Great Product! What's Needed Next?

[Laridae]

A colour eReader with Android O/S for $200, what a great idea!
But they seem to have rushed it out to market before it`s quite ready.
What needs to be done now to make the Vox the world-market product it`s meant to be?

[mr_nobody]

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=160226

[Laridae]

Yes, Mr Nobody, but in addition to software/firmware improvements there are several major show-stopper issues I think they should work on as a priority:

- improve Customer Service - I've been pretty lucky with my Vox, but judging from Kobo's own Forum not everyone has been so lucky. There seems to be a lot of unhappy users around and a lot of units being returned.

- solve the power issues - Vox won't charge using standard USB chargers, screen "phantom on" issue

- improve the user interface so it's easier and more intuitive for the target market (readers, not hackers!) to use. eg, start by Pre-loading the Overdrive/Adobe software for getting library books.

[mr_nobody]

To be honest, we have already seen other android tablets waiting in the wings (from archos, asus, certainly others) which blow away the vox on specs at pretty much the same price point...not sure exactly what you mean by "world-market product" but the vox had a particular window which seems to be quickly closing.

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by Laridae

Y
- solve the power issues - Vox won't charge using standard USB chargers,

I think you will find that most (if not all) Android devices require more current than PC USB ports are currently designed to provide.

Yes; some motherboard DO offer 2A USB ports, and I believe USB 3 is also meant to support more current than previous USB versions do.

[mr_nobody]

Originally Posted by Laridae

- improve the user interface so it's easier and more intuitive for the target market (readers, not hackers!) to use. eg, start by Pre-loading the Overdrive/Adobe software for getting library books.

I have to take issue with this one. What possible business case is there for kobo to preload the overdrive software? Kobo is in the business of selling ebooks. You're saying they should pre-install a "competitor"'s software which provides ebooks for free?!?

Originally Posted by mr_nobody

What possible business case is there for kobo to preload the overdrive software? Kobo is in the business of selling ebooks. You're saying they should pre-install a "competitor"'s software which provides ebooks for free?!?

The business case is simple: to sell more devices, devices that are guaranteed to have their bookstore front and centre.

As I see it, there are three types of readers:

• Those who only buy books. Preinstalled Overdrive software will not influence their purchasing decisions one way or the other.
• Those who never buy books. Preinstalled Overdrive software may encourage them to buy a Kobo since it is ready-to-go as far as library borrowing is concerned.

Yet the most important reader is:

• Those who buy some books and borrow other books. Preinstalled Overdrive software may encourage them to buy a Kobo and may encourage them to buy from the Kobo store both due to ease of access and ease of use.

On the whole, I don't think that libraries are Kobo's competition. If a person wants instant access to a book, they'll usually have to buy it. After all, their library may not have it or the holds list may be crazy. If a person want to keep a book for any period of time, they'll have to buy it. Now if you were talking about something like installing Amazon's reading software, that would be an entirely different story.


Of course, a better option would be to integrate PDF and library borrowing into their own software.

[Laridae]

Oh, and they also have to do something about the sloooowwww response to load a page, and so on. Current wait times are unacceptable - I feel like I'm spending half my life watching that blue bar crawl slowly across the top while I wait for my gMail, for example. On my cheap Android phone this is almost instantaneous!

Mebbe they can tweak the performance of the current Voxes somehow?
And certainly upgrade to a faster processer in Vox2, whenever that comes out.

Yes, I know it all costs money, but I understand their competition, the Kindle Fire etc have a much faster processors at the same price point.

[oldyellr]

Originally Posted by Laridae

Yes, I know it all costs money, but I understand their competition, the Kindle Fire etc have a much faster processors at the same price point.

No Kindle Fire in Canada, AFAIK, so that's apples and oranges for me.

[Laridae]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I think you will find that most (if not all) Android devices require more current than PC USB ports are currently designed to provide.

Yes; some motherboard DO offer 2A USB ports, and I believe USB 3 is also meant to support more current than previous USB versions do.

Oh, it's not that simple, Peter. My understanding is that Kobo has hobbled the Vox somehow such that you can Not use a standard wall-plugged 2A charger, you Must use their proprietary ones with the short-ass cord!
And if you happen to lose or break the charger that came with your Vox, too bad! No replacements are currently available for purchase and there is no commitment as to if and when they might be!
Users are understandably a little worked-up about this! As I say; a show-stopper!

[Laridae]

Originally Posted by mr_nobody

I have to take issue with this one. What possible business case is there for kobo to preload the overdrive software? Kobo is in the business of selling ebooks. You're saying they should pre-install a "competitor"'s software which provides ebooks for free?!?

Kobo readily supports the use of Overdrive/Adobe for library books, and to their credit they do Not try to block it, like Kindle does. But it's a pain having to install it yourself, Kobo should do it for you.

[Laridae]

Originally Posted by oldyellr

No Kindle Fire in Canada, AFAIK, so that's apples and oranges for me.

I'm not suggesting you Buy a Kindle. I'm just using that as an example that it's possible to offer a faster processor at the same price point. True, it's a different market but I think the comparison holds.

[oldyellr]

Originally Posted by Laridae

My understanding is that Kobo has hobbled the Vox somehow such that you can Not use a standard wall-plugged 2A charger, you Must use their proprietary ones with the short-ass cord!
And if you happen to lose or break the charger that came with your Vox, too bad! No replacements are currently available for purchase and there is no commitment as to if and when they might be!
Users are understandably a little worked-up about this! As I say; a show-stopper!

I'm sure Kobo didn't design a proprietary charging system so they could sell you their proprietary chargers at an inflated price for the simple reason that at this time they don't even sell chargers. More likely it is to charge the battery in the most efficient way possible. They don't sell replacement batteries either. But what do you expect for $200?

[Laridae]

OK, if You were the new Japanese owners of Kobo, what critical, short-term improvements would you make to the Vox to make it a success?

Let's include any and all major business and support aspects, not just technical issues.

I've listed 4 items above that I consider top priority or show-stoppers. Are these the most important? What other ones are there?

[Kboland]

Originally Posted by Laridae

Oh, it's not that simple, Peter. My understanding is that Kobo has hobbled the Vox somehow such that you can Not use a standard wall-plugged 2A charger, you Must use their proprietary ones with the short-ass cord!
And if you happen to lose or break the charger that came with your Vox, too bad! No replacements are currently available for purchase and there is no commitment as to if and when they might be!
Users are understandably a little worked-up about this! As I say; a show-stopper!

In fact our Vox eReaders do charge off of third party 2 amp chargers, as I explain in the bottom post of this thread. What we need Kobo to do now is decide if they will allow the Vox's software to follow and display the proper charge level when using a non Kobo charger. Here's hoping