09-15-2016, 12:16 AM | #31 |
Wizard
Posts: 2,845
Karma: 22003124
Join Date: Aug 2014
Device: Kobo Forma, Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra 2
|
|
09-15-2016, 03:44 AM | #32 |
Guru
Posts: 962
Karma: 3475832
Join Date: May 2012
Location: France
Device: Elipsa, Sage
|
and typography?
I've never had a Kindle: I started with Sony, and went over to Kobo with the Kobo Glo. I read a minimum of 4 hours a day, have problem eyes, and I buy into any significant improvement - always with Kobo.
For myself I wouldn't buy a Kindle, but I do recommend it around me for non tech-savvy people (mainly the parents of the friends/family who ask me), and they always tell me they are pleased with the choice. But I dislike Kindles' very poor typography (see http://www.cgpgrey.com/blog/voyage-to-nowhere), the poor font choice (number of fonts, with no possible adding, number of font size choice, weight adjusting), and Amazon's proprietary formats. My main sources for books are Amazon and Kobo for a similar %, ebooks.com, ebook.de and feedbook for half of this %. I choose according to pricing (I'm French and buy from amazon.com, so there is no price compensation from Kobo - books price is fixed in France), but I've had to cancel books from Amazon and buy the Kobo version, because the Amazon version was unreadable. This was mostly non-fiction(no links to notes for instance), but I have a 220 pages fiction exemple in 4 parts, each with 4 and 5 chapter and a glossary, which in the Amazon version had no separation whatsoever. Also a book where all the poems were images, unreadable. So I only buy from Amazon when the price difference is significant, because the refunding costs a little (because of change charges both ways), and I prefer buying epubs for html quality sensitive books like poetry, where Amazon converting the publisher book and me reconverting it in an epub can make strange beasts. In any case, I would NEVER buy books from any reader: I want to own the books I buy, so I import them into Calibre to get rid of the DRM's, correct them in Sigil and polish them in Calibre. And then I send them as kepubs to my Kobos to have the best look for me: header, footer, margins, fonts, plus the advancement bars. Last edited by anacreon; 09-15-2016 at 07:35 AM. Reason: forgot the NEVER in the last paragraph |
09-15-2016, 07:19 AM | #33 | |
Tech Whisperer
Posts: 70
Karma: 259394
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Toronto
Device: Kindle Oasis, Voyage, Paperwhite 3; Kobo Aura One, H2O
|
Quote:
Some are difficult to track down because I can't figure out a clear set of steps to reproduce them, but for instance the latest post-release firmware version seems to resolve the issue I described that eats through battery and slows everything down to a crawl. I'll be amending the review to account for their firmware work once I can confirm that it is indeed gone. |
|
09-15-2016, 07:24 AM | #34 | |
Tech Whisperer
Posts: 70
Karma: 259394
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Toronto
Device: Kindle Oasis, Voyage, Paperwhite 3; Kobo Aura One, H2O
|
Quote:
I dug into the typography more in my more general Kindle vs. Kobo piece from last year, so I didn't feel the need to restate things in this review, but you're absolutely right to be critical of Amazon on this front. I certainly am. The update from earlier this year to their devices made a meaniningful improvement, but you still have a limited choice of fonts, limited adjustment options, and so on. The workflow you describe is convoluted, but I tend to do the same whenever I encounter problematic books. Usually without the Sigil step, but that's just me. Either way it's unfortunate that such workarounds have to exist in the first place. Then again, the percentage of folks for whom those enhancements make a difference is, I suspect, vanishingly small in the grand scheme of things so I guess it makes sense ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ |
|
09-15-2016, 08:19 AM | #35 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 9,707
Karma: 32763414
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Krewerd
Device: Pocketbook Inkpad 4 Color; Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
|
Nice review, but there's one thing that bothers me: reading on your back with the reader above your head??? I think even holding nothing (just holding your arm up) will be uncomfortable after a few minutes!
About the size: I have small hands, and I've no problems holding it one handed for a longer period of time... And ever since I have bought my 6.8" reader (Onyx T68, later the H2O) I never wanted back to 6". I really love the larger screen of the One, not because of failing eye sight or PDF files, but simply because there's more text per screen. And the typography settings I set once and that usually works with all my books (and if they don't, I'll clean the book using Calibre once and for all). Quote:
(skipped the part about overdrive and pocket and syncing, I never use those features) And lastly, I buy most of my books at Amazon. Not that I have a Kindle (though my husband has), I've only had epub readers (from the BeBook Mini to the One). But thanks to some friendly people at this forum, every single book I buy from Amazon can be read on my Kobo's. And every single book I buy from non-Amazon sellers can be read on the Kindle. |
|
09-15-2016, 09:10 AM | #36 | |
Mom, Wife, Reader!
Posts: 235
Karma: 530706
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Ontario, Canada
Device: Kobo Glo, Kobo Aura One
|
Quote:
Great review! I enjoyed reading it. |
|
09-15-2016, 09:28 AM | #37 | |
Tech Whisperer
Posts: 70
Karma: 259394
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Toronto
Device: Kindle Oasis, Voyage, Paperwhite 3; Kobo Aura One, H2O
|
Quote:
The absolute best bedtime reading experience I've had to date was with the Kindle Voyage in the Origami case; it allows you to easily rest it at an angle on either side and just lie down beside it, reading. Ultimately, I'm very glad Kobo tackled the size problem. There's been a lot of demand for a modern e-reader at a larger size, and that's exactly what they delivered. Those of us who prefer the smaller sizes have plenty of options available to us so it was about time the rest got some attention. I do hope these enhancements trickle down to their smaller e-readers as well though. Last edited by MariusMasalar; 09-15-2016 at 09:30 AM. |
|
09-15-2016, 09:54 AM | #38 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,475
Karma: 14328611
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Device: Aura, Aura H2O, Kindle PW3
|
Very good review although I have a couple of criticisms. I hate to get all JSWolf on someone but people who read lying on their back with their ereader up in the air are DOING IT WRONG. It's really the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. As Sweetpea mentioned, (and I was thinking the same thing) if you held just your hands up in the air for 15 minutes straight you'd find them aching. The Aura One is a larger form factor with a smaller weight than the H2O! That is a plus, not a minus.
