Mini New Kobo Mini first impressions?

[darrenw218]

Anyone, please?!

Appreciate any feedback as I prefer the smaller form of the 5" screen. Currently have the Cybook Opus, but considering the Kobo Mini...

Many thanks,

Darren

[Suzanna]

I ordered two for my daughters last Friday evening. I was really hoping they'd arrive yesterday since I'm in Toronto, which isn't far from where it ships, but alas, they're still en route. Canada Post does tell me that they'll be delivered today, though. When the girls get home from school and open their Minis (I'm under strict orders not to do it for them) I'll try to get some hands-on time with one of them.

[paulsalter]

Be great to hear your feedback on this, the mini is the device I am interested in

[exodont]

Had the Mini + Glo for a day now - surprised how small the Mini is: about 0.5" less in length than the Opus, width is the the same, and just as light. Good, crisp screen. Best thing for me so far is that Kobo now have my fav font Caecilia already installed on both models - can alter both weight and sharpness so viewing becomes perfect.

Mini screen quality is as good as the Glo, which to my eyes is as good as the Touch. Page turning is comfortably quick on Mini and Glo - seems to be the same software on both models (apart from the light of course). I've sideloaded 908 epubs and used 47% of memory. The Mini handles them well with not much slowdown in response. On an SD on the Glo and just as good - response seems slightly quicker on the Mini - I suspect using int memory the reason. Both readers come with v2.1.2 software installed but both upgrade to v2.1.4 when registered with Desktop. I like the Home page a lot - no ads apart from your Wishlist - don't set one up and you won't see any. The Wishlist occupies a narrow strip at the bottom. Shelves works really well on both readers. Software seems much better than the v2.1.1. I have on the Touch. Quite a few small tweaks for the better - there's a book count in Library view - a clock followed by % read at top of page when centre tapped. Chess game in Extras is really good - sadly, not in Mini though.

The Mini will need a cover - it seems so small and light, but it's great to read in bed! It does fit snugly into the padded pouch that Bookeen send out with the Opus. I rate the best 5" reader to be the Sony 350 (with PRS+), next is the Kobo Mini, and then my old faithful Opus. Hope this helps you 5" fans.

PS... forgot to mention the back is removable and you can clip on various coloured backs - might be important to the fashion conscious.

[Suzanna]

Well, the Kobo Minis have arrived! I really want to open them, but promised the girls I wouldn't. Sigh. All I can offer right now is a picture of the boxes, which are small and cute.

(Sorry for the bad quality. I had to take these without the flash because it was reflecting off the boxes.)

ETA: Thanks for your report, exodont!

[darrenw218]

I'd best put a Mini on my wishlist to Santa then!

[davidfor]

Exodent or Suzanna or anyone else with a Mini,

If you use calibre, could you post the results of the calibre device detection? Calibre won't currently see it, but, the detection tells us the device ids to use. The process is:

1. Open Calibre.

2. In the top bar, click on Preferences.

3. Click on Miscellaneous (middle of the bottom row).

4. On the screen that comes up, locate the "Debug device detection" button, but don't press it yet. Connect the KT with a usb cable, and then allow it to connect to the computer.

5. Once the reader is detected by the the OS, click the Debug button just after the box.

6. What you should see is a box that says "Getting debug information, please wait ...", and then produces a list of all the usb devices connected to your computer. I would like to see all of this, but I am most interested in the line under "Looking for devices..." which will look like:
u'usb\\vid_2237&pid_XXXX&rev_YYYY' (italics will be numbers)

If someone could do this, it will be a lot of help.

[Suzanna]

The Kobos have been unboxed and while the girls were doing their homework I set it up for them and loaded their books onto it (using Calibre and saving to disk since Calibre doesn't recognize the new devices yet.)

I can't get over how small it is, but then I'm used to 6" eReaders. I remember thinking the same thing when I first saw the Sony 5" eReaders.

First impressions - it's a great little device. The interface is similar to the Touch - if you have the 2.1.1 firmware, the layout of the top bar on the home screen looks like that with the addition of the home button on the top left. Under the mosaic the three menu items are Library, Find Books and Reading Life. The Wishlist is a panel across the bottom of the screen, but I don't know if images would show there (they don't have wish lists) or if it's just a link that launches the wish list on the store. I imagine that when the Touch firmware is updated we'll get that as well.

It has shelves. I'd love to be able to add books to a shelf from the library, but if this functionality is coming, it's still not here. Page turns are fast, as is the return to the home screen. I didn't get a chance to look at the fonts or compare the screen to my Touch - the Minis were whisked away by eager hands before I remembered I wanted to do that.

All in all, I'd give it a thumbs up. If you like the Kobo Touch, you'll like the Mini.

ETA: Davidfor, if I get my hands on the devices again later, I'll try the Calibre detection you outlined..

