My Kobo Aura H2O review unit arrived

Nate the great · 09-03-2014, 05:28 PM

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that I got my hands on a Kobo Aura H2O review unit.

http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/0...-unit-arrived/

I don't plan to post a review for at least a week, but if you have any questions ask and I will try to answer them.

booklover6 · 09-03-2014, 05:51 PM

Thanks for the notice, Nate. I can already tell from your report that I must have one. What firmware is it running, and what firmware did your HD just update to?

ersott · 09-03-2014, 05:51 PM

Great.

Please, I'd like to see the kobo aura hd screen vs kobo aura h2o screen with light off on both devices.

Nate the great · 09-03-2014, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ersott

Great.

Please, I'd like to see the kobo aura hd screen vs kobo aura h2o screen with light off on both devices.

I can't really tell the difference with the lights off, but I do know how to take a good photo so i will do so.

arspr · 09-03-2014, 06:06 PM

I'm not going to teach you how to test the device but I would like to pinpoint the critical items I would like to see:

THE TEST. Period. Carta (H2O) vs Pearl (HD). Go through the very same books and settings with and without front light. PLEASE, thousands of tests, pictures, whatever...
Carta + IR (H2O) vs Carta + capacitive (Kindle PW2). Kobo should be slightly better because IR is air but Kindle has extra layers on top of the screen. If possible another batch of lots of tests/photographs side by side.
Quality and building of the USB and SD sealing. Please consider that the USB port needs to be "frequently" opened in order to charge the device.
Responsiveness. Not really, really critical as Aura HD and H2O seem to have the same CPU. But let's see how page turns go (maybe Carta can win Pearl again despite the CPU) and how HEAVY pdfs or web-pages are handled. Again, a side by side video would be great.
IR touch precision / responsiveness. I mean, my Aura HD is really really better than my old PRS-650 in nearly all aspects (but stock software design, dictionary quality and the plethora of small annoying little bugs that Kobo always suffer IMO) but nevertheless I've got the feeling the IR precision is maybe even slightly worse. Of course a comparison against the capacitive Kindle PW2 would be also welcomed, although here, Kindle should perform much better because of its technology...
If you update them to the very same firmware version, tell us which differences you see between HD and H2O features.

DNSB · 09-03-2014, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that I got my hands on a Kobo Aura H2O review unit.

http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/0...-unit-arrived/

I don't plan to post a review for at least a week, but if you have any questions ask and I will try to answer them.

Just remember if you spend more than 5 minutes with the H2O before writing your review, you are at risk of having your reviewer's license pulled.

Regards,
David

robko · 09-03-2014, 07:29 PM

Thanks Nate. This sentence "It’s slightly thinner than the Aura HD, and it also has a rubberized layer on the rear shell ..." and especially the rubberized back part has confirmed my decision to have pre-ordered.

Nate the great · 09-03-2014, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by booklover6

Thanks for the notice, Nate. I can already tell from your report that I must have one. What firmware is it running, and what firmware did your HD just update to?

I checked and it is on 3.2. Shouldn't it be higher?

6charlong · 09-03-2014, 08:40 PM

Can you compare the screens in direct sunlight, outdoors in the shade and in a comfortable level of room light?

How comfortable is it to hold? Slippery? How about the narrow bezel (on my Aura the bezel is so narrow it makes it hard to hold the device without having it start paging at high speed)?

How well does the SD card slot work? Easy in and out? Does the card poke out the bottom when fully inserted like the Aura does or go in all the way?

What charger does it use? Probably the 5v but at what amps? How fast does it recharge? Is there a message on the screen to tell you when it's charging? Does it give the percentage charged?

How does it handle imported fonts? The old FW wouldn't let you use the Advanced menu with user installed fonts. (Probably the same but I can hope.) How well are user fonts integrated into the books you load: hyphenation working with them? Are they fully formed? Any ghosting? Are they integrated into the fonts menu? Will it default to user installed fonts the same as selecting the built-in ones?

Please let me apologize. I may have gotten carried away. I trust your experience and I can't wait to see your review.

robko · 09-03-2014, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I checked and it is on 3.2. Shouldn't it be higher?

3.3 should be available for all units and the most current is 3.8.0 (currently in phased rollout)

Nate the great · 09-03-2014, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robko

3.3 should be available for all units and the most current is 3.8.0 (currently in phased rollout)

I just prompted it to sync and it is in the middle of another update cycle. Let me see what it says when it is done.

Nate the great · 09-03-2014, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I just prompted it to sync and it is in the middle of another update cycle. Let me see what it says when it is done.

And now my Kobo Aura HD is on 3.3.

PeterT · 09-03-2014, 08:53 PM

Ah... You might want to do a manual sideload of f/w to the Aura HD. Kobo take there time in enabling rollouts to all devices. At one point 3.5.0 was being rolled out, but that deployment was halted (and no.. we don't know why). However, 3.8.0 has been deployaed to some Aura HDs and the link is psoted in the Kobo Developers forum here.

mr_nihilism · 09-03-2014, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robko

Thanks Nate. This sentence "It’s slightly thinner than the Aura HD, and it also has a rubberized layer on the rear shell ..." and especially the rubberized back part has confirmed my decision to have pre-ordered.