My second nitpick is with the waterproofing. So you read by the pool but you've never dropped it in so you don't need waterproofing? I've been licensed for 20 years but I've never had an accident, I guess that means that I don't need insurance? Other than that, a good review. |
09-15-2016, 10:06 AM | #39 | |
Tech Whisperer
Posts: 70
Karma: 259394
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Toronto
Device: Kindle Oasis, Voyage, Paperwhite 3; Kobo Aura One, H2O
|
Quote:
I also want to make sure I'm not misunderstood: I'm by no means saying the Aura One's size is bad, just that it isn't better for my reading preferences. I think I was careful to make that clear in the article but just in case I didn't manage I wanted to make sure I said it. Bigger can most certainly be better, and I know there are a ton of people out there for whom it is—that's why they built it this big, after all. It's just solving a problem I don't have. Same idea with the waterproofing. I don't say that it's a useless feature for everyone, I just describe why it isn't one that I find compelling. Even though I don't need it, I do appreciate the peace of mind it brings. Last edited by MariusMasalar; 09-15-2016 at 10:06 AM. Reason: Typo! |
|
09-15-2016, 10:16 AM | #40 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 24,906
Karma: 47303748
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Sydney, Australia
Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos
|
My comments on the review...
I'm not surprised that "Kobo’s ‘Beyond the Book’ is still no match for Kindle’s X-Ray". Especially as Kobo dropped the function over a year ago. Reading something like that in the middle of a "long-term review" makes it hard to take the review seriously. And yes, the stats isn't recording when you finish a sideloaded book. But, it also doesn't record when you finish a non-sideloaded book. It's a bug in the firmware that affects all books. "Buying & Renting"? As no money is changing hands to use Overdrive, shouldn't that be "Buying & Borrowing"? Of course, the "buying" side is buying a license and that always feels more like "renting", so maybe it should be "Renting & Borrowing". But, I am amused by the criticism aimed at Kindles for showing a random image for the sleep screen considering how often a request for that function is raised here. |
09-15-2016, 10:26 AM | #41 | |
Tech Whisperer
Posts: 70
Karma: 259394
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Toronto
Device: Kindle Oasis, Voyage, Paperwhite 3; Kobo Aura One, H2O
|
Quote:
They didn't mention its removal to me so I wasn't expecting it to be gone, but I should have verified. Since most of my books are sideloaded, when I did test a native book it didn't occur to me to check if BTB was still there. Totally my bad. |
|
09-15-2016, 10:29 AM | #42 |
how YOU doin?
Posts: 1,100
Karma: 7371047
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: India
Device: Kindle Keyboard, iPad Pro 10.5”, Kobo Aura H2O, Kobo Libra 2
|
I really wish kindle-kobo comparison exercises stopped using Cecelia on the kobo. It's an ugly font (IMO) and there are much more elegant fonts to better showcase the kobo. I know the intention is to make an apples to apples comparison because kindles don't allow font freedom like kobo, but that is unnecessary and there is no reason to cripple the kobo and bring it down to the kindle's level. We don't shy away from highlighting the deficiencies of the kobo, like inferior highlighting or inferior store ecosystem, so why should kindles be spared the shame of highlighting their inferior font selection system?
|
09-15-2016, 10:29 AM | #43 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 6,212
Karma: 16534894
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: UK
Device: Kobo: KA1, ClaraHD, Forma, Libra2, Clara2E. PocketBook: TouchHD3
|
I don't think it's the random image that upsets Kindle users, it's the fact that it's a random selection from a limited Amazon-selected set of images - not a set of their own choosing. I think 'cover of current book' is also a popular choice which is why many Kindle owners jailbreak and apply the relevant screensaver hack.
|
09-15-2016, 10:31 AM | #44 | |
Tech Whisperer
Posts: 70
Karma: 259394
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Toronto
Device: Kindle Oasis, Voyage, Paperwhite 3; Kobo Aura One, H2O
|
Quote:
The image with a close-up of the A1's text rendering is set in Meta Serif, for the record. |
|
09-15-2016, 10:32 AM | #45 | |
how YOU doin?
Posts: 1,100
Karma: 7371047
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: India
Device: Kindle Keyboard, iPad Pro 10.5”, Kobo Aura H2O, Kobo Libra 2
|
Quote:
GoodeReader are infamously notable for engaging in this kobo crippling crime. Last edited by howyoudoin; 09-15-2016 at 10:36 AM. |
|
Tags |
aura one, kobo, kobo aura |
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Kobo Aura One review | Stingo | Kobo Reader | 370 | 08-31-2018 08:48 PM |
Kindle DX long-term storage: how to? | milivella | Amazon Kindle | 7 | 12-03-2015 04:02 PM |
Kindle vs. Kobo: a Long-Term, In-Depth Comparative Review | MariusMasalar | Amazon Kindle | 86 | 04-11-2015 12:53 PM |
Which format is best for long-term storage? | klmmc13 | General Discussions | 145 | 08-20-2014 03:41 AM |
What to do with your old Kindle, long term? | carld | Amazon Kindle | 4 | 09-05-2010 07:34 PM |