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TheBard · 09-23-2013, 11:57 AM

My Aura was delivered today, as well.

The outside box looked like it was used as a seat for an elephant during the trip from Hong Kong, but the Kobo box and contents appeared undamaged. The battery was partially charged.

Logged into the Kobo site, after registering the Aura with the same info I used for my Touch. Downloaded an update (2.9.0, dated 9/15/13). The Zip file disappeared before I could make an archive copy.

Screen is acceptable. Only one tiny, somewhat bright spot, about 1.5 mm from the top, right side, near the dark horizontal band that appears near the top. The spot is visible with both a "white" background, and a "black" background. The "bright line" as seen / complained of by other posters, is not very obtrusive, and does not detract from the reading experience.

Noted several dark, hair-like artifacts when reading a book, but they were caused by the photography process used in the book, rather than by the screen itself.

The Aura is the same width as my Touch, but about 1 cm shorter.
The Aura is definitely thinner and lighter than the Touch.
With the light OFF, the reflectivity of the Aura's screen is noticeably less than that of the Touch. To make the two screens' contrast / readability about the same, I had to turn the Aura's light ON ... a pretty close match occurred when the light was set to 11% (this will vary, depending on the ambient illumination).

I tried to compare screen glare, using a (slightly diffused) incandescent bulb as the glare source. The glare areas were fairly equal, and the brightness of the glare spot was slightly less as reflected from the Touch, than as reflected from the Aura. Very little difference.

I then moved my external memory chip from the Touch to the Aura, to see how long it would take to process the content. Subjectively, processing was noticeably faster on the Aura.

Took the Aura outside, in bright, direct Texas sunshine, and could indeed see a random, fiber-like pattern in the top few inches of the screen. This pattern was not visible in indirect sunshine, or when indoors, under various lighting conditions. It did not appear near the bottom of the screen at any time.

Another observation ... the "search" function (when looking for book titles or authors included in the Kobo's local / memory library) is MUCH faster on the Aura, than on the Touch.

Conclusion:
I am not disappointed with the purchase.
The front light is quite decent ... a LOT better than using an external light source when trying to read in bed / at night.

Update:
Sufferered a hard crash when exchanging external memory chips.
Pinhole reset did not work. Had to use the method described by Taming, here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=215698

After updating, etc etc, all seems well, so far, with the external chip installed.

09-23-2013, 11:57 AM	#155
TheBard Bifocal Wearer Posts: 49 Karma: 38902 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: USA Device: Kobo Touch, Aura, Clara ...	My Aura was delivered today, as well. The outside box looked like it was used as a seat for an elephant during the trip from Hong Kong, but the Kobo box and contents appeared undamaged. The battery was partially charged. Logged into the Kobo site, after registering the Aura with the same info I used for my Touch. Downloaded an update (2.9.0, dated 9/15/13). The Zip file disappeared before I could make an archive copy. Screen is acceptable. Only one tiny, somewhat bright spot, about 1.5 mm from the top, right side, near the dark horizontal band that appears near the top. The spot is visible with both a "white" background, and a "black" background. The "bright line" as seen / complained of by other posters, is not very obtrusive, and does not detract from the reading experience. Noted several dark, hair-like artifacts when reading a book, but they were caused by the photography process used in the book, rather than by the screen itself. The Aura is the same width as my Touch, but about 1 cm shorter. The Aura is definitely thinner and lighter than the Touch. With the light OFF, the reflectivity of the Aura's screen is noticeably less than that of the Touch. To make the two screens' contrast / readability about the same, I had to turn the Aura's light ON ... a pretty close match occurred when the light was set to 11% (this will vary, depending on the ambient illumination). I tried to compare screen glare, using a (slightly diffused) incandescent bulb as the glare source. The glare areas were fairly equal, and the brightness of the glare spot was slightly less as reflected from the Touch, than as reflected from the Aura. Very little difference. I then moved my external memory chip from the Touch to the Aura, to see how long it would take to process the content. Subjectively, processing was noticeably faster on the Aura. Took the Aura outside, in bright, direct Texas sunshine, and could indeed see a random, fiber-like pattern in the top few inches of the screen. This pattern was not visible in indirect sunshine, or when indoors, under various lighting conditions. It did not appear near the bottom of the screen at any time. Another observation ... the "search" function (when looking for book titles or authors included in the Kobo's local / memory library) is MUCH faster on the Aura, than on the Touch. Conclusion: I am not disappointed with the purchase. The front light is quite decent ... a LOT better than using an external light source when trying to read in bed / at night. Update: Sufferered a hard crash when exchanging external memory chips. Pinhole reset did not work. Had to use the method described by Taming, here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=215698 After updating, etc etc, all seems well, so far, with the external chip installed. Last edited by TheBard; 09-23-2013 at 03:14 PM.