Glo Kobo Software Update 2.5.2

[Quexos]

Ok here is a review, a comparison of the Aura vs the Kindle PW.
It is very interesting to notice how the reviewer points out at the "wasted space" in the Aura, making the total amount of text in a page almost equal to the same text on the 6" PW ...
This is interesting because it shows we are not the only ones noticing this "wasted space" issue.

[Uschiekid]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Ok here is a review, a comparison of the Aura vs the Kindle PW.
It is very interesting to notice how the reviewer points out at the "wasted space" in the Aura, making the total amount of text in a page almost equal to the same text on the 6" PW ...
This is interesting because it shows we are not the only ones noticing this "wasted space" issue.

He is using a kepub.

But this review seemed much more balanced than a lot I've seen. He also seemed to know how to do things that many reviewers don't. He seemed to know about kindles and kobo which is pretty unusual. I didn't feel like it was his first time ever touching an ereader.

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by Quexos

This is interesting because it shows we are not the only ones noticing this "wasted space" issue.

Well, it is impossible not to notice that waste of space, it is obvious.

Strangely enough, I am not bothered with that change. I am using ... uhm, not_so_tiny font size (my eyesight is just fine, it is my hands that shrunk few years back), and that means that I am already used to the idea of trading screen size for the convenience. A line of text more or less ...

The problem with the dictionary lookup in previous releases (text cut at the right edge) is gone, so I am staying with 2.5.2.

[Canuck_in_Japan]

Wow now that is a good comparison review. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb over on Goodereader should take note.

[93terp]

Originally Posted by Lbooker

And what would prevent them from putting ads up there in a future firmware ?

I ABSOLUTE do not miss the ads/"special offers" on the Kindle! One of the things I like the most about my Kobo Aura!

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Skydog

Unless I misunderstand, the device firmware version changes only as the result of an actual firmware upgrade. The editing of the version file will stick -- which is the file that is checked against looking for updates.

My memory said that if I changed the version number in the version file, it was displayed on the device information screen. I thought I had done this in the past. But, my memory might be wrong as it doesn't do this with 2.5.2.

But, what has changed is that the version file is rewritten when the device is restarted. Or it did the two times I tried it last night. That means that changing the version file isn't as useful as it was.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by 93terp

I ABSOLUTE do not miss the ads/"special offers" on the Kindle! One of the things I like the most about my Kobo Aura!

If you didn't want the ads on the Kindle, why did you buy the version that had them?

Shari

[moffattm]

Originally Posted by shalym

If you didn't want the ads on the Kindle, why did you buy the version that had them?

Shari

I was wondering the same thing?!?

[93terp]

Originally Posted by shalym

If you didn't want the ads on the Kindle, why did you buy the version that had them?

Shari

"Special offers" no longer really exist, for the most part, as theydid when they were introduced a few years ago. Granted, the ads only show up on the Home screen, but I don't miss seeing ads on the Kobo.

[TechniSol]

I really couldn't care less whether they waste a line or so of text on a title, it's not that big a deal really. But, it points out the larger issue of Kobo forcing things on the consumer. Let's be fair, that's generally pretty common practice, you can't please everyone. But, I would like to see them simply offer options. It wouldn't be such a big deal to simply offer a page of features you can check on or off. It's not like they haven't taken that approach regarding other firmware features, there are a number of settings pages.

From their standpoint the less differences and settings there are the more cohesive everything appears to the user and the lower the incidence of customer service calls for people who can't be bothered to look at settings screens or consult manuals. I get that. As a consumer I may not always appreciate it, but I get it...

The other way to approach it might be to recognize that generally consumers fall into two major categories: the Average User/neophyte and Advanced Users. With that in mind, you offer settings in a format that is harder to access than devices menus, but easily accessed by the advanced user. Put the settings in an .ini file and allow access to them through the bundled computer software or only through text editing tools so people have to dig a little deeper to change them or even know they're there.

Most of these settings would be items that you'd set and forget, so no real need to plug up the firmware with them. The software on the PC could be so simple as to read the settings file looking for text before the = sign to use as display prompts and offering True or False for the settings and simply write them back to the file. The nice part would be no pc software maintenance necessary as only the contents of the settings in the file would ever need to change as new options and firmware code were added since the PC software would be essentially ignorant and only offering settings based on the .ini file contents.

Just a thought.

[aceflor]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Ok here is a review, a comparison of the Aura vs the Kindle PW.
It is very interesting to notice how the reviewer points out at the "wasted space" in the Aura, making the total amount of text in a page almost equal to the same text on the 6" PW ...
This is interesting because it shows we are not the only ones noticing this "wasted space" issue.

"Because of the way Kobo formats things (aka books),There is very little benefit of having a larger screen on the Kobo"

Spot on !

Thanks Quexos for posting this review, which is excellent btw, I must say I find any review from Nathan really good. He has a very good blog.

Here another excerpt from his review, this time the written one :

When you have the two devices side-by-side, the screen size difference does not seem overly significant. The Aura HD’s screen is about half an inch wider and three quarters of an inch taller.

