How can the kobo vox be improved?

[dmacmart]

For the price I would say the hardware is just fine.

Some s/w hiccups need to be addressed and hopefully they are being worked on.

[MegaSilver]

I don't like the order of the 3 buttons. I would prefer to swap the menu and home button. May just need to learn positions, but I always hit the home button when I want to hit menu.

Also, I can see the benefit of adding an additional speaker to make it stereo.

[Alans]

I"m sure my battery life is not close to six hours. Someone mentioned in a forum
that they had almost ten hours without wifi being on, but I can barely get a few
hours in.

[cypherslock]

If you go to settings > status you can see for how long your battery has been up for. I get 7 with wifi on all day and 9 without.

[MegaSilver]

My biggest complaint is not being able to charge the device other than using the 2ft AC plug. I have tried charging using the microUSB port to a wall plug, but that doesn't seem to work either. I recharge it over night on my night stand, but would be nice to keep it topped up during the day

[cypherslock]

hmm...yeah that's a pain. I went and bought a 3ft black extension cord from monoprice.com for $1.82 so that at least takes care of the gawdawful short length.

[Michael Sherman]

Originally Posted by cypherslock

Re: Dictionary. If you've got the Kindle App you can download the dictionary and have it present. There's also the Mirriam-Webster one.

The Mirriam-Webster comes as part of the built-in apps already, but is not linked to the reader as far as I can see.

[taming]

I am 100% sure that the Kobo App will have dictionary support in the future. And if I were a betting kind of gal, I would bet on dictionaries in various languages, as well. One thing we learned as they built out the Kobo Touch, is that adding dictionary support in is an intermediary step on the development ladder--great in and as itself, of course, but requiring careful implementation because it will be built on for other features.

[pulsar]

The cost of adding a mike would be below 50c. I'd gladly pay extra 50c (or what the heck - an extra dollar!) to have a mike. Otherwise, for the cheapest color e-reader with hi resolution modern screen, Vox is just fine.

(P.S - I meant cheapest here in Canada, where you cannot officially get Kindle Fire or NC.)

[Reader Paradice]

Originally Posted by yoshid

I'd like to chip in the need to add an function to prevent the screen from rotating while reading a book. I'm surprised that it was omitted in this release.
having said that, for the $200 bones I paid for this device I am very happy with it. it does exactly what was advertised it would do and with a little bit of research and basic modifications I got it working pretty smoothly.

--------------------------------------------------

+ 1

[Reader Paradice]

Originally Posted by Alans

I"m sure my battery life is not close to six hours. Someone mentioned in a forum
that they had almost ten hours without wifi being on, but I can barely get a few
hours in.

--------------------------------------------------

You have to assume that like cars, and their projected EPA MPG...it is almost impossible to achieve in the real world. They run at near perfect conditions in a wind tunnel to get that rating.

I'm sure the same goes with all manufacturer's battery life ratings.....

Here's what I do to extend the battery life on my Vox. When reading, I go into Airplane Mode, and also use the System Brightness tab. Doing so has given me close to and around the six hour mark, with the brightness for most occasions able to give a good reading session. Never have I been able to get snug with 7 hours. I imagine this is done with the Vox's features all dumbed down...and the screen brightness set manually to the lowest setting. Like I said...they claim that seven hour mark....but they don't say on the box or hype at what settings did the manufacturer dumb down the Vox...to achieve that figure.