Quote:
Originally Posted by DNSB
I spend a few decades reading dead tree books before building my first computer. Almost every one had the name of book and the name of the author at the top of facing pages just in case I forgot what book I was reading.
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Allow me to put it this way: every engineering effort is facing tradeoffs, and there's always a few parameters that are the "selling points", the most major limitations that were pushed to the limit. In case of mobile gadgets it's typically size/weight/battery life, in case of a car it might be engine power or fuel efficiency, in case of a TV it's the screen size, and so on.
Those are the most important limitations that, for a consumer, almost define how good the device is.
Kobo is actively advertising its Glo as having a six inch screen because screen size is important. It's one of those parameters where a 20% decrease cuts the sale price by a factor of three (Mini) and 13% increase almost doubles the price and creates a lot of buzz (Aura).
If screen size is important and scarce, it is common sense (and basic engineering practice) to do everything possible to maximise its use. If they use any pixel of it for non-primary task, they better have a VERY good reason.
They just did the opposite. How am I suppose to not be baffled?
If you excuse a straw-man argument, what they did is an equivalent of making a mobile phone, advertising it as thin and light, and then gluing a big heavy metal ornament to each device.
Comparisons to a paper book are not helpful because paper book's paper size is not the critical design constraint. I certainly wouldn't pay twice the price for a 6.8 inch paper book compared to a 6 inch paper book!
Hopefully this makes sense, and I do apologise for monopolising entire firmware thread with this single issue... I'm being passionate about it not so much because I don't like it (I haven't updated the firmware and will not) but because it's a very bad sign of some very faulty decision making process -- process that probably will affect me one day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by taming
I understand wanting what you want.
I don't understand why anyone expects a mass produced consumer product to be entirely in line with any one individual's preferences.
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Actually you might not understand what I want after all.
What I want is for firmware changes to be consistent, justifiable, and at least remotely predictable.
I don't require individual changes to suit my tastes and needs, this won't happen. If Kobo provided any glimpse into their thinking process, showing that this sacrifice in reading space is justified (a loss comparable to Glo->Mini product change), at least I wouldn't question their common sense and their goals.
For example all the Facebook integration was clearly led by their need to make money by forging relationships with other companies. I'm not happy about that, but I understand it and their goals, and I've never complained about it.
So far the only justification for title bar is consistency with kepubs. It's actually not a bad justification, except that achieving the same consistency by *removing* that silly bar from kepubs is so *obvious*...