Glo Kobo Glo, some questions 4 Sameer

[Frankr]

Not having easy access to recent reads is a deal breaker for me.

[TongueTied]

Originally Posted by Frankr

Not having easy access to recent reads is a deal breaker for me.

You actually have it in 2 places. First, on the home screen, but as has been mentioned if you purchase a new book, it will push the 5th most recent read off your home screen. Second, if you go to Library, and hit "by title" then choose recent reads, it sorts your books by last date/time opened. That shows only 5 books per page, but the screen really isn't big enough for any more.

[RareBird]

Originally Posted by TongueTied

You actually have it in 2 places. First, on the home screen, but as has been mentioned if you purchase a new book, it will push the 5th most recent read off your home screen. Second, if you go to Library, and hit "by title" then choose recent reads, it sorts your books by last date/time opened. That shows only 5 books per page, but the screen really isn't big enough for any more.

You can change the display to show more than 5 books in the library view by clicking on the icon in the lower left. I can't remember exactly what it looks like and I don't have my Touch handy to take a look.

[mrmoo]

Originally Posted by SameerH

Yes. At certain settings at certain times of the day, you cannot tell that the light is on. The light indicator bar is there so that there is no mistaking that the light is on and unnecessarily draining your battery. We're looking at offering a setting to not use it.

Any update on removing the black bar with the light on? Because to me that looks really irritating taking up screen space.

[Danger]

Originally Posted by mrmoo

Any update on removing the black bar with the light on? Because to me that looks really irritating taking up screen space.

Technically it's not taking up space as this space is already taken up by page numbering and options when you touch the center of the screen. It's just made noticable how much is taken up now because the bar is black when the light is on rather than just blending into the background and being part of the book page like the bottom page numbering does. You can see the segregation when you bring up the options, the bar above the options that indicates chapters and how far into the book you are, where that bar starts is how much space is reserved on the bottom of the page. Now that it's black while you are reading just makes it stand out like a sorethumb.

[mrmoo]

Yeah, just one of the things I'd prefer is an actual full screen mode.

[winsomnia]

Originally Posted by mrmoo

Yeah, just one of the things I'd prefer is an actual full screen mode.

I think we're beginning to stray away from the OP and more towards future firmware requests.

The Kobo Touch future firmware feature request thread is here.

[mrmoo]

Originally Posted by winsomnia

I think we're beginning to stray away from the OP and more towards future firmware requests.

The Kobo Touch future firmware feature request thread is here.

I was responding to comments in this thread, in fact mentioned in the OP. Having asked a question and await a response from Sameer. I'm aware of the other thread, it is aimed towards the standard touch where the black bar is not present. I've refrained from posting there, considered it problematic/confusing with regards to a new product. Perhaps a new thread is justified for the Glo, are the two device firmwares the same with the exception of the black bar?

[winsomnia]

Originally Posted by mrmoo

Perhaps a new thread is justified for the Glo, are the two device firmwares the same with the exception of the black bar?

I don't know about shared firmwares in regard to both Touch and Glo, but I do think a new thread would be good idea if in fact there will be different fw updates for different devices. I thought I read somewhere that they would be using the 2.1.1 fw, though I may be mistaken (or had misread/misinterpreted).

The other thing, I just thought your suggestion of a "full screen mode" was a good one and would be a good addition to that other thread.

[taming]

The firmware is the same for all three devices.

If by full screen you are asking for a view that does not have page numbers at the bottom (which is where, from what i can tell, the black bar is--no loss of screen size at all), then you might be surprised to find that many folks do not like having to invoke that bottom menu every time they want to check the page number they are on.

[murg]

I was checking out Kobo's Glo page and noticed that they've removed the references to the Glo being glass free.

Other than: Because Kobo Glo’s advanced high-res XGA Pearl E Ink screen doesn’t use a glass overlay for its front light technology, there’s never any glare, even in the brightest sunlight.

Which is specific enough to be ok.

[ShellShock]

Originally Posted by taming

The firmware is the same for all three devices.

If by full screen you are asking for a view that does not have page numbers at the bottom (which is where, from what i can tell, the black bar is--no loss of screen size at all), then you might be surprised to find that many folks do not like having to invoke that bottom menu every time they want to check the page number they are on.

And you might be surprised that many folks do not like the bottom menu permanently taking up space. All we're asking for is an option so it is only displayed, e.g. when you tap the bottom of the screen. If you like the bottom menu always on, then that should be possible too.

[textchimp]

Just got a Glo and I really want to second this idea for at least the option (no matter how deeply buried in the settings) to remove all page information and use as much of that limited screen space as possible for text.

Too much space is being wasted right for, for some of us. I don't need to know what page I'm on, every page. That info could still appear on the menubars, when they're activated...

[OverHaze]

Great device though it is a few things have been annoying me about the Glo so far. First, books added to shelves should be removed from from the general books list. I have the 13 Wheel of Time books on their own shelf I do not need to see them when I am looking one specific book in a large collection

Second there really needs to be an option to remove the black back when reading with the light on, it might not be taking up any extra space but it is very distracting

Lastly side loaded epubs should have the same customisation options as books purchases from Kobo. The future is DRM free (at least for my chosen genres of sci-fi and fantasy) all content should be treated equally. For instance books I purchased from the Humble Book Bundle look terrible on the Kobo Glo because I can't alter the margins.

[ShellShock]

Originally Posted by OverHaze

For instance books I purchased from the Humble Book Bundle look terrible on the Kobo Glo because I can't alter the margins.

Are they epubs? If so that is probably a problem with those particular books, e.g., if epub has a paragraph style that sets the margins, then this will override whatever margins you set in the Kobo options. This cuts both ways - if you could not override the Kobo options in the epub, then a lot of people would complain even more (including me).