My Voyage v Kobo H2O experience

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by pagepack

I found the screen far too yellow for reading in the dark, or low light.

Hmmm... I read nightly in the dark.

[pagepack]

Originally Posted by pghaworth

Hmmm... I read nightly in the dark.

From what I've read the screen led colour temperate various from device to device. I personally found it distracting when I dropped the light level to read in the dark. I read one post that someone bought two H20's, one had a light cream light led light and the other was white.

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by pagepack

From what I've read the screen led colour temperate various from device to device. I personally found it distracting when I dropped the light level to read in the dark. I read one post that someone bought two H20's, one had a light cream light led light and the other was white.

Thank you. I want an H2O, but the screen and night reading are key. Maybe I need to wait for H2O-2.

[Chi Cygni]

Originally Posted by pagepack

From what I've read the screen led colour temperate various from device to device. I personally found it distracting when I dropped the light level to read in the dark. I read one post that someone bought two H20's, one had a light cream light led light and the other was white.

That someone was me indeed, I was surprised. I assumed they will be identical but the second H2O turned out to be much whiter than the first, from the same seller, ordered 4 days later. I kept the cream one and returned the white. And to my eyes letters on the whiter screen were very dark grey not black. The screen with light off is light grey, nothing yellow on it. I love the cream screen in pitch black room. Btw, I'm quite sensitive to harsh light.

[pagepack]

Originally Posted by pghaworth

Thank you. I want an H2O, but the screen and night reading are key. Maybe I need to wait for H2O-2.

Don't let me put you off, I tempted to try another one if I can get the led temperature that I prefer. The front light was very even and I loved the font options. Size was great for reading. There is a thread is the Kobo forum about the yellow screen, seems its personal preference and hit and miss what your particular H2O led lighting looks like.

[pagepack]

Originally Posted by Chi Cygni

That someone was me indeed, I was surprised. I assumed they will be identical but the second H2O turned out to be much whiter than the first, from the same seller, ordered 4 days later. I kept the cream one and returned the white. And to my eyes letters on the whiter screen were very dark grey not black. The screen with light off is light grey, nothing yellow on it. I love the cream screen in pitch black room. Btw, I'm quite sensitive to harsh light.

Cream would be great, I'm not adverse to a colder light that my PW2 has too. I just found the yellow was affecting the contrast between the lovely dark font and the screen when reading in the dark. I'm hoping I got duff one.

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by pagepack

Don't let me put you off, I tempted to try another one if I can get the led temperature that I prefer. The front light was very even and I loved the font options. Size was great for reading. There is a thread is the Kobo forum about the yellow screen, seems its personal preference and hit and miss what your particular H2O led lighting looks like.

Thank you, but I won't be able to take chances. No H2Os in the US and I doubt any seller outside will welcome exchanges because of a color preference.

[Barty]

Originally Posted by pagepack

The light is yellow, not the screen. Apparently they differ between readers.

Not had to much luck this week. Took a voyage back as the front light was so uneven, very distracting and if you're paying a premium price, unacceptable in my eyes.

I then bought an H20. Very even screen, love the font options, increasing weight and so on. Although that went back too. Fantastic to read on during the day but I found the screen far too yellow for reading in the dark, or low light. Maybe I was unlucky, I dont know. I prefer a warm led as opposed to cold, but my H2O was too yellow. If only I could demo one first......

Sounds good. You guys are tempting me. Must. Resist. Got to many devices already.

[rogerinnyc]

Well, here's an update I didn't expect to write. I'm keeping my Kobo H2O and returning my Kindle Voyage. The Voyage has much snappier page turns, but without a jailbreak to put in custom fonts (e.g., Georgia) and screensavers, I just don't enjoy using it as much as my PW2 (which is jailbroken). As for the Kobo, I love the amount of customization possible in terms of font, line spacing, margins, etc., and the cover as screensaver. And, on balance, I prefer its warmer, slightly yellow, screen image to the colder, blue/pink of the voyage. Yes, I'm going to miss the auto-sync between the Voyage and the Kindle app on my phone, but search functions let you find your place fairly easily.

