Kobo VP replies to issues...

RedRoverJ · 06-18-2010, 01:30 AM

Found this little article over at Teleread.com and it sounds very promising. Looks like a week of June 28th release for firmware update.

http://www.teleread.com/2010/06/17/k...ereads-joanna/

artificial · 06-18-2010, 01:44 AM

Brilliant! Thanks for posting the link.

I think Michael does a good job of answering the most common complaints, and it's a relief to hear that these issues are being addressed.

I think that hiding the 100 pre-loaded books is an adeqate fix - actually it will suit me perfectly. I don't mind them being on my Kobo, I just don't want them cluttering up my library.

corona · 06-18-2010, 02:21 AM

That's awesome! So is the TeleRead thingie generally -- I'd not heard of it. But anyway, not a word, sniff, about PDF reflow. I'm very pleased about the battery life news, and the red/blue light will have interesting new behaviours!

Oh, and Joanna at TeleRead said it! The Kobo is "cute and adorable"!

Bismar · 06-18-2010, 05:53 AM

Hmm, this bit sounds slightly dodgy.

Quote:

The bug: in some situations, power consumption wasn’t tapering off as much as it should have when the device went into sleep mode.

I've had power failed when i've charged it up and read 1500 pages in one sitting. I've never turned it off to sleep.

Hope its just bad wording.

Turt99 · 06-18-2010, 08:07 AM

Bismar, I think sleep mode is the status the Kobo goes into after nothing is pressed for 10 seconds. So if you take 30 seconds to read the text on the scree 20 seconds of that could be in "sleep mode".

Don't quote me on the time spans, it might be 10 min. I'm just pointing out the difference between sleep and off.

1500 pages in one sitting, must have been a good book, or books.

Turt99 · 06-18-2010, 08:10 AM

It sounds like they have some nice plans for the Kobo. And it sounds like they have a fix for the font-sizing. Hopefully it works as well as described.

pholy · 06-18-2010, 08:13 AM

Ideally, you don't have to do anything to make it 'go into sleep mode' except take your finger off a button. Then it does what you commanded and goes to sleep right away, or after a few seconds, depending on the command. On some devices, a short press on the power button just locks all the other buttons out; ideal on the Kobo, where the big blue button is so easily pressed by a case... I almost never turn off my Hanlin devices, and still get three or more weeks between charges.

Turt99 · 06-18-2010, 08:19 AM

pholy, yeah a lock mode would be great.
Currently I turn my Kobo off every time I stop reading since I don't want to find out that buttons got pressed while it was in my bag. But that might actually be using more power then its saving (off vs. sleep, offset by processing on startup)

mTamblyn · 06-18-2010, 08:25 AM

Hi -- it's Michael Tamblyn from Kobo. To save people the link, here's the full text of my post on TeleRead. Thanks to all of the people on MobileRead who have been so supportive of us and each other through the first 45 days with the eReader. We'll keep pushing to make the eReader better. You keep pushing to make *us* better.

Here's the scoop on the Kobo firmware and Desktop Reader update:

1. Font scaling
Will be dealt with in a firmware upgrade the week of June 28th. Font scaling issues have been tricky -- they are most often caused by hardcoded absolute font sizes in the epub CSS. Doing wholesale overrides of publisher CSS can earn us bad karma with publishers. And while we can easily override some CSS elements (font face, for example, since we have a limited number of fonts on the eReader), the Adobe SDK prohibits override of absolute font sizes. (Grrr...) So we have had to do some crafty things behind the scenes to get around that limitation. We have tested the new release of firmware with every file that users have sent us with font resizing issues and it has worked in all cases we've tested so far.

2. Title Management
The biggest irritant we heard from lots of users was "I don't care about *&@^#$# Huckleberry Finn! Get that stuff out of my Library." Totally understandable: some people feel it clutters up the Library or makes it harder to find purchased books. (Others love having a reader that is full of books as soon as you plug it in. That's the way it goes...) There is a short-term fix in the new release while we work on a longer and more complicated one. In the short term, you'll be able to hide pre-loaded books on the device -- get them out of the way so you can look at the other books you've added. That definitely won't address all issues, but it will address the biggest pain point while we work on a wider range of library management features for a subsequent release.

3. Battery Life
This was a software problem rather than a hardware one. Even when the device is in sleep mode, there is a negligible amount of activity on the device. The bug: in some states, power consumption wasn't tapering off as much as it should have when the device went into sleep mode. We found the bug and fixed it, so people should be able to get the 8,000 page turns they were expecting.

