Thank you, davidfor and Ken. But I think the description "very easy" cannot stand in the same sentence (or the same Universe even) with the process of removing the front bezel on Kobo Aura HD. I think those who managed to remove it and put it back without 100% destroying IR functionality (btw I believe they ALL must have degraded it between 10%-30% in terms of surface area, without even noticing) are very very lucky.
So, the tricky part is to cut out that area _without_ removing the front bezel. I am still preparing (mentally and physically, having rested now --- the hands must be very sturdy when holding that damn soldering gun
for this operation, having done as davidfor and you have suggested to put 3.8.0 firmware on my new Kobo Aura HD (i.e. via desktop app on Windows 7 --- luckily I have one of my laptops running this windows thingy
UPDATE: From this and previous posts (and my general attitude) you must have guessed that I am one of those of whom they say in Russian "руки растут не из того места" --- "hands grow in the wrong place" --- indeed, I am not a "DIY" guy, but at the same time I strive for perfection (AuraHD with less than 64GB internal memory is other than perfect) and hence all my troubles...