Kobo Aura One is REAL!

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by freekobo

It's been removed from the wehkamp.nl website, Michael laid the smack down on them.

That took a while. I tipped Kobo to the leak the day it happened.

[JoOrwick]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Forgive a very minor correction, but this device is using a 20cm eInk screen (all eInk screen are exact numbers in cm).

Actually, it's exactly 7.776" in size (measured using very accurate software) if the leaked pictures are accurate and the displays on them are not just photoshopped.
Also, e-ink screens are not required to be whole numbers in cm. All of the 6" devices out there are ~15.24cm in size (6"). My Kindle Paperwhite 3 is exactly 15.24" in size, I measured it myself. I'm also pretty sure they wouldn't be able to get away with selling 5.9" screens (~15cm) and market them as 6".

[murg]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

What exact date is it coming out?

I need to know RIGHT NOW or I will crash my car against a driver-less semi parked in an abandoned field - absent of any life forms - but full of empty tin cans.

I have a NEED-TO-KNOW!

This is the sort of foolish statement that gets you into trouble when you really do crash your car into a driver-less semi parked in an abandoned field.

[cerem0ny]

Originally Posted by Ksquared

The tweet did say to "keep your eyes open in mid-August", and we are not quite there yet.

As you are one of the most enthusiastic folks to post about this, hopefully patience will pay off!

Haha thanks for the recognition! I hate sounding like a little brat but yeah I really, really want the best for Kobo! If I were a gambling man (and not so poverty stricken) I would invest in the company because I think they can kick this thing out of the park. I have a really good feeling about this device.

(Enter yellow, pink, green, fuchsia and ultramarine screen, light leaking, etc.)

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by murg

This is the sort of foolish statement that gets you into trouble when you really do crash your car into a driver-less semi parked in an abandoned field.

Did you forget the [sarcasm] tags? If you reread what Dr. Drib wrote, you will clearly understand (you should at least) that he is merely making fun of the entitlement of need-to-know-now attitude. If you accidentally crash your car then it is completely different than threatening to make an attempt to commit suicide.

[cerem0ny]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Did you forget the [sarcasm] tags? If you reread what Dr. Drib wrote, you will clearly understand (you should at least) that he is merely making fun of the entitlement of need-to-know-now attitude. If you accidentally crash your car then it is completely different than threatening to make an attempt to commit suicide.

[NO SARCASM - 100% SERIOUS] I NEED TO KNOW ALSO, AND I NEED AND DESERVE TO KNOW RIGHT NOW, BECAUSE I AM THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE WORLD.

MYSELF AND MAYBE ALSO ABOATLOADOFSEAMEN. [/NO SARCASM - 100% SERIOUS.]

[ShellShock]

Originally Posted by cerem0ny

[NO SARCASM - 100% SERIOUS] I NEED TO KNOW ALSO, AND I NEED AND DESERVE TO KNOW RIGHT NOW, BECAUSE I AM THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE WORLD.

MYSELF AND MAYBE ALSO ABOATLOADOFSEAMEN. [/NO SARCASM - 100% SERIOUS.]

Are you OK there?

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I saw a Kindle Oasis on sale for $899 - and with your name on it!

For that price, I'll import and engrave him one

But honestly, I'd like to see this Aura One reader as well. It's very probable that I'll try it out.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by BoatLoadOfSeamen

I'm also pretty sure they wouldn't be able to get away with selling 5.9" screens (~15cm) and market them as 6".

Well... there are quite a lot of monitors that are 21.5 or 23.8 inch, which are marketed as 22 and 24 inch.

[JoOrwick]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Well... there are quite a lot of monitors that are 21.5 or 23.8 inch, which are marketed as 22 and 24 inch.

Monitors and TVs are much larger. They can get away with marketing say 23.8" displays as 24", but they would definitely not be able to get away with marketing 23" displays as 24" the same way ereader, tablet and smartphone manufacturers would not be able to get away with marketing 5.6" devices as 5.7". I'm sure there are allowed tolerances, probably up to 1% difference between marketed display size and actual size.

If I remember correctly, the Kobo Aura H20 was not actually 6.8". It was 6.77" or 6.78" while the Kobo Aura HD was exactly 6.8".
If you take a look at the H20's resolution (1430x1080), you'll notice that it's missing 10 vertical pixels compared to other 4:3 readers (Kindle Paperwhite 3, Voyage and Oasis for example who all have a resolution of 1440x1080 which makes for a perfect 4:3 ratio). This means that the Kobo Aura H20 is not quite a 4:3 device, yet it's marketed as such.

These are just some of the things manufacturers get away with. It's not a big deal, but still, you're not always getting what's specified in the official specifications of a device.

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by JoOrwick

This means that the Kobo Aura H20 is not quite a 4:3 device, yet it's marketed as such.

I don't think I ever saw the H2O ever marketed as a 4:3 device. Kobo certainly specifies the resolution though.

Out of interest, does anyone know why manufacturers very often nibble a few pixels off their eInk displays? Poor performance at the screen edges? Something to do with the front lights?

[JoOrwick]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

I don't think I ever saw the H2O ever marketed as a 4:3 device. Kobo certainly specifies the resolution though.

You're right. They don't state it anywhere, but it's implied because 4:3 is one of the standard screen aspect ratios (4:3, 16:10, 16:9 etc.).

Out of interest, does anyone know why manufacturers very often nibble a few pixels off their eInk displays? Poor performance at the screen edges? Something to do with the front lights?

They could be doing it for various reasons. I think front light issues are indeed one of them. I assume the H20 is 1430x1080 and not 1440x1080 because they needed bigger top/bottom bezels for wiring and hardware, but they didn't want to make the device taller.

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by JoOrwick

They could be doing it for various reasons. I think front light issues are indeed one of them. I assume the H20 is 1430x1080 and not 1440x1080 because they needed bigger top/bottom bezels for wiring and hardware, but they didn't want to make the device taller.

That would surprise me. I'd expect them to make the device fit the screen and not make the screen fit the device, if you see what I mean.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Well... there are quite a lot of monitors that are 21.5 or 23.8 inch, which are marketed as 22 and 24 inch.

Fry's must have been called on this, because they now advertise 55"Class

My dad brought home a new 13" Dumont Tarrytown TV

The 13" was across, not Diagonal.
It must have been to soon after the switch from Round screens and the Ad people had not figured the (legal) spin

[hoichi]

Originally Posted by Jason90

Btw as someone who has never used a kobo before how's the dictionary and Wikipedia features/annotations compared to amazons?

I use those features all the time ,hopefully kobos work just as well?

Never used Wikipedia on my Aura HD (its WiFi is basically never on). As for the dictionary, it’s decent, but not brilliant. For instance, all the -ing and -ed forms are most likely implicitly stored in the database. Meaning the software cannot create “gyrating” from “gyrate”. If “gyrating” is added as a verb form, the dictionary will show you the “gyrate” article. If it’s not, the dictionary will have no clue. Most of the time the forms are there, but not all the time.