Aura HD Kobo Aura HD

[Kozzi]

To Kobo users

I'm a Kindle 3 user and couldn't help but get exited after seeing Aura HD. Perhaps this is the upgrade I have been waiting for. My usage for Kindle 3 is mostly for reading web (1 specific forum) and school pdfs (using kindlepdfreader).

The thing is that I often use to browse this one forum (sometimes several hours a day) where net-books (I made up this word) are posted 1-3 chapters/day as a thread post and reading them on e-ink simply rocks compared to on a tablet device. The kindle has those page up/down buttons which I use while reading, therefore it usually feels almost like reading an ebook. Unfortunaly new Kindle devices seems to feature touch-scroll instead of one-touch up/down operations and thus made my decision to upgrade harder.

My questions would be:
Does kobo web browser has the ability to move 1 page as a time, unlike scrolling in paperwhite? If no, hackable or solution to implement this available?
Does web browser has bookmarks feature?
There seems to be kindlepdfreader for kobo, how does it work on the device when compared to Kindle Paperwhite?
Can Kobo download .rar/.zip manga files from internet and allow me to rename them on the device to cbr/zip to be viewed as a comic?

Thanks in advance

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by david_e

Granted, my first Kobo was the Mini, but the only issue I've encountered is italics showing as bold in my preferred font. It's annoying, but nothing more.

Italics showing as bold is a major bug (IMHO). Italics mean different things in different books and coming out bold just spoils things.

[bmatt]

This is pretty tempting, I am on my PRS-650 and having issues lately with battery life. I COULD just replace my battery I suppose, but I have been interested in the built in lights since they released a couple of years ago. I can't believe Sony has dropped the ball on implementing it in their new readers so far.

I have to say I've been happy with the PRS650 software and the build quality of the 650, though the newer Sony's don't seem as nice. I bought my wife a Kobo touch reader a couple of years ago and it seems fine, I don't like it as much as my Sony due to the lack of some features, but it was 1/3 the price too..

I am hoping Sony will pull it together this year with a light and maybe a better build quality. I may jump on this one instead though. I wish I could see the Kobo's locally though, I went to B&N and looked at their lighted reader and you can see a gap between the bezel and the edge of the eInk screen, which becomes VERY apparent when the light is on. I guess I'm just spoiled by the 650.

[RZetlin]

There is one thing I am worried about the Aura about what Serbinis said in an interview:

Kobo CEO Michael Serbinis explained. As such, it's a limited edition offering, one not destined to replace the flagship Glo.

So the device won't have mainstream distribution?

What will the after product support be like?

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by Kozzi

I'm a Kindle 3 user and couldn't help but get exited after seeing Aura HD. Perhaps this is the upgrade I have been waiting for. My usage for Kindle 3 is mostly for reading web (1 specific forum) and school pdfs (using kindlepdfreader).

If your main activities are web browsing and reading pdfs then any e-ink reader is probably the wrong choice. I would get a tablet instead.

[paola]

Originally Posted by Kozzi

My questions would be:
Does kobo web browser has the ability to move 1 page as a time, unlike scrolling in paperwhite?

not sure I understand: perhaps if you post a link to a book we could try it out - incidentally, as far as I know, you cannot put the browser in landscape mode

Originally Posted by Kozzi

Does web browser has bookmarks feature?

yes

Originally Posted by Kozzi

There seems to be kindlepdfreader for kobo, how does it work on the device when compared to Kindle Paperwhite?

on my Mini I have problems with offset, but others seem to be fine. There are still a couple of bugs in the port though (e.g. there is no way to exit the programme, you have to restart the device), but there is also another viewer which may be ported - perhaps you may want to ask in the Developer's forum.

Originally Posted by Kozzi

Can Kobo download .rar/.zip manga files from internet and allow me to rename them on the device to cbr/zip to be viewed as a comic?

You can download, but I am not sure you can rename - it may be possible using the hack by sergey, who has added a notepad among other things, and with that you should be able to navigate files that are not generally visible - the same applies to the kindle port, although I do not know whether besides seeing the file you would be able to rename it (but you could do it with a USB connection with a computer I guess, though of course this is not the same thing). Again, you may want to check the developer's forum (this thread)

[david_e]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Italics showing as bold is a major bug (IMHO). Italics mean different things in different books and coming out bold just spoils things.

