Firmware 3.19.5761

[robko]

Originally Posted by murg

The firmware is nowhere near "maturity".

A third possibility is that Kobo has shrunken their development team.

Just because you don't see it as being mature doesn't mean they don't view it that way. Are there bugs that should be fixed? Sure, but if the majority of users don't care about the remaining bugs they may not see it as a priority to fix them. Are there features that could be added? Sure, but again, if the majority of users aren't clamouring for them they aren't going to spend money developing them. And the current hardware might be at the realistic limit of what it can do feature wise. And if they are slowing development for whatever reason (including cutting costs) that likely does involve cutting or reassigning development staff.

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

There's also always the chance that the firmware update isn't ready. We had two almost on top of each other. There are companies with devices that go a year or so between firmware updates. When I switched to Kobo I was actually very surprised at how often firmware updates were pushed out.

I would be fine with fewer firmware updates if each version was rock solid with no showstopping bugs. Unfortunately, I'm still using version 3.12.1 on my Aura because that's the last version where "pinch to adjust font size" could be disabled (later firmware releases have the option to disable it, but it doesn't work), and the front light can be smoothly and quickly adjusted (later releases introduced a delay making it likely that you'll overshoot your preferred brightness).

The latest firmware is faster, especially when opening books with a complex table of contents, and I would love to use them, but the two bugs I mentioned are "game breakers" as far as I'm concerned, and so I stick with 3.12.1 and hope that the next release finally works as expected.

[MGlitch]

Ah but even there you have the freedom to do so. Before I switched to Kobo I had gone through all the touch eink Nooks pretty much as they launched. I've had more firmware updates for my H2O in the year plus since I've had it than I had for all three Nooks combined. And with the Nooks you could roll back the firmware, but you'd likely run into issues downloading books. There were also updates that removed features entirely.

[the.Mtn.Man]

My library is 100% public domain and/or DRM free, so I don't worry too much about whether or not my device is compatible with the online shop.

[LittleBiG]

Originally Posted by the.Mtn.Man

I would be fine with fewer firmware updates if each version was rock solid with no showstopping bugs. Unfortunately, I'm still using version 3.12.1 on my Aura because that's the last version where "pinch to adjust font size" could be disabled (later firmware releases have the option to disable it, but it doesn't work), and the front light can be smoothly and quickly adjusted (later releases introduced a delay making it likely that you'll overshoot your preferred brightness).

The latest firmware is faster, especially when opening books with a complex table of contents, and I would love to use them, but the two bugs I mentioned are "game breakers" as far as I'm concerned, and so I stick with 3.12.1 and hope that the next release finally works as expected.

It is interesting, because I have pinch zoom switched off, and it is indeed not working now. About adjusting the light: my way is to keep my 2 fingers on the display for one or two seconds (let Aura enough time to recognize that I don't intend to turn page), and only then I start to move my fingers up or down. This way I can adjust the light pretty well..

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by LittleBiG

It is interesting, because I have pinch zoom switched off, and it is indeed not working now. About adjusting the light: my way is to keep my 2 fingers on the display for one or two seconds (let Aura enough time to recognize that I don't intend to turn page), and only then I start to move my fingers up or down. This way I can adjust the light pretty well..

I'll give it another try. I just remember it being a bit aggravating. It's easy enough to return to 3.12.1 if I'm still not happy.

Edit: Successfully installed the new firmware. It's not as bad as I remember, but the delay when adjusting brightness is still annoying. Small adjustments are fine, but when you do big adjustments, it takes a second or two for the brightness to ramp up or down to the new setting, so it can be very easy to go all the way up to 100% when you only intended to go to 50%.

"Pinch to adjust font size" can be disabled, so all is good there. It looks like "Refresh at every chapter" also works as expected. In 3.12.1, that setting would simply refresh every page turn. My Aura also seems a bit snappier overall.

I think I'll stick with the new firmware for now since it is able to navigate my ESV Global Study Bible much more quickly. It's a 53MB volume with a large table of contents and thousands of links throughout the text that lead to end-notes and commentary. It opens significantly faster than it did on 3.12.1, and navigation is much, much quicker.

[Canuck_in_Japan]

Originally Posted by pakoe

Navigating in the dictionary by long tapping a word and thereby jumping to the corresponding article has been removed. I can't believe it.
I think it went away in 3.17 already (it IS still present in 3.16), so it probably won't come back. This kind of navigation in the dictionary was the most important firmware improvement I saw in three years.

I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to but I can long tap on other words in the dictionary definition and jump to the definition of that word. I'm running the latest firmware.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to but I can long tap on other words in the dictionary definition and jump to the definition of that word. I'm running the latest firmware.

You can on the dictionary pop-up. This displays the dictionary search screen and you can't select a word there.

[Diruuo]

What's happening with updates nowadays? I feel like there hasn't been a new update in months. The first post in this thread is from almost 4 months ago...

[murg]

Originally Posted by Diruuo

What's happening with updates nowadays? I feel like there hasn't been a new update in months. The first post in this thread is from almost 4 months ago...

We've had breaks in the release schedule this long before.

[Diruuo]

Originally Posted by murg

We've had breaks in the release schedule this long before.

Fair enough. I just don't recall a break this long from my time with Kobo over the years.

[npr]

Originally Posted by murg

We've had breaks in the release schedule this long before.

Hope it's going to be worth the wait.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by npr

Hope it's going to be worth the wait.

Unfortunately, no matter what Kobo do, the reaction here will be the same as usual: Some people saying it is great, some people saying it is a waste of time.

[Diruuo]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Unfortunately, no matter what Kobo do, the reaction here will be the same as usual: Some people saying it is great, some people saying it is a waste of time.

One day we'll have the perfect update. One day disbelievers will move away from 12. One day!

One can dream.

[Nick_1964]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Unfortunately, no matter what Kobo do, the reaction here will be the same as usual: Some people saying it is great, some people saying it is a waste of time.

And sometimes people where right in both occasions. (like the Sickle debacle)