Aura HD Kobo Aura HD Impressions Thread

[Mostly Math]

Originally Posted by Asterisk411

How is the Aura HD for pdf's? I'm a student and am thinking of getting one for school pdf's, lecture notes, textbooks ect.

I currently have a kindle keyboard where to read the pdf I have to turn it sideways. How much better is the Aura?

Thanks

Here is a picture of a PDF Calculus text, not zoomed. I can read it just fine, diagrams and formulas included.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/att...4&d=1366569077

I hope this helps.

S

[Gadget_girl]

I'll start with saying that I don't expect much from e-readers. I want a good reading experience, variable text sizes, and some illumination.

Things I've enjoyed and noticed so far:

I like the uneven back, even in my handmade cover, it's easy to hold.
I like the larger screen. Just slightly bigger than my Sony, at the slightly larger than average font sizes (say 14pt), there is still plenty of text on the page.
It's not any heavier than the Sony in my hand
I like the ability to change fonts and margins, didn't think I'd use it at all, until it was one of the first few things I did.
I like that it shows me the covers of the books in the list as well as the titles.
I love the light. 18% - 20% is just perfect for reading in dim conditions. Light seems pretty even.
I like that the sleep screen is the cover of the book I'm reading.
Page numbers on the bottom are nice. (133 out of 257)
I'm not sure what the chapter progress is that everyone seems to be fussing about. Mostly I don't notice chapters when I'm reading an actual book, so that may be why.

I've had a chance to read for a few hours, and finished my book. First thing I noticed, was that swiping on that last page took me back to the home screen, and quite quickly too. That was pretty neat.

I used the desktop to set it up. Since it's not working with Calibre yet, I had a teeny 64mb SD card that I loaded a few books on. The reader found them very quickly.

Tell me what you want to know, I'll quite happily answer any questions that I can.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by Gadget_girl

I'm not sure what the chapter progress is that everyone seems to be fussing about. Mostly I don't notice chapters when I'm reading an actual book, so that may be why.

If you bring up the table of contents while reading a book, it will show a tick beside the chapter you are currently reading. This works in both Kobo kepubs and sideloaded epubs.

[flyingtoad]

Originally Posted by Mostly Math

Here is a picture of a PDF Calculus text, not zoomed. I can read it just fine, diagrams and formulas included.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/att...4&d=1366569077

I hope this helps.

S

Is it a LaTex PDF ? It is pretty.

[Mostly Math]

Originally Posted by flyingtoad

Is it a LaTex PDF ? It is pretty.

I have no idea But is it pretty.

S

[louden]

Originally Posted by Mostly Math

Here is a picture of a PDF Calculus text, not zoomed. I can read it just fine, diagrams and formulas included.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/att...4&d=1366569077

I hope this helps.

S

But can you zoom it in? and keep it there for every page? I like to read PDFs and get rid of the white space/border

[Mostly Math]

Originally Posted by louden

But can you zoom it in? and keep it there for every page? I like to read PDFs and get rid of the white space/border

No. Or at least not very well. It seems to keep the zoom setting but doesn't centre the page. When you centre it, there is ghosting. It would drive me crazy in about 5 seconds.

S

[Breid]

Originally Posted by Gadget_girl

I'll start with saying that I don't expect much from e-readers. I want a good reading experience, variable text sizes, and some illumination.

Things I've enjoyed and noticed so far:

I like the uneven back, even in my handmade cover, it's easy to hold.
I like the larger screen. Just slightly bigger than my Sony, at the slightly larger than average font sizes (say 14pt), there is still plenty of text on the page.
It's not any heavier than the Sony in my hand
I like the ability to change fonts and margins, didn't think I'd use it at all, until it was one of the first few things I did.
I like that it shows me the covers of the books in the list as well as the titles.
I love the light. 18% - 20% is just perfect for reading in dim conditions. Light seems pretty even.
I like that the sleep screen is the cover of the book I'm reading.
Page numbers on the bottom are nice. (133 out of 257)
I'm not sure what the chapter progress is that everyone seems to be fussing about. Mostly I don't notice chapters when I'm reading an actual book, so that may be why.

I've had a chance to read for a few hours, and finished my book. First thing I noticed, was that swiping on that last page took me back to the home screen, and quite quickly too. That was pretty neat.

I used the desktop to set it up. Since it's not working with Calibre yet, I had a teeny 64mb SD card that I loaded a few books on. The reader found them very quickly.

Tell me what you want to know, I'll quite happily answer any questions that I can.

TY for posting your first impressions, it is reassuring to see that they are good. I am turning pea green with envy as I wait (very impatiently - I know I determined to practice patience, but it's not working) for mine to arrive.

[louden]

Originally Posted by Mostly Math

No. Or at least not very well. It seems to keep the zoom setting but doesn't centre the page. When you centre it, there is ghosting. It would drive me crazy in about 5 seconds.

S

- We'll see how the zoomed out view is...

[louden]

Originally Posted by Mostly Math

No. Or at least not very well. It seems to keep the zoom setting but doesn't centre the page. When you centre it, there is ghosting. It would drive me crazy in about 5 seconds.

S

But your opinion is - zoomed out at 100% is fine?

Originally Posted by louden

But your opinion is - zoomed out at 100% is fine?

In terms of the clarity of the text, it is fine. In terms of the size of the text, it will be too small for most publications.

On the zoom settings, it seems to keep the zoom setting and position. The problem is that you need to pan to the right in order to go to the next page.

There is a ghosting bug when zooming and panning in the current firmware. It can be circumvented by setting it to refresh on every page turn.

[ShadowDragon]

I picked up the Espresso one yesterday. I wanted one slightly different from the norm. I've had too many white and black devices.

One thing I noticed, and for me this is a big deal; you can't edit the shelf names, nor can you delete them. I had to do a factory reset, and that isn't really an option. I am going to take mine back today

[david8866]

You guys love your Aura, that is good.
I can not even cancel my order. They still can not find my order after more than one week, even they gave me two order numbers.
KOBO is an awful company in my book.

[AnemicOak]

Very first impressions as mine just arrived...

Setup was easy and smooth, although I had to re-enter the WiFi info after it installed the update. I do not like that it automatically downloaded the last five books I've purchased at all.

Fit and finish are nice and the screen looks great. The light works good and is the best of the ones I've seen. The backs shape is comfortable, although is might be a bit slippery under certain circumstances, we'll see. If that turns out to be the case maybe there'll be a skin or something to help.

Now to play with a few books and see how that goes.

[AnemicOak]

More impressions...

Sideloaded some books via Calibre (9.28) and everything went smoothly although Calibre is showing some of my books as being on the Aura already when they are not. Pretty happy with how books look on it. Although I agree with others that the large space at the bottom is a bit "off" it hasn't really bothered me so far. I actually would mind maybe one line of space at the top of the screen. Don't know if it's just that it would give the "page" an overall more balanced look or because the bezel casts a small shadow over the first line of text when it's so close. Love the all the adjustment options available.

Coming from using a Kindle Touch since they came out it's going to take me a bit to get used to the touch zones on the Aura. At this point I wish there were more than three options. I usually read one handed and tap the screen to turn pages, but even with the page forward zone set to the larger option it's a bit of a reach to advance the page when holding and using with my left hand. Will definitely need to give this aspect some more time.