Kobo Glo HD

[j777p]

Hey guys I'm new here. Now that some of you have had the Glo HD for a few weeks at least, how are you finding it? I'm currently very stuck between the PW2 and the Glo HD, I'm coming from a kindle keyboard.

I've heard with the Glo HD that the inside bezel is annoying and that the battery life it's great? Are Kobo also reliable devices?

Also anyone with a PW2 as well would be great to let me know how they stack up. I've read the which one should i buy posts but they haven't really helped.

Will be loading books through calibre so ecosystem isn't important.

Thanks

[stutzj]

Originally Posted by j777p

Hey guys I'm new here. Now that some of you have had the Glo HD for a few weeks at least, how are you finding it? I'm currently very stuck between the PW2 and the Glo HD, I'm coming from a kindle keyboard.

I've heard with the Glo HD that the inside bezel is annoying and that the battery life it's great? Are Kobo also reliable devices?

Also anyone with a PW2 as well would be great to let me know how they stack up. I've read the which one should i buy posts but they haven't really helped.

Will be loading books through calibre so ecosystem isn't important.

Thanks

I preordered the Glo HD and have been using it for about 5 weeks now. Before that I was using a PW2 for a little over a year.

For me, the biggest reason for switching ereaders was to upgrade my screen. The 300ppi makes a big difference to me. In direct sunlight, I could occasionally notice the e-ink pixels on my PW2 but with the Glo HD, the text is completely sharp and looks about the same as text on a printed page. I love the screen. I love the fonts options and the text weight options. The contrast is the best I have seen on any ereader. The PW2's text looks faded and grey next to the Glo HD.

My Glo HD light is perfectly uniform. I love the PW2 light as well.

I have noticed the light reflection on the inner bezel but usually only when in direct sunlight. If I am inside with one light source, it is barely noticeable. It is a matter of slightly adjusting the viewing angle and the problem disappears. Really does not bother me at all.

PW2 is a little more user friendly overall. The software, the ecosystem(which does not matter to you) is better.

The Glo HD's size is perfect for me. Noticeably lighter and smaller than the PW2. The build quality is not as good though. The Glo HD feels very plasticy, I can sometimes hear the plastic creak when I move it slightly. I now have the Omoton case which is a very well designed case that fits the Glo HD perfectly. It looks and feels much more solid with the case and I do not hear the plastic creak.

If you go with the Glo HD, be sure to change your Kobo to add the "read full page" option. I forget exactly where I found the trick but it is on the Mobileread forums. Maybe someone else can you with that. Gives you a lot more screen real estate.

I absolutely recommend going with the Glo HD. I also owned the Voyage before returning it because of the two toned screen and would go with the Glo HD if I had to choose. I'm very happy with it overall.

[j777p]

Originally Posted by stutzj

I preordered the Glo HD and have been using it for about 5 weeks now. Before that I was using a PW2 for a little over a year.

For me, the biggest reason for switching ereaders was to upgrade my screen. The 300ppi makes a big difference to me. In direct sunlight, I could occasionally notice the e-ink pixels on my PW2 but with the Glo HD, the text is completely sharp and looks about the same as text on a printed page. I love the screen. I love the fonts options and the text weight options. The contrast is the best I have seen on any ereader. The PW2's text looks faded and grey next to the Glo HD.

My Glo HD light is perfectly uniform. I love the PW2 light as well.

I have noticed the light reflection on the inner bezel but usually only when in direct sunlight. If I am inside with one light source, it is barely noticeable. It is a matter of slightly adjusting the viewing angle and the problem disappears. Really does not bother me at all.

PW2 is a little more user friendly overall. The software, the ecosystem(which does not matter to you) is better.

The Glo HD's size is perfect for me. Noticeably lighter and smaller than the PW2. The build quality is not as good though. The Glo HD feels very plasticy, I can sometimes hear the plastic creak when I move it slightly. I now have the Omoton case which is a very well designed case that fits the Glo HD perfectly. It looks and feels much more solid with the case and I do not hear the plastic creak.

