Should I get a paperwhite2?

[mystika1]

Hi,
i just received two gift cards to amazon ($30 and $40) and I am thinking of using them to get the pw2. I already have a Kobo Glo and my books come from both Kobo and Amazon. Would I notice a difference between the Glo and the PW2 as far as whiter background and dark fonts? I have been having problems with my eyes and was looking into a new reader anyway. Would a pw2 be a good choice or should I save up for a Kobo Aura HD?


Penny

[Katsunami]

It is generally said that the Kindle e-readers have a more stable firmware; the Kobo ones can have weird bugs. On the other hand, the Kobo's have MUCH more customization optioins with regards to fonts and book layout. It's the one reason why I still consider to trying a Kobo next time I buy an e-reader. (I'll probably never sell the KPW1 I have and keep it as a backup; despite not being very customizable, it works just fine.)

However, if you never hit any of the Kobo bugs (which is very well possible), you are satisfied with the Kobo Glo and just want a better/newer Glo, then maybe the Kobo Aura 6 inch would be a better choice than the Kindle Paperwhite 2.

[soulfuldog]

I think you would notice an improvement in the whiteness of the screen on the PW2 over the Glo (the Glo has a slightly blue tinge), but I don't think there is that much of a difference in the blackness/darkness of the fonts. Also, I don't think the screen on the Kobo Aura is quite as good as the Paperwhite.

However, the Kobo has far better font customisation options, so you should be able to fiddle with your fonts to increase the weight, sharpness etc to get something that looks as dark as possible.

Unless you particularly want to try a Kindle, if you're happy enough with your Kobo in general, I'd agree with Katsunami to an extent but say you'd be better trying the Kobo Aura HD instead of the Kobo Aura. Although it might be worth your while posting for help in the Kobo forum for the best font type to try on your Kobo Glo for readability before considering an upgrade?

[mystika1]

The only time I have ever had trouble with the Kobo was a firmware update that had my page turns messed up. I would tap to turn a page and it would not turn. I would tap it a few more times and then suddenly my glo would turn forward 10 pages. That was annoying but, it was fixed a few weeks later. I do find that I have installed Kindle fonts on the glo and end up using those most often. I did also install the night mode on it but only used it for one night.

Does the page refresh on the pw2(every 20 or so pages) make a difference in the reading experience? My glo refreshes every 6 pages.

I feel kind of crazy because my glo works fine. I have no pressing reasons to upgrade. I just would like a whiter background with nice dark fonts. :-)

Penny

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by mystika1

Does the page refresh on the pw2(every 20 or so pages) make a difference in the reading experience? My glo refreshes every 6 pages.

You can change the refresh on the Glo to up to 99 pages if you want. It is a simple edit to the configuration file.

I feel kind of crazy because my glo works fine. I have no pressing reasons to upgrade. I just would like a whiter background with nice dark fonts. :-)

Have you played with the advanced settings of the fonts? These can adjust the weight and sharpness of the fonts. It might help with the look you are after. Plus, leave the light on all the time. It doesn't use that much extra battery and it does make the screen look whiter under most light conditions.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by mystika1

Hi,
i just received two gift cards to amazon ($30 and $40) and I am thinking of using them to get the pw2. I already have a Kobo Glo and my books come from both Kobo and Amazon. Would I notice a difference between the Glo and the PW2 as far as whiter background and dark fonts? I have been having problems with my eyes and was looking into a new reader anyway. Would a pw2 be a good choice or should I save up for a Kobo Aura HD?

Is there any other particular problem with your Glo? I'd keep the Glo and use the money on books.

Plus what davidfor said: play with the Advanced font settings, and consider downloading some of the more popular fonts here, like the modified CharisSIL.

[mystika1]

I have tried to edit the config file for refreshing to "90" but when I go into the config file to the [Reading] section, I only get this:


