Firmware update 4.3.8842

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

My Aura One doesn't seem to be able to complete a sync since it updated to this new firmware. Of course, this drains the battery. I've always left the wi-fi on and let it auto-sync nightly. I've had it since they first came out and never had issues with this until now. When I cancel syncing, it shows 2/18 as its last sync. However, I received the update after that and also a book I purchased on 2/21 has downloaded.

I've noticed that if I start a sync without being connected to WiFi, it sits there and seems to be doing nothing. If I cancel that sync which leaves the WiFi connected and then sync again, it works. If I manually connect to WiFi before syncing, it also seems to work.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by bongorash

How come the covers appear in color on your KA1 ??

The eInk screen doesn't display colour but the internals do. When you add Screenshots=true under [FeatureSettings] and use the power button to do a screenshot, the cover images show in colour -- with the newer firmware, 32 bit colour. If Kobo ever produces a colour eInk device, the software is all set to go.

[Insomniac55]

Here's a video of the weird frontlight behaviour I'm experiencing. Note how the slider 'bounces back' from zero percent instead of remaining where I've set it. If this is by design, I hope they change it. The brightness should never change when the user is not touching the screen.

[lensmann]

Originally Posted by lensmann

My Aura One installed the new firmware while syncing this morning. However, I didn't get the new home screen, and I've also lost the ability to sync via Wi-Fi. It stays stuck on "Checking for updates" - for well over half an hour this morning, until it actually ran out of battery. I've rolled back to 4.2.8432 for now - I'll try the update again when I get back from work this evening.

By way of an update: I've reinstalled 4.3.8842, and the problem's recurred. My Aura One remains stuck on 'checking for updates', and going by the rapid battery drain it is actually trying to communicate with some server somewhere. It went from full charge to 37% in a matter of hours.

Books and Pocket articles sync just fine when I start a sync - it's just that the reader never terminates the sync. The solution for now appears to be to turn off automatic synchronization, and to also keep Wi-Fi turned off. Hopefully whatever's causing the issue will be fixed soon.

[danShumway]

I've also experienced the infinite sync bug. I've noticed it gets stuck on "checking for updates", so maybe Kobo's servers just aren't sure how to respond or something.

More amusingly, since updating my Kobo has upped my total reading time on this device from around 20-ish hours to 496.

I absolutely love the Aura One, but my goodness, people here aren't kidding about the firmware being flighty

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by lensmann

By way of an update: I've reinstalled 4.3.8842, and the problem's recurred. My Aura One remains stuck on 'checking for updates', and going by the rapid battery drain it is actually trying to communicate with some server somewhere. It went from full charge to 37% in a matter of hours.

I'm having this problem as well. My H2O automatically starts to sync, and never stops.

How do I roll back? Google was singularly unhelpful.

[Ripplinger]

It looks like the major changes are still just the possibility of getting the new homepage layout and series sort option?

If that's really it, I won't be updating. And if that new homepage ever becomes the only option, I may never be updating again (yes, I hate it). Since I prefer to do all my purchasing through my PC only and sideload all my books, I never sync so it will be easy enough to avoid. I add the series number into the title through Calibre when I transfer my books to the reader, so series sort isn't something I need either.

[GeoffR]

I upgraded my Glo from 3.19.5761 to 4.2.8432 to 4.3.8842. I think 4.3.8842 is much better than 4.2.8432 apart from the new home screen, but not really a clear improvement over 3.19.5761.


Problems in firmware 4.3.8842 on my Glo:

* Sync gets stuck in the connecting step if started with wi-fi off. I need to either cancel sync and start again, or to turn wi-fi on before starting sync.
(Worked perfectly in 3.19.5761)

* Sync takes a very long time, at least 10 minutes even if there is nothing to download. About 95% of the time is spent in the "checking for updates" step.
(Sync was at least 20 times faster in 3.19.5761)
Edit: It seems this was a server problem, not the firmware, sync speed is back to normal now.

* Reading stats have lost touch with reality. A few minutes reading can add hundreds of hours to the "Hours read" total. Sometimes the total will correct itself after a sync and reboot.
(Was perfectly accurate in 3.19.5761)

* The line spacing on the book synopsis/details pages is too narrow, and if the synposis extends to a second page the page break can occur in the middle of a line. This is caused by the CSS "line-height: 1em;" in the nickel executable.
(Spacing was normal in 3.19.5761)

* Awful new home screen, but for now at least it is avoidable.
(I wasn't a fan of the tiled home screen in 3.19.5761 either, but it could have been worse, and now it is.)


