kobo with sony firmware?

[rem736]

now that kobo has taken up on server former sony customers on the t1-t3 devices, do you think that kobo might pickup up the sony firmware and use that to their advantage on kobo devices?

[booklover6]

What about the Sony firmware do you find superior to the Kobo firmware?

[filmo]

With my Sony T1 when I scan library pages of book listings using slider I do not see nearly worthless library page numbers (Kobo) but author names, or book titles. This is like dictionary only having page numbers not not first word or last word on page.

Books on home screen has captions below each book cover with Title and Author, Kobo home screen has worthless % read. Sony uses overdrive to download public Library DRM books directly to reader and can also use Adobe software to place DRM Library books onto reader.

Sony Dictionary might be better than Kobo Dictionary.

Sony Readers still have buttons and touch screen.

My old Kobo readers are still getting firmware updates and new features some that Sony never had. Kobo understands open source software and does not try to obstruct unauthorized improvements to their readers. Many Sony readers have been bricked by owners of Sony readers trying to root their readers and use unauthorized software.

This is not all inclusive list.

[Amalthia]

I personally find the Sony PRS line of readers easier to use and navigate than the Kobo Glo. The Sony home screen makes more sense than the Kobo, which for some reason is saying I have 81 books in my library but my device has no books on it right now. That is confusing.

I would not mind if they used their firmware too. I've only had my Glo for a day and it's already having issues, I think I'm going to have perform a factory reset on the device and hope that works. It's far more buggy than the PRS-505, which I had to reset every once in a while.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

The Sony home screen makes more sense than the Kobo, which for some reason is saying I have 81 books in my library but my device has no books on it right now. That is confusing.

I completely 100% prefer the Kobo home screen, but that's just me.

Those 81 books are probably what you have in your Kobo "cloud." Go to settings, library, and check "only show downloaded items." That should take care of the mysterious 81.

What other issues are you having?

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by filmo

With my Sony T1 when I scan library pages of book listings using slider I do not see nearly worthless library page numbers (Kobo) but author names, or book titles.

I do not find this worthless. I find the page numbers very helpful.

Originally Posted by filmo

Books on home screen has captions below each book cover with Title and Author, Kobo home screen has worthless % read.

Again, I find it helpful. I would much rather see the percentage.

Originally Posted by filmo

Sony uses overdrive to download public Library DRM books directly to reader and can also use Adobe software to place DRM Library books onto reader.

That could be useful, yes, if one didn't want to make any formatting changes. I run everything through Calibre and format to my taste before loading to the reader.

Everyone has their own opinions, of course, but I prefer what Kobo firmware does to all others that I have tried.

[Amalthia]

Originally Posted by booklover6

I completely 100% prefer the Kobo home screen, but that's just me.

Those 81 books are probably what you have in your Kobo "cloud." Go to settings, library, and check "only show downloaded items." That should take care of the mysterious 81.

What other issues are you having?

Hi thanks for the tip on only showing downloaded items, I'll give it a try.

Right now, I'm not sure what is wrong, the three books I downloaded to my device won't open, or they open but I only see blank white screen. I have to reboot the device to return to the home screen.

When I connected the device to my computer, a sync error appears in the Kobo software. I suspect that may be why I can't access the ebooks. It was working when I went to bed last night. I left it plugged in to charge and this morning I can't open any of the books.

I had disabled the sync because I prefer to manually add items to the book through Calibre and I did turn off the wi-fi. I only received the device last night so I haven't had much time learn how to use it. I didn't think I had time to break it already.

Maybe, something went wrong with the database when I connected and used Calibre to add ebooks to the device?

I suspect with time the layout of the device will begin to make more sense. The Sony devices were never connected to the cloud (which for me was a selling point).

Currently, I am happy I was able to add my own fonts and that the light is adjustable. Now I just need to figure out how how to add my own stuff to the device and leave the Kobo library out of the picture. In hindsight, I should have created a dummy kobo account with zero books in the library since I prefer to use Calibre to manage the books on my device.

Thanks for offering to help,
Amalthia

[ShellShock]

The Sony English dictionary is definitely much better than Kobo's offering. Sony licenses a version of the Oxford English Dictionary (as do Amazon for the Kindle) and this is superior, in my opinion, to the Merriam Webster used by Kobo. I imagine this helps Kobo to keep costs down, but I would prefer to pay a little extra for a better dictionary.

[JSWolf]

I've always said this and I'll still say it. What we need is to get the Sony Reader engineers to have a go at the Kobo firmware to fix all those bugs in the system whil keeping the customizable features of the Kobo firmware. Imagine how much better Kobo Readers would sell with fairly bug free firmware.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by filmo

With my Sony T1 when I scan library pages of book listings using slider I do not see nearly worthless library page numbers (Kobo) but author names, or book titles.

