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Swipe to unlock? With no option to turn off? Ugh. I received my Forma on Sunday and it both improves on the Aura One and also doesn't. But I hope they change this particular firmware "feature."
Otherwise, some initial impressions to share:
The Forma is definitely lighter and easier to hold in one hand. Very enjoyable feel. Good grippy back. The lighter weight (while keeping/slightly improving the same screen size) is, I think, almost its best feature.
It is quite a bit wider in order to fit the physical buttons and I don't really like that look. It no longer looks like a book in its dimensions and is that much harder to fit into a pocket/small bag as compared to the Aura One (which had its own limitations, but not as many as this).
It's screen is whiter than the Aura One, but I don't feel that the fonts are quite as sharp. Both are excellent on their own though -- that's just my impression from a side-by-side.
There is no auto-sensor on the Forma for adjusting brightness. One the other hand, I never found that worked well on the Aura One, so I don't miss it.
The auto-rotation lags a bit when switching hands, but not badly. More annoyingly, often when I turn on the device, the text is upside down in terms of the orientation in which I'm holding it and I have to do a turn and back to get it to correct. And also now a swipe.
I actively dislike the power button. It's very hard to press and tell whether you activated it or not. The Aura One's button has a much better feel.
Very unscientifically, I don't notice an appreciably different battery life between the two units at this point. Both continue to seem worse than the H2O.
The sleep cover works well, but holds the unit up at a much lower angle than the Aura One's sleep cover. However, this doesn't bother me and, in terms of construction and firmness of support, I think is an improvement.
I'm going back and forth on whether to use the page turn buttons in their default configuration (toggle down is page forward) or their inverted configuration. Since I hold the unit in different ways, what I really would like is an option to have BOTH toggle up and toggle down translate into a page forward. I rarely page backwards and can do that easily enough with a tap or swipe. But I won't hold my breath, as I've been hoping for better tap zone options for the Aura One's bigger screen forever.
Bottom line: There's a lot to like, but I'm on the fence about whether it's a keeper or not. Interested in how others are liking their units....
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