Forma Just ordered new Kobo Forma - Page 6

Mrs_Often · 10-23-2018, 03:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jiminrussell

[...] you can lock it so that it only rotates between the two portrait orientations

I've been thinking about this. How would that work if you're reading while lying on your side? You can be lying on your right side, holding the Forma with either your right or left hand... giving the device right-side-down- or left-side-down-orientation. How would it know you're not lying on your left side...?! Can anyone with a Forma comment on this?

ErikG · 10-23-2018, 08:41 AM

I just received my new Forma.
It is a weakness, I know, the attraction new gadgets have on me. I had about every new kobo ereader the day they were released. The HD, H2O, One and of each version I bought 2 or 3 devices.

When I switched on the Forma and connected it to my wifi it went straight away updating the firmware. After the procedure was complete and the reader was ready to use I noticed two things:
1. Switching on the device is now a two-step procedure, after pressing the on/off button you have to swipe upwards on the screen to switch it on. Is Kobo afraid the on/off button gets pressed accidentally?
2. The lighting of the reader is very much inferior to my KA1's. It is uneven, the left side brighter than the right side and at the extreme right side there is a lighter border of different color of 2 mm width. I hope this is a fault specific to this device but I am curious if more people have this issue.

Below are the KA1 and Forma side by side which shows that the screen size is marginally bigger but the Forma is much smaller in height. Also it weighs less. It is very pleasant to hold with the side where the forward/back buttons are. If you try to hold it with a couple of fingers on the other side it risks to slip from your fingers because the weight is almost totally on the button side.

stumped · 10-23-2018, 08:54 AM

i have to say that I am not impressed by the gain ( if indeed there is any gain) in actual white screen area.
there is no gain in word count at all in your sample

k9reeder · 10-23-2018, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErikG

...was ready to use I noticed two things:

2. ....
at the extreme right side there is a lighter border of different color of 2 mm width. I hope this is a fault specific to this device but I am curious if more people have this issue.

I noticed this too immediately on first startup when it prompted for language. Just like yours, I saw (and still see) a kind of white streak down the same side. I hoped it was only an artifact of startup and would go away once it got going. But nope, it remains.

The streak, as I call it, is only visible when the onboard lighting is used. And it remains on the same physical side even when the screen is automatically rotated (ie. along the button side).

I can say my defect doesn't look as pronounced as yours, but it bothered me the screen wasn't pristine from edge to edge. So I took it back to the store. They had one other that they let me examine, but the store lighting was such that I couldn't be sure if it also had the defect (but seemed to, at least in my imagination). And that one also seemed to have a tiny touch of "too bright"ness (bleed?) right in the bottom corner, same side. So I've kept the one I bought originally, for now. I still have options to return or exchange.

Quote:

It is uneven, the left side brighter than the right side

Yes, noticed this too.

It's a shame because the device is otherwise a thing of beauty: light and very responsive, screen rotation works well, buttons are fine. Setup was straight forward, connecting to wifi, overdrive, calibre all seamless and without incident.

MGlitch · 10-23-2018, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stumped

i have to say that I am not impressed by the gain ( if indeed there is any gain) in actual white screen area.
there is no gain in word count at all in your sample

The KA1 is 7.8" the Forma is 8", a net gain of 0.2" of course measured diagonally. I wouldn't expect a huge gain, though if you remove the header and footer and play with margins the Forma does edge out the KA1.

I imagine this will become more evident once we have patches for the Forma and can reduce the top/bottom margins slightly more.

Grymm

jackie_w · 10-23-2018, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MGlitch

I imagine this will become more evident once we have patches for the Forma and can reduce the top/bottom margins slightly more.

Just in case you're interested, I think those 2 particular nickel patches could be successfully applied already to fw 4.11.11911. Their underlying CSS code hasn't changed since the previous firmware.

Terisa de morgan · 10-23-2018, 10:26 AM

I've applied these patches:

src/libnickel.so.1.0.0.yaml:
- Block WiFi firmware upgrade
- Custom footer (page number text)
- Fix three KePub fullScreenReading bugs
- Allow searches on Extra dictionaries
src/nickel.yaml:
- Custom font to collection and author titles
- Fix reading stats/author name cut off when series is showing
- Increase size of kepub chapter progress chart
- Increase the cover size in library
- Increase the view details container size
- Remove footer (row3) and increase cover size on new home screen
- Show all games

jackie_w · 10-23-2018, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stumped

Still impossible to buy or pre order in UK?

In case you're interested the 'Add to cart' button on Kobo UK is "live" again.

