Aura ONE Kobo Aura One owners thread

[FuriousPig]

Very happy with the KA1 so far but I have a question:

When looking at a comic (cbr) the pictures appear washed out & grey. There does not appear any way to up the contrast & sadly that makes it quite useless. When turning a page the pictures go the black I would expect but only for a second.

Is anybody else experiencing this?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by FuriousPig

Very happy with the KA1 so far but I have a question:

When looking at a comic (cbr) the pictures appear washed out & grey. There does not appear any way to up the contrast & sadly that makes it quite useless. When turning a page the pictures go the black I would expect but only for a second.

Is anybody else experiencing this?

What you are seeing would appear to indicate the images themselves are causing the issue -- quite often colour images will do this.

There was a program mentioned in this forum called Kindle Comic Converter which allows you to convert CBZ/CBR to optimized CBZ or epub3 formats. Despite the name, KCC supports most Kobo devices as well as Kindles. It can resize images, optimize them for eInk displays, etc. My daughter has used KCC for her manga and comic collection (acceptable quality and speed with little manual labour). Admittedly she has also used Photoshop, Paint.net, Image Magick with some batch file magic, GIMP with the GraysSixteen plugin and Mangle.

The increase in contrast you notice when switching pages is a normal artifact of the way an eInk screen is redrawn.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by TheHazardsDuke

This threads gone pretty quiet. Anything owners want to share? Or are you all busy reading (or charging as the case seems to be for a lot of people)?

I can keep on posting I love my One, but that wouldn't tell you anything new Haven't done the update, it wasn't available when I checked the day before yesterday. I might check again in a few weeks.

[TheHazardsDuke]

@Sweetpea - That is a very cute cat. I've had four cats in the past (well two were my grandparents but they always meowed they wanted a cuddle whenever I was there).

I wonder what made Kobo choose Aura One a the name.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by TheHazardsDuke

@Sweetpea - That is a very cute cat. I've had four cats in the past (well two were my grandparents but they always meowed they wanted a cuddle whenever I was there).

I wonder what made Kobo choose Aura One a the name.

Well, that's easy...

One Reader to rule them all, One Reader to find them,
One Reader to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

[TheHazardsDuke]

Lord of the eReaders

A Readers Tale by Bilbo Tamblyn.

[dalamario]

Originally Posted by FuriousPig

Very happy with the KA1 so far but I have a question:

When looking at a comic (cbr) the pictures appear washed out & grey. There does not appear any way to up the contrast & sadly that makes it quite useless. When turning a page the pictures go the black I would expect but only for a second.

Is anybody else experiencing this?

As DNSB mentioned, you can use KCC to optimize your comics and convert them to CBZ, then you can try to use koreader (you have to install on your KA1) to read them.

[TheHazardsDuke]

Have any KA1 owners tried out KOReader? I've seen it in action on other Kobo's and it does seem like an improvement in using pdf's over Kobo's basic firmware. I imagine with both KOReader and the big screen it's quite the pdf device.

Does KOReader bring similar improvements with CBZ/CBR files. I've never tried it with anything other than pdf's as I prefer graphic novels in print (mostly) but since the last bookstore closed in my area (along with creaking shelves) Im thinking of going digital with some of them.

[dalamario]

Originally Posted by TheHazardsDuke

Have any KA1 owners tried out KOReader? I've seen it in action on other Kobo's and it does seem like an improvement in using pdf's over Kobo's basic firmware. I imagine with both KOReader and the big screen it's quite the pdf device.

I have koreader installed on my KA1 and I use it for CBZ never tested it with PDF, but I can tell you that it work fine as in my aura HD.
The version that work on KA1 can be found here.

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by TheHazardsDuke

This threads gone pretty quiet. Anything owners want to share? Or are you all busy reading (or charging as the case seems to be for a lot of people)?