The crazy thing about the size difference is that it doesn’t necessarily mean the Kobo fits more text on the screen at one time than the Kindle. In fact, comparing the same exact ebook with the same exact font type, I was able to get the Paperwhite to display more text on the screen than the Aura HD. In the video below I demonstrated a situation where the Kobo had 1-3 more lines per page when comparing the same book, but I later found a more comparable font size that shows the Paperwhite displaying more lines per page, as the picture at the top of this post illustrates (click it to see a bigger image).

The amount of text you can fit on the screen is the opposite of what you’d expect simply because the Kobo ereaders waste so much screen space with spaces between paragraphs and a huge bar at the bottom to display the page numbers and one at the top of the screen to display the book’s title. Personally, I much prefer the Kindle’s way of formatting, but it all comes down to personal preference.

It is nice for the Kobo crowd if they can get the formatting they want, but for me, who has a PW and bought the Aura to get more and not less text on the screen, the Aura has turned out to be first not that great with 2.5.1 but then really a big disapointment with 2.5.2 As Kobo seems to be updating quite often, I will wait for whatever version the next one will be, but if it still has the same shenanigans, the Aura will land presto on ebay.

[roger64]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Ok here is a review, a comparison of the Aura vs the Kindle PW.
It is very interesting to notice how the reviewer points out at the "wasted space" in the Aura, making the total amount of text in a page almost equal to the same text on the 6" PW ...
This is interesting because it shows we are not the only ones noticing this "wasted space" issue.

Thanks for the link. I can't resist quoting you. This man knows indeed well its job and makes the point loud and clear.

Though he underlines "differences in formatting", he does not point however another formatting defect appearing on the Kobo : the top text line above (over the 10 figure, this one with the small ornament, not the title) is left-aligned while on the PW, it's centered. This is a kepub.epub bug I've already seen , and Kobo will very probably keep it for years ...

I do not understand also why there is a blank between paragraphs on the Kobo and not so on the PW, though I cannot say which is wrong here. I suspect Kobo again, but I cannot prove it.

PW seems to have a faithful formatting and Kobo an "inventive" (and unfaithful) one.

[Jaden]

I actually like the spaces between paragraphs. For me it's more comfortable to read that way, so I always format my ebooks to have them.

Also I can not really understand the obsession with how many lines of text you have on the screen. It's not like the reader gets any heavier with the books having more pages. And turning the page is very fast and easy. (Not saying that people aren't entitled to their opinions or that other people's preferences are stupid or anything - I just don't really get it...).

Having used a Kobo Touch before, I get much more text on my screen than I used to before (75 pages in my comfortable font sizes on the touch vs. 48 on the Aura, different font sizes - else it would still be 61 to 48). But I really just checked that once.

And I must admit I really didn't care about the amount of page turns needed to finish a book before and don't know - as long as we are talking about a few lines and pages. But reading some people (not everyone, of course) it sounds as if the amount of page turns had doubled.

Still voting for options, of course. And I think an "Advanced Options" section would be great. I don't think it needs to be some config file. A check box in the settings to show or not to show advanced options would be enough, I think.

[roger64]

Originally Posted by Jaden

I actually like the spaces between paragraphs. For me it's more comfortable to read that way, so I always format my ebooks to have them.

Of course, if you format them this way, it's perfectly OK (and faithful). But what if these spaces you do not like are forced on you on books that are supposed not to display them? It's always the same question again and again.

We have font options, line-height options, margins options, why can't we have a few formatting options (if only for advanced users)? This idea seems to reach a consensus here.

I can easily imagine, in .kobo, a css stylesheet with some different values among which you select your choice. Seems to be a no-brainer.

[ShellShock]

Here is the link to Nathan's written review comparing the Aura to the Kindle Paperwhite: http://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/201...-review-video/.

It is not epub vs kepub, or Aura vs Glo, or even Aura vs Sony that matters, but Aura vs Kindle Paperwhite, Kobo's main competitor. If I was the Aura product manager, I would be worried. "What do you mean, our flagship reader, with the biggest screen yet, shows less text than the Kindle?" Fortunately for Kobo this is a software problem and not a hardware problem. The hardware is great, the software is...improving and can be made better than the Kindle.

Regarding paragraph spacing (white space between paragraphs). I prefer to remove this myself (using Sigil), and would not trust code (Calibre, Kobo firmware etc) to do it. It is simple enough to set margin-top and margin-bottom to 0 on p elements, but this affects all paragraphs, not just the main body text. You end up with scrunched up table of contents, headings, title pages etc, which does not look pretty.

The trick is to only adjust/remove these margins for body text paragraphs, but these can be difficult to identify programmatically (I know, because I have tried with mixed success). It is personal preference as to how big a margin to allow between paragraphs: 1 line, half a line, none?

Also some paragraphs do not use p elements (divs etc). Once you remove the margin, you have to have a text-indent, but probably not on the first paragraph in a section/chapter. How big should the text-indent be (another personal preference)? It soon gets rather complicated.