Touch Kobo Touch Firmware 2.0

[danskmacabre]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I wonder if they changed the code that loads the upgrade into your Kobo and not the firmware that will be run on the Kobo after the upgrade has completed.

Don't know, but I found the slower page turning was too annoying for me and I went back to 1.9.17.

I think I'll stay on 1.9.17 as it's just a generally a better firmware for me.
Everything is faster, not just page turning, but paging up and down when listing through books.

I would like the shelves feature, but I can live without it until 2.0.1 is posted and someone else who sideloads has tried it an reported it as ok.

[RareBird]

One thing I did discover last night was that my reading settings were reset with this upgrade. The margin numbers were set to show and the refresh was set at 6 pages. I had the margin numbers turned off and refresh set to 3 pages before the upgrade.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Corpsegoddess

I'm enjoying this update overall. I'm encountering a few issues with it, however, mainly with the shelves.

1. When creating a new shelf, after naming and pushing "next", it can take anywhere from a minute to 3 or more for it to actually make the shelf for me to populate.

2. When choosing to edit a shelf, same problem. It takes at *least* a minute, usually more, for the shelf to come up with the add option.

...

Maybe try tapping somewhere else on the screen? I've seen similar behavior in the past: I'll tap a button, nothing happens, then touch the screen, and it refreshes immediately. Just make sure you tap an area with no interactive elements.

[Woodstonian]

Originally Posted by Corpsegoddess

This leads me to some options I'd like to see added in a future update to make shelves more functional.

[snip]

2. The ability to add to shelves from the library view, like we can add to the shortlist. This would save a HUGE amount of time when adding new books, as I wouldn't have to open each and every shelf.

I second this request. It's so logical, I'm surprised it wasn't included.

[ballfresno]

I turned on my wifi for the first time in weeks (maybe months) today and the system downloaded the new version. I decided to risk it and let the system upgrade itself. Took about 8-10 minutes. Everything went well. All my settings seem to have been kept and, so far, the reading experience is good.

As a data point, I did have the plugin installed.

I've not tried the shelves feature yet.

[murg]

Originally Posted by ballfresno

As a data point, I did have the plugin installed.

Thrillseeker!

[thp1017]

Originally Posted by Tasmin

Of course, but it still a hassle that users shouldn't have to go through. When reading a book, I say it should stay put in the carousel until it's finished. Putting 5 new books on the device doesn't mean I'm done with the book I'm reading...

Yeah, I've always kind of hated the carousel - the problem you mention, plus if you add say a collection of books from a series. I generally organize them with the filenames, so like the title follows the format 'Dresden 01: Storm Front'... its fine with the carousel if you're just adding the newest book, but if you add a collection - for example, I recently added the Anita Blake series of 22 books, then they show up in the carousel, in *descending* order - so books 18-22 are on the home screen after adding the collection

I'd actually love to see them swap out the shortlist for the carousel on the first page, as a list (yes, a bit boring, but more functional!) and sort however you have your library currently sorted. And add a 'recently added' books to one of the drop-down menus?

[Shai-Hulud]

Hello everyone.
I've been lurking on the forum for a few months but decided to sign up to join in the 2.0.0 autopsy. I was intending to wait it out on 1.9.17 until things had settled down a bit. But sadly I fell foul of an unscheduled wifi update when my finger unintentionally brushed the old Sync icon and down it came. C'est la vie.

> Initial impressions:

- Missing the clock already on the home page and one tap away whilst reading.

- In accordance with others, I have noticed the slow(er) page turns on side-loaded epubs, but haven't used the KT long enough since the firmware upgrade to determine whether the double-tap/dead tap issue has been fixed as compensation.

- The web browser: I'm not expecting miracles since I consider all the "Extras" as gravy on what is primarily an epub reader. But I have found it handy for the odd ad-hoc look-up when away from the pc. Yet it has crashed twice on me thus far which is frustrating. I have yet to determine if it's random or reproducible as per 1.9.17. I'll post back if/as/when I find out more.

> Wishlist (with reference to the 2.0.0 layout where applicable):

- Ideally I'd like a digital clock display as a permanent feature on the top-right of the home page and back to one tap away whilst reading.

