Glo Kobo Software Update 2.5.2

[TechniSol]

My two cents are with the people asking for more choices. The problem is that people are upset because they feel like something they already had, and liked, has been removed.(er, titles have been added...) Kind of hard to fault folks for that, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

They are not alone in wondering why a company would release a product whose main feature is a larger screen and then almost immediately take away from it with a firmware upgrade that reduces visible screen area. I suspect that if it does not involve the kepub engine and therefore relate directly to revenue Kobo could probably care less, but they should.

I'm willing to bet that if Kobo spent more time fixing bugs, and less time fixing stuff that isn't broken they're be doing a lot better. Frankly, they are missing a huge bet. Quit screwing around with things guaranteed to annoy at least some of your customer base, and start making one thing your focus. You are the people's choice in terms of flexibility and ability to side load, etc. start wising up and taking advantage of that. Position yourselves as the underdog and continue to reap revenue at the same time through Kobo kepub sales. Support the sideloaded crowd and you will sell more readers, as a result, through convenience you will sell more books. But, for goodness sake, clean up the danged software mess and rid yourselves of that albatross. I guarantee that solid firmware in addition to the already solid hardware would equal far greater sales.

For all those having a hard time with bugs and issues, why not start an online petition to get them*fixed and make a big deal of it? If you make a big enough effort you might actually accomplish something other than squabbling in a forum.

[Quexos]

Wouldn't go as far as "my every desires" but as a paying customer, yeah I admit I was under the impression that this was my right
Or would you suggest I build my own reader with my own software but still send my hard earned euros to Kobo ?

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Oh wait. That wasn't what you asked for. You actually want someone to develop software that meets your specifications and someone to complain about when it doesn't reflect your every desire.

Then I won't pay for ebooks, If I can't read them the way I want, might as well get them for free and don't worry, I do know how ...

Originally Posted by BWinmill

I've got news for you: it ain't going to happen.

[Breid]

Originally Posted by david_e

Can you tell me who it was decided that the fundamental reason to read an ebook was the choice of screen options?

I may have misunderstood your meaning, but here goes with my 2 cent worth anyway. For me the choice of screen options, and font sizes, was the main reason that I switched to reading on an eink device instead of pbooks. I am not quite blind as a bat yet, but my eyesight is not great, so it is a real joy to be able to adjust font type, size, weight and sharpness to a level that is comfortable for me. I loved my Glo and I am really pleased with my Aura, the extra screen real estate is good to have and I can use a smaller font than on my Glo. It is good to have some extra lines of text on the screen. I am enjoying fewer page turns which contributes to a better reading experience for me. My ideal ereader size would be that of a trade paperback....not sure what the physical dimensions are, but I reckon many people would be horrified at the thought of such a large ereader!

I have just synced my Aura and got the most recent firmware update. I checked out an epub to see what the title bar on each page was like, and for me it's not a problem. It is in a small font and I probably lose one line of text, which for me is not a big deal. But judging by other posts on this thread, for those of you who have 20/20 vision and want to max out the number of characters/lines per page this new firmware is a cause of great wrath.

[Breid]

Originally Posted by DNSB

As for the size of the bottom bar, I actually measured it on a Glo around 2.1.5 -- why not use metal calipers on your plastic screen the little guy on my left shoulder muttered -- and just checked it on the Glo now and the height hasn't changed that I could notice.

Eeek, now that is scaring me

[Breid]

Originally Posted by DNSB

It's not just before long paragraphs, it's in the middle of a long paragraph and for a couple of authors who seem to love very long paragraphs, a couple of breaks in a paragraph. Modifying Adobe's Reader Mobile to remove this and a couple of its other display bugs would, as you said, improve the reading experience.

I am reading The Complete Works of Henry James (Delphi edition)in epub format and Henry really liked long paragraphs. The long paragraph problem is driving me NUTS, seems to occur on every other page. The only reason I am persevering with this book is 1) I am a huge fan of Henry James and 2) I am too broke/mean to buy all of his ouvre individually.