4. Charging Light
Used to: show nothing until it was charged and then turn red when it was done. (Okayyyy.....)
New release: turns red when it's charging, turns blue when it's done. (Makes more sense.)

There are a bunch of other things rolled up in the update (universal mac builds for PPC+Intel, better indications when the device is off, etc.), but I wanted to flag those four since they've been a topic of some discussion here.

Why Has This Taken So Long?
Doing the first firmware upgrade on your first hardware device is not for the faint of heart. We've been trying to balance three things: how many fixes/improvements can we get into the release vs. not wanting people to wait too long vs. testing all of the wild and wonderful use cases that customers have given us via phone, email, this forum and others. This week we decided we were fixing enough issues to justify people spending time upgrading the device, especially since it's a bit of a tricky process, with a few multi-button presses and resets to get the new firmware in there.

Generally, we've learned a lot in the 45 days since the eReader released. We've learned that running an open platform is both great and daunting -- you never know what people are going to try to load onto the device and need to be ready for everything. We have learned that the user community is awesome. People have been great at helping each other overcome issues while this software/firmware update was coming together. Thanks especially to the Calibre folks for doing such a nice job on the Kobo eReader driver!

I'll have more detail on the release as we lock down the final build. In the meantime, thanks so much for your patience, your candor, well-intentioned beatings, and willingness to stick with us as we get through this latest round of growing pains.

Questions, feedback, whattheheckareyoutalkingabout comments? I'll keep an eye on this thread. Thanks!

timlegge · 06-18-2010, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mTamblyn

Hi -- it's Michael Tamblyn from Kobo. To save people the link, here's the full text of my post on TeleRead. Thanks to all of the people on MobileRead who have been so supportive of us and each other through the first 45 days with the eReader. We'll keep pushing to make the eReader better. You keep pushing to make *us* better.
[INDENT]Here's the scoop on the Kobo firmware and Desktop Reader update:

2. Title Management
The biggest irritant we heard from lots of users was "I don't care about *&@^#$# Huckleberry Finn! Get that stuff out of my Library." Totally understandable: some people feel it clutters up the Library or makes it harder to find purchased books. (Others love having a reader that is full of books as soon as you plug it in. That's the way it goes...) There is a short-term fix in the new release while we work on a longer and more complicated one. In the short term, you'll be able to hide pre-loaded books on the device -- get them out of the way so you can look at the other books you've added. That definitely won't address all issues, but it will address the biggest pain point while we work on a wider range of library management features for a subsequent release.

I work on the Calibre driver. Would it be possible for some one to let me know the details of the database changes if any required for this? I would like to ensure that the driver is ready for the updated firmware as soon as possible after the release. I don't mind waiting to release code and I realize things may change...

Quote:

Originally Posted by mTamblyn

4. Charging Light
Used to: show nothing until it was charged and then turn red when it was done. (Okayyyy.....)
New release: turns red when it's charging, turns blue when it's done. (Makes more sense.)

Nice. Red always means bad to me so fully charged being blue is better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mTamblyn

Why Has This Taken So Long?
Doing the first firmware upgrade on your first hardware device is not for the faint of heart. We've been trying to balance three things: how many

The device is great. I have been able to live with the few flaws and as my first eReader it has really got me back to reading again. Thank you for that. Those of us in IT fields realize the time it takes to get new releases out. It is not trivial with common programs and firmware updated are especially hairy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mTamblyn

Questions, feedback, whattheheckareyoutalkingabout comments? I'll keep an eye on this thread. Thanks!

The thing I would really like is specification information on the bluetooth syncing. Since the device does not have wifi I would like to be able to setup my PC as a Bluetooth server and sync with it. I have the reader on my iPhone (and soon an IPad) and I would like to be able to stay in sync without plugging it into my computer.

All the best and good luck with the new release.

Tim

treetotree · 06-18-2010, 09:13 AM

Michael, will the U.S. release come with the new firmware update?

mlstein · 06-18-2010, 09:59 AM

Nope. I've got one--I'll try to report soon--and it's the same as you've got.

thekidintheclock · 06-18-2010, 10:45 AM

good letter michael - nice and detailed. you seem pretty chill. like "love u guys" and "we'll always be right here, watching u." makes me feel safe. bet we're gonna see alot of remorse today from the complainers (e.g. "there is a god", "god = tamblyn", etc. kind of posts.) anyways, much obliged.