- If we must have commercial/social channels on the reader itself (and I am not convinced they belong there at all) then please at least recognise that throwing it in people's faces is more likely to alienate prospective buyers. I believe an acceptable compromise could be achieved by moving all the commercial aspects ("Discover", "Find Books" and "Wishlist") and social reading functionality under one tab like the "Discover" menu on the home screen where those that are interested can readily engage with it and those that aren't can get on with using the device as a functional ereader. Naturally this would include removing the annoying arrow tag that appears.

- I would like the carousel to display *my* chosen shortlist and replace the moved "Find Books" and "Wishlist" menus with "Last Shelf" and "Recently Added" to track the new content placed on the Kobo.

- Adding books to shelves direct from the library would be desirable as would being able to add several books to a shelf without having to press "Save" between each one.

- A minor point but I'd also like some way to back-up or retain browser bookmarks since it's a PIA to type them all back in after the update nuked them.


After the brick-bats, the bouquets. I do approve of:

- consolidation of one-tap to settings/wifi status and moving the "Sync" icon off the home screen entirely (for obvious reasons)

- The welcome return of the top margin

- the option of font tuning (though I have yet to dabble)

That's it for now. But I'd like to finish by thanking all you MobileRead forum members for sharing some valuable tips which have improved my reading experience. Cheers.

[Mrs_Often]

Originally Posted by DNSB

OTOH, it was surprising to see how many people who read this forum are also addicted to improving their ebook experience by taking action and not just complaining that the reader does not display books the way they want to see them.

Yeah... I hate reading a book with an ugly cover, or with bad margins or hard set to disgusting-times-new-roman.

Originally Posted by Jaden

That's why I remove all of the options set by the publishers (colors, fonts, margins etc.) - I want the books to look the way I want.

Aren't you afraid of deleting intentional font changes? Like in some books, one character's perspective is in font X and another character's perspective is in font Y, and letters the reader gets to see are in italics with large margins etc...

Originally Posted by thp1017

I'd actually love to see them swap out the shortlist for the carousel on the first page, as a list (yes, a bit boring, but more functional!) and sort however you have your library currently sorted. And add a 'recently added' books to one of the drop-down menus?

Hmmm I'd be sad to see the carousel go. It's a really nice layout. It's a good idea to have the contents of the carousel be user-definable...

Originally Posted by Shai-Hulud

- If we must have commercial/social channels on the reader itself (and I am not convinced they belong there at all) then please at least recognise that throwing it in people's faces is more likely to alienate prospective buyers. I believe an acceptable compromise could be achieved by moving all the commercial aspects ("Discover", "Find Books" and "Wishlist") and social reading functionality under one tab like the "Discover" menu on the home screen where those that are interested can readily engage with it and those that aren't can get on with using the device as a functional ereader. Naturally this would include removing the annoying arrow tag that appears.

- I would like the carousel to display *my* chosen shortlist and replace the moved "Find Books" and "Wishlist" menus with "Last Shelf" and "Recently Added" to track the new content placed on the Kobo.

- Adding books to shelves direct from the library would be desirable as would being able to add several books to a shelf without having to press "Save" between each one.

Yes, yes and yes. I agree with all three, please.

(Except if you mean the actual existing short list to be in the carousel. That could get tricky. I want the book I'm currently reading right there, and the next few that I'm planning to read, right there next to book 1. If the carousel would be just the short list, the book I'm currently reading wouldn't disappear when it's finished... Plus, the short list can contain more than 5 books, how could the KT decide which 5 of all the short listed books to display?)

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by Tasmin

Aren't you afraid of deleting intentional font changes? Like in some books, one character's perspective is in font X and another character's perspective is in font Y, and letters the reader gets to see are in italics with large margins etc...

Italics, bold etc. don't get deleted by that. And the margins that get deleted are the page margins, not the paragraph margins.

I think it's rather unusual that different fonts are used for different characters in an eBook. Mostly it's normal vs. italics or something like that, not Arial for character A and Verdana for character B.

But of course I take a look at my books before changing something - before moving them to my Kobo (in Calibre and Sigil, if changes need to be made).