[Breid]

Originally Posted by samhy

I don't have an Aura in front of me, so excuse me for the weird question. Isn't the Aura's screen longer and larger? Because by what I can read in this thread, many people complaining of having a bigger device but not seeing much on the screen, I would guess the bigger size is only one way

I am considering buying one when it will be available, but not for the bigger screen (I'm very fine with a 5 inch screen) mostly for the crisper display. Slightly off topic, I know, this one is for a firmware version.

Samhy, yes the Aura's screen is longer and wider than previous Kobos. I am sorry that I don't know the exact dimensions. I have a Kobo Glo and the Aura. The crisper display on the Aura allows me to use a smaller font size and smaller side margins than those that I use on my Glo. Also the light on the Aura is much softer - my Glo light is quite blue - and I am really enjoying the reading experience on my Aura. Also the battery life is fantastic. I read on average 2 hours per day, no eyestrain and after 12 days on just one charge my battery is at 50%, that includes a couple of wifi sessions and an update to the most recent software version tonight. I also have a Kindle PW, which I like a lot, and my first ereader was a Sony PRS650 (my sister has it now and she loves it). But IMO despite all Kobo's firmware update niggles (I have been lucky perhaps, but I have had few problems), the Aura is giving me the best reading experience. However, my experience may not be yours and you may prefer to try out an Aura in a store before you buy.

[Nightyume]

Hmmm, I most likely wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't read the complaints. Now the title at the top has the potential to drive me insane. Though I have to admit that it is more akin to how many real books are laid out.

One thing that I do appreciate is that they fixed the dictionary bug so I can now look up words other than the exact ones on the page (was so miffed at that feature's disappearance with 2.5.1).

[Breid]

It has been somewhat dispiriting to read through this thread and to find that some posters are unable to express differing points of view without insulting/being aggressive towards those who uphold opposite views to their opinions. On the other hand, I have been much entertained by the posts of those who do not own any Kobo devices expressing very determined views on a firmware update that they can have no knowledge of.

[VelvetElvis]

Originally Posted by taming

PM Sameer or one of the other Kobo staff that participates here and ask. It is not functioning as well as it has in the past, but there are some very good people hanging in there.

It's a crap shoot as to whether or not Sameer will respond. I've tried unsuccessfully to get an update on the rapid discharge issue from him. I _still_ don't know whether it's been addressed.

Originally Posted by ShellShock

Are they really open devices? To be truly open surely Kobo would have to provide full system documentation, souce code and tools, rather than the community having to laboriously reverse engineer the devices to provide some limited support for bulding our own add ons etc. I am not arguing for the devices to be more open, as I would prefer to get my support direct from Kobo. This is not to denigrate what members of the community have done with the limited information available.

Open by modern standards, definitely. Open by the standards that you laid out, no. The thing that you have to keep in mind is that Kobo devices lack documentation from Kobo, yet very few of their other practices can be considered as restrictive. Even that documentation claim is a bit misleading, since much of the system is documented by third parties. This is particularly true when it comes to the open source software. If you're interested in the hardware, it turns out that the kernel reveals an awful lot. Should you need more information, there are kernel sources and (frequently) documentation for the components from their developers.

Is it work? Sure. Calling it laborious reverse engineering is a bit of an overstatement though. I don't mean to denigrate what they're doing, but I've seen the results of reverse engineering projects on closed systems (such as games consoles) and it is absolutely astounding how little information there is to go on in those cases.

[ciscopixie]

Originally Posted by TechniSol

My two cents are with the people asking for more choices. The problem is that people are upset because they feel like something they already had, and liked, has been removed.(er, titles have been added...) Kind of hard to fault folks for that, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

They are not alone in wondering why a company would release a product whose main feature is a larger screen and then almost immediately take away from it with a firmware upgrade that reduces visible screen area. I suspect that if it does not involve the kepub engine and therefore relate directly to revenue Kobo could probably care less, but they should.

I'm willing to bet that if Kobo spent more time fixing bugs, and less time fixing stuff that isn't broken they're be doing a lot better. Frankly, they are missing a huge bet. Quit screwing around with things guaranteed to annoy at least some of your customer base, and start making one thing your focus. You are the people's choice in terms of flexibility and ability to side load, etc. start wising up and taking advantage of that. Position yourselves as the underdog and continue to reap revenue at the same time through Kobo kepub sales. Support the sideloaded crowd and you will sell more readers, as a result, through convenience you will sell more books. But, for goodness sake, clean up the danged software mess and rid yourselves of that albatross. I guarantee that solid firmware in addition to the already solid hardware would equal far greater sales.

