How many people have issues with their H2O? Is it manageable?

[pickyaxe]

I'm thinking of buying the H2O, but since it's replacing a device that has many frustrating problems (Onyx T68), I'm a little concerned when I read about people having freezes and what not.

How often do freezes happen? Is the device problematic when used outside (heat causing device hangs)? Any other issues you had to deal with?

Since I'm importing the device getting it fixed with Kobo is a big headache.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pickyaxe

I'm thinking of buying the H2O, but since it's replacing a device that has many frustrating problems (Onyx T68), I'm a little concerned when I read about people having freezes and what not.

How often do freezes happen? Is the device problematic when used outside (heat causing device hangs)? Any other issues you had to deal with?

Since I'm importing the device getting it fixed with Kobo is a big headache.

You only read of issue from those that have them. People who have working devices don't go around posting that their device is working. A non-working H2O is not the norm. It's the exception.

My H2O is working very well. I bought it from Chapters. It arrived here in the USA in four days. I ordered it on Wednesday night and it arrived Sunday morning.

[pickyaxe]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You only read of issue from those that have them. People who have working devices don't go around posting that their device is working.

My H2O is working very well. I bought it from Chapters. It arrived here in the USA in four days. I ordered it on Wednesday night and it arrived Sunday morning.

That's exactly why I'm asking. Kobo is a non-leading brand for the niche market that is ereaders. There's not a lot of info out there. Making this survey is the best way to get info from ereader power users.

[icallaci]

My H20 hasn't frozen even a single time since I've had it (several months now). I love it.

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by pickyaxe

Kobo is a non-leading brand for the niche market that is ereaders.

I think it depends TOTALLY on the area you are looking at. Maybe in the US they are non leading; I think you might find that not to be true elsewhere in the world.

Can you give us an idea of how you plan to use your Kobo ereader? Examples: purchasing from Kobo, borrowing library books, sideloading third-party ePubs, installing modifications, whether you have a large or a small collection of books?

The reason is simple enough: while Kobo ereaders are usually reliable, there are quirks that you may want to be aware of and it's easier for people to comment on those if they know what you are expecting.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by pickyaxe

I'm thinking of buying the H2O, but since it's replacing a device that has many frustrating problems (Onyx T68), I'm a little concerned when I read about people having freezes and what not.

How often do freezes happen? Is the device problematic when used outside (heat causing device hangs)? Any other issues you had to deal with?

Since I'm importing the device getting it fixed with Kobo is a big headache.

One thing to remember is that very few of those without issues are going to be posting on-line. They're happily reading.

Hmmm... the only freezes I've seen have been rather rare and mostly when I am highlighting in a sideloaded epub. I've haven't seen over heating issues but then this area is not noted for heat. Lots of rain but not that much heat.

For me, the main item is to make sure that any sideloaded epubs are standards compliant. Use Flightcrew/Sigil and/or epubcheck before sideloading your ebooks. I've had commercial epubs including a fair number of library loans that had issues and when checked into, had oddities such as stuffing the entire ebook into a single file, styles that are not permitted in epubs though they are part of the CSS spec, graphics that have no size control so on a Touch they overflow the screen and on a Aura HD/H2O, they are tucked in the upper left of the screen, etc. The publishers are getting better at being compliant and the majority of commercial epubs are now pretty decent but you still find a lot of the older epubs that have not been re-edited.

Most of the other issues I've seen have been self-inflicted so I can't complain that they are Kobo's fault. Alternate readers, menuing software, etc. are fun to play with but tend to cause issues.

[darryl]

I am very happy with my H2O. I have had a couple of freezes, but they are very rare, and this is not a concern to me. It is probably worth checking out Harry's thread on H2O v Voyage. He settled on the Voyage because he thought the screen tap accuracy on the H2O was not sufficient for his purposes.

[pickyaxe]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I think it depends TOTALLY on the area you are looking at. Maybe in the US they are non leading; I think you might find that not to be true elsewhere in the world.