I answered already, but after checking my devices, I find myself confused. When scanning the library pages of book listings, I see page # of # on both devices.

Both listings also show me author names, book titles, series name and # (series info shows as a result of my Calibre settings). You should at least see author and title, depending on the list view you are using, of course.

So what are you seeing that I am not?

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

Hi thanks for the tip on only showing downloaded items, I'll give it a try.

Right now, I'm not sure what is wrong, the three books I downloaded to my device won't open, or they open but I only see blank white screen. I have to reboot the device to return to the home screen.

I forget which firmwares were notorious for that. On the most recent one that I recall it happening, I just pressed the top edge twice and then the menu section would show up, with the book text under it. Touch the text to make the menu block go away and begin reading.

Originally Posted by Amalthia

Maybe, something went wrong with the database when I connected and used Calibre to add ebooks to the device?

Currently, I am happy I was able to add my own fonts and that the light is adjustable. Now I just need to figure out how how to add my own stuff to the device and leave the Kobo library out of the picture. In hindsight, I should have created a dummy kobo account with zero books in the library since I prefer to use Calibre to manage the books on my device.

Thanks for offering to help,
Amalthia

I personally never turn on wifi or sync with Kobo desktop, aside from when I first register the device. I don't download anything from the cloud. I don't want any firmware updates that I haven't planned on getting. I have the auto sync turned off under settings. Of course that won't work for people who want to sync or use Pocket.

You can use Calibre to "check database." But if you log out and log back in, that will fix or update your database as well. (not sure if you must turn wifi on for that).

Using a dummy account is a good idea. I have done that. You can still do that if you want to.

[filmo]

Sorry I didn't clearly explain how Sony home page and library is better than Kobo.

When my Kobo touch is on library page everything looks ok. I like the list view with out covers. Kobo listing 5 book to a page. Sony T1 has 9 books on each list view page. Both Sony and Kobo I like equally.

With library page, cover view Kobo has 6 covers on each page with larger covers making it more likely I'll be able to read author and title on each cover. Sony has 8 covers one each library page with book title and Author captions below each cover meaning I don't have to read small print on each cover.

Kobo Touch has a slider bar at bottom of library page with arrows at each end. Use arrows to move one page or touch circle on slider brings up box with page numbers 3 of 8 for example and numbers in box change as I move the slider. Sony T1, when I touch numbers at bottom of library page, pops up similar slider at bottom of page. But when I touch the square slider, up pops Title or Author of book at top left of library page. As I move the slider Title or Author quickly changes giving best information of location in library for how it is sorted. This makes Kobo page numbers in box look lame. I knew kobo's number in box were not very useful only seeing how it should be done with Sony's example.

Percent read below each book on Kobo home screen is useless when I can not read the Title or Author on each cover unless using magnifying glass or waste reading time adding new covers that I can read on Kobo's home screen. Percent read on my Kobo home screen is mostly useless 1% or other low number indicating it was once opened. Book Title and Author captions below or above each cover would be better use of space than percent read.

I do appreciate all of the big and small improvements to Kobo firmware. The few bugs are quickly fixed in reasonable time and provide never ending entertainment here at mobileread.com .

[rem736]

on the sony firmware, the home screen is focused on reading and only reading. if you want to access any other feature, you just have to switch to the "applications" tab. i don't like how the homescreen on the kobo changes everytime you access something new, like the handwiting app or a game or on syncing. whenever you sync on kobo, the suggestions tile would always show up...is there a way to turn this off?

sony also compartmentalizes pictures from books. kobo doesn't care to make a difference. you can also select among the pictures you want to use as the standby screen. and the dictionary on sony is definitely better.

the only thing i don't like about the sony firmware is that extra fonts you want to use are a lot more difficult to load.

it is true that the kobo firmware is infinitely more customizable, but bugs plague that benefit for me.

[robko]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

Right now, I'm not sure what is wrong, the three books I downloaded to my device won't open, or they open but I only see blank white screen. I have to reboot the device to return to the home screen.

When I connected the device to my computer, a sync error appears in the Kobo software. I suspect that may be why I can't access the ebooks. It was working when I went to bed last night. I left it plugged in to charge and this morning I can't open any of the books.

I had disabled the sync because I prefer to manually add items to the book through Calibre and I did turn off the wi-fi. I only received the device last night so I haven't had much time learn how to use it. I didn't think I had time to break it already.

Maybe, something went wrong with the database when I connected and used Calibre to add ebooks to the device?

Sounds like your database got corrupted somewhere. Did you PROPERLY eject the device before unplugging it from your computer (I believe there is an eject function in Calibre or else via Windows)? Not doing so will often mess up a Kobo database. There are a lot of things (i.e. USB keys) that don't require you to eject them anymore, so a lot of people just assume you don't need to with the Kobo.