Why did Kobo abandon the capacative touch flat screen?

[filmo]

Glo HD is so easy to open and swap in larger uSD memory one reviewer had Glo HD open while doing his review.

[dordale]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Hey Oren, I forgot to reply to your comment earlier.

I understand you can upgrade the SD card in the Glo HD, but really, you shouldn't have to. I wonder why they left expandable memory out of the HD, when it is a feature on just about every other reader they make?

To me lack of an SD card slot is a signal from the maker that they want to lock you into that ecosystem only (which of course, they all do, but they don't have to wag it in your face). The only company that can currently get away with that (in my opinion) is Amazon. And I wouldn't buy one of their readers anyway.

I really think removing the SD card slot is a cost saving measure and not an attempt to lock anyone in to an ecosystem. I have over 800 books--all side loaded kePubs (converted with Calibre) on my Kobo Aura HD. I've only filled up about 1/3 of the onboard memory and can't see any need ever to have an external micro-sd card. Now for people who want to use their reader for comics or large PDFs, I understand the need for a reader with expandable memory--but in those circumstances the user would need more memory no matter where they were getting their reading material from.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by filmo

Glo HD is so easy to open and swap in larger uSD memory one reviewer had Glo HD open while doing his review.

You mean the one who accidentally dropped it and it popped open?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by koboy

hi ZodWallop, i completely agree with every word, i couldn't have put it better myself, doubling the internal memory to 8GB would have been a good idea seen as they have left out the SD card slot.

Given how few people even come close to filling a 4GB card, upgrading to 8GB is going to be more of a sales gimmick than anything most users would find necessary.

If I replaced all the cover images with 510x680 images and removed ~20 books with large numbers of illustrations, I could get the size of my ebook collection below 2GB for ~3000 books (average I came up with was 617K per ebook).

[frostschutz]

Originally Posted by DNSB

If I replaced all the cover images with 510x680 images …

I'd sooner upgrade the memory than try to slim down books. Memory cards are cheap and the upgrade can be done in a few minutes so...

I won't hit the 4GB barrier any time soon with normal books. But some books you buy are outright gigantic (huge images - well they should be you're paying for quality after all - and embedded large fonts and whatnot). I got some cheap comic bundles recently which come as EPUB and it would go beyond 4GB - if I were cracknob enough to read color comics on the Kobo H2O.

It all depends on what you do with it. Some people like to scan dead trees and because OCR is too much work, just dump the files as they were or run them through k2pdfopt first. While normal books are small it's easy to get past the storage limit with the right kind of files.

[koboy]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Given how few people even come close to filling a 4GB card, upgrading to 8GB is going to be more of a sales gimmick than anything most users would find necessary.

If I replaced all the cover images with 510x680 images and removed ~20 books with large numbers of illustrations, I could get the size of my ebook collection below 2GB for ~3000 books (average I came up with was 617K per ebook).

i have filled my kobo aura and i could quite easily fill it again even if it had 8GB on it, i appreciate that for you 4GB is more than enough perhaps you should do the same for others like me of which there are plenty that would like more internal memory, many people on here are complaining that the new kobo glo hd doesn't have a sd slot some are even opening the kobo glo hd to put a bigger memory card in it why do you think they are doing that? if 4GB is suppose to be enough. and btw there is just over 3GB available to books on the aura without using the sd slot, some books can be up to 100MB in size 4GB of memory soon disappears.

best wishes koboy.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by dordale

I really think removing the SD card slot is a cost saving measure and not an attempt to lock anyone in to an ecosystem.

So they either removed the SD card slot to lock folks into their system or because they were cutting corners on their new reader. Either way, it doesn't look good.

Looking at the 16GB SD card I have in my current Nook, I've only used 1.5GB, so I probably could make due with the Glo HD.

I guess I'm gun shy because of what B&N did with the current Nook Glowlight (4GB hard drive, but only 512MB reserved for side-loading). It looks like Kobo is moving in the same direction, unless the Glo HD is an aberration.

But as others have mentioned, many people are increasing the internal storage of the Glo, and taking extreme measures to do it (anything that involves cracking open the device, changing the guts is extreme) so there's obviously value to it.

[koboy]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

So they either removed the SD card slot to lock folks into their system or because they were cutting corners on their new reader. Either way, it doesn't look good.

Looking at the 16GB SD card I have in my current Nook, I've only used 1.5GB, so I probably could make due with the Glo HD.

I guess I'm gun shy because of what B&N did with the current Nook Glowlight (4GB hard drive, but only 512MB reserved for side-loading). It looks like Kobo is moving in the same direction, unless the Glo HD is an aberration.

But as others have mentioned, many people are increasing the internal storage of the Glo, and taking extreme measures to do it (anything that involves cracking open the device, changing the guts is extreme) so there's obviously value to it.

i agree it doesn't look good, perhaps kobo should concentrate on giving people what they want rather than on cost cutting.

best wishes koboy.

[koboy]

if the new glo hd had 8GB of storage i would have bought one but sadly it hasn't, add to the mix the backward step of not having a sd slot, i will stick with my cute little aura thank you very much.

best wishes koboy.

[Rizla]

If you set margins to 0, you can use the whole screen for text with the flush bezel. Shame you can't install Android on it.

[Rizla]

A faster processing in the Glo HD would make sense. But it's hard to compete against Amazon pricing.

[frostschutz]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

taking extreme measures to do it (anything that involves cracking open the device, changing the guts is extreme)

Well, extreme is relative. Glo HD is a walk in the park compared to the H2O.

H2O: it's glued shut, so you have to cut/pry it open, and you have permanent "damage" since it's no longer waterproof afterwards. And then you only have the front of the device open, to get at the back there are four screws etc.

GloHD: Pop off the back cover. That's it.

As for the replacement of the card itself, it's almost entirely an automatic process if you use my Magic Memory Upgrade Mod. Someone did it in "less than 15 minutes":

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...12#post3119912

[koboy]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

Well, extreme is relative. Glo HD is a walk in the park compared to the H2O.

H2O: it's glued shut, so you have to cut/pry it open, and you have permanent "damage" since it's no longer waterproof afterwards. And then you only have the front of the device open, to get at the back there are four screws etc.

GloHD: Pop off the back cover. That's it.

As for the replacement of the card itself, it's almost entirely an automatic process if you use my Magic Memory Upgrade Mod. Someone did it in "less than 15 minutes":

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...12#post3119912

so going by your logic i open my brand new kobo glo hd and instantly void my 12 months warranty, smart idea NOT.

best wishes koboy.

[koboy]

Originally Posted by Rizla

A faster processing in the Glo HD would make sense. But it's hard to compete against Amazon pricing.

i don't think it's hard to compete against Amazon probably just less profit margin, i would gladly pay more for a all round better device.


best wishes koboy.

[booklover6]

Need more storage? Get more readers. I have a Voyage with 4GB, a Glo HD with 4GB, a Glo with 16GB (internal) and then there are my two tablets with 16GB each...

I don't need/use the external SD slot on my Glo. Maybe the next Glo HD will have 8 GB. That would be cool! But I'll never fill the one with "only" 4GB.