A new Kobo reader - Page 10

shanghaichica · 08-31-2013, 08:16 AM

Yeah I much prefer Lisa Gade from mobile Tech or Nathan from the ereader but at the moment good ereader have the only video reviews.

GeoffR · 08-31-2013, 08:49 AM

So does the new Aura have a metal bezel like the prototype did? It is hard to tell from the video if it is polished metal or just shiny plastic.

Very misleading to compare with a Glo running old firmware too. A lot of the differences they point out would disappear if they would just update the Glo, adjust some settings, and load the same books.

booklover6 · 08-31-2013, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeoffR

So does the new Aura have a metal bezel like the prototype did? It is hard to tell from the video if it is polished metal or just shiny plastic.

Very misleading to compare with a Glo running old firmware too. A lot of the differences they point out would disappear if they would just update the Glo, adjust some settings, and load the same books.

Yes it was at least 2 firmware upgrades in the past! How ridiculous. I watched the comparison...with no sound! I never listen to those guys.

I like the look of the device (the flat screen). For half price, I would be tempted to get one. So maybe next year. At this time I am very happy with my Kobo Glo.

Canuck_in_Japan · 08-31-2013, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

For me it's their voices. Michael sounds like he talks while someone is holding his nose closed.

Actually they both have very "nasaly" and high-pitched voices to me, both of which I find annoying in reviews.

And after listening to the review anyway, doesn't the Kindle Paperwhite have capacitive touch? They go on praising that the Kobo Aura is the very first capacitive touch e-ink screen.

And all I see still is a lot of wasted space in the text.

There's really nothing about the new Aura that tempts me in the least. Especially the bit shinier finish which gives more glare.

For me it's partly that they're basically idiots and partly because they take 16 minutes for a video that has 5 actual minutes of information.

buffaloseven · 08-31-2013, 10:34 AM

I think the biggest benefits to the Aura (having never touched one myself) are the new screen with fewer refreshes (and it seemed a smidge clearer w/better contrast), smaller size while maintaining the 6" form factor, and the improved responsiveness of the capacitive screen, including multi-touch gestures.

psv · 08-31-2013, 10:44 AM

In the videos there was one big difference between (the new) Aura and Glo: the speed of dictionary lookup. Is it just because the Glo was with an old firmware? The painfully slow dictionary was the main reason why I decided not to buy a Glo last December, despite the gorgeous screen. My (relatively) old sony PRS350 has a dictionary which is much faster (and also more complete). There is another thing with the dictionary: if the lookup fails, sometimes it's enough to delete a couple of characters from the end of the word. On Glo (when I tried it) it was very complicated (on PRS350 it's easy). Did this thing get improved in more recent firmwares on Glo (or on Aura HD)?

One thing I don't like about the new Aura - the header is even bigger than on Glo (the screen is not so big that it should be filled with useless information; I have the feeling that the 5" sceen of PSR350 is showing as much text as this 6" screen). And when they talk about the "pdf experience" - how about automatic margin crop? Pocketbook 360 could do it!

anacreon · 08-31-2013, 12:04 PM

One thing which interested me in the video is the return to library button bottom left: if they have improved the navigation, I hope it will be available for older models. Poor navigation is what annoys me most on Kobos compared to Sonys, before dictionaries and PDFs (though I'm definitely not interested in the T3).

filmo · 08-31-2013, 01:35 PM

I'm definitely interested to see T-3 actual features not rumors that could be right or wrong.

shanghaichica · 08-31-2013, 04:05 PM

Verses the Paperwhite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcC9BywDgYM

They are still insisting on the fact that the Aura has the first capacitive touch screen. Yet they contradict themselves later on.

rxmom03 · 08-31-2013, 07:36 PM

I really like the 2-finger swipe to control the light, the refresh rate and the pinch-and-zoom. Are these things that other Kobo ereaders could get with a FW update (specifically the Aura HD) or would they have more to do with the hardware/screen?
Basically I am trying to decide between the Aura HD and the Aura 6" without getting to lay hands on either one before I buy (sadly, it is 2 hours away from the nearest independent store that sells Kobo ereaders). For me, if the Aura HD could have all these updates, that would be wonderful!

Mary

Canuck_in_Japan · 08-31-2013, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shanghaichica

Verses the Paperwhite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcC9BywDgYM

They are still insisting on the fact that the Aura has the first capacitive touch screen. Yet they contradict themselves later on.

I think he meant that the screen flush with bezel capacitive screen is the first.

Also:

Quote:

...some new features indicative to only the Kobo

I don't think that word means what he thinks it means. Normally I wouldn't criticize but that wasn't the first time he's said it.

Canuck_in_Japan · 08-31-2013, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rxmom03

I really like the 2-finger swipe to control the light, the refresh rate and the pinch-and-zoom. Are these things that other Kobo ereaders could get with a FW update (specifically the Aura HD) or would they have more to do with the hardware/screen?
Basically I am trying to decide between the Aura HD and the Aura 6" without getting to lay hands on either one before I buy (sadly, it is 2 hours away from the nearest independent store that sells Kobo ereaders). For me, if the Aura HD could have all these updates, that would be wonderful!

Mary

I think that most of the features that you mentioned are dependent on a capacitive screen. If that's what you're into I would suggest going with the Aura. For me the only real advantage of the HD is the added screen real estate.