This is fantastic. It's pretty much a forgone conclusion that I'll be picking this up day one.

DNSB · 09-03-2014, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the great

And now my Kobo Aura HD is on 3.3.

I'd suggest updating both the HD and H2O to 3.8 before doing the review testing so they are on the same firmware revision. This will require sideloading on the HD and, possibly, on the H2O.

Regards,
David

09-03-2014, 05:28 PM	#1
Nate the great Sir Penguin of Edinburgh Posts: 12,375 Karma: 23555235 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: DC Metro area Device: Shake a stick plus 1	My Kobo Aura H2O review unit arrived I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that I got my hands on a Kobo Aura H2O review unit. http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/0...-unit-arrived/ I don't plan to post a review for at least a week, but if you have any questions ask and I will try to answer them.

09-03-2014, 06:06 PM	#5
arspr Dead account. Bye Posts: 587 Karma: 668244 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: none	I'm not going to teach you how to test the device but I would like to pinpoint the critical items I would like to see: THE TEST. Period. Carta (H2O) vs Pearl (HD). Go through the very same books and settings with and without front light. PLEASE, thousands of tests, pictures, whatever... Carta + IR (H2O) vs Carta + capacitive (Kindle PW2). Kobo should be slightly better because IR is air but Kindle has extra layers on top of the screen. If possible another batch of lots of tests/photographs side by side. Quality and building of the USB and SD sealing. Please consider that the USB port needs to be "frequently" opened in order to charge the device. Responsiveness. Not really, really critical as Aura HD and H2O seem to have the same CPU. But let's see how page turns go (maybe Carta can win Pearl again despite the CPU) and how HEAVY pdfs or web-pages are handled. Again, a side by side video would be great. IR touch precision / responsiveness. I mean, my Aura HD is really really better than my old PRS-650 in nearly all aspects (but stock software design, dictionary quality and the plethora of small annoying little bugs that Kobo always suffer IMO) but nevertheless I've got the feeling the IR precision is maybe even slightly worse. Of course a comparison against the capacitive Kindle PW2 would be also welcomed, although here, Kindle should perform much better because of its technology... If you update them to the very same firmware version, tell us which differences you see between HD and H2O features.

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09-03-2014, 05:51 PM	#2
booklover6 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,533 Karma: 14008730 Join Date: May 2008 Location: PA (USA) Device: Kobo Clara, 2E, Libre, PW4, PW5, 2022 Kindle	Thanks for the notice, Nate. I can already tell from your report that I must have one. What firmware is it running, and what firmware did your HD just update to?

09-03-2014, 05:51 PM	#3
ersott Evangelist Posts: 413 Karma: 650430 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Kindle paperwhite2, Ipad Air, Kobo Aura H2o	Great. Please, I'd like to see the kobo aura hd screen vs kobo aura h2o screen with light off on both devices.

09-03-2014, 07:29 PM	#7
robko Wizard Posts: 2,454 Karma: 5469320 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Kobo	Thanks Nate. This sentence "It’s slightly thinner than the Aura HD, and it also has a rubberized layer on the rear shell ..." and especially the rubberized back part has confirmed my decision to have pre-ordered.

09-03-2014, 08:40 PM	#9
6charlong friendly lurker Posts: 896 Karma: 2436026 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: US Device: Kindle, nook, Apple and Kobo	Can you compare the screens in direct sunlight, outdoors in the shade and in a comfortable level of room light? How comfortable is it to hold? Slippery? How about the narrow bezel (on my Aura the bezel is so narrow it makes it hard to hold the device without having it start paging at high speed)? How well does the SD card slot work? Easy in and out? Does the card poke out the bottom when fully inserted like the Aura does or go in all the way? What charger does it use? Probably the 5v but at what amps? How fast does it recharge? Is there a message on the screen to tell you when it's charging? Does it give the percentage charged? How does it handle imported fonts? The old FW wouldn't let you use the Advanced menu with user installed fonts. (Probably the same but I can hope.) How well are user fonts integrated into the books you load: hyphenation working with them? Are they fully formed? Any ghosting? Are they integrated into the fonts menu? Will it default to user installed fonts the same as selecting the built-in ones? Please let me apologize. I may have gotten carried away. I trust your experience and I can't wait to see your review.

09-03-2014, 08:53 PM	#13
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 12,176 Karma: 73448616 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Nexus 7, Clara, Touch, Tolino EPOS	Ah... You might want to do a manual sideload of f/w to the Aura HD. Kobo take there time in enabling rollouts to all devices. At one point 3.5.0 was being rolled out, but that deployment was halted (and no.. we don't know why). However, 3.8.0 has been deployaed to some Aura HDs and the link is psoted in the Kobo Developers forum here.

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