Quote:
Originally Posted by Barty
Having used kindles but seen only videos of the kobo, I think one thing they need to do is an overhaul of UI graphics.
On the kindles, UI elements are very dark and clear making them easy to use. For ex, the keyboard has dark shaded buttons, as opposed to just plain rectangles on the kobo (though the aura helpfully has number keys). Or look at the screen of the front light control. On the kpw, it's a large bar taking the entire screen, very easy to adjust just swiping finger up and diwn. On the aura, it's a small slider, requiring some fine finger control. It's a small thing, but it makes a difference in usability and overall look of polishness.
On the library page, the kpw is saddled with stupid recommendations, but the cover pictures are larger. On the aura, there seems to be way too much wasted space. On the reading screen, the aura looks like it is wasting more space with the header and status bar.
Even simple things like pop up definition look nicer on the kpw. The kobo, otoh, looks half done. The kobo almost looks like a third party, hacked UI, rather than the native UI.
I know, who cares about looks, right? But I think it matters a lot to the overall impression that the product gives. Kobo seems to have spent considerable thoughts on making their product stand out, with the quilted and now curved back. They should spend some time polishing the UI.
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Oddly, I enjoyed reading your post. Your post was reasonable and makes some good points. I would disagree with some of your points, the light slider for example. The slider on my Glo is large enough to easily use (and my hands are not that small) and I prefer to see all the text and images while I am adjusting the brightness for the area I'm reading in. But as is often the case, baby duckling syndrome. It's what I am used to -- my iPad uses a small slider to adjust brightness as does my phone so I find the one on the Kindle PW to be oversized and klunky by comparison. Do I really need to be told to use high settings for brightly lit rooms and lower settings for darker rooms?
Anyhow, I'd suggest not replying to this message here. It's just a touch off-topic.
Regards,
David