Improvements (compared to 3.19.5761)

* Processing multiple sideloaded ePub books is much (maybe 10 times) faster.

* swipeBrightness=false reading setting now works.

* Screen glitch when adjusting font settings in the ePub reader is fixed.

* <Books and <Home buttons work properly (i.e. if I open the book from the home screen then it shows a <Home button which takes me back to where I opened it from.)

* Series sort, it is better than nothing but it could be so much better. It really needs to work for search results and as a secondary sort for author sort to be useful to me.

* Brightness slider buttons adjust in 1% steps. I don't really care about this, the old one worked well enough for me.

* (Maybe) supports books borrowed from Kobo Plus. I don't care about this as I don't expect I will join.

* Supports reading OverDrive books borrowed directly from an Aura One. I don't care about this as I don't have an Aura One and the old way of sideloading public library books with ADE worked well enough for me.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Insomniac55

Here's a video of the weird frontlight behaviour I'm experiencing. Note how the slider 'bounces back' from zero percent instead of remaining where I've set it. If this is by design, I hope they change it. The brightness should never change when the user is not touching the screen.

I have just had a play, and I think it's deliberate.

What I found is that if the light level was above 1% and I tapped the left end of the slider, it showed 0% and then went up to 1%. Then, if I tapped the end again, it went to zero.

I think this is deliberate to prevent people from accidentally turning the light off when they are trying to turn it all the way down. If you were trying to turn it to 1 or 2% but went to far and hit 0%, then the light goes off. And you have to get out of bed, turn the room light on so you can see the screen and turn the light back on. By making it a deliberate action, set the level to 1% and then turn the light off, it helps to avoid this problem. Not a perfect solution, but once you understand what is happening, I think it is workable.

[Ripplinger]

I'm on 3.19.5761, and the issues you listed either don't bother me or I never had the problem on my reader. So I'll be staying with 3.19.5761 for now.

Thanks for that detailed info (in response to GeoffR's post, davidfor snuck in another in between!).

[Insomniac55]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I have just had a play, and I think it's deliberate.

What I found is that if the light level was above 1% and I tapped the left end of the slider, it showed 0% and then went up to 1%. Then, if I tapped the end again, it went to zero.

I think this is deliberate to prevent people from accidentally turning the light off when they are trying to turn it all the way down. If you were trying to turn it to 1 or 2% but went to far and hit 0%, then the light goes off. And you have to get out of bed, turn the room light on so you can see the screen and turn the light back on. By making it a deliberate action, set the level to 1% and then turn the light off, it helps to avoid this problem. Not a perfect solution, but once you understand what is happening, I think it is workable.

That sort of makes sense, and it's what I think they were going for.

The problem is that if you tap it to 0% once, and then wait, the screen will go dark anyway after a few seconds.

So if you're trying to get it to 1% -ish by using gestures or the slider, you'll think you have it set properly. You start reading, and then seconds later the screen goes dark by itself. Then you have to blindly try to get the light back on and try again. At least in previous firmware, if you went too dark your finger was still on the slider. It was easy to raise the brightness again even if you couldn't see.

The ideal behaviour would be to program it so that that pulling the slider all the way down the first time just brings it to 1%, where it should stay. Then a second pull on the slider should bring it to 0% instantly.

It's a really silly design decision to have the light suddenly change, several seconds after the user last touched the screen, without any input from the user.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

I upgraded my Glo from 3.19.5761 to 4.2.8432 to 4.3.8842. I think 4.3.8842 is much better than 4.2.8432 apart from the new home screen, but not really a clear improvement over 3.19.5761.


Problems in firmware 4.3.8842 on my Glo:

* Sync gets stuck in the connecting step if started with wi-fi off. I need to either cancel sync and start again, or to turn wi-fi on before starting sync.
(Worked perfectly in 3.19.5761)

* Sync takes a very long time, at least 10 minutes even if there is nothing to download. About 95% of the time is spent in the "checking for updates" step.
(Sync was at least 20 times faster in 3.19.5761)

I have a suspicion that a phase update has been missed so that he checking message isn't being replaced when it should be. Of course, maybe the update server is just really busy and not responding as fast as before.

