Short review of Forma

[tschucha]

Got this today and have been playing with it for the last 3 hours or so.

In my opinion this is the best e-reader available to date for people that want a bigger screen and light weight and don't need note taking. I've been using a Kobo Aura One and my wife uses an Oasis. The Forma feels lighter, seems to look better (seems like better contrast than the Aura One) responds quicker and the lighting looks great at least on the one I got. I had been worried that there might be issues with the lighting but on mine it looks great. The lighting on the Aura One and the Oasis also look great to me so maybe I've been lucky with e-readers or maybe I'm not that picky. You can still side-load fonts just like on older Kobos, a nice feature.

Negatives:
I haven't decided if the page turn buttons are worth the extra real estate and the plug and power buttons should have been put on the short side instead of next to the page turn buttons. The first update to the firmware causes the device to display a "Swipe to Unlock" dialog when waking from Sleep Mode. I see no purpose for this and spent about half an hour after updating the firmware looking for a way to turn it off. That's it for negatives so far.


It seems easier to hold than the Aura One and at least from the first couple of hours it looks like a winner. It's expensive but if you are a a big reader I think it is worth it.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by tschucha

Negatives:
I haven't decided if the page turn buttons are worth the extra real estate and the plug and power buttons should have been put on the short side instead of next to the page turn buttons. The first update to the firmware causes the device to display a "Swipe to Unlock" dialog when waking from Sleep Mode. I see no purpose for this and spent about half an hour after updating the firmware looking for a way to turn it off. That's it for negatives so far.

I wonder if the future Kobo Aura ONE will basically be a Forma without the page turn buttons? I'm guessing the Forma's mother board is completely contained in the button side, so putting the microUSB port and power button on the opposite side probably would have been challenging. (Though they could have been somewhere other than directly by the page turn buttons.) Hopefully there will be a hack or firmware upgrade that will allow you to remove the "swipe to open" "feature."

[Canuck_in_Japan]

I don't think the extra real estate is just for the page turn buttons. You could still have page turn buttons on an ereader with normal bezels. They've basically put everything on one side of the device to make it ergonomically easy to hold.

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

They've basically put everything on one side of the device to make it ergonomically easy to hold.

It's very comfortable and easy to hold.

Originally Posted by tschucha

The first update to the firmware causes the device to display a "Swipe to Unlock" dialog when waking from Sleep Mode. I see no purpose for this and spent about half an hour after updating the firmware looking for a way to turn it off.

Just talked about this dumb "Swipe to Unlock" feature in the "Forma - Swipe to unlock ARRRRRRGHHHH" thread.

Hopefully next firmware gets rid of that abomination.

[Michal Jancik]

Originally Posted by tschucha

In my opinion this is the best e-reader available to date for people that want a bigger screen and light weight and don't need note taking. I

INKPAD 3 /740/ is not bad either. In addition to expensive month and with an output the audio, better sytém and options to read the PDF (relow etc). Hardware -> 2X1Ghz + 1Gb RAM - SD Card Port
(In France Inkpad 3/740 = $ 199 and KOBO FORMA 279$)

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Michal Jancik

INKPAD 3 /740/ is not bad either. In addition to expensive month and with an output the audio, better sytém and options to read the PDF (relow etc). Hardware -> 2X1Ghz + 1Gb RAM - SD Card Port
(In France Inkpad 3/740 = $ 199 and KOBO FORMA 279$)

7.8" vs 8"
infrared vs capacitive touch
Looks to have the same holding issues the Aura One has
Not able to load your own fonts
Might come with some nice tweaks, but at least based on the Pocketbook forum here vs the Kobo forum it's a lot more locked down so the tweaks it has are the tweaks you get. Where as thanks to the mods and patches here my Forma has more features I actually care about.

The extra boost in hardware is going to have minimal impact on reading, it may have a higher impact on the games and such bundled in.

Really the only thing I'd want from the Pocketbook on the Forma would be the SD card and that's more for the sake of if I reset my Forma I wouldn't need to reload all my books.

[Michal Jancik]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Not able to load your own fonts

I have no problem with that. I copied my POLICE on the INKPAD 3 / system /font folder and everything works.

• More RAM only for games? You are not serious, are you?
1Gb -> posibility to open more documents at the same time.
*Very convenient for run between the two documents open at the same time.

• 2x1GHz -> Processing, formating text or COL, large files faster.
*I even have PDF size of 400Mb.

• KOBO (I am fan of ;-))
The only thing I do not like about KOBO in general is the very poor PDF system makes it not an option at all. KOBO proposes that ZOOM + Screen-rotation. Inkpad has more options for PDF files. (also for scanned PDFs, or 2,3 colones text, relow)

[7.8] vs [8] Difference 0.2? it's crumbs this
# 7.8 corresponds to the size of my iPad mini. After each one his own preference, I did not want to annoy you. I did not want to offend you. ;-)
In addition, I have not tested the KOBO @ FORMA by myself, so I do not want to judge. But I found the price too high for this and 16 - 14Gb is nothing for comics .

[trekk]

I owned both devices.

• In my personal opinion the Inkpad 3 is more comfortable to hold than the Aura One.
• You can of course add your own fonts to the Inkpad.
• It is true, there are not so much tweaks and patches for the Inkpad. That is, because you don't need them Many issues with the Kobo Aura don't exist on the Inkpad. Adding third party software as KOReader or Cool Reader is no problem.
• The comfort light is more uniform, light is easier to adjust.
• The library system of the Inkpad is much better than on any other ereader I know.

Both devices have there pros and cons. In the end it's just a matter of your own preferences, I guess.

BOT, I love page turn buttons on an ereader, but I don't ike the wedge-like design on the Forma. I also find the Forma quite pricey. In that price category I would prefer to buy a Kindle Oasis. Actually that's what I did, but I love my Kobo devices just as well.