Touch Kobo Touch future firmware feature request thread

[Akerbos]

Originally Posted by voom

You write "1.9.18" - I suppose you mean 1.9.16 as of now, or is there a new update I have not noticed yet?

Right, my mistake. Editing it.

I connect my Kobo to a USB-Hub w/p power-supply alle the time (1.9.16) no problem here...

Interesting. On the same machine, it works on a main USB slot but not on the hub.

[Xennex1170]

Originally Posted by Akerbos

Interesting. On the same machine, it works on a main USB slot but not on the hub.

Is it possible your hub does not support power over USB?

[GHG]

The Kobo Touch is just about perfect for my needs now, which seem pretty basic compared to others commenters here. There is a clock which is easily accessed, the double page turn bug seems to have been fixed, I barely notice any ghosting even with 6 page turns before refresh, fast page turns, a mostly usable dictionary and very good battery life (Is it my imagination or has it improved lately?). Main requests would be an option to have the old Home page without the adverts returned, and user defined folders to categorize the library. Oh, and what happened to the the low battery warning? It doesn't happen on my unit. Small details though. Lovin' the Kobo Touch more and more!

[arnique]

I got both a Kobo Touch and a Nook Simple Touch as Christmas gifts and, after almost three weeks of use, I wish there was such a thing as NooKobo. ;P They are both great e-readers, but neither is near perfect yet.

My wish list for future Kobo updates:

1. Touchscreen responsiveness.—My screen is either too responsive (it skips 2 or 3 pages ahead*) OR won't respond at all, particularly on the home page.
2. Speed.—I am satisfied with page turn speed since there's nothing to be done about the speed-ghosting trade-off BUT navigating the library and waiting for menus to load is impossibly slow, especially as the number of books loaded increases. Also, it takes at least 5 minutes for my Kobo to process new books. Is this normal?
3. Collections.—I would like the ability to group books into categories. Otherwise, I'd be happy with a 'saved searches' function since Search on the Kobo Touch is pretty quick.
4. Featured/Recommendations/Shortlist.—This must go! If customers paid full price, there should be no ads, retroactively or otherwise. I'm using the Shortlist option since it's least ugly BUT my Shortlist is reset EVERY time I sync with my computer!
5. Less taps to pull up Dictionary and Translate.—Would it be possible to have buttons instead of a menu when one long-taps on a word? Also, I noticed that the deeper I get into a menu the more pixellated the screen becomes.

The screen responsiveness and speed are the two reasons that I am using the Nook Simple Touch as my primary e-reader, rather than the Kobo Touch. The moment the two problems are resolved, I will definitely be using the Kobo Touch instead since it has superior (a) font rendering & screen contrast, (b) format customisation, (c) dictionary & translate functions, and (d) interface design.

Go, Kobo developers, I'm really looking forward to the next update!

*I have the latest update installed.

[Akerbos]

Originally Posted by Xennex1170

Is it possible your hub does not support power over USB?

Perfectly so! Note that this was my first guess at 12). I just don't see why Kobo should not connect without (much) power via USB.

Touchscreen responsiveness.—My screen is either too responsive (it skips 2 or 3 pages ahead*) OR won't respond at all, particularly on the home page.

My impression is that they reduced responsiveness drastically between 1.9.11 and 1.9.16. Now I sometimes have to swipe several times to provoke a page turn.

Featured/Recommendations/Shortlist.—This must go! If customers paid full price, there should be no ads, retroactively or otherwise. I'm using the Shortlist option since it's least ugly BUT my Shortlist is reset EVERY time I sync with my computer!

I actually do like the shortlist option; it helps mitigating the otherwise unnavigable library. It should definitely stay filled after sync, though! (can not confirm as I don't sync with the software).

Also, I noticed that the deeper I get into a menu the more pixellated the screen becomes.

Yup, that's really weird. I can only confirm the effect when some text is marked, though. As soon as I mark a word or passage, letters get fuzzy.

[ArmorDog]

I will go on record as one of approximately three people who like the shortlist along the bottom of the new home screen.

