Where's reading life on the Kobo Arc 7HD?

[Cameronpaterson]

I recently bought one of the new Kobo models, a Kobo Arc 7HD. Physically it's fine - the design is a definite improvement on the original Kobo, lighter, better screen and pleasanter to hold in the hand. On the software side, they have ditched the useless discover bar and reimagined those iffy tapestries as 'collections', which might just work as a useful piece of software. 'Beyond' The Book' and 'Featured Collections' - both containing links and information about a particular author or book are pretty snazzy too. BUT - and yes, this is definitely a but - for some inexplicable reason they decided to leave out reading life. Yes, there are no awards, no reading stats, etc - even though these are present and correct on the new Aura (at least I think so!) and even though RL was featured on both the Vox and the original Arc.
For me, reading life award and stats have always been pretty central to the Kobo experience and I see little point in keeping this new Arc without them. What makes the omission even odder is there ARE notification settings allowing you to see "newly earned awards" and "other reading life events"! Yes, even they aren't included. I can only conclude that that Arc HD software was rushed and is unfinished (it's crashed several times for another thing).
Anyone else out there bought the new model?
And on another note, what has happened to this community? It used to be active and buzzy and a reliable source of information direct from Kobo reps etc. Now it's seems much sleepier and the Kobo reps are nowhere to be seen. The liveliest thread on here seems to be one about not upgrading....Maybe I'm being unfair, but that's the impression I've gathered. Correct me if I'm wrong!

[Cameronpaterson]

I just rang Kobo support. The lady I spoke to sounded as confused as I felt and put me on hold for several minutes, eventually returning with a solution to the mystery. Apparently there's an unspecified "issue" with Kobo Aura 7hd software at the moment and they are planning an update which will restore/ add the awards and stats. So there you go. Can anyone say 'rushed'??

[nathan.grewal]

Originally Posted by Cameronpaterson

BUT - and yes, this is definitely a but - for some inexplicable reason they decided to leave out reading life. Yes, there are no awards, no reading stats, etc - even though these are present and correct on the new Aura (at least I think so!) and even though RL was featured on both the Vox and the original Arc.
For me, reading life award and stats have always been pretty central to the Kobo experience and I see little point in keeping this new Arc without them. What makes the omission even odder is there ARE notification settings allowing you to see "newly earned awards" and "other reading life events"! Yes, even they aren't included. I can only conclude that that Arc HD software was rushed and is unfinished (it's crashed several times for another thing).
Anyone else out there bought the new model?

I have a 10 hd. It used to crash a lot, but a software update fixed it. You can access reading life stats from the middle home screen. For example, one of the little boxes says how many hours and books I read in December. Tapping it brings up the stats.
It tells you how many awards you won, but you can't access them as a group.

[Cameronpaterson]

Originally Posted by nathan.grewal

I have a 10 hd. It used to crash a lot, but a software update fixed it. You can access reading life stats from the middle home screen. For example, one of the little boxes says how many hours and books I read in December. Tapping it brings up the stats.
It tells you how many awards you won, but you can't access them as a group.

Interesting - thank you. Unfortunately the same doesn't apply to the 7hd

[nathan.grewal]

If you put in a launcher, you should get the default kobo app- with reading life.

[Cameronpaterson]

You mean just download the regular Kobo app for Android? Yes, totally possible, but that doesn't change the fact that this is a bizarre omission

[nathan.grewal]

I don't even use reading life? Other than occasionally checking my total read time (62 days, I think).
I guess you just have to sit tight until a software update comes.

[Cameronpaterson]

Originally Posted by nathan.grewal

I don't even use reading life? Other than occasionally checking my total read time (62 days, I think).
I guess you just have to sit tight until a software update comes.

Nah, I'm selling it. It's a deal breaker for me. There isn't going to be a software update. At least I don't think so. Customer Services may have claimed that but I think now they were only telling me that to get me off the phone. To me reading life is a sine qua non of the Kobo experience - without it, Kobo is a simply a slightly-more-expensive Kindle clone with a poorer selection.

[nathan.grewal]

You really need Reading Life!
Just for the record, kobo isn't necessarily more expensive than kindle. The aura is ten dollars more the the paperwhite, but with more storage, an sd slot, and epub support. It's more then worth it (at least for me)
Oh well enjoy your kindle

[Cameronpaterson]

Originally Posted by nathan.grewal

You really need Reading Life!
Just for the record, kobo isn't necessarily more expensive than kindle. The aura is ten dollars more the the paperwhite, but with more storage, an sd slot, and epub support. It's more then worth it (at least for me)
Oh well enjoy your kindle

Yeah I was actually thinking of the books rather than the hardware! But fear note, I shall be still be using Kobo on iOS !

[Kosh]

that interesting because I got the arc 7 and it has all the reading life. I hated it and I disable it somewhere in the settings. So try the launcher settings. I would help more but i cant remember how i did it.