For all those having a hard time with bugs and issues, why not start an online petition to get them*fixed and make a big deal of it? If you make a big enough effort you might actually accomplish something other than squabbling in a forum.

See, now this is an example of someone with sense It would be great if Kobo could focus on what's broken instead of breaking what's "perfect". While I didn't get the update for my Glo, I went to the post for firmware, downloaded it and installed it anyway. I actually like having the title of my book (and series with position number) at the top. It's useful for me to track my reading on GoodReads.

The margins irritate a few people; again, I like them. What I wouldn't mind seeing next would be the percent read, maybe in brackets, next to how many pages I've read so far in the book. That would, in my opinion, be the ultimate reading experience in a book.

If Kobo would release something similar to the Aura's home screen for Glo and Touch (Mini if you REALLY want it), that would be excellent!

I've tried out a few e-readers but settled on Kobo because a) I don't want to reconvert my library (4500+) with Calibre, and b) It was recommended by people I know. So regardless of all the interesting little fixes and updates, I won't jump off the Kobo wagon because as long as I can read my books at any point of the day or night without the software crashing or the light dying, I'm a happy chappy!

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Breid

I am reading The Complete Works of Henry James (Delphi edition)in epub format and Henry really liked long paragraphs. The long paragraph problem is driving me NUTS, seems to occur on every other page. The only reason I am persevering with this book is 1) I am a huge fan of Henry James and 2) I am too broke/mean to buy all of his ouvre individually.

I have this volume, as well.

However, for what it's worth, all of his works are in the public domain (to the best of my knowledge). You can go to Amazon and download a ton of Henry James and then use calibre (because, truly, it can be your friend).



Don

[moffattm]

Originally Posted by Moonraker

So do I.

I find the pages much more aesthetically pleasing.

You can add me to the list of people that prefer to see the title of the current book at the top of the screen. Maybe it's because most of my ebooks are kepubs and so I've got used to it, but I think it balances things out. So I'm looking forward to getting 2.5.2, it's a shame it's not available for me to download yet (yeah, I could manually update but I don't mind waiting).

However I'm all for choice and it would have been a better solution to have made it optional. In fact there are quite a few things that the developers could make optional or customisable. Imagine if the developers went through everything and made it so you could turn things on and off or change where on the screen they were displayed? Kobo would have the most customisable e-reader on the market! That would surely trounce Amazon and Sony because their readers aren't all that customisable.

[Breid]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I have this volume, as well.

However, for what it's worth, all of his works are in the public domain (to the best of my knowledge). You can go to Amazon and download a ton of Henry James and then use calibre (because, truly, it can be your friend).



Don

TYVM, I have done an Epub to Epub conversion in Calibre and set widows and orphans in body to 0 (tho there is a very good chance that I have made a dog's breakfast out of that, since I am a total novice at tweaking CSS). Have had cursory glance at the results on my Aura, and am not confident that I have achieved the result that I desired. If that has not worked out well, I will give Amazon a whirl, and will also invesitgate their offerings for Virginia Woolf (have sudden yen to read Mrs Dalloway!!)

[speakingtohe]

I don't care for the kepub format because of the chapter page numbers and the loss of the ade number at the bottom oe side of the page. My personal preference only.

I don't care about the wasted 'real estate' within reason. Not like I can grow vegetables on it or set out a garden gnome.

And not connecting to Kobo will most likely save me a few dollars. No impulse online buying directly from my reader

So I just won't upgrade or buy any books from Kobo untill this is resolved or a really big improvement in usability is acheived.

Why would I care about reading stats or page turns which seem approximations at best. I read when I have the time and inclination and am enjoying the process. The ending won't change before I am finished hopefully

But I would perhaps put up with chapter page numbers instead of book page numbers if my shelves opened in a timely manner and always sorted consistantly. Not much fear of that happening I am afraid, but one can dream.

Helen