatures. In the shade at 33 deg C it was very difficult to get any page turns to register first or second time. I know that high temperatures are not good for electronic performance, but this definitely seemed to be only related to the screen sensors - once a touch was registered, the turn happened at the usual pace. This is one area that the Nook has the advantage, what with it having buttons as well.

4. Nothing that can be altered now I have the KT, but that on/off switch is hellishly fiddly, especially with may case on (it isn't one with an elastic strap over it; the switch is not obscured, but it could do with some ridges to make it easier to use).

5. Given the text input facility, why is it tied only to individual books? A notepad would be useful.

6. Battery-use seems to be quite high when using the Annotation function, but that is to be expected due to the number of page-refreshes involved. What I didn't expect is that the battery use seemed to be less if I merely let the KT go to sleep, rather than lapse to off and then boot up again. I haven't run any proper tests on this - I only charged it up before I went to the airport for safety (there was still about a quarter of the indicator showing black when I did) - but I will try to keep some records. Oh, and like others have said: I'd like to be able to see the battery indicator when I'm reading, or at least have a pop-up to tell me if I'm running out.

7. My dislike of the carousel hasn't gone away - I'd really like the option to have a configurable list of titles/authors.

8. I miss the Jetbook's ability to sort books into folders. The shelves are a step in the right direction, but folders are good!

9. I wish it was possible to set the page-turn options on the screen to left- and right-sides = page forward, centre = page back, but perhaps I'm the only one!

[murg]

1) You're right, it's a mystery.
2) I get this too.
5) The annotations are stored in the database, keyed to the book/chapter (file inside the epub).
9) You're the only one.

[Peakcrew]

Originally Posted by murg

1) You're right, it's a mystery.
2) I get this too.
5) The annotations are stored in the database, keyed to the book/chapter (file inside the epub).
9) You're the only one.

Thanks, murg. I'm glad it isn't just me that can't sort out the logic(?) behind the annotation ordering. On the other hand, I'm not surprised it is just me with the page-turning idea It just seems that whichever side I have the forward/back option on, I always want to use the other side (I know, my wife tells me I'm perverse several times a week ... )

Thanks for the information on where to look for the annotations - I'll have a look in a while.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by murg

1)
5) The annotations are stored in the database, keyed to the book/chapter (file inside the epub).

They are also stored in a file. The file is under <Digital Editions\Annotations>. I only have one annotated book at the moment and it seems to be the same directory and file structure as the actual book. The file has the extenstion "annot" added.

Calibre also has a "Fetch annotations" option on the device menu. This copies annotations for all books to the comments field of the database. It says it is experimental, but it works. Personally, I don't like it. I actually started an extension get this for the selected books to a window, but I've been distracted with something else lately.

[Peakcrew]

Originally Posted by davidfor

They are also stored in a file. The file is under <Digital Editions\Annotations>. I only have one annotated book at the moment and it seems to be the same directory and file structure as the actual book. The file has the extenstion "annot" added.

Okay, I have found those, but I haven't been able to open them. Changing the file type to .zip results in a "malformed or corrupted" message, and, as I expected, .zip.annot just results in "file type not recognised".

Originally Posted by davidfor

Calibre also has a "Fetch annotations" option on the device menu. This copies annotations for all books to the comments field of the database. It says it is experimental, but it works. Personally, I don't like it. I actually started an extension get this for the selected books to a window, but I've been distracted with something else lately.

Thanks for that. I have found it. It seems like a good way of backing up the annotations, but, as you say, not terribly useful otherwise.

Somewhere on the forums yesterday I found someone who had done a batch file for extracting the annotations to text, but I cannot remember where it was. I'm not ignoring murg's suggestions (thanks, mate), but I'm a bit wary about playing with the database yet . I need a clear day to have a fiddle with a copy (which I have just made).

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Peakcrew

Okay, I have found those, but I haven't been able to open them. Changing the file type to .zip results in a "malformed or corrupted" message, and, as I expected, .zip.annot just results in "file type not recognised".

Did you try a text editor? The contents are XML.

[Peakcrew]

No ...

[WS64]

Originally Posted by Peakcrew

2. Also from making notes, I found that the drag-along highlighter has a mind of its own! More often than not, when dragging the marker at the end of a section, the marker at the start will jump to the top-left corner of the page. This might be something to do with my technique, as with page turns, but it is a nuisance. Sometimes it does work properly, but I don't know what, if anything, I'm doing differently.

Seems to be gone with 2.1.1

[Peakcrew]

Thanks, WS64. I haven't got the hang of the Japanese/rest of the world releases yet. What is the difference - is there any reason not to apply a Japanese release to a "Western" KT?