Aura NEW Kobo Aura Impressions Thread!

[slantybard]

Originally Posted by cr3nk

Hi aceflor,
it looks like "Scrape" marks of silver-black-silver... Like I said not too peeved by it.

What I am concerned with is the uneven lighting which seems to be yellower on the top as illustrated in the last photo attached.

My Aura doesn't have the marks on the edges nor the light variance that yours does.

[aceflor]

Cr3nk: if the blotches bother you, send the Aura back and ask for a replacement. I would mind having them, because after a while reading they really tire your eyes.

[samhy]

Originally Posted by cr3nk

My ComfortLight looks yellower on the top of the device than the bottom.

You guys reckon I should get it changed?

Hello cr3nk, my first Aura HD had an uneven screen too (slightly yellow on the top and bluish on the bottom) and a couple of clear points on the screen. I went back to the shop to get an exchange and there I choose another Aura HD with a serial number as far as possible from the one I was taking back. This second one is perfect: a screen that can be the illustration of evenness and no clear points.
I don't regret exchanging it

[cr3nk]

Thanks for the input ace and samhy,

Have emailed kobo and see what they say. Can't do a physical store exchange as I ordered through the website. Here's to hoping the exchange procedure will be quick and painless.

P.S. This device is a beauty. Should any of you want closeups of the unit let me know happy to help show you what this device is like. (Other than the screen which in my case might be a poor representation of other units)

[samhy]

I am still wondering how easy/difficult it is to highlight several words or a sentence. On the IR screen models it isn't that great

[Lyn2012]

Originally Posted by samhy

I am still wondering how easy/difficult it is to highlight several words or a sentence. On the IR screen models it isn't that great

IMO it's still not great, I expected better with a capacitive screen. However I'm coming from a Paperwhite, so maybe have different expectations in this area.
It is one of the few things I prefer on the PW, together with full page of text and time left in chapter. Otherwise, it's lovely to have the Calibre integration and font choices without the need to jailbreak and patch.

[samhy]

Originally Posted by Lyn2012

IMO it's still not great, I expected better with a capacitive screen. However I'm coming from a Paperwhite, so maybe have different expectations in this area.
It is one of the few things I prefer on the PW, together with full page of text and time left in chapter. Otherwise, it's lovely to have the Calibre integration and font choices without the need to jailbreak and patch.

From what I've seen, the PW is leagues ahead to Kobo when it comes to highlight.
Do you know that you can see the percentage if you're reading a kepub ebook? You need to prompt the menu and it's written in the left bottom side. Not as straightforward as with a PW, but it's here.
However, I don't know if that's one of the thing that disappears with the 2.9.0 firmware

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by samhy

Do you know that you can see the percentage if you're reading a kepub ebook? You need to prompt the menu and it's written in the left bottom side. Not as straightforward as with a PW, but it's here.
However, I don't know if that's one of the thing that disappears with the 2.9.0 firmware

The percent read has been moved to the top bar when it is displayed. First, the time comes up and a few seconds later it changes to the percent read.

[mr_nihilism]

Originally Posted by cr3nk

Noticed that the painting along the side bezels are uneven, kind of like how your tablet or any device will look after many years of use and the paint peels.

Sounds similar to the problem I ran into, but the two Aura's I had to exchange were affected along the top. Not noticeable at all until the frontlight was used and then the light would shine right through the flawed seal.

Careful with that paint/sealant or you'll have a serious distraction.

Originally Posted by samhy

I am still wondering how easy/difficult it is to highlight several words or a sentence. On the IR screen models it isn't that great

I've only tried it the once, but it did seem easier than on the Glo.

[Lyn2012]

Originally Posted by davidfor

The percent read has been moved to the top bar when it is displayed. First, the time comes up and a few seconds later it changes to the percent read.

Thanks, but I'm not so bothered about percent read, X/Y pages is sufficient. It is the time remaining in chapter that I miss. However, even if it were available for kepubs, I don't like the wasted screen space with these so I am using side-loaded pubs.

[lilim]

Got my new aura on friday (despite the tracking saying Monday) from Hong Kong. Love it so far and havn't noticed any dots, or uneven lighting. Its faster, higher res, and more clear then my touch that broke a few months ago. I also, like how they changed the page turning. Overall, its a nice upgrade for me. I'm not super picky so its possible there are some small variances in the device I haven't noticed, but nothing that at all gets in the way of having a good reading experience. In the future I'd certainly be interested in a 7-10 inch tablet like e-reader designed for reading pdfs and two-columned articles. That'd be awesome for reading published papers.

Wish I ordered the cover which is out of stock. Any word on aftermarket covers? Even a neoprene case would work ok for my needs (Throwing inside a backpack alot).

[donnieparker]

Just got my Aura today, and thankfully it's in perfect shape. I'm sorry some people were getting ones with poor QC. I hope the defective units are the exception, not the rule.

Overall, I really like this device. Super light, the screen is clear, and the light is really nice. The capacitive screen is taking input very well, and the reader seems extremely responsive.

I'm coming from a Nook Simple Touch w/ GlowLight, and the improvement is pretty huge (I stopped using Nook because I had two broken units in a row—the first developed a pinhole crack in the screen, and the second one, the touch screen completely stopped working).

These are just first impressions, but I like what I am seeing so far. Can't wait to dig into my first book on this!

[tls]

An update...

Today I returned my Aura

The reason I decided to return it wasn't because of the pinpricks, or that it was yellow at the top and white at the bottom (like cr3nk), or because the dark was grey - but because it barfed on my Japanese e-books. I will be living in Japan from next month and I may as well buy one there after the firmware works with Japanese books and hopefully the issues with the screen have been sorted. As a bonus, it will probably be half price too! The Kobo Glo is currently 8000 yen in Japan which is about 55 GBP, nearly half of the UK price.

[cr3nk]

Originally Posted by mr_nihilism

Sounds similar to the problem I ran into, but the two Aura's I had to exchange were affected along the top. Not noticeable at all until the frontlight was used and then the light would shine right through the flawed seal.

Careful with that paint/sealant or you'll have a serious

Just did a test in the dark and found that the light IS leaking out just like you said from the side.

I'm not pissed or anything. Just hope I can get a good unit with even lighting so it's not so distracting when I'm reading.

[Canuck_in_Japan]

Originally Posted by tls

An update...

Today I returned my Aura

The reason I decided to return it wasn't because of the pinpricks, or that it was yellow at the top and white at the bottom (like cr3nk), or because the dark was grey - but because it barfed on my Japanese e-books. I will be living in Japan from next month and I may as well buy one there after the firmware works with Japanese books and hopefully the issues with the screen have been sorted. As a bonus, it will probably be half price too! The Kobo Glo is currently 8000 yen in Japan which is about 55 GBP, nearly half of the UK price.

The Kobo Glo is amazingly cheap alright (about $78 tax inc) but it's two gens old tech. So far there's been no indication of the Aura being released over here in Japan.