If you go with the Glo HD, be sure to change your Kobo to add the "read full page" option. I forget exactly where I found the trick but it is on the Mobileread forums. Maybe someone else can you with that. Gives you a lot more screen real estate.

I absolutely recommend going with the Glo HD. I also owned the Voyage before returning it because of the two toned screen and would go with the Glo HD if I had to choose. I'm very happy with it overall.

Thanks for the detailed reply, I really appreciate it!

Do you use pocket much? (how is it?) and is the battery life good? I heard some saying that the kindle is better. And finally any issues with calibre pushed books having formatting issues? and also general lag on the device?

Sorry for so many questions, just want to make a good choice with something that will last another 5 years

[stutzj]

Originally Posted by j777p

Thanks for the detailed reply, I really appreciate it!

Do you use pocket much? (how is it?) and is the battery life good? I heard some saying that the kindle is better. And finally any issues with calibre pushed books having formatting issues? and also general lag on the device?

Sorry for so many questions, just want to make a good choice with something that will last another 5 years

Sure - glad to help!

Yes, I do use Pocket a bunch. Probably 30% of my reading is from Pocket. I think it's actually one of the best features on the Glo HD. I used to use instapaper on my PW2 but find Pocket far more intuitive and reliable. There is no article limit and articles are synced as soon as you open Pocket. Really great feature overall.

I have not noticed the battery draining quickly. It's got to be the same as my PW2. I read with my Glo HD on vacation in Montreal. When I left it was 100%, 5 days later after reading about 2 hours a day, it was at 67%. I think that is quite good based on my experience with other readers. I keep wifi off unless I need it.

I've converted all of my Mobi/kindle books via Calibre using DRM removal. The formatting seems to stay the same which I'm relieved about. I was concerned there would no indentation or paragraph breaks. Text flows just like a book. Page turns are a tad sluggish but doesn't bother me. I often read on my Kindle basic and it seems to be comparable. I'm sure coming from Kindle Keyboard, it will be about the same.

I've not upgraded to 3.16 yet and I hear the page turns may have improved slightly.

It's a great device - I have absolutely no qualms about buying it.

[oj829]

Have not gotten too deep or played too long with it, but I have now spent SOME time with the Glo HD.

1. Hate that "button". Hate it. HATE. IT.

2. Onboard wifi still has non-broadcast SSID issues? WTF, Kobo?

3. Decline using a book cover for sleep/power off, and it becomes a bit of a challenge to determine what state you're in in the dark (...in bed) after deciding you really should get some sleep. Hold down that button (for just the right amount of time, which takes some trial and error) - that button which I hate - and you still have to look out for a discrete little "Powered Off" message in the lower left corner of the screen. Well, um, you already shut the light off, Kobo, and your "Powered off" is light grey on a black background. With no light in the room or from the device.

4. Legibility. I don't think it's leaps and bounds above the Glo, but I'm using much larger fonts these days because eyes, but certainly, the borders are smooth at the font size I am using. And I have always believed smoothness on large fonts is a big deal. So - so far, so good. Also, I'm not 100% sure that my need to use the larger fonts on the GloHD is entirely physiological. I still haven't convinced myself that there isn't some mediocrity about the device which I can hopefully tweak.

I'll need some more time to really see how it performs with smaller print.

5. I was dreading the toggle in the user-preferences which lets you hide non-downloaded books in your Kobo store library, because I thought it would ALSO hide my sideloaded ones (IOW, that it would only show Kobo-downloaded content).

Happily, this was not the case. The sideloaded books STAY visible in the library, and I am not eternally teased by books which are in my Kobo cloud, but not on device.

6. I like the new bezel/grip, and if, as others have posted here, this thing has glass in it, more the better that I ordered the official Kobo cover for when I schlep it around (if I ever decide to). HOWEVER, with the official cover, mounted.... comfortable one-handed reading is not as easily had as it is with a classic Glo. Even with my inhumanly large hands, I really can't one-hand the HD for very long and use whatever digit is hanging out in front to quick page-turn. If the experience is better without sleep-cover protection, then all the better that I recently bought a refurb Glo classic for travel.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by oj829

1. Hate that "button". Hate it. HATE. IT.

I wouldn't go as far as "HATE. IT.", but it's the worst button on any of my Kobo ereaders.