[Reading]
libraryBuilderBlueprint=filterByMine()\nremoveRead ingStatusFilter()\nviewBy5List()
libraryShowOnlyDownloaded=true
pageTurningOption=option2
readingAdobeShowPageNumbers=false
readingAlignment=left
readingFontFamily=Amasis
readingFontSharpness\Amasis=@Variant(\0\0\0\x87>L\ xcc\xcd)
readingFontSharpness\Avenir%20Next=@Variant(\0\0\0 \x87>L\xcc\xcd)
readingFontSharpness\Caecilia=@Variant(\0\0\0\x87> L\xcc\xcd)
readingFontSharpness\Gill%20Sans=@Variant(\0\0\0\x 87>L\xcc\xcd)
readingFontSharpness\Kobo%20Nickel=@Variant(\0\0\0 \x87>L\xcc\xcd)
readingFontSharpness\Malabar=@Variant(\0\0\0\x87>L \xcc\xcd)
readingFontSize=32
readingFontWeight\Amasis=@Variant(\0\0\0\x87?L\xcc \xcd)
readingFontWeight\Avenir%20Next=@Variant(\0\0\0\x8 7?L\xcc\xcd)
readingFontWeight\Caecilia=@Variant(\0\0\0\x87?L\x cc\xcd)
readingFontWeight\Georgia=@Variant(\0\0\0\x87?L\xc c\xcd)
readingFontWeight\Gill%20Sans=@Variant(\0\0\0\x87? L\xcc\xcd)
readingFontWeight\Kobo%20Nickel=@Variant(\0\0\0\x8 7?L\xcc\xcd)
readingFontWeight\Malabar=@Variant(\0\0\0\x87?L\xc c\xcd)
readingLeftMargin=0
readingLineHeight=1.2
readingMenuState=
readingRightMargin=0

I do not find any lines in the entire file that say: numPartialUpdatePageTurns=90

Should I add this line? I am running firmware 3.1.1

Thanks,

Penny

[mystika1]

nevermind...I changed the refresh to 3 on the glo and rebooted. When I went back to the config file the line that I needed to edit was there. I guess if you don't change from the default then it won't show up in the configuration file.
yay!

[EndlessWaves]

Originally Posted by mystika1

I feel kind of crazy because my glo works fine. I have no pressing reasons to upgrade. I just would like a whiter background with nice dark fonts. :-)

Sounds like you'd be better off waiting for the technology to move on a bit.

[mystika1]

I this that I will go ahead and take the advice of waiting.

Penny

[mystika1]

Well I decided to "bite the bullet" and try the Kobo Patcher. Yay! That is exactly what I needed. Now my sideloaded really bold fonts can be made super bold. I bet it would look really great on the Aura HD.

Penny

[soulfuldog]

Glad you are sorted.

Yes, it probably would look even better if you had an Aura HD.

It's your choice, splash out on a HD, or wait a little while longer and see what is available nearer the end of this year. Kobo might come out with an improved Aura (not sure they will do anything more with the Aura HD, it was more of a limited edition due to the slightly larger screen) and Amazon will very likely come out with a newer, improved Paperwhite too. There is always something better on the horizon!

[mystika1]

Originally Posted by soulfuldog

Glad you are sorted.

Yes, it probably would look even better if you had an Aura HD.

It's your choice, splash out on a HD, or wait a little while longer and see what is available nearer the end of this year. Kobo might come out with an improved Aura (not sure they will do anything more with the Aura HD, it was more of a limited edition due to the slightly larger screen) and Amazon will very likely come out with a newer, improved Paperwhite too. There is always something better on the horizon!

Yes, I will wait. I was afraid that the patcher would be too difficult for me to use but it really was simple after taking a much closer look. I am glad that I tried it. And the hack that brings brightness control with two finger swipe is just awesome.

Penny

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by mystika1

Yes, I will wait. I was afraid that the patcher would be too difficult for me to use but it really was simple after taking a much closer look. I am glad that I tried it. And the hack that brings brightness control with two finger swipe is just awesome.

Penny

I'm running an older firmware, 2.6.1, and I can't find out how to do it for that. I assume you are running the latest firmware. Even so, it still looks very complicated.

[mystika1]

Originally Posted by booklover6

I'm running an older firmware, 2.6.1, and I can't find out how to do it for that. I assume you are running the latest firmware. Even so, it still looks very complicated.

Yep, I am on the 3.1.1 firmware. To me, it is the best firmware yet. It is way less buggy than the ones I have had in the past.

What I did for the patch:
It really was not that bad. I really was afraid to try it.(To the point that I was about to get a new reader.) I made a file and called it KOBO Patcher on my windows desktop. I extracted the three Zip files needed in that folder. Each zip has a file needed for the patch so I made another file and named it My Patch. I put the kpg.conf, the extracted libnickel.so.1.0.0, and kpg.exe in that folder. Once that was done...I opened up the kpg.conf in my text editor and changed the margin settings.(the advanced fonts settings for sideloaded fonts is already selected so I didn't have to make any changes to that.)You could even just leave the config file as is because the default settings already make a great improvement. Click "save" before closing to keep the changes before you exit that file. Now just double click the kpg.exe. The new KoboRoot.tgz will pop up in My Patch folder. I just drag and dropped that KoboRoot.tgz file in the .kobo folder on the Glo. Reboot

My sideloaded bold fonts are WAY bolder and there is way more text on the pages with the new margins. I would highly recommend it and give praise to the person/people who work on these hacks.

Penny