Touch Kobo Touch future firmware feature request thread

[akuerz75]

Originally Posted by SameerH

Hey there,
We're working on adding search functionality.

What were your concerns re: dictionaries? We'd be interested in hearing your ideas / suggestions.

Thanks,
Sameer.

I am usually also reading in an European Forum (German).
There they always request

a) in book search function: I see that this request has a point. When I read an Agatha Christie crime novel I allways have to go forth and back to find out who is who......

b) individual dictionary: maybe you can offer them to be added like a normal book (of course, customers should have to buy it, otherweise everybody has to bear the costs) The most people requested additional to the base dict. a German / English dictionary

c) PDF - Reflow support: OK, I have to admitt, I think this sounds a little bit like PDF Fetish. But obviously is there the one or the other who wants to read a lot of PDF's and I see also a point in this request....

[bibahbuzemann]

Originally Posted by ArmorDog

Kobo devs: please relocate the USB port in the next firmware update. =]

Also, is it just me or is the port upside down?

No need to bother Kobo devs with that, anyone can fix it at home! Just follow the instructions as per:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=144487

Rotate the screen 180° and slap it back together, presto!

If you're really lasy, just FLIP the screen, have your kids hold it up and read comfortably in the rearview mirror. In wich case it doesn't matter were the charge port is since you're not holding anything.

[bibahbuzemann]

Originally Posted by bibahbuzemann

If you're really lasy, just FLIP the screen, have your kids hold it up and read comfortably in the rearview mirror. In wich case it doesn't matter were the charge port is since you're not holding anything.

I have just been advised there might be a serious legal issue with that last option.

It can get very dark on the back seat of some people's cars. If you have difficulty reading, install a skylight. In many cases it is cheaper to buy a new car, since more recent models often include skylights, at NO ADDITIONAL COST!

Just remember: drive safely!

[happyfrog]

suggestion: is it possible to make the silver touch button on bottom center of screen customizable? mostly for times when one will want to put the kobo touch in a ziploc bag or other waterproof packaging for reading when it's possible to be caught in rain or at pool, etc. This way, one can still turn pages - if the button was customizable to turn page to next page.

by removing from plastic protector, one can touch screen to go back to library and then button could default back to 'normal' usage.

as a mom of young children it would be great to have a way to keep my touch safe when in the presence of the children.

~happyfrog
29 books read on the touch since I received it in the last week or two! amazing how easy it is to read a page here and there when children and time permit!

[readingglasses]

re: dictionaries.

If the kobo would provide a standard format for its dictionaries,

it would save kobo the trouble of trying to serve so many combinations or else it would open up the possibility of localized dictionaries made by people who need them anyway, earning those people who made them a bit of extra money that kobo would get a piece of.
A czech working in italy might want an italian-czech dictionary as he learns italian and reads it. He might want the reverse lookup when he reads comfortable czech text and wonders "how might I say this in italian".

A russian dealing with germans might use it to read german commerce laws and tourism websites. So, Russian-German and reverse lookup. That's yet another dictionary that english readers who at most thought they might like a spanish-english or french-english for their occasional encounters with those languages (or their frequent reading), never would buy. And it's monolingual anglophones who are by far the biggest single, uniform customer base for ebooks at this time, especially on devices.

The possibilities are endless. Is kobo going to try and "serve" those populations themselves just bc they would lose control if they opened up a standard?
Kobo could provide an amazon style server format conversion and keep the on device file/program encrypted. Dictionary authors could submit in any acceptable format and kobo would convert the book for sale and use on the device as an app, on their corporate servers. This would be economically viable. But I'd never buy it like that.
The question is how many customers are willing to pay for dictionaries and how many want "moar dictionaries" so that buying several is not in their economic interest (paying 10 bucks for a dictionary b/c you want to "learn spanish" or "learn english as a second language" is a lot different from paying for each of a czech-italian and czech german for business, a czech french for reading learning and a czech-russian for your friend to use. 40 bucks for a bunch of software dictionaries sure "feels" like a rip off compared to free computer solutions, even if it isn't a rip off).
That will determine what kobo puts on their device.

