Touch Kobo Touch Firmware 1.9.12

[Psyke]

Originally Posted by JedV

Selling an e-reader = One time transaction. Selling content = The real income for Kobo.

They do get it. If you really want all the bells and whistles, you have to pay for it.

ah, but it doesn't work with the sideloaded books you purchase from them either JedV, and I've had instances that I've been forced to use the epub version of the book rather than the kepub version due to the kepub version being junk and being given the explanation "it's the publishers responsibility to fix it so we can't tell you when that will be". So I've bought in, why don't I have the features?

[SameerH]

Originally Posted by JD Gumby

There. Tried updating again and it went to 1.9.12. Seems to work properly, though it's a shame about Kobo's insistance on making features exclusively for their own kepubs rather than for all supported ebook formats.

Hi JD Gumby,

We plan to make these features available for all books. We are most definitely not purposefully keeping these features away from sideloaded epubs for any reason other than time and effort required.

The renderer that we use for sideloaded epubs (Adobe SDK) is different from the one we use for Kobo books for various reasons, necessitating having to build reading-related features twice, once of each renderer. Most of our readership does not side-load books, and this affects how work gets prioritized. However, we are still committed to achieving parity on both types of content, just a matter of time.

We have already introduced once-kepub-only features to sideloaded content, such as dictionary support, and we will continue to do so in the coming releases, so stay tuned!

[Psyke]

Thanks for the explanation Sameer. I think most peoples ire comes down to the fact that many of the features advertised aren't specifically stated to be kepub only, particularly since the sideloaded epubs are also available. I mean, even the advertisements for the kobo's features on yours and chapters site don't mention it, not even a disclaimer in small print, and as a purchaser who see's that, I expect it to apply to all books that the device support. I'm not trying to whine, because as I've said in the past, my main purpose for the kobo was to read books, and it does that (With a couple of exceptions), and I know you guys really are trying to accommodate everyone as much as you can, but false advertising does irk me to no end (although I've noticed that on both your site and chapters have dropped the mentioning of multiple books marks in the specs..although Chapters does still have it in one area )

But again, thank you for the explanation.

[ekster]

I agree with Psyke, a small message or a footnote saying that it currently only works with kepub, but coming soon to all side-loaded books would be great!

[illiterate]

Hello, SameerH.

While you are following this thread, could you please comment on whether Kobo aware of the microSD card problem many users are facing? Could the developers reproduce the problem in-house? And what is the plan to get this fix. I am pretty sure when Kindle Touch goes on sale people will start doing another around of Kindle vs Kobo vs Nook comparison... and all these issues won't make Kobo look good.

Thanks.

[markemark]

Originally Posted by SameerH

Hi JD Gumby,
The renderer that we use for sideloaded epubs (Adobe SDK) is different from the one we use for Kobo books for various reasons

Sounds like you'd prefer to have only one renderer for all epubs just as much as we would. Darn pesky reasons

[SF&F Reader]

For what it's worth, and I haven't updated to 1.9.12 yet (1.9.11 works fine for me), I use a Kingston 4GB SDHC class 4. No problems.

I'll update if I upgrade.

[PeterT]

While I do love the new left handed page turning option, I wonder if it would be possible to have one (or two) more options...

I would like the ability to tap on the top of the screen (anywhere from left to right) to turn one way. and on the bottom half of the screen (anywhere but the very bottom) to turn the other way.

This would let me read in one of two ways; either with my left hand fingers tucked into the sleeve on the inside of my Kobo cover, and using the left thumb to page forward OR the more classic way of gripping the Kobo in my left hand and using my right hand to page forward.

[Ham Cannon]

Even better, in terms of page turning options, would be that tapping on the left OR right side of the screen would take you to the next page; in order to turn back a page, you would have to swipe left. I'm right handed, but often read while holding the Kobo in my left hand, and would like it if I could tap instead of swiping to go to the next page no matter which hand I'm using.

[Xennex1170]

Originally Posted by novou

Adding myself to Xennex's list:

Not affected by "2 page auto-close problem" with .11, .12
Xennex1170 - SanDisk, Class4, 8GB µSDHC
taming - Lexar, ??, 4GB µSD
JD Gumby - generic, 4GB
novou - generic (Nokia), ?? - it's cheap, 2GB µSD
markemark Transcend, Class 4, 16GB µSDHC, TS16GUSDHC4
Psyke - San Disk, ??, 2GB µSD
SF&F Reader - Kingston, Class 4, 4GB µSDHC

"2 page auto-close problem" with .11, .12
register512 - Patriot Memory, Class 10, 16GB µSDHC
markemark - Transcend, Class 6, 8GB µSDHC, #TS8GUSDHC6
viduliya - 3x PNY, Class 4, 2GB µSD
p_a_smith - Dane Elec, ??, 2GB µSD

Wild fantastical conjecture: Some cards need more current to run. (?) (sometimes due to more speed & capacity?)
If they're under-supplied they screw up/reset
(a reset looks like an eject & insert, which triggers a home-screen return. RE: markemark, that return is by design AFAICT)
Perhaps .11 reduced the current serving the µSD card & controller?
(maybe indirectly, through more intensive processes, eg: better page layout algos)

Can someone with this issue pan around on a webpage (or do something else to draw current) and see if it occurs?

