Glo Kobo Glo, some questions 4 Sameer

[volpo]

Yes. At certain settings at certain times of the day, you cannot tell that the light is on. The light indicator bar is there so that there is no mistaking that the light is on and unnecessarily draining your battery. We're looking at offering a setting to not use it.

That would be great!

[winsomnia]

Originally Posted by SameerH

Yes. At certain settings at certain times of the day, you cannot tell that the light is on. The light indicator bar is there so that there is no mistaking that the light is on and unnecessarily draining your battery. We're looking at offering a setting to not use it.

If you are looking for suggestions, maybe instead of the big black bar you can use a discreet lightbulb icon on the bottom.

Or if you want it to be blunt (not discreet) you can use a big,big lightbulb icon. Any icon (even a large one) would be less annoying than that big black bar.

[Danger]

First, a big thank you Sameer for addressing these questions, very much appreciated.

1) I'm probably beating a dead horse on this one, but having tried 2.0 and 2.1.1 and seeing the home screen of the KG presentation by you, I still really much prefer the 1.9.17 Home screen. Even with the bottom part of the screen taken up by the Shortlist (rather than New Releases) I find it less busy than the newer firmware Home screens.

2 & 3) Pretty much confirms what I thought and nice to actually now know. #2 is one reason why I like having the Shortlist on the bottom of the screen in 1.9.17.

4) I can't say my KT is less responsive than the KG it just seems the KG was more responsive in the video but it could just be finger size, I'm 6'4", 250 lbs so I don't have small hands . Really need to dig out my stylus and see how it compares, I like using it I just forget to and then forget where I left it...

5)

Originally Posted by winsomnia

If you are looking for suggestions, maybe instead of the big black bar you can use a discreet icon on the bottom.

Or if you want it to be blunt (not discreet) you can use a big,big lightbulb icon. Any icon (even a large one) would be less annoying than that big black bar.

I was thinking the same thing, a small icon in the lower right or left corner (optional to the black bar) would be good. A reminder that the light is on as well as a way to access the light options for brightness control but still be unobtrusive when reading.

[the.Mtn.Man]

I'm happy to hear the screen is more durable than, ahem, competitor's readers. Will be interesting to see what the early adopters think.

[filmo]

Captions Title & Author for book covers on home screen would still be helpful to know what covers are for what book. 1.9.17 with really small covers on bottom line of covers, for short list..., this was really needed.

I bought package of 10 styluses at Walmart for $5. Really cheap water color brush with plastic handle I cut to 4inches. Works better than finger.

[Cap.T]

Originally Posted by Danger

2) Does the Home screen still replace the books you are reading with newly added books, requiring you to hunt in the library to find the book you were currently reading if more that 4 new books are added? I've noticed this still happening with 2.1.1.

Originally Posted by SameerH

Yes it does. I think Mtn_man mentioned this, but this is done so that when you have just purchased a book, you have immediate access to it from the home screen.

Hmm. Until I read this I was pretty sure I was going to jump from my PRS-T1 to the Glo but this "feature" makes me rethink that. I have currently close to 600 books on my T1 and I buy new books every few weeks. Getting to see the new books I bought on the Homescreen is all nice and good but not if it means I have to search for the book I'm currently reading. I know others might not care about that but for me personally that's a reason not to buy the Klo.

[soulfuldog]

Originally Posted by SameerH

That said, the front light technology that we use for Kobo Glo is more resilient than some other tech that is in the market today. That is to say, if the device is in your purse or bag and is coming into regular contact with, oh I don't know.. say keys for example the front light will likely not suffer catastrophic failure such as we have seen with some competitors.

That's a great clarification because while it has been mentioned that Amazon have done something different to the Nook, I'd actually read at least one review that mentions the Kobo Glo is using the same lighting tech as the Nook Glowlight - which was obviously a concern.

Obviously time will tell just how robust both the Kindle Paperwhite and the Kobo Glo screens are, but this is good news.

[frostschutz]

Originally Posted by l_macd

Obviously time will tell just how robust both the Kindle Paperwhite and the Kobo Glo screens are

I'd say they won't be significantly more or less robust than all other eInk screens, as long as they're still on glass substrate. I can't imagine how a touch- or light-layer put on the front of the display could possibly stop the back from breaking. All display breaks look like this already, you never see any damage on the front, that's why people come here to ask "huh what happened to my display now?"