But like I said before, the more useful and open the platform is, the more of those hard-to-sell-to people (like me) you draw in and hence the more people will eventually buy from the kobo store just due to convenience.
Not everyone is a die hard reader of romance or horror, looking to dump their cash on massive series from various trashy authors. But those who aren't may eventually come around to buying ebooks, just bc the device is already in their hands. Although kobo's market research may prove otherwise.

The main dilemma for something like this for kobo is that they don't sell the device mainly for itself, like the high priced but very high function onyx boox (which has full featured and free "everything": browser, games, open dictionary format you can load yourself, etc, etc. They have no online bookstore and so the only money they make is from the device, which is therefore higher priced...and can be higher priced bc it's superior to the rest.
Kobo sell it like amazon and BN (and to an strange extent, like the considerably higher priced sony), to sell books on their web store, at a lower device price to draw you into that online business. But you might not go ape buying books from them and just use your own pdfs and texts for free. And so they have to hedge their bets, by not selling it to you for 10 bucks under the assumption that enough people will spend five hundred or a thousand bucks to offset the 10 buck crowd that'll just read free comics, free erotica, gutenberg.org free dickens and saved wikipedia pages.

[DigitalFrancis]

Originally Posted by SameerH

Hi Mercador,

We have the Song of Ice and Fire series collection in one big 'book'. Not really collection just yet, but that's the one I bought

For your other request, do you mean an English > French dictionary or French > French dictionary?

To be honest I think Both types of dictionary would be nice, I read both in English and French and it would make it so much nicer to have have access to both.

[SCION]

Highlighting this request again. Please use the home button instead of the power switch to come out of sleep mode. All the Kobo cases, with straps on each corner, block the power switch. It's bothersome having to push the strap over every time you pick up the device when it's sleep.

Edit: Guess I should say many Kobo cases instead of all.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by SCION

Highlighting this request again. Please use the home button instead of the power switch to come out of sleep mode. All the Kobo cases, with straps on each corner, block the power switch. It's bothersome having to push the strap over every time you pick up the device when it's sleep.

Edit: Guess I should say many Kobo cases instead of all.

Here's how this feature is implemented on the NOOKtouch with pictures.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...5&postcount=77

[TedJ]

I'm pretty sure the Kobo developers are aware of the particulars of the Nook STR user interface...

[SCION]

Originally Posted by TedJ

I'm pretty sure the Kobo developers are aware of the particulars of the Nook STR user interface...

I would hope so. Then again, the device was missing many "standard" features upon release. Also, I was sharing information for other forum members who aren't aware of how using the home button to come out of sleep mode could be implemented. No reason to get offended.

[EricDP]

Wow, a lot of people doing a lot of searching, sorting, and marking up books. I'm pretty boring: I start a book, read it from the beginning to the end, then start another book. I usually only keep a couple on my reader. So none of this is useful to me.

What is useful to me is some simple status information. I'd like a clock so I don't have to look away from the reading device. I'd like to know where I am in the book (with respect to total pages, not pages left in the chapter). And I'd like to know the status of my battery. The last one might not be needed if the new kobo can last an entire book: I almost always plug-in between books. If the first two can happen, I will buy a new kobo.

[TedJ]

Originally Posted by SCION

No reason to get offended.

No offence was intended, and none was taken.

[JD Gumby]

If there's not a hardware limitation on it, a landscape mode would be nice (obviously there'd be no accelerometer, but no biggie) - with a fit-to-width option instead of the normal fit-to-page for images to make reading comics more pleasant.

[the.Mtn.Man]

I'd like to be able to enable/disable "airplane mode" simply by tapping the icon in the upper right corner. This, it seems, would be more convenient than having to dig through the settings menu.

[filmo]

Android tablet I was using last week airplane mode symbol you touched popping up wifi on/off choices Should be easy to implement. Long touch "on" could bring up full wifi menu including new network with pass word.