New Firmware (1.4) Discussion

[JCKobo]

Originally Posted by Eric Carroll

My upgrade, once I worked out the Windows issues, went well. Issues were all driver related.

Great improvement in the firmware, very happy with the result.

Thanks, Kobo, keep up the good work.

I would really like to get the native Linux version of the application... sent a PM but got no response. I run Ubuntu.

We will have an unofficial Linux version in a week or two.

[Duiker]

I haven't installed the update and I don't think I'm going to. This sleep mode sounds like a deal breaker for me. I tend to pick it up and put it down in spurts of time due to my profession. I need to control whether or not my device powers off. Kobo team if your reading this, can you just remove the automatic power off? Automatic sleep sounds great, just don't shut me down.
Also, does anyone know if the 'sleep mode' is Kobo's way of addressing the battery issue? I hope this not the solution?

[fred_yu_job]

Originally Posted by Duiker

Automatic sleep sounds great, just don't shut me down.

+1 for this! it shouldn't be that difficult to change

[kiwikobo]

No, the "official" line on the posting from Kobo was that they were NOT going to change the sleep/power-off timing, nor make it user-definable. They have decided that this is what Kobos do and it will remain like that whether you liike it or not.

What Jordan from Kobo did say was this:

- We can't change the sleep/power duration as it will eat into your batteries natural life. If you don't care about that, let us know and maybe we can find a solution.

Now, patently they *can* change the behaviour, just like any hardware vendor can. So we need to correct his use of the word "can't", where he presumably means "won't" or at the very least "don't want to". However, he hasn't acknowledged me "letting him know" yet, so I don't know whether he's trying to find a solution.


Charles

[Duiker]

Originally Posted by kiwikobo

Now, patently they *can* change the behaviour, just like any hardware vendor can. So we need to correct his use of the word "can't", where he presumably means "won't" or at the very least "don't want to". However, he hasn't acknowledged me "letting him know" yet, so I don't know whether he's trying to find a solution.
Charles

Considering the price drop of the nook AND the Kindle I think Kobo ought to reconsider there 'can'ts'.

My Mum and my wife were both going to buy a Kobo. I told them to wait for the firmware update before they did. Now I'm telling them to wait and see how this 'sleep mode' issue plays out. That or they buy something else.

[bob5146]

When R we getting the up grade here in Aussie???

[pleochroic]

because my kobo's battery life has been deteriorating badly during the last week, and the support person told me to first try the upgrade instead of sending it in for replacement, i upgraded as soon as i saw the message that the early access program made it available.

the upgrade itself went very well -- everything was clearly explained, things happened as they were supposed to happen, and wow, nothing got hosed. very happy with that; well done, kobo peeps. (mac OSX leopard.)

the font scaling fixes are great; i checked all my books with prior problems and they work fine now. yay!

one book that had DRM problems no longer has them, another one still does. need to investigate further.

communication about whether the kobo is on or off: nice. i can't say that i miss the cover, but i'll predict that as many people will miss it as others will be happy their reading choice is no longer displayed for the world to see -- me, i think that should be configurable.

charging light works and makes sense now. excellent!

hiding the 100 books -- i really do want to delete almost all of them (imagine this: i have actually read most. the wonders of a classical education). but not seeing them for the time being is acceptable. i'm not annoyed enough with their presence to issue manual SQL commands.

battery life: i wish i knew. during the first few weeks i had my kobo battery life was excellent (though no 8000 page turns). before the upgrade it had deteriorated so i had to recharge every 2 days. now it's harder for me to tell because i can no longer control how long the device is actually on, and we all know booting takes a lot of power. cursory glance at the battery indicator seems to show that i haven't gained much, if any battery life. btw, does that indicator now work even if the kobo doesn't get shut off?

sleep and shutdown: sleep mode is great. but the duration is for the birds. i don't need my kobo to sleep for 15 minutes; that's not how i use it. and i definitely don't want a forced shutdown!!! the kobo takes too long to boot for me to ever want to shut it off unless i am actually not using it for many hours -- which is not happening except for sleep. i hate forced shutdowns. i don't want to wait 40 seconds to restart reading (i never shut my computers off either), i don't want to have the frequent reboots drain my power more than the shutdown saves, i don't want to lose the book i am reading each time! guys, i am actually willing to live with only 2 days battery life, but i am very much not willing to put up with the forced shutdown.

i wanted to praise you for this upgrade, and so much of it seems very well done. but the shutdown is a real downer. normally it wouldn't be a deal breaker, and i am never gonna buy a kindle -- but other ereaders are dropping in price as well, so your winning margin has just shrunk a considerable lot in my book.