It's too bad really as a unbreakable screen would've been a huge leg up over the competition, but apparently these displays aren't available in numbers or in the price range required?

Maybe in another 2 years

[soulfuldog]

I think you are probably quite right about the screens in general, they'll all continue to be something that should be handled with care. I should have made it clearer but I was meaning how robust the lighting part of the screens is in comparison to the not very robust Nook Glowlight, which has had hotspots appearing with just fairly minimal contact causing it. So this makes it good news that the Kobo Glo is using something more resilient.

The flexible screen that LG have come up with is probably just too new and costly for e-readers to use right now. There might be other issues too, it might not be as clear as the standard glass?

[Mrs_Often]

Originally Posted by SameerH

Yes. At certain settings at certain times of the day, you cannot tell that the light is on. The light indicator bar is there so that there is no mistaking that the light is on and unnecessarily draining your battery. We're looking at offering a setting to not use it.

Yes please, make it optional!

Originally Posted by winsomnia

If you are looking for suggestions, maybe instead of the big black bar you can use a discreet lightbulb icon on the bottom.

Or if you want it to be blunt (not discreet) you can use a big,big lightbulb icon. Any icon (even a large one) would be less annoying than that big black bar.

Yes please at this too.

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

I'd say they won't be significantly more or less robust than all other eInk screens, as long as they're still on glass substrate. I can't imagine how a touch- or light-layer put on the front of the display could possibly stop the back from breaking.

The problem with the Nook Glowlight is that the diffusion layer on top of the screen is extremely susceptible to damage which shows up as a bright spot whenever the light is on. Even a very minor knock against the screen is apparently sufficient (one person on the Nook forums said that it happened when she dropped a mini-USB plug on her Glowlight), and there have been a number of reports of Glowlight units fresh out of the box showing signs of damage, or hot spots spontaneously appearing after a few weeks.

So whatever technology Kobo is using on the Glo, lets hope it's at least robust enough to stand up to the rigors of normal use.

[TongueTied]

I haven't seen it yet but Sameer didn't have to post anything so this is really great that he did. Thanks Sameer.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Danger

Does the Home screen still replace the books you ARE reading with newly added books so that you have to hunt in the library to find your book again? As I haven't added any books since before I upgraded to 2.1.1 I'm not sure if this has been addressed or not.

2.1.1 still replaces the books you are reading with newly added books. My workaround is to hit library/books/recent reads to quickly get my current reads back on the home screen.

Given that I often add 10 or more books at a time and will have 4 books open, it would be nice if they added a "new additions" shelf which would show newly added books until you started reading them when they would automagically be removed from the list and not add them to the home page.

What? Me? Demanding? Moi?

Regards,
David

[Mrs_Often]

Originally Posted by DNSB

2.1.1 still replaces the books you are reading with newly added books. My workaround is to hit library/books/recent reads to quickly get my current reads back on the home screen.

Given that I often add 10 or more books at a time and will have 4 books open, it would be nice if they added a "new additions" shelf which would show newly added books until you started reading them when they would automagically be removed from the list and not add them to the home page.

Yes please!!

I can understand the logic to put one newly bought book right there in the home screen (pushing away the book(s) that you're currently reading), but only if that's the way you use the device. How many people are actually happy with that? Who buys a book or sideloads a book after they've finished reading their current reads? Well, maybe some people but not me and not anyone that I know (of). Also, I never ever put on just one new book, it's always in a batch of a whole series or a bunch of books. It just doesn't make sense to have all of those be put on the home screen, pushing current reads away. I'm never going to read all the new books right away and all at once.

Please either:
- Make a "newly added" shelf and leave the home screen alone, like DNSB suggests
or:
- Make it a user preference to put new additions onto the home screen or not
or:
- Both.

[Cap.T]

Originally Posted by Mrs_Often

Yes please!!

I can understand the logic to put one newly bought book right there in the home screen (pushing away the book(s) that you're currently reading), but only if that's the way you use the device. How many people are actually happy with that? Who buys a book or sideloads a book after they've finished reading their current reads? Well, maybe some people but not me and not anyone that I know (of). Also, I never ever put on just one new book, it's always in a batch of a whole series or a bunch of books. It just doesn't make sense to have all of those be put on the home screen, pushing current reads away. I'm never going to read all the new books right away and all at once.

Please either:
- Make a "newly added" shelf and leave the home screen alone, like DNSB suggests
or:
- Make it a user preference to put new additions onto the home screen or not
or:
- Both.

Good suggestions!