3. Decline using a book cover for sleep/power off, and it becomes a bit of a challenge to determine what state you're in in the dark (...in bed) after deciding you really should get some sleep. Hold down that button (for just the right amount of time, which takes some trial and error) - that button which I hate - and you still have to look out for a discrete little "Powered Off" message in the lower left corner of the screen. Well, um, you already shut the light off, Kobo, and your "Powered off" is light grey on a black background. With no light in the room or from the device.

The light is turned off as almost the last step in the powering off. If the light turns off, then the device is off. Or it could be sleeping. Is your problem that you think you might have put it to sleep instead of off? Personally, I never turn my ereaders off. They go to sleep with the cover, or automatically. The sleep uses so little power, it isn't a worry.

Actually, looking at the sleep and powered off screen, they are different. Sleep is "Sleeping" in black type on a white screen. Of is "Powered off" in white on a black screen. I wouldn't need much light to tell those apart, so maybe I don't understand the problem.

[Ripplinger]

I agree the button is really a pain to make sure you've pushed or not. However, since I (and I think most users) use a sleep cover, I rarely need to use the button, so it's probably a good thing it's so hard to activate accidentally. And I much prefer how unobtrusive it is, barely noticeable, compared to the silly red button they put on the Auras (I'm pretty sure it was the Aura, another reason I disliked that model).

[Nick_1964]

I do have the problems that the HD is a bit more critical for the magnet in the sleepcover,sometimes it does not awake,or doesn't go into sleep (you see the light shining a bit between the flap) where the same cover with the normal glo doesn't have this problem.
It happens on both Glo HD, maybe the glass is thicker because of the infra red screen ?
I know the light doesn't go instantly off,but when you look 5 minutes later and the light still comes from under the flap,you know something is wrong.
it go's into autosleep,so it is not a real big deal,but noticeable.

[stutzj]

Originally Posted by Nick_1964

I do have the problems that the HD is a bit more critical for the magnet in the sleepcover,sometimes it does not awake,or doesn't go into sleep (you see the light shining a bit between the flap) where the same cover with the normal glo doesn't have this problem.
It happens on both Glo HD, maybe the glass is thicker because of the infra red screen ?
I know the light doesn't go instantly off,but when you look 5 minutes later and the light still comes from under the flap,you know something is wrong.
it go's into autosleep,so it is not a real big deal,but noticeable.

My Omoton case has perfect wake/sleep functionality with the Glo HD. It does not turn off when the cover is open and behind the device.

[Nick_1964]

Originally Posted by stutzj

It does not turn off when the cover is open and behind the device.

Mine isn't either, but it seems less responsive with the Glo HD in comparisation with the normal Glo.

[cramoisi]

Hi ! I want (and was asked) to mod the back of the kobo glo HD to make it like a sony TS3 (so, by making a ultra light cover). It’s something I could easily do but I wondering if there is some place where I could get a back remplacement for the glo HD as the operation will glue forever the covert to the device.

[frostschutz]

buy a Glo HD with broken screen off ebay, there's bound to appear one sooner or later

or use removable glue

[cramoisi]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

buy a Glo HD with broken screen off ebay, there's bound to appear one sooner or later

or use removable glue

Do you know any brand of removable glue which actually glue something tight ?because I don’t.

(Somebody, hurry and break your device )

[John F]

After two weeks with the Glo HD...

The screen is very nice. Ghosting is much better than with the Glo (although with normal reading, I didn't notice much ghosting on the Glo).

The glare from the bezel is annoying, it normally isn't noticeable, but when it does occur it screams "look at me, look at me".

I'm going to keep it.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by John F

The glare from the bezel is annoying, it normally isn't noticeable, but when it does occur it screams "look at me, look at me".

Perhaps the judicious use of a very fine emery board might remove the irritation.

It's been pointed out to me that the device uses an infrared touchscreen. In which case roughening the polished edge might have very bad consequences.