[Rockin]

Originally Posted by arnique

My wish list for future Kobo updates:

1. Touchscreen responsiveness.—My screen is either too responsive (it skips 2 or 3 pages ahead*) OR won't respond at all, particularly on the home page.
2. Speed.—I am satisfied with page turn speed since there's nothing to be done about the speed-ghosting trade-off BUT navigating the library and waiting for menus to load is impossibly slow, especially as the number of books loaded increases. Also, it takes at least 5 minutes for my Kobo to process new books. Is this normal?
3. Collections.—I would like the ability to group books into categories. Otherwise, I'd be happy with a 'saved searches' function since Search on the Kobo Touch is pretty quick.
4. Featured/Recommendations/Shortlist.—This must go! If customers paid full price, there should be no ads, retroactively or otherwise. I'm using the Shortlist option since it's least ugly BUT my Shortlist is reset EVERY time I sync with my computer!
5. Less taps to pull up Dictionary and Translate.—Would it be possible to have buttons instead of a menu when one long-taps on a word? Also, I noticed that the deeper I get into a menu the more pixellated the screen becomes.

My wish list was only one item long before 1.9.16 firmware came out. Now I have two items because I can't always turn a page with a tap because it doesn't recognize it. Previously I would miss-tap about 1 in 50 times. Now it is 1 in 4 times - and some of those are 2nd or 3rd tries when I am "really" trying to turn the page and being more conscience about it. It bugs me because I never had the "double page turn" problem some seem to have and that caused this to be adjusted to something that annoys me now.
Horizontal Tap regions - top 1/3 for page back and bottom 2/3 for page forward so I can read righty or lefty and switch my hand holding back and forth whenever I like.
Selectable Touchscreen responsiveness. - so I can fine tune it to my tapping touch.

[nogle]

Originally Posted by ArmorDog

I will go on record as one of approximately three people who like the shortlist along the bottom of the new home screen.

Four. Or did you already count me?

[arnique]

Originally Posted by Akerbos

I actually do like the shortlist option; it helps mitigating the otherwise unnavigable library. It should definitely stay filled after sync, though! (can not confirm as I don't sync with the software).

I double checked to see if I was on the latest update and I am, but it seems like I'm the only person with this bug. Should I do a factory reset then?

@Rockin: I also agree that the lack of responsiveness takes me out of the "reading experience". I really hope the next update fixes this soon because I think Kobo would be the best e-reader if not for the "double-turn" or "no-turn" problem. My ratio of miss to total turns is more like 1-10. Still, it's pretty distracting! Hence, the Nook Simple Touch as a primary reader.

[FreeThinker]

Any one know if it is possible to root the KoBo touch or better still install user apps? I would like to replace the (quite nice and usable) browsr with Opera mini is this feasable?

[Geco]

Is ePub3 already there? http://idpf.org/epub/30

[robko]

Originally Posted by arnique

I double checked to see if I was on the latest update and I am, but it seems like I'm the only person with this bug. Should I do a factory reset then?

So are you saying it doesn't keep your shortlist books marked as such (i.e. you have to reselect each book as being a shortlist item each time) after you sync or it's not keeping your shortlist showing in the carousel at the bottom after a sync? The 2nd is a known bug, but if you are losing what books should be in your shortlist after a sync you should reset because that's not normal.

[Akerbos]

Originally Posted by Rockin

Horizontal Tap regions - top 1/3 for page back and bottom 2/3 for page forward so I can read righty or lefty and switch my hand holding back and forth whenever I like.

Don't see the use of that. Have you tried swiping? It has become harder to get right, but if you swipe slowly it works with high probability.

Originally Posted by Geco

Is ePub3 already there? http://idpf.org/epub/30

This is what Kobo support answered me on the same question (more elaborately asked):

We have updated our firmware via updates just one month ago.

So at least first-level support has no clue.

Liza Daly pointed me to some examples so we can check ourselves.

[arnique]

Originally Posted by robko

So are you saying it doesn't keep your shortlist books marked as such (i.e. you have to reselect each book as being a shortlist item each time) after you sync or it's not keeping your shortlist showing in the carousel at the bottom after a sync? The 2nd is a known bug, but if you are losing what books should be in your shortlist after a sync you should reset because that's not normal.

The first (Shortlist books must be reselected after every sync) is my problem, so it looks like I'll have to do a factory reset. I will let you know how that turns out.

[Geco]

Originally Posted by Akerbos

Don't see the use of that. Have you tried swiping? It has become harder to get right, but if you swipe slowly it works with high probability.


This is what Kobo support answered me on the same question (more elaborately asked):

So at least first-level support has no clue.

Liza Daly pointed me to some examples so we can check ourselves.

Cool! Thanks, I'll check! I'm not sure if to port a tech handbook I've written from LaTeX (!) to ODT or ePuB since ePub 3 was not yet available but... I'll check.