Turt99 · 06-18-2010, 11:46 AM

thekidintheclock, I don't think we will see any remorse, not today at least. The letter does make things sound really good, but I'd hold my breath until we see the firmware and see how it really works.

JSWolf · 06-18-2010, 11:51 AM

Van we please have the full link? I do not click on link redirects as they could link to just about anywhere.

06-18-2010, 01:30 AM	#1
RedRoverJ Zealot Posts: 125 Karma: 314 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Canada, Eh! Device: Kobo	Kobo VP replies to issues... Found this little article over at Teleread.com and it sounds very promising. Looks like a week of June 28th release for firmware update. http://www.teleread.com/2010/06/17/k...ereads-joanna/ Last edited by RedRoverJ; 06-18-2010 at 09:21 PM. Reason: Replaced shortened URL with full URL

06-18-2010, 02:21 AM	#3
corona Addict Posts: 324 Karma: 25168 Join Date: May 2010 Device: kobo	That's awesome! So is the TeleRead thingie generally -- I'd not heard of it. But anyway, not a word, sniff, about PDF reflow. I'm very pleased about the battery life news, and the red/blue light will have interesting new behaviours! Oh, and Joanna at TeleRead said it! The Kobo is "cute and adorable"! Last edited by corona; 06-18-2010 at 02:31 AM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Issues transferring books to kobo with ADE	crash-7	Kobo Reader	4	07-22-2010 09:05 AM
Charging Issues and Screen Issues	srj321	Sony Reader	2	07-11-2010 11:52 PM
Using Kobo Desktop issues...	clicker666	Kobo Reader	6	06-29-2010 04:21 PM
Doubts about Kobo - jpg converted to pdf, and some smaller issues...	mig_akira	Kobo Reader	9	06-10-2010 06:11 PM
Track replies	thinkpad	Feedback	7	04-07-2010 03:08 AM

06-18-2010, 01:44 AM	#2
artificial Groupie Posts: 179 Karma: 6328 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Kobo eReader	Brilliant! Thanks for posting the link. I think Michael does a good job of answering the most common complaints, and it's a relief to hear that these issues are being addressed. I think that hiding the 100 pre-loaded books is an adeqate fix - actually it will suit me perfectly. I don't mind them being on my Kobo, I just don't want them cluttering up my library.

06-18-2010, 08:07 AM	#5
Turt99 Connoisseur Posts: 92 Karma: 14 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Bismar, I think sleep mode is the status the Kobo goes into after nothing is pressed for 10 seconds. So if you take 30 seconds to read the text on the scree 20 seconds of that could be in "sleep mode". Don't quote me on the time spans, it might be 10 min. I'm just pointing out the difference between sleep and off. 1500 pages in one sitting, must have been a good book, or books.

06-18-2010, 08:10 AM	#6
Turt99 Connoisseur Posts: 92 Karma: 14 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	It sounds like they have some nice plans for the Kobo. And it sounds like they have a fix for the font-sizing. Hopefully it works as well as described.

06-18-2010, 08:13 AM	#7
pholy Booklegger Posts: 1,801 Karma: 7999816 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Device: BeBook(1 & 2010), PEZ, PRS-505, Kobo BT, PRS-T1, Playbook, Kobo Touch	Ideally, you don't have to do anything to make it 'go into sleep mode' except take your finger off a button. Then it does what you commanded and goes to sleep right away, or after a few seconds, depending on the command. On some devices, a short press on the power button just locks all the other buttons out; ideal on the Kobo, where the big blue button is so easily pressed by a case... I almost never turn off my Hanlin devices, and still get three or more weeks between charges.

06-18-2010, 08:19 AM	#8
Turt99 Connoisseur Posts: 92 Karma: 14 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	pholy, yeah a lock mode would be great. Currently I turn my Kobo off every time I stop reading since I don't want to find out that buttons got pressed while it was in my bag. But that might actually be using more power then its saving (off vs. sleep, offset by processing on startup)

