Forma New Kobo reader: The Forma/Shape

[pagepack]

Originally Posted by Dirk-71

I doubt the Forma will be successful.

TBH success in the ereader market is relative to its audience.

The ereader market compared to phones or tablets is minuscule, so high-end ereader sales are fairly infinitesimal in comparison to any new tech.

For me the dedicated daily reader is keeping e-ink devices alive despite market forces. I include myself in this.

[icallaci]

I am interested to know if the screen calibration is accurate. My Aura One drives me crazy because when I press the A key, either S or D is highlighted. Is the Forma any better in this regard?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

Yeah, they're a useful and dynamic source, but they have very questionable practices. I wouldn't trust them, but I don't totally dismiss them as many do. They have a lot of scoops.

A lot of their scoops are actually stolen from Mobileread. That is no joke.

[JSWolf]

I do think that we should all buy this to support Kobo for again more innovation by using Mobius instead of the standard glass Carta.

Here is a review of the Forma from PC Magazine.

[Lynx-lynx]

I'm buying the Forma, even though i don't think much of the name , nor it's AUD429.95 price tag

Can't imagine how Kobo thinks the Forma will takeoff in great numbers here at that price, they haven't learnt from past experiences

[Tony1988]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I do think that we should all buy this to support Kobo for again more innovation by using Mobius instead of the standard glass Carta.

Here is a review of the Forma from PC Magazine.

Not a big fan of offset ereaders. Maybe I will buy an Aura One though.

[CH23]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

If it doesn't require a new port, to match the hardware/OS, KOReader might still work on this new Kobo device. If so, that kind of display option is just the kind of thing the guys on the project at github are good at.

Luck;
Ken

It's not KOReader, KSM, Plato, Vlasovsoft, et cetera, what I want the SD slot for, but for upgradability, and because I might have to restore from backups due to excessive tinkering :P

[RobertJSawyer]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

Can't imagine how Kobo thinks the Forma will takeoff in great numbers here at that price, they haven't learnt from past experiences

Not all things are meant to sell large numbers; one can do just as well with smaller numbers and a high profit margin. I come from the world of print books, and although all of mine are published in regular bookstore hardcovers and eventually in mass-market paperbacks, limited-edition signed collectors' hardcovers, aimed at an audience of a 500 or a 1,000 can make everyone a lot of money. Could they sell twice as many at half the price? No doubt. Would they make the same total profit? That's not necessarily true at all, given that the unit DOES have a development and manufacturing cost.

[RobertJSawyer]

If you don't like the positioning of the hardware page-turn buttons, you don't have to use them. Tapping or swiping on the screen to change pages will still work (as seen in some of the video reviews), just like on previous Kobo models.

[azayn]

I'm waiting for a detailed review from Good E-reader or The E-Reader Blog to see if the software has improved over the Kobo Aura One. One of the reasons I went with an Oasis is it's snappier when it comes to doing routine things like page turns and dictionary.

In my experience, while Kobo has more bells and whistles than Kindles do the overall reading experience on the Kindle tends to be slightly better.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by azayn

I'm waiting for a detailed review from Good E-reader or The E-Reader Blog to see if the software has improved over the Kobo Aura One. One of the reasons I went with an Oasis is it's snappier when it comes to doing routine things like page turns and dictionary.

In my experience, while Kobo has more bells and whistles than Kindles do the overall reading experience on the Kindle tends to be slightly better.

The firmware will be the same as that currently available for the Aura ONE. It will be an updated version, but only to add support for the hardware in this device and landscape mode. Everything else about how it works will be the same. There might be a firmware release for the other devices when the Forma is released, but, I expect Kobo to wait a month or so before releasing an update.

If you are basing the decision on the firmware on the Aura ONE at release time, there have been a lot of changes. Overall the performance is better. The speed of page turns has improved, and other functions have been added or improved.

The only other performance consideration is the hardware. I don't think I've seen any mention of the CPU or RAM in the Forma. I'm expecting it to be the same as in the Clara HD and the updated versions of the Aura H2O2 and Aura Edition 2. These should be faster than the CPU in the Aura ONE, but I haven't seen any real reports of the difference. I can't say I've seen a real difference between my Clara HD and Glo HD.

And for those who are going to ask, you should not expect to see landscape mode in the other devices any time soon.

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by CH23

It's not KOReader, KSM, Plato, Vlasovsoft, et cetera, what I want the SD slot for, but for upgradability, and because I might have to restore from backups due to excessive tinkering :P

Hmm... The Port I was talking about is the adapting of the software so that it can run on the hardware and operating system of the device, not the SD slot. Hopefully, the software you mention will need little adaptation to run on the new device.

Luck;
Ken

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by RobertJSawyer

Not all things are meant to sell large numbers; one can do just as well with smaller numbers and a high profit margin. I come from the world of print books, and although all of mine are published in regular bookstore hardcovers and eventually in mass-market paperbacks, limited-edition signed collectors' hardcovers, aimed at an audience of a 500 or a 1,000 can make everyone a lot of money. Could they sell twice as many at half the price? No doubt. Would they make the same total profit? That's not necessarily true at all, given that the unit DOES have a development and manufacturing cost.

Whilst I appreciate your viewpoint, it is yet again ridiculous that Australians, and no doubt New Zealanders, will be paying over the top for the device compared to say Canada, where the CAD is relatively approx the same as the AUD. And the Forma sale price for Canada, according to the kobo CA website is: $299.99.
(how outrageous that we suffer such a huge impost and are asked to pay aud429. 95!!!)


Kobo is selling two things: the ereader and it's ebookstore, so if it doesn't get the numbers up in its ereader sales then it's likely that also means less kobo ebook sales.



Not all readers who use ebooks are as tech savvy as those of us at mobileread, who get by rather well using calibre to convert ebooks purchased from Amazon, for example. And conversely, those with non kobo ereaders who buy from the kobo estore. There are no doubt many users of ereaders who only buy their ebooks from the store relative to their device.



I do consider that kobo needs to sell a goodly volume of ereaders to keep up sales from its estore, and if that means selling the ereaders to Australians at a price more in line with other countries, then that's what they ought to do. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Mrs_Often]

Originally Posted by Dirk-71

Another review in english...



https://youtu.be/gs0INyFODmQ

What a useless 'review' 😞 Nothing hands on about it... That's 15 noisy minutes I'm never getting back... (and really, why the 'music' beat over the voices? Ugh!)

[Dirk-71]

Originally Posted by Mrs_Often

What a useless 'review' 😞 Nothing hands on about it... That's 15 noisy minutes I'm never getting back... (and really, why the 'music' beat over the voices? Ugh!)

Yes, I agree with you!