* Reading stats have lost touch with reality. A few minutes reading can add hundreds of hours to the "Hours read" total. Sometimes the total will correct itself after a sync and reboot.
(Was perfectly accurate in 3.19.5761)

Yes, the stats are broken. But, mine are going the other way. It took about three hours of reading my current book before any time was shown, but the time to go seems to be OK. And apparently I have only turned 58 pages, but at least three of the chapters I have read so far have been more than 30 pages long (this is a purchased kepub).

* The line spacing on the book synopsis/details pages is too narrow, and if the synposis extends to a second page the page break can occur in the middle of a line. This is caused by the CSS "line-height: 1em;" in the nickel executable.
(Spacing was normal in 3.19.5761)

Looking at my devices, it seems to be only the Glo that is affected.

* Awful new home screen, but for now at least it is avoidable.
(I wasn't a fan of the tiled home screen in 3.19.5761 either, but it could have been worse, and now it is.)

I did like the tiled home screen. My main complaint for the new one is loss of function because the tiles for things like stats and collections don't turn up. But, the removal of the stupid search bar almost makes up for it.

Improvements (compared to 3.19.5761)

* Processing multiple sideloaded ePub books is much (maybe 10 times) faster.

They've

* swipeBrightness=false reading setting now works.

In pre-4.x firmware, this worked but it was only for the two-fingered adjustment in the original Aura.

* Screen glitch when adjusting font settings in the ePub reader is fixed.

I don't remember any problems with this. Was it specific to the Glo?

* <Books and <Home buttons work properly (i.e. if I open the book from the home screen then it shows a <Home button which takes me back to where I opened it from.)

I don't remember that it didn't work. The difference to me now is that before there was a home button at the top of the screen, so if you opened a book from the Home screen, they showed <Books instead. While it wasn't completely consistent behaviour, it gave me options.

* Series sort, it is better than nothing but it could be so much better. It really needs to work for search results and as a secondary sort for author sort to be useful to me.

I agree that it should be on the search results, and hopefully it will be added. And while I think I'd prefer it as the secondary sort for the author, I don't expect that to change. I think if it's a choice between title and series for this, it will be title.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Insomniac55

That sort of makes sense, and it's what I think they were going for.

The problem is that if you tap it to 0% once, and then wait, the screen will go dark anyway after a few seconds.

So if you're trying to get it to 1% -ish by using gestures or the slider, you'll think you have it set properly. You start reading, and then seconds later the screen goes dark by itself. Then you have to blindly try to get the light back on and try again. At least in previous firmware, if you went too dark your finger was still on the slider. It was easy to raise the brightness again even if you couldn't see.

The ideal behaviour would be to program it so that that pulling the slider all the way down the first time just brings it to 1%, where it should stay. Then a second pull on the slider should bring it to 0% instantly.

It's a really silly design decision to have the light suddenly change, several seconds after the user last touched the screen, without any input from the user.

OK, I missed that. I was fiddling to much to see the second movement. Plus, I'm in a well lit room so I didn't see the light go out.

And I agree, it doesn't work. It's almost as if they want you to confirm you are turning the light of. But, if you were really intending to go to 1%, you get fooled. I think doing it the way you describe would work better than the way it is at the moment.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I don't remember any problems with this. Was it specific to the Glo?

I don't know as I only have a Glo, it might have been only in full-screen mode though. The glitch was that part of the cover image flashed on the screen while it was updating settings.

Originally Posted by davidfor

I don't remember that it didn't work. The difference to me now is that before there was a home button at the top of the screen, so if you opened a book from the Home screen, they showed <Books instead. While it wasn't completely consistent behaviour, it gave me options.

It used to be that if I opened a book from the homescreen I got either a <Home button or a <Books button at random, but the <Home button sent me to the library.

[Insomniac55]

Originally Posted by davidfor

OK, I missed that. I was fiddling to much to see the second movement. Plus, I'm in a well lit room so I didn't see the light go out.

And I agree, it doesn't work. It's almost as if they want you to confirm you are turning the light of. But, if you were really intending to go to 1%, you get fooled. I think doing it the way you describe would work better than the way it is at the moment.

Thanks for confirming it's not just my device. I was really confused when I noticed it, as I don't have the new homepage and didn't realise an update had been pushed. Got into bed, started reading... And the screen went off. I rebooted the reader about four times before I figured out what was going on.