Have I bricked my Kobo Mini?

[bluepeter]

Originally Posted by rcentros

it looks like yours is one of the newer ones with a Pearl screen.

It is? I wouldn't know. As I said earlier, I bought it secondhand. I wasn't even aware that there was more than one version.

One thing I did notice, though, was that the μSD card that I took out this morning was only 2GB. I read/heard somewhere that some were shipped with 4GB cards, of which 2GB was partitioned out of use. If I'd had one of them, I might just have extended the usable partition and seen how I got on with 4GB.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by bluepeter

It is? I wouldn't know. As I said earlier, I bought it secondhand. I wasn't even aware that there was more than one version.

One thing I did notice, though, was that the μSD card that I took out this morning was only 2GB. I read/heard somewhere that some were shipped with 4GB cards, of which 2GB was partitioned out of use. If I'd had one of them, I might just have extended the usable partition and seen how I got on with 4GB.

Maybe yours wasn't one of the Pearl screens then? Mine did have a 4GB microSD in it. But the contrast looks pretty good in your picture of the Mini, so that's why I thought you had the newer Pearl screen.

[bluepeter]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Maybe yours wasn't one of the Pearl screens then? Mine did have a 4GB microSD in it. But the contrast looks pretty good in your picture of the Mini, so that's why I thought you had the newer Pearl screen.

Yes, the contrast is good - nearly as good as, say, a Clara 2E, and vastly better than a Clara Colour. If that implies a newer screen, then I guess that's what I must have.

[Quoth]

It probably has IR touch like the Sony PRS-350 (mine has Pearl screen) and the Aura H2O original. A capactive touch system uses transparent tin patterns and thus makes blacks less dark and whites less bright. So Pearl with no touch or IR touch is nearly as clear as Carta with capacitive touch. But also Carta has a different refresh system so less ghosting. The Carta 1200, 1250, 1300 are incremental improvements on the original Carta and maybe the 1300 has part of the capactive touch on or under the light pipe layer.

The light pipe layer for front lighting also reduces brightness and contrast slightly in ambient light, so the bare Pearl with no frontlight or capacitive touch is pretty good.

Also the 5″ has the same 800 x 600 as the 6″ siblings then so is much sharper / better DPI.

The earlier Viziplex is pretty poor compared to Pearl. I saw one once.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I'd like a mini, because the Kobo SW is better than Sony. I have the PRS-350 and I have to turn it on now with a map pin. On/Off plastic disintegrated.

I preferred the PRS-350 (I still have two after having given one away) to the Mini, but AFAIC nothing beats being able to direct download from Kobo. However if the Mini goes paws up, I'm glad to know I have a go-to device.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by bluepeter

Yes, the contrast is good - nearly as good as, say, a Clara 2E, and vastly better than a Clara Colour. If that implies a newer screen, then I guess that's what I must have.

You would notice the difference if it was a vizplex screen. I have an older Mini with that screen and it has much less contrast than the one with the pearl version. Apparently Kobo put the pearl screen in the newer Minis for a while and never announced the upgrade. I think most of them also came with a 4GB microSD, but they formatted them to only use 2GBs of that drive by default.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Quoth

The earlier Viziplex is pretty poor compared to Pearl. I saw one once.

I have two Minis, one with Vizplex and the other with a Pearl screen. I can confirm that the Pearl version is much nicer.

[bluepeter]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I have two Minis, one with Vizplex and the other with a Pearl screen. I can confirm that the Pearl version is much nicer.

I see what you mean. I've been looking at the pictures of a couple being offered for sale on eBay. It's clear that the contrast of their screens is significantly poorer than mine. I guess I lucked out when I bought it.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by bluepeter

I see what you mean. I've been looking at the pictures of a couple being offered for sale on eBay. It's clear that the contrast of their screens is significantly poorer than mine. I guess I lucked out when I bought it.

Same here. The last one I bought had the Pearl screen (didn't know they existed until I got it). I don't think it had been turned on for years and was like new. But the battery wouldn't take a charge — probably went too long without being charged. Fortunately I found a battery for it and was able to replace it.

I posted about it here...

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=342614

The battery is still going strong (after about 2½ years). They're now selling that same battery on Amazon (in the U.S.).

[bluepeter]

Grrr!

I've just found a blank 16GB μSD card lying around in my study. I could have used that instead of spending money on a new 32GB one to put in the Mini on Tuesday.