Well, my point is there are few Kobo reviews compared to Kindles.

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Can you give us an idea of how you plan to use your Kobo ereader?

Sideloading epubs, reading PDFs with KOReader and reading Pocket articles that I already use with my T68. I've already determined the Kobo is the best device for me, feature wise.
For a while now I've been waiting for an updated Kobo device because one is probably coming soon, but I've since realized that Kobo does what I want right now. I'd prefer if the H2O shaved those bezels and if the screen was flush (the Kobo Aura is a real beauty) but it's not that important in the grand scheme of things and the dustproofing is cool.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by DNSB

One thing to remember is that very few of those without issues are going to be posting on-line. They're happily reading.

Like we should be doing.

Hmmm... the only freezes I've seen have been rather rare and mostly when I am highlighting in a sideloaded epub.

Those are the only freezes I've seen as well. And I saw them with my Glo, so it's software problem not hardware

I've haven't seen over heating issues but then this area is not noted for heat. Lots of rain but not that much heat.

It was over 30ºC here last weekend and the H2O had no problems. The user, that was a different matter.

[biteme]

I had some freezes with my Touch Glo. I pulled it apart and found that Kobo had switched from branded Sandisk micro SD memory cards, as used in the previous year's non-Glo Touch, to unbranded cards.

I deleted all the books from the unbranded 2GB OEM card, cloned that card to a 4GB Sandisk card that I had taken out of a phone, expanded the data partition, put it all back together, put the books back on, and never had another freeze.

If the device had continued to freeze I would have wiped the Sandisk card and obtained a factory ROM from somewhere. Thankfully, that wasn't necessary.

I have found that that most problems with SD card based devices are fixed by replacing whatever junk OEM SD card has been installed at the factory with a genuine Sandisk card. Don't buy them over the internet, go to a reputable store. There are a lot of fakes around. Don't bother with an ultra fast one, a class 4 is just fine. We're talking about tiny operating system and ePub files that have been split to <260mb, not 5+GB photos.

Pulling apart a Touch Glo is not for the faint hearted as the Glo's case tolerances are a lot tighter than the basic Touch. If you are risk averse and it is still under warranty take it back to your supplier.

I really hope that I don't have this issue with the H2O is even harder to pull apart. So far, so good...

[biteme]

If you want to test whether the internal micro SD card is the problem, it is (or was) possible to boot the Kobo from an external card. I haven't done it, except to try Android once, and that wasn't very nice. Google is your friend.

Copy a factory ROM to the external card, do whatever voodoo magic is required to get the Kobo to boot from the external card, and see if that solves the problem. At least, that's the theory.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by biteme

Touch Glo

It's driving me nuts! There is a "Kobo Touch" and a "Kobo Glo". There is no "Touch Glo".

[murg]

Originally Posted by davidfor

It's driving me nuts! There is a "Kobo Touch" and a "Kobo Glo". There is no "Touch Glo".

That's just what they want you to think...

Originally Posted by pickyaxe

Sideloading epubs, reading PDFs with KOReader and reading Pocket articles that I already use with my T68. I've already determined the Kobo is the best device for me, feature wise.

Sideloaded ePubs: I have not had any issues, but I have read about freezes from other users on these forums. It is also worth noting that Kobo uses separate software for KePub and ePub books, and some features are not available in the latter (e.g. most reading statistics). Converting to KePub via Calibre will only help in some respects.

KOReader: be sure to read every applicable post before installing Kobo Start Menu and KOReader. The software is very good, but recovery on the H2O is tricky if something goes wrong.

Pocket: only some articles can be accessed on the H2O. (Generally, anything that Pocket presents as an article. Anything that it presents as a webpage will not appear.)

If you are interested in specific bugs/quirks, you may want to browse the bugs thread and firmware specific threads.

That said, I am very happy with Kobo readers.