If it was important to have different fonts in a book, I would keep them. But in most books it's not necessary so I can remove the information to be able to select a font on my Kobo.

[MacEachaidh]

Along these lines, can someone help me please by explaining how I can get an editable copy of books I buy?

I'm not interested in pirating them or the like; I just want to be able to tidy them up (even commercial books are sometimes attrociously formatted!), replace the covers and such.

Correct me if I'm wrong: if I download them via the Kobo Desktop, I think I get the kepub version and they're synched between the Desktop and my KT. But if I download them via ADE, don't they get saved on my PC somewhere? Assuming I can find them, I can copy them to another folder and edit them.

Am I right? Can someone please tell me where they're saved on a Windows 7 system?

Thanks!

[Danger]

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

Along these lines, can someone help me please by explaining how I can get an editable copy of books I buy?....

Simpliest:
1a) download epub from Kobo. There will be a link in your library on the Kobo site beside the book you bought. If there is DRM on the book you will get a .acsm file that needs to be loaded in ADE.

1b) Books without DRM download as an .epub and can be edited with not problem, no need for ADE.

2) Find the epub ADE made, usually c:/users/YOU/documents/My Digital Editions/

3) Remove DRM from epub. Search the Calibre & Sigil forums for this. I personally use a program that I paid for, only because it's really simple to use and hasn't failed me yet.

4) After DRM removal, do editing.

[Shai-Hulud]

Originally Posted by Tasmin

Yes, yes and yes. I agree with all three, please.

(Except if you mean the actual existing short list to be in the carousel. That could get tricky. I want the book I'm currently reading right there, and the next few that I'm planning to read, right there next to book 1. If the carousel would be just the short list, the book I'm currently reading wouldn't disappear when it's finished...

I'm taking an educated guess at this of course.
But logically the "shortlist" attribute must be a boolean on/off flag in the database, hence mapping the shortlist to display as the carousel shouldn't be an issue. Using the same assumption it's also logically feasible to automatically set the shortlist flag to "off" on completing a book (or on manually marking it as finished) which would have the effect of leaving it untouched in the shortlist carousel until it's actually finished.

Originally Posted by Tasmin

Plus, the short list can contain more than 5 books, how could the KT decide which 5 of all the short listed books to display?)

I can see no reason why the number of books shown on the carousel couldn't be increased slightly though personally I wouldn't find 5 books a limitation as I like to purposefully keep the list short (i.e. shortlist in it's most literal sense). The current selection criteria for the carousel is obviously date related (i.e. display most recently added). Without changing the existing database structure, the carousel could be set to pin those books flagged as being on your shortlist in reverse date order i.e. oldest added first. Crude, but workable. Beyond this database changes would have to made with possible performance impacts. This is down to the Kobo Devs.

I'm certainly not defending the carousel model per se. As thp1017 said earlier:

Originally Posted by thp1017

I'd actually love to see them swap out the shortlist for the carousel on the first page, as a list (yes, a bit boring, but more functional!)

Although it has a certain visual appeal, I'd sacrifice that in a blink for functionality every time. My proposition attempts to marry the "eye-candy" of the carousel to the desired functionality of the shortlist.

[Capriccio]

For what it's worth (in case somebody from Kobo is reading) I'm pleased to see shelves but, other than that, this firmware is a big step back for me. It's only the problems others have mentioned - page turns MUCH slower (at least with side-loaded epubs) and the clock being harder to get at when reading. The page turn speed is enough to make me think about going back to a previous version, since such slow turns really break the flow of reading. If I do go back, at least I don't have to worry about losing my reading history because - as for others - it and the "awards" were trashed by the upgrade.

Just my tuppence...

Chris

[GvilleBridge]

2. The ability to add to shelves from the library view, like we can add to the shortlist. This would save a HUGE amount of time when adding new books, as I wouldn't have to open each and every shelf.

Oh yes! And it would be more terrific if Calibre could read the shelf data and KT recognize the changed shelves. Calibre/KT cooperation in that kind of elibrary management would allow some very rapid adding to shelves (if not creating them) with multiple CTRL-selects.