On the other hand if a JB is found for the Voyage, I may re-order!

[sian]

what format dose it use
could i tranfer my kindle books to kobo ?
and what accessabilty options are there?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by sian

what format dose it use
could i tranfer my kindle books to kobo ?
and what accessabilty options are there?

Kobo uses ePub. If your eBooks are DRM free (hello Apprentice Alf), you can convert them to ePub.

[cct1]

Originally Posted by sian

what format dose it use
could i tranfer my kindle books to kobo ?
and what accessabilty options are there?

I use calibre to convert my kindle books to kepub, with a little help from apprentice alf. It's quick and painless once you set up calibre to do it. Almost every book I buy is a kindle book; I tried the Voyage first because of the ease of using amazon's ecosystem seamlessly, but I like the H20 much better than the Voyage and it's my go to reader now, and the extra step with calibre is so easy that irs a nonissue.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by rogerinnyc

Well, here's an update I didn't expect to write. I'm keeping my Kobo H2O and returning my Kindle Voyage. The Voyage has much snappier page turns, but without a jailbreak to put in custom fonts (e.g., Georgia) and screensavers, I just don't enjoy using it as much as my PW2 (which is jailbroken). As for the Kobo, I love the amount of customization possible in terms of font, line spacing, margins, etc., and the cover as screensaver. And, on balance, I prefer its warmer, slightly yellow, screen image to the colder, blue/pink of the voyage. Yes, I'm going to miss the auto-sync between the Voyage and the Kindle app on my phone, but search functions let you find your place fairly easily.

On the other hand if a JB is found for the Voyage, I may re-order!

Lots of people seem to like Georgia--does it show on the screen better (clarity) or have more space between letters...I've looked at it on the computer and it's a nice font, but I see it mentioned for e-readers a lot. I'd like to know the reasons it's so well loved if someone has the time to share.

Thanks. And Happy Thanksgiving y'all.

[Canuck_in_Japan]

Originally Posted by pghaworth

Thank you. I want an H2O, but the screen and night reading are key. Maybe I need to wait for H2O-2.

Ok, I get reading in the water but reading in hydrogen peroxide? That's just absurd!

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Lots of people seem to like Georgia--does it show on the screen better (clarity) or have more space between letters...I've looked at it on the computer and it's a nice font, but I see it mentioned for e-readers a lot. I'd like to know the reasons it's so well loved if someone has the time to share.

Thanks. And Happy Thanksgiving y'all.

I haven't seen Georgia on eink yet, only on my tablets and phone in Kindle app. From what I see I think it has a lot to do with the way the serifs are done in Georgia. It is not necessary to have super high resolution for the serifs to show up nicely since they are straight. Yes, they get narrower to the end, but the outside line is perfect horizontal or vertical. That makes the serifs much easier to see. Caecilia does the same thing - the serifs are not at an angle, but stick out staight. The big difference is that Caecilia was designed for very low resolution - almost no variation in line thickness on the letters and the serifs are simply square blocks glued to the end. So Georgia is half way in between. Does require a little bit higher resolution (when comparing at same size) than Caecilia, but less than other serif fonts (e.g. Baskerville) with fancier serifs.

When resolution supports even the fanciest fonts then it comes down to preference alone, IMO. Georgia does a very good job to look like a printed book even at medium resolution of the display. If Georgia cannot do it, then there is not that much choice - either Caecilia or san-serif.

On Android Georgia and Droid Serif are so close that I rather use Droid Serif in my Kindle app. So if I didn't have Droid Serif as option, I would chose Georgia. The only advantage of Georgia is that there is more words per page at the same size compared to Droid Serif - to me that is a non-issue, as I am unwilling to use the smallest size availlable on tablets as it would be way too small to comfortably read (for me).