Fortunately, there are seven other fonts to choose from where this doesn't occur.

[RZetlin]

Can Kobo download .rar/.zip manga files from internet and allow me to rename them on the device to cbr/zip to be viewed as a comic?

I have about 50 manga on my Kobo Glo.

The answer is yes, you can just rename the .rar/zip to cbr/zip on the PC and transfer them to the device.

Ensure the image files are in alphabetical order or else the page orders will be mixed up.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

If the built-in fonts don't have the special chars you need it is trivial to just copy a set of fonts that do have them to the fonts directory. You have to use the correct Kobo naming convention, but that is also trivial. So no need to be a deal breaker

Thanks!

[vxf]

I love it. I have been waiting for a larger frontlit screen since switching from my PRS950 to a Paperwhite.
But no 3g, no deal for me. I seem to be in the minority here, but I love the convenience of 3g when travelling. And, for that price...

[doubleshuffle]

I've never used a Kobo, but the Aura looks very interesting to me. Since I read many "fancy" epubs that rely heavily on embedded fonts and sophisticated page formatting, I'd like to know whether it's possible to not have Kobo's software interfere with the CSS at all but display exactly what's encoded there. My Onyx does that very nicely with the inbuilt "pdf-reader", but its other reading applications, Coolreader and FB-Reader, are subpar in that department (to put it nicely). So how about Kobo?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Latinandgreek

Was there a lack of diacritical support overall on the device, or did only the fonts mentioned not support diacritics? I have to say, the lack of diacritical support might be a deal breaker.

Diacritical support has improved but I found that Charis SIL gave me the best diacritical support and with JSWolf's modified version which has a slightly higher weight, the screen was easier to read in lower lighting. As you may have noticed, quite a few PC fonts look very light on the Kobo (Century Schoolbook is an example).

For me, the diacriticals became an issue with several science fiction/fantasy authors who liked using diacriticals in names so I was seeing names with blocks in them (blank blocks, blocks with x's, blocks with ?'s) and found them very annoying. Check David Weber's Bahzell series for a collection of names with macrons and carons.

The three fonts mentioned have an issue where a piece of text marked as italic would display as bold instead.

Regards,
David

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

I've never used a Kobo, but the Aura looks very interesting to me. Since I read many "fancy" epubs that rely heavily on embedded fonts and sophisticated page formatting, I'd like to know whether it's possible to not have Kobo's software interfere with the CSS at all but display exactly what's encoded there. My Onyx does that very nicely with the inbuilt "pdf-reader", but its other reading applications, Coolreader and FB-Reader, are subpar in that department (to put it nicely). So how about Kobo?

Oddly, there has been some criticism of the Kobo ereaders because they do attempt to follow the formatting of the ebook. Some people want a result as close to the publisher's vision while others want to see the ebooks as they prefer it to be formatted. Personally, I think most publishers have very little idea of what looks good on an ereader and use Sigil to modify ebooks to my taste.

Regards,
David

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Oddly, there has been some criticism of the Kobo ereaders because they do attempt to follow the formatting of the ebook. Some people want a result as close to the publisher's vision while others want to see the ebooks as they prefer it to be formatted. Personally, I think most publishers have very little idea of what looks good on an ereader and use Sigil to modify ebooks to my taste.

Regards,
David

Thank you.
This sounds encouraging. So Kobo readers do display your modifications correctly, am I getting this right? Because I modify virtually all of my ebooks in Sigil as well - and then there are the lovingly formatted uploads by others here at MR that I want to be displayed exactly as intended by the uploader. So Kobo does do that, yes?

[david8866]

Originally Posted by Kozzi

To Kobo users

I'm a Kindle 3 user and couldn't help but get exited after seeing Aura HD. Perhaps this is the upgrade I have been waiting for. My usage for Kindle 3 is mostly for reading web (1 specific forum) and school pdfs (using kindlepdfreader).

Thanks in advance

Oh, no. KOBO web browsing is bad. DX > Sony T1/T2 > K3.