[corona]

I pretty much agree with everything pleochroic said.

[mreclass]

Originally Posted by JackNF

Well, I was looking forward to this firmware update but from what I've read in this thread I'm just not touching it.

I'm NOT giving up having my cover art on screen when I power down. That is a showstopper for me, that is a feature that when I heard about is what swayed me to choose the Kobo over the other options available to me and if they ever expect me to update the firmware on this unit they're just gonna have to put that back in. Period.

Ditto. I'm all about updates to improve my gadgets but this one just doesn't seem like it is really necessary or worth it.

Besides, I'm not really bothered by the whole shutdown/boot-up time matter. It takes my Kobo all of 26 seconds to get onto the "I'm Reading" page from its powered off state with the beautiful cover art. I'm sure that, to some, that is just SO long to wait but during that I'm usually still making myself comfortable in my chair or positioning myself next to my son while feeding him.

Of course, if a later update allowed the option to keep the cover art and added an improvement in start up time...well then I'd take it.

[Mememememe]

I'm not sure why people care so much about something as trivial as the cover art when shut down. That was a "neat" feature that had nothing to do with the operation of the unit. In fact, I prefer the new operation (though I'd rather be able to set my own shutdown/sleep times).

Personally, while I think the firmware is an improvement, I'm very disappointed that certain problems don't seem to have been addressed.

Specifically ... books I've read (and returned to my library) STILL pop up on my "I'm Reading" list. I can't believe this bug wasn't fixed.

Sure, it's easy to go online and delete them from "I'm Reading" on the site ... but then they're gone from the reader, and I'd like these books to remain on my reader's library.

I'm just baffled as to why this wasn't fixed. I can't imagine it was an unfixable problem.

[wrenn1]

I get confused by the reader telling me I am on chapter 10 when I am on chapter 4. Luckily it opens to chapter 4 but I am in the habit of trying to remember where I was since my reader was not holding a bookmark in the beginning and I had to page over to where I was.

[dixieknits]

Looking for a clarifcation before I decided whether to upgrade on this go-round or not.
Does the unit go to sleep and shut off after being on an hour or after being IDLE an hour?

[wrenn1]

Goes to sleep after 15 minutes of inactivity and then after a further 15 minutes shuts off.

[goinveg]

I really enjoy the Kobo. I had been hoping for an ereader that didn't have the bells and whistles I didn't need and this little device fills the bill nicely. I documented this in the "Which one should I buy?" board under Why I bought the Kobo.

I will not be upgrading at this time because my sleep patterns are such that I cannot sleep for long periods of time. So I read until I fall asleep then I wake up, pick up the Kobo and start reading again. I will then fall asleep and repeat this for most of the night. I really don't want to power up the Kobo every time I wake up.

I understand I am one of the bell curve extreme people and my situation is not the norm so until an upgrade allows me to continue this behavior I will stay with 1.0.

Also, because I don't buy from the Kobo store or Borders.com (where I bought the Kobo) I do not represent much of an incentive for Kobo to change things on my account.

I like the cover when I do shut down, also, but that is not an upgrade problem for me.

[larrymohr]

I too have upgraded to firmware 1.4. I have Windows XP and the upgrade was smooth and easy.

Like others, I am a little disappointed by the new sleep then off operation.

Anyway, here's the surprise.
By accident today I discovered that you can now read .TXT and .HTM files. I keep a few text files with cross references and book series chronologies on the internal memory of my KOBO. There is also an interim HTML version of a book I was converting to EPUB and I can read that as well.

It would be nice to see an explicit list of the new/changed features! (hint Kobo guys)

Larry Mohr

IMPORTANT NEW INFORMATION!!!

As others have discovered there is a glitch in TXT and HTML file management.

Once you have added a .TXT or .HTM file to the KOBO database, it does not disappear if you delete the file. It remains listed in your "documents" list and can be selected. You then get a blank page which you can exit.

Here is an interesting thing though. If you press the "next page" button while on the "blank" page, the non-existant document is marked as "finished". If you again select the document, you are shown a page with the path to the file that doesn't exist!

Also note, if you return the file to the KOBO (exact same location), you can read it again.

So, you can use TXT and HTML files but make SURE you want them forever (until next firmware?) before adding them.

LJM