[Suzanna]

davidfor, this is what I get:

Version: 0.8.68
USB devices on system:
[u'usb\\root_hub&vid8086&pid2937&rev0002',
u'usb\\root_hub&vid8086&pid2934&rev0002',
u'usb\\root_hub&vid8086&pid2938&rev0002',
u'usb\\root_hub&vid8086&pid2936&rev0002',
u'usb\\root_hub&vid8086&pid2939&rev0002',
u'usb\\root_hub&vid8086&pid2935&rev0002',
u'usb\\root_hub20&vid8086&pid293a&rev0002',
u'usb\\root_hub20&vid8086&pid293c&rev0002',
u'usb\\vid_045e&pid_0083&rev_0000',
u'usb\\vid_04f9&pid_0028&rev_0100',
u'usb\\vid_1058&pid_1100&rev_0175',
u'usb\\vid_2237&pid_4183&rev_0110']
Drives detected:
(0) F:\ ~ \\?\STORAGE#VOLUME#_??_USBSTOR#DISK&VEN_KOBO&PROD_ EREADER&REV_0110#N705292003048&0#{53F56307-B6BF-11D0-94F2-00A0C91EFB8B}#{53F5630D-B6BF-11D0-94F2-00A0C91EFB8B}
Available plugins: ADAM ALEX ALURATEK_COLOR ANDROID ARCHOS7O AVANT AZBOOKA BAMBOOK
BLACKBERRY BOEYE_BDX BOEYE_BEX BOOQ BOOX COBY COOL_ER CYBOOK DBOOK E52
E71X EB511 EB600 EBK52 ECLICTO EDGE EEEREADER ELONEX ESLICK EX124G
FOLDER_DEVICE_FOR_CONFIG GEMEI GER2 HANLINV3 HANLINV5 ILIAD INVESBOOK
IPAPYRUS IREXDR1000 IREXDR800 IRIVER_STORY ITALICA ITUNES JETBOOK
JETBOOK_COLOR JETBOOK_MINI KINDLE KINDLE2 KINDLE_DX KINDLE_FIRE KOBO
LIBREAIR LUMIREAD MENTOR MIBUK MOOVYBOOK N516 N770 N810 NEWSMY
NEXTBOOK NOOK NOOK_COLOR NUUT2 ODYSSEY ORIZON PALMPRE PDNOVEL
PDNOVEL_KOBO PI2 PICO PLAYBOOK POCKETBOOK301 POCKETBOOK360
POCKETBOOK360P POCKETBOOK602 POCKETBOOK622 POCKETBOOK701 PRS505 PRST1
README S60 SHINEBOOK SMART_DEVICE_APP SNE SOVOS SPECTRA STASH
SUNSTECH_EB700 SWEEX TECLAST_K3 THEBOOK TREKSTOR USER_DEFINED
VELOCITYMICRO WEBOS WEXLER

Looking for devices...

Devices possibly connected: None

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Suzanna

The Kobos have been unboxed and while the girls were doing their homework I set it up for them and loaded their books onto it (using Calibre and saving to disk since Calibre doesn't recognize the new devices yet.)

You managed to get them to do their homework instead of playing with their toys? That is better than I ever managed with my boys.

First impressions - it's a great little device. The interface is similar to the Touch - if you have the 2.1.1 firmware, the layout of the top bar on the home screen looks like that with the addition of the home button on the top left. Under the mosaic the three menu items are Library, Find Books and Reading Life. The Wishlist is a panel across the bottom of the screen, but I don't know if images would show there (they don't have wish lists) or if it's just a link that launches the wish list on the store. I imagine that when the Touch firmware is updated we'll get that as well.

From memory, the panel just shows the number of books currently in the wishlist.

It has shelves. I'd love to be able to add books to a shelf from the library, but if this functionality is coming, it's still not here.

You will be happy to know it is coming.

Page turns are fast, as is the return to the home screen. I didn't get a chance to look at the fonts or compare the screen to my Touch - the Minis were whisked away by eager hands before I remembered I wanted to do that.

And now you will never see them again.

All in all, I'd give it a thumbs up. If you like the Kobo Touch, you'll like the Mini.

ETA: Davidfor, if I get my hands on the devices again later, I'll try the Calibre detection you outlined..

Thanks for doing that.

[Haesslich]

At least on the Glo, to add an item from the Library to the shelf (via the Books view), I just have to hold down on the book for a second, and then I get a context menu to add it to an existing Shelf.

I'm honestly torn between the Glo and the Mini - the ability to read at night or in darker areas is not to be underestimated, and the Glo isn't THAT much bigger than the Mini... but the Mini is the size of my phone, and fits far better in one hand than the Glo does, as my fingers can wrap completely around it.

Maybe 'buy both' is a future option, but for now... well, the Mini would fit far better in my pocket, but the Glo's light is a killer feature, as is the expandable memory.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by darrenw218

Anyone, please?!

Appreciate any feedback as I prefer the smaller form of the 5" screen. Currently have the Cybook Opus, but considering the Kobo Mini...

Many thanks,

Darren

My daughter just picked one up to replace my original Kobo she'd inherited. She's quite happy with it since it is quite a bit more responsive and the font selection and sizing are vastly improved. She looked at the Glo as well be went with the mini for the smaller size. She hasn't tried all that many of the features such as shelves yet but with only 20 books on the device, library management and the lack of an SD card isn't an issue for her.

[sombreastre]

Originally Posted by DNSB

My daughter just picked one up to replace my original Kobo she'd inherited

lol I started laughing from here
From what I've read on these forums, it'd seem that a lot of the ereader market revolves around friends and family casually borrowing the device once, and never returning it

Anyways I guess the best option would be to have a glowing mini... but I guess we'll have to wait for that still.

[beautifulsoup]

Pure conjecture here, but perhaps if the Mini really takes off, we could hope for a Glo Mini in the next go 'round of device releases

[ottdmk]

Don't forget that a big selling point of the Mini is the low price. So the price bump (and likely size bump) involved in adding ComfortLight might be a dealkiller.