TechniSol · 08-31-2013, 09:12 PM

The Neonode IR hardware is supposed to be able to support pinch and zoom, I believe it was incorporated in other Neonode based readers. Why it was never incorporated in the Kobo models is a very good question. It might be due to an omission or mistake in the hardware interface to the Neonode hardware. But, there are lots of questions concerning firmware features that might have been developed and never were implemented like an OVERRIDE button in the menus that would force the rendering of epubs with the user settings, etc. In all fairness, pinch to zoom is really a high level cool feature for a touch interface, but you don't have to have it. It just indicates a level of sophistication in the interface design.

rxmom03 · 08-31-2013, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

I think that most of the features that you mentioned are dependent on a capacitive screen. If that's what you're into I would suggest going with the Aura. For me the only real advantage of the HD is the added screen real estate.

Thanks!

meeera · 08-31-2013, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

I don't think that word means what he thinks it means. Normally I wouldn't criticize but that wasn't the first time he's said it.

ARGH I hear you. Also, "PDF is the oldest and most popular format on the internet" (gah, no), "backlight", "backlight", and "backlight". (I'm watching the Aura/Paperwhite comparison.) If you can't remember, why not just say "light"? It's not that hard. Also, it's called PANNING, not ZOOMING, when you move around a PDF without changing the size. (Again, over and over and over.)

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08-31-2013, 08:16 AM	#136
shanghaichica Guru Posts: 991 Karma: 5782970 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Scribe,Kindle Oasis 3, iPad Pro 11,15 Pro Max,iPad mini 7,colorsoft	Yeah I much prefer Lisa Gade from mobile Tech or Nathan from the ereader but at the moment good ereader have the only video reviews.

08-31-2013, 08:49 AM	#137
GeoffR Wizard Posts: 3,821 Karma: 19162882 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Te Riu-a-Māui Device: Kobo Glo	So does the new Aura have a metal bezel like the prototype did? It is hard to tell from the video if it is polished metal or just shiny plastic. Very misleading to compare with a Glo running old firmware too. A lot of the differences they point out would disappear if they would just update the Glo, adjust some settings, and load the same books.

08-31-2013, 10:34 AM	#140
buffaloseven Watching the Sky Posts: 239 Karma: 634112 Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Winnipeg, MB Device: Kobo Aura	I think the biggest benefits to the Aura (having never touched one myself) are the new screen with fewer refreshes (and it seemed a smidge clearer w/better contrast), smaller size while maintaining the 6" form factor, and the improved responsiveness of the capacitive screen, including multi-touch gestures.

08-31-2013, 10:44 AM	#141
psv Connoisseur Posts: 70 Karma: 1506158 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: kobo aura h2o, remarkable	In the videos there was one big difference between (the new) Aura and Glo: the speed of dictionary lookup. Is it just because the Glo was with an old firmware? The painfully slow dictionary was the main reason why I decided not to buy a Glo last December, despite the gorgeous screen. My (relatively) old sony PRS350 has a dictionary which is much faster (and also more complete). There is another thing with the dictionary: if the lookup fails, sometimes it's enough to delete a couple of characters from the end of the word. On Glo (when I tried it) it was very complicated (on PRS350 it's easy). Did this thing get improved in more recent firmwares on Glo (or on Aura HD)? One thing I don't like about the new Aura - the header is even bigger than on Glo (the screen is not so big that it should be filled with useless information; I have the feeling that the 5" sceen of PSR350 is showing as much text as this 6" screen). And when they talk about the "pdf experience" - how about automatic margin crop? Pocketbook 360 could do it!

08-31-2013, 12:04 PM	#142
anacreon Guru Posts: 978 Karma: 3475832 Join Date: May 2012 Location: France Device: Elipsa, Sage, Libra 2	One thing which interested me in the video is the return to library button bottom left: if they have improved the navigation, I hope it will be available for older models. Poor navigation is what annoys me most on Kobos compared to Sonys, before dictionaries and PDFs (though I'm definitely not interested in the T3).

08-31-2013, 01:35 PM	#143
filmo Wizard Posts: 1,326 Karma: 1077205 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Kobo Touch, Sony T1, Kobo Mini	I'm definitely interested to see T-3 actual features not rumors that could be right or wrong.

08-31-2013, 04:05 PM	#144
shanghaichica Guru Posts: 991 Karma: 5782970 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Scribe,Kindle Oasis 3, iPad Pro 11,15 Pro Max,iPad mini 7,colorsoft	Verses the Paperwhite https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcC9BywDgYM They are still insisting on the fact that the Aura has the first capacitive touch screen. Yet they contradict themselves later on.

08-31-2013, 07:36 PM	#145
rxmom03 Addict Posts: 222 Karma: 539264 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: DFW, TX Device: Kobo Clara 2E, Kobo Libra Colour, iPhone, iPad	I really like the 2-finger swipe to control the light, the refresh rate and the pinch-and-zoom. Are these things that other Kobo ereaders could get with a FW update (specifically the Aura HD) or would they have more to do with the hardware/screen? Basically I am trying to decide between the Aura HD and the Aura 6" without getting to lay hands on either one before I buy (sadly, it is 2 hours away from the nearest independent store that sells Kobo ereaders). For me, if the Aura HD could have all these updates, that would be wonderful! Mary

08-31-2013, 09:12 PM	#148
TechniSol GranPohbah-Fezzes r cool! Posts: 1,056 Karma: 3151024 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Nook STRs, Kobo Touch, Kobo Glo	The Neonode IR hardware is supposed to be able to support pinch and zoom, I believe it was incorporated in other Neonode based readers. Why it was never incorporated in the Kobo models is a very good question. It might be due to an omission or mistake in the hardware interface to the Neonode hardware. But, there are lots of questions concerning firmware features that might have been developed and never were implemented like an OVERRIDE button in the menus that would force the rendering of epubs with the user settings, etc. In all fairness, pinch to zoom is really a high level cool feature for a touch interface, but you don't have to have it. It just indicates a level of sophistication in the interface design.