Full disclosure: I have no experience with embedded systems or electrical eng., I just mess with computers.

Even more insane: What if the Kobo is caching µSD epubs in ram/onboard flash and then putting the card & controller to sleep to save power? (issue: not enough sleep current supplied to keep stability)
Viduliya's post seems to support the sleep hypothesis, their cards only display the issue if you wait 1min.+ (sleep timeout?) between page turns. Though if the card wakes up every page turn, it means they aren't caching the data from the card.

tl;dr FJames summarized this better than me.

Wow.. Thanks for adding to the list.. Seems a pattern is forming where Class 4 cards in general seem to be the best bet for being compatible with the Kobo Touch.

[Xennex1170]

Originally Posted by viduliya

Hi,

MicroSD card problems for me too. We have two Kobo Touch readers at our home and both readers are updated to the newest 1.9.12 firmware and the returning to home screen on page turns on reading any epub or kepub still happens on both devices.

I already did reset one device and went through a full update process and even reformatted my one of my SD cards and loaded the books on it to to have no luck resolving this issue.

My cards are cheap PNY cards which I got from amazon last week.

http://www.amazon.com/PNY-MicroSD-Cl...8597298&sr=8-1

I have three of these "PNY 2GB Class 4" MicroSD cards and all cards will cause the same problem.

All you need to do in-order to reproduce the problem on either device is:

1. Inert a MicroSD card in the device.

2. Open a book on the MicroSD card or on the device internal storage. (kepub or epub).

3. Wait approximately 1 minute. ** The delay is important, otherwise the pages will turn as long as you keep tapping next page or previous page.

4. Tap next page and the book closes and brings me back to the home screen. Every time on both devices at my home.

I have smaller than default font size and line spacing on my setup. My slow and dyslexic reading requires at least a minute to read the page. I can not read and turn even one page without being kicked out to the home screen.

I tried the above waiting about 1min 10sec between page turns for 3 pages. Tried it for kepubs, and sideloaded epubs located on both onboard and SD card. No problems with it closing the ebook.. On my device I have my margins set to 2 above the minimum, minimum line spacing, 1 above minimum font size and Georgia font.

[kaikara]

Does anyone find this firmware more sluggish in response. Both mine and my wife feels the same. When it goes into sleep it takes a lot longer for the cover to show. When it comes out of sleep it takes longer before the page becomes viewable and responsive. Thinking of tring a wipe and reinstall to see if that fixes it,

[Xennex1170]

Originally Posted by kaikara

Does anyone find this firmware more sluggish in response. Both mine and my wife feels the same. When it goes into sleep it takes a lot longer for the cover to show. When it comes out of sleep it takes longer before the page becomes viewable and responsive. Thinking of tring a wipe and reinstall to see if that fixes it,

Hmm.. Not particularly different for me.. Noted that it seems a bit slower to show the cover graphic when entering sleep or power off mode. Though I tend to have enough time between most usage sessions for my KT to go to sleep(10min) and then power off (15min) so don't notice it much. Response from sleep is immediate for me.. I can turn pages less than a second after returning from sleep mode to an open book or home page. (have over 1500 epubs on my device + SDHC card).

[kaikara]

Originally Posted by Xennex1170

Hmm.. Not particularly different for me.. Noted that it seems a bit slower to show the cover graphic when entering sleep or power off mode. Though I tend to have enough time between most usage sessions for my KT to go to sleep(10min) and then power off (15min) so don't notice it much. Response from sleep is immediate for me.. I can turn pages less than a second after returning from sleep mode to an open book or home page. (have over 1500 epubs on my device + SDHC card).

I did a reset and it didn't really seem to fix the slowness. It could just be the book I am reading though. The chapter I was in was abnormally long so maybe that is it. I will play around with it some more and see if I need to downgrade.

[Xennex1170]

Originally Posted by kaikara

I did a reset and it didn't really seem to fix the slowness. It could just be the book I am reading though. The chapter I was in was abnormally long so maybe that is it. I will play around with it some more and see if I need to downgrade.

What book are you reading?