Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomac10000
First post.
The new Kobo Touch is a disappointment. Picked one up on Saturday (Chapters) and returned it the following day. ePub support/E Ink Pearl display/low-price/access to more Canadian content played a part in initial purchase decision making, even though I already own a US purchased Kindle 3G+WiFi.
Why am I disappointed by the Kobo Touch?
- The touch feature does not always activate. Unreliable. It's unfortunate that no hardware page-turn buttons are on the Kobo Touch; every time I "click" to a different page on the Kindle 3, I am 100% confident the device will respond -- it has never failed. The Kobo Touch introduces a will-it-or-won't-it-turn-the-page issue, which interrupts reading flow.
- Grease and grime build-up on the screen. No hardware buttons, aside from a home-screen button and power switch, results in oil/fingerprint build-up on the display. Using a stylus reduces these issues, but for some reason, I found that touch accuracy -- registering -- actually declined.
- Font rendering and choices are nowhere near as legible as text found on the Kindle 3. It doesn't matter that the new Kobo Touch and the Kindle 3 share the same E Ink Pearl tech. Each character does not render completely black, which also interrupts flow. Additionally, some lines of text appear darker compared to others on the same page.
- Ghosting. Newer processor (or other hardware) allows quicker page turns but flashing the entire screen -- complete refresh -- happens every six page-turns or so. Depends. Quicker speed is great for marketing purposes, but remnants of text and pictures from previous pages linger (faintly) until the flash occurs. I have had zero issues with page turn speeds on the Kindle 3.
- Glitches. Sometimes text would be illegible due to fine white lines appearing sporadically. Sometimes a page-turn, or menu option change would be greeted by an unwelcome blank screen with sporadic broken GUI elements. Pressing the home button alleviated the situation, yet interrupted the reading/task.
- Side-loaded ebooks: not searchable; words cannot be highlighted; and the dictionary cannot be utilized. The Kindle 3 does not have these issues.
- Kobo can't. Although it is a feature I rarely utilize, the Kindle 3 can "read" books aloud via text-to-speech and built-in speaker.
- Time. Additionally, although the Kobo has an internal clock, there is no way of accessing the time, except venturing deep into a settings menu; a quick press of the "Menu" button on the Kindle displays the time and useful options.
Hence, perhaps a few software iterations are necessary before the Kobo Touch performs to a satisfactory level. However, the Kindle 3, with superior font rendering -- subjective -- provides a robust, reliable experience, without interruptions from disappointing software/hardware decisions, which hinder real-world usability of the Kobo Touch.
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Welcome to MR I suppose!
Yes, there's some glitches and problems.
I was myself on the line to buy one but will wait before pulling the trigger.
We can see that for the boko or the nook as well, the system are not yet mature. We know members of Kobo team read these boards. Let's hope they will communicate and help making a better product quickly. If not, yes Amazon will probably increase its market share.