Kobo Aura One is REAL!

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

The USB port is exposed.

According to the company that provided the tech, the guts were waterproofed with some chemical sealant rather than the case.
http://the-digital-reader.com/2016/0...will-cost-230/

I wonder how they could waterproof a USB socket, but not waterproof an SD card socket.

Given how often they touted that they'd been listening to hard core readers when designing the One, I'm increasingly surprised about the lack of an SD card socket. Personally all my stuff fits in 4G so I'm not bothered, but the real hard core readers here have bigger libraries...

[meeera]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

I wonder how they could waterproof a USB socket, but not waterproof an SD card socket.

Given how often they touted that they'd been listening to hard core readers when designing the One, I'm increasingly surprised about the lack of an SD card socket. Personally all my stuff fits in 4G so I'm not bothered, but the real hard core readers here have bigger libraries...

How real hard core a reader is real hard core? You could read two books every day, and still the device fits a decade's reading on it.

I can understand some manga readers wanting more space, perhaps.

[howyoudoin]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I tested a sideloaded Epub. Yes, two columns is an option, but the font is really tiny.

Thanks Nate! Very interesting

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

I wonder how they could waterproof a USB socket, but not waterproof an SD card socket.

Given how often they touted that they'd been listening to hard core readers when designing the One, I'm increasingly surprised about the lack of an SD card socket. Personally all my stuff fits in 4G so I'm not bothered, but the real hard core readers here have bigger libraries...

They did increase the internal space to 8GB. I've always liked having an SD card slot, but I can't see missing it much in this case.

[cane]

Originally Posted by Blossom

There is much difference between the two. IR is soon sensitive anything will turn the page. Capacitive you have to use your fingers or special stylus. I prefer capacitive.

Sent from my XT1528

A capacitive touchscreen has glass layer instead of plastic, it looks brighter and sharper display
Highly touch sensititive and doesn’t need a stylus

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Blossom

There is much difference between the two. IR is soon sensitive anything will turn the page. Capacitive you have to use your fingers or special stylus.

This is an "it depends". The firmware in the H2O is quite smart - it interprets a lot of accidental/cat/etc touches as possible water on the screen, and flashes up a water warning rather than turning pages.

And capacitive, unfortunately, still responds to cat paws... I have no particular preference.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

I wonder how they could waterproof a USB socket, but not waterproof an SD card socket.

Given how often they touted that they'd been listening to hard core readers when designing the One, I'm increasingly surprised about the lack of an SD card socket. Personally all my stuff fits in 4G so I'm not bothered, but the real hard core readers here have bigger libraries...

There's an aftermarket Kindle from (I think) Waterfi which uses the same trick.

So it can be done.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by cane

A capacitive touchscreen has glass layer instead of plastic, it looks brighter and sharper display
Highly touch sensititive and doesn’t need a stylus

That last sentence is a huge drawback on capacitive from my point of view.

I hate the feeling of a glass screen, that's why I always put a matte screenprotector on all of my devices (except the e-ink devices I have). Not only to remove any glare but also to make the screen more "rough".

About the stylus, I only know of one device that needs a stylus, and that's from Onyx. The others are either IR or capacitive, and those don't need stylii either. With the difference that on IR you can actually use one, while on capacitive you can only use those huge rubber tipped ones (with a "tip" about the size of a marker...)

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by howyoudoin

Something (possibly) interesting that I noticed in the TechCrunch video at around the 00:45-00:48 mark - are my eyes playing tricks on me or did he just go from the regular layout to a two column layout for that page?

[...]

Possibility 2, it's an ePub/KePub, and two column layout is now a feature.

It is not a new feature, multi-column layout is a standard feature of Adobe RMSDK readers and works on existing Kobo devices.

By default a very small font size is needed to trigger two column layout (smaller then can be selected on my 6in.Glo without patching the firmware), but that can be adjusted in the book's page-template.xpgt stylesheet.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Even if you registered the Aura to your existing Kobo account you don't have to download anything. After the initial set up where it will download the last few bought books you can immediately go into settings and with one click remove all the downloads. Then you set the device up to only show books on the device not on the cloud.

That is how I use my Kobos, I don't download anything direct from Kobo. All the books go into Calibre and get loaded on my devices via Calibre.

Except that if you sync the device at any time (such as to get a firmware update if you don't want to do it manually) it will download some of your most recent purchases. True enough that it's easy to just delete them all at once when it does that. Also even when set to only show downloaded items I know mine still shows books in the cloud with an option to download them (I load all books as kePub's via Calibre).

Originally Posted by meeera

How real hard core a reader is real hard core? You could read two books every day, and still the device fits a decade's reading on it.

Not really the point for some. Some people want to have all of their stuff on their device regardless of if/when they might access it next. I'm not personally too bothered by the lack of a card slot, but will admit that having all of my books on device (like I do now) and being able to just search for what I want as the mood strikes is sure nice.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Except that if you sync the device at any time (such as to get a firmware update if you don't want to do it manually) it will download some of your most recent purchases. True enough that it's easy to just delete them all at once when it does that. Also even when set to only show downloaded items I know mine still shows books in the cloud with an option to download them (I load all books as kePub's via Calibre).

If I have to point one major annoyance about my H2O, it's that. I don't want to download those books! Do not think you know better than I do!

I really hate it when a company thinks it knows best...

[viceant]

Originally Posted by cane

A capacitive touchscreen has glass layer instead of plastic, it looks brighter and sharper display
Highly touch sensititive and doesn’t need a stylus

Where have you collected that information? Sony DPT-S1 has a capacitive screen and its substrate is plastic.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by meeera

This is an "it depends". The firmware in the H2O is quite smart - it interprets a lot of accidental/cat/etc touches as possible water on the screen, and flashes up a water warning rather than turning pages.

And capacitive, unfortunately, still responds to cat paws... I have no particular preference.

Cat paws... I never leave my device where my cat could walk in it. Their tail or fur might brush it when they are settling in my lap. That water warning sounds annoying. The Glo HD is very sensitive. I've had it sitting on a pillow and movement from the bed caused the page to turn because it hit the airflow from the air conditioner across the room. it turns the page when I turn my head and my headphone wire touches the reader. There is no fix for this.

My Kindles are capacitive and I've never had any of these issues. I own a PW, KFv1, KFHD7, KFHD6, Fire Phone, LG Volt, Moto E, Nexus. 7 and a few other cheap devices. All capacitive. So I'm very familiar with this type of touch. It needs certain kinds of touches to turn the page, fingers, knuckle, noses works. You can buy a stylus as I own a few when I am trying hit the edge of the screen they are very handy.

I prefer this type of screen. Don't get me wrong I absolutely love my Kobo Glo HD but I'm constantly losing my place due to accidental page turning. I'm really excited the Aura One has capacitive.



Sent from my XT1528

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

If I have to point one major annoyance about my H2O, it's that. I don't want to download those books! Do not think you know better than I do!

I really hate it when a company thinks it knows best...

Yes. +1

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

That last sentence is a huge drawback on capacitive from my point of view.

I hate the feeling of a glass screen, that's why I always put a matte screenprotector on all of my devices (except the e-ink devices I have). Not only to remove any glare but also to make the screen more "rough".

About the stylus, I only know of one device that needs a stylus, and that's from Onyx. The others are either IR or capacitive, and those don't need stylii either. With the difference that on IR you can actually use one, while on capacitive you can only use those huge rubber tipped ones (with a "tip" about the size of a marker...)

They make capacitive stylus that are pen tip for drawing or writing. They can be a bit more pricey.

Sent from my XT1528