06-18-2010, 08:25 AM	#9
mTamblyn Member Posts: 12 Karma: 60 Join Date: May 2010 Device: Kobo eReader, iPhone, iPad	Hi -- it's Michael Tamblyn from Kobo. To save people the link, here's the full text of my post on TeleRead. Thanks to all of the people on MobileRead who have been so supportive of us and each other through the first 45 days with the eReader. We'll keep pushing to make the eReader better. You keep pushing to make us better. Here's the scoop on the Kobo firmware and Desktop Reader update: 1. Font scaling Will be dealt with in a firmware upgrade the week of June 28th. Font scaling issues have been tricky -- they are most often caused by hardcoded absolute font sizes in the epub CSS. Doing wholesale overrides of publisher CSS can earn us bad karma with publishers. And while we can easily override some CSS elements (font face, for example, since we have a limited number of fonts on the eReader), the Adobe SDK prohibits override of absolute font sizes. (Grrr...) So we have had to do some crafty things behind the scenes to get around that limitation. We have tested the new release of firmware with every file that users have sent us with font resizing issues and it has worked in all cases we've tested so far. 2. Title Management The biggest irritant we heard from lots of users was "I don't care about *&@^#$# Huckleberry Finn! Get that stuff out of my Library." Totally understandable: some people feel it clutters up the Library or makes it harder to find purchased books. (Others love having a reader that is full of books as soon as you plug it in. That's the way it goes...) There is a short-term fix in the new release while we work on a longer and more complicated one. In the short term, you'll be able to hide pre-loaded books on the device -- get them out of the way so you can look at the other books you've added. That definitely won't address all issues, but it will address the biggest pain point while we work on a wider range of library management features for a subsequent release. 3. Battery Life This was a software problem rather than a hardware one. Even when the device is in sleep mode, there is a negligible amount of activity on the device. The bug: in some states, power consumption wasn't tapering off as much as it should have when the device went into sleep mode. We found the bug and fixed it, so people should be able to get the 8,000 page turns they were expecting. 4. Charging Light Used to: show nothing until it was charged and then turn red when it was done. (Okayyyy.....) New release: turns red when it's charging, turns blue when it's done. (Makes more sense.) There are a bunch of other things rolled up in the update (universal mac builds for PPC+Intel, better indications when the device is off, etc.), but I wanted to flag those four since they've been a topic of some discussion here. Why Has This Taken So Long? Doing the first firmware upgrade on your first hardware device is not for the faint of heart. We've been trying to balance three things: how many fixes/improvements can we get into the release vs. not wanting people to wait too long vs. testing all of the wild and wonderful use cases that customers have given us via phone, email, this forum and others. This week we decided we were fixing enough issues to justify people spending time upgrading the device, especially since it's a bit of a tricky process, with a few multi-button presses and resets to get the new firmware in there. Generally, we've learned a lot in the 45 days since the eReader released. We've learned that running an open platform is both great and daunting -- you never know what people are going to try to load onto the device and need to be ready for everything. We have learned that the user community is awesome. People have been great at helping each other overcome issues while this software/firmware update was coming together. Thanks especially to the Calibre folks for doing such a nice job on the Kobo eReader driver! I'll have more detail on the release as we lock down the final build. In the meantime, thanks so much for your patience, your candor, well-intentioned beatings, and willingness to stick with us as we get through this latest round of growing pains. Questions, feedback, whattheheckareyoutalkingabout comments? I'll keep an eye on this thread. Thanks!

06-18-2010, 09:13 AM	#11
treetotree Connoisseur Posts: 61 Karma: 346 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Florida Device: Jetbook Lite, Kindle DXG,prs-350, wife k3	Michael, will the U.S. release come with the new firmware update?

06-18-2010, 09:59 AM	#12
mlstein Enthusiast Posts: 49 Karma: 2062 Join Date: May 2010 Device: iPad (one)	Nope. I've got one--I'll try to report soon--and it's the same as you've got.

06-18-2010, 10:45 AM	#13
thekidintheclock Member Posts: 22 Karma: 8040 Join Date: May 2010 Device: Kobo	good letter michael - nice and detailed. you seem pretty chill. like "love u guys" and "we'll always be right here, watching u." makes me feel safe. bet we're gonna see alot of remorse today from the complainers (e.g. "there is a god", "god = tamblyn", etc. kind of posts.) anyways, much obliged.

06-18-2010, 11:46 AM	#14
Turt99 Connoisseur Posts: 92 Karma: 14 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	thekidintheclock, I don't think we will see any remorse, not today at least. The letter does make things sound really good, but I'd hold my breath until we see the firmware and see how it really works.

06-18-2010, 11:51 AM	#15
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,887 Karma: 128597114 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Van we please have the full link? I do not click on link redirects as they could link to just about anywhere.