New Kobo Aura HD eInk eReader 1440x1080

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I found the comparisons flawed because they didn't evaluate the screens at similar brightness levels, but put them both at "70%" or something. They should have noted the different ranges of lighting, and then adjusted each to the "best" setting for the review.

That is exactly what I was thinking. But I guess they did it that way for a direct comparison of light percentage. But they should have adjusted both to the level they found most comfortable, regardless of matching the percentage.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by booklover6

But I guess they did it that way for a direct comparison of light percentage.

Perhaps so, but that should have been a few seconds of "here's the comparison of minimums, half ways and maximums". As you say, the rest should have been at optimum for each device.

[doubleshuffle]

Agreed, that side-by-side thing isn't worth much, because you never really see the readers at the same brightness levels. And those two guys are really fawning over the Aura.

And it begins to slightly freak me out that whenever they open an epub on their Aura, the text is left-aligned. Is that the only option perhaps?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

Could some of the nice people who already have their Aura please check if it displays nice formatting features like dropcaps, embedded fonts, floating images, etc. correctly? Does it play nice with extensive formatting, or does it run roughshod over it, implementing its own options? I hate how those professional reviews completely ignore these things.

The Kobo uses ADE. So yes, it has those features.

[doubleshuffle]

Thank you very much indeed!!

[soulfuldog]

The goodereader side-by-side video comparison of the Aura & Paperwhite in the dark is a waste of time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uyniTpucQ8). I only glanced through it because what is the point of setting both lights to roughly 50% brightness for comparison and then leaving it at that? They even mention in the video about using a low setting in a dark room, but they just ignore that and put them both on 50% for absolutely no good reason. What is so difficult about putting them both at the optimal level of brightness for the reader and then comparing them?

From the video all you can tell really is that the Kobo Aura looks brighter, that's for sure, and the screen does look nice and white with crisp fonts (but as booklover6 says, the font on the Paperwhite is a lot blacker in comparison - though the opposite seems true in the other video with no light?). It does make me wonder if the light on the Kobo is that bit too bright again?

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The Kobo uses ADE. So yes, it has those features.

You just wrote that the DRM offers display options. This is not true. Adobe Adept is the DRM used on many ereaders and apps, not the rendering engine.

[booklover6]

We are looking forward to intelligent reviews and comparisons from you, Nate.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What credit card did you use and what bank issued it? Maybe the card you used doesn't have a foreign transaction fee.

I know for a fact that the last time I bought an eBook from Kobo with my bank card, I was charged for the privilege. Using PayPal, I've never had a fee.

Banks are getting more abusive with their fees

The Merchant is being charged a higher 'discount' rate AND a transaction fee for foreign cards.

And your bank is also charging YOU a fee for buying across borders. The also seem to use the highest exchange rate for the period.

There used to be a time when there were no fees and you got the benefit of a decent exchange rate. How times change

(Let us not forget Customs duties that will be on top of all these purchases)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

You just wrote that the DRM offers display options. This is not true. Adobe Adept is the DRM used on many ereaders and apps, not the rendering engine.

I wrote nothing about the DRM. I wrote that the Aura HD uses ADE and thus, it supports all of those features mentioned. ADE is the rendering engine. For ePub downloaded via Kobo, there is another rendering engine used that's not ADE. But for sideloaded ePub, it does use ADE.

[savbeowulf]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

"Line spacing and margin don't work on side-loaded content."

So. Why not? The Kindle can set margins (at least, left and right) and do line spacing on side loaded content. For some fonts, I'd like a line space of 1, for other fonts It'd prefer 2.

Not being able to set line spacing already rules out this reader for me, as I'm not at all sure that I'm happy with the linespacing Kobo will choose for my side-loaded books.

I read that doing this enables the settings to work but will have to try it out to confirm but it looks like it'll do the job so give it a try!!

example book.epub
changes to
example book.kepub.epub

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Skydog

Yes, you will initially only see the $169.99 charge from Kobo. If there is a transaction fee it will be calculated and added by the bank and appear on the next statement, typically in a location where one sees credits and miscellaneous charges.

The old 'separate charge' trick.
The (kobo) charge you see is what Kobo entered into the terminal ( usually this used to reflect the computed exchange rate value).
Then, elsewhere (and with another date, the other (exchange) fee.
The more fees in the Miscellaneous charges.
BTW I believe that the exchange rate fee is being 'double dipped', the merchant has been frequently charge this also.

[savbeowulf]

Originally Posted by miquele

Looks fantastic!

Do Kobo products have a browser built in and is it possible to download books with it (e.g. from a personal catalog)?

Apparently you can download your content from dropbox straight to the Aura!

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I wrote nothing about the DRM. I wrote that the Aura HD uses ADE and thus, it supports all of those features mentioned. ADE is the rendering engine. For ePub downloaded via Kobo, there is another rendering engine used that's not ADE. But for sideloaded ePub, it does use ADE.

Nope. ADE is a specific app that runs on Windows and OSX. It does not run on ereaders.

Feel free to check with reading app developers (I did). I was told that what Adobe licenses to app developers and ereader makers is the DRM decryption components. They do not provide the rendering engine (which displays text).

[GeoffR]

When comparing the apparent darkness of the text keep in mind that the font weight can be adjusted on Kobo devices, and by default it is only set at about 60% of maximum. Unless the reviewer has already adjusted the font weight from the default, then the text on the Aura can probably be made much heavier.