I've been busy reading

My battery now takes 6% per hour and this is actually good because I do have the lights up to 50% during day, but use only 2% at night, which still makes it a lot of lightning used in my case.

The KA1 a joy to hold and read on and I am a happy camper now my short running battery problems are solved.

The only thing they need to fix for me now is bringing the footnote pop-up back, otherwise I adore this reader. The real estate is simply awesome and makes reading so much more of a "real" reading experience for me. I even have problems to go back to my Aura 6" now, that still lives in my gym bag for the commutes to the yoga shala.

Looks like I'm spoiled now And this even before the expensive leather case for it has arrived.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

My battery now takes 6% per hour and this is actually good because I do have the lights up to 50% during day, but use only 2% at night, which still makes it a lot of lightning used in my case.

6% is good battery life, at 17 hours or so, especially if you have the light up that high.

The KA1 a joy to hold

Nah. I dislike holding the KA1 without a cover, and to be honest, it has cut down on the reading time I've spent with it. I actually prefer to read on the much heavier and fatter KPW1 in its cover. I always have the idea that a large reader such as the KA1 is too large, thin, and fragile to hold without protection.

After my cover arrives, the KA1 will become my primary reader (assuming I like the cover).

The only thing they need to fix for me now is bringing the footnote pop-up back, otherwise I adore this reader. The real estate is simply awesome and makes reading so much more of a "real" reading experience for me. I even have problems to go back to my Aura 6" now, that still lives in my gym bag for the commutes to the yoga shala.

While I like the KA1's size, I can still read on the KPW1; maybe because I've not stopped using it. I can read faster on the KA1 though.

Looks like I'm spoiled now And this even before the expensive leather case for it has arrived.

I've ordered the Norève cover as well, as I don't plan to change this reader for at least 4-5 years. It took 4 years until I deemed the Kobo font options + extra screen size (that really tipped me over) worth the upgrade.

[Alan_S]

Originally Posted by dalamario

The version that work on KA1 can be found here.

Even newer version of koreader can be found here: https://gitlab.com/koreader/nightly-...owse/koreader/

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

The only thing they need to fix for me now is bringing the footnote pop-up back,

Works in kepubs, at least most of the time (there is some magic as to how the footnote is built internally in the kepub, I think). If you use Calibre, it might be worth it to take a look at the extended driver to have it 'kepubify' your epubs on the fly when sending them.

That's what I do (also partly for the pop-up footnotes).

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by mbovenka

Works in kepubs, at least most of the time (there is some magic as to how the footnote is built internally in the kepub, I think). If you use Calibre, it might be worth it to take a look at the extended driver to have it 'kepubify' your epubs on the fly when sending them.

That's what I do (also partly for the pop-up footnotes).

I have been using kepub exclusivly since April 2014 and the same books that work on my Aura 6" don't show them on the KA1.

Anyway this isn't anything unknown, we have talked about it in this very thread before.

Davidfor said sideloaded books would be treated differently and jackiew even wrote some patch for it. jackie.

I am not willing and I doubt I am able to patch anything and I seriously don't know why I should. The KA1 should work better than my old Aura not worse.

[FuriousPig]

Originally Posted by DNSB

What you are seeing would appear to indicate the images themselves are causing the issue -- quite often colour images will do this.

There was a program mentioned in this forum called Kindle Comic Converter which allows you to convert CBZ/CBR to optimized CBZ or epub3 formats. Despite the name, KCC supports most Kobo devices as well as Kindles. It can resize images, optimize them for eInk displays, etc. My daughter has used KCC for her manga and comic collection (acceptable quality and speed with little manual labour). Admittedly she has also used Photoshop, Paint.net, Image Magick with some batch file magic, GIMP with the GraysSixteen plugin and Mangle.

The increase in contrast you notice when switching pages is a normal artifact of the way an eInk screen is redrawn.

Thank you for a very comprehensive & useful reply. I have downloaded Kindle Comic Converter & shall experiment for the best results.