Liesse · 10-23-2018, 11:32 AM

My order got cancelled. 'Suspect activity' probably because I was in Turkey when I tried to order.
I'm thinking I might wait a bit to see some more hands on impressions and if someone like Argos will get stock. Could anyone let me know how long their shipping took direct from kobo to the UK?

Sent from my STF-L09 using Tapatalk

jackie_w · 10-23-2018, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liesse

Could anyone let me know how long their shipping took direct from kobo to the UK?

I ordered from Kobo UK on the 18th and I have a shipping notice with tracking that tells me it will arrive tomorrow, 24th (seeing's believing, though

). However, since today is the first official delivery date maybe the days between 19th-22nd don't count?

The order confirmation stated 7-10 business days, so if it is delivered tomorrow they will have bettered their estimate by several days.

Pjama · 10-23-2018, 11:50 AM

Kobo Forma now showing as out of stock on Walmart....

Stevex · 10-23-2018, 12:17 PM

I gave in and ordered mine today. London UK. Liesse I‘ll post again when it arrives!

jiminrussell · 10-23-2018, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrs_Often

I've been thinking about this. How would that work if you're reading while lying on your side? You can be lying on your right side, holding the Forma with either your right or left hand... giving the device right-side-down- or left-side-down-orientation. How would it know you're not lying on your left side...?! Can anyone with a Forma comment on this?

I gave this a try and it seems to work okay, if I understand correctly what you are expecting. Laying on my right side with the Forma in my right hand it displays correctly, I flipped it over so that I was holding it in my left hand (buttons under my left thumb now) still laying on my right side and the screen rotated correctly (this is with it set to rotation locked on portrait), tried it on my left side and it took it a bit longer to flip the screen after swapping from left to right hand but it still worked, the screen was in the correct orientation for reading.
If you leave the setting on Auto-Rotate it switches to landscape when you lay on your side, so you need to lock it to portrait.

JawadLeLogeur · 10-23-2018, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

I've applied these patches:

src/libnickel.so.1.0.0.yaml:
- Block WiFi firmware upgrade
- Custom footer (page number text)
- Fix three KePub fullScreenReading bugs
- Allow searches on Extra dictionaries
src/nickel.yaml:
- Custom font to collection and author titles
- Fix reading stats/author name cut off when series is showing
- Increase size of kepub chapter progress chart
- Increase the cover size in library
- Increase the view details container size
- Remove footer (row3) and increase cover size on new home screen
- Show all games

How does patching work? Do we have to root or something similar?

DNSB · 10-23-2018, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JawadLeLogeur

How does patching work? Do we have to root or something similar?

Kobo ereaders use Linux not Android. Rooting is not needed. Check in the Kobo Developer's Corner for the patch threads. The most recent is Instructions for patching firmware 4.10.11655 .

10-23-2018, 08:41 AM	#77
ErikG Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 15448 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Leiden Device: iRex DR800S, Kindle DX, Kobo H2O, Kobo Aura One, Kobo Forma, Kobo Sage	I just received my new Forma. It is a weakness, I know, the attraction new gadgets have on me. I had about every new kobo ereader the day they were released. The HD, H2O, One and of each version I bought 2 or 3 devices. When I switched on the Forma and connected it to my wifi it went straight away updating the firmware. After the procedure was complete and the reader was ready to use I noticed two things: 1. Switching on the device is now a two-step procedure, after pressing the on/off button you have to swipe upwards on the screen to switch it on. Is Kobo afraid the on/off button gets pressed accidentally? 2. The lighting of the reader is very much inferior to my KA1's. It is uneven, the left side brighter than the right side and at the extreme right side there is a lighter border of different color of 2 mm width. I hope this is a fault specific to this device but I am curious if more people have this issue. Below are the KA1 and Forma side by side which shows that the screen size is marginally bigger but the Forma is much smaller in height. Also it weighs less. It is very pleasant to hold with the side where the forward/back buttons are. If you try to hold it with a couple of fingers on the other side it risks to slip from your fingers because the weight is almost totally on the button side. Attached Thumbnails

10-23-2018, 10:26 AM	#82
Terisa de morgan Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,636 Karma: 12595249 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Madrid, Spain Device: Kobo Clara/Aura One/Forma,XiaoMI 5, iPad, Huawei MediaPad, YotaPhone 2	I've applied these patches: src/libnickel.so.1.0.0.yaml: Block WiFi firmware upgrade Custom footer (page number text) Fix three KePub fullScreenReading bugs Allow searches on Extra dictionaries src/nickel.yaml: Custom font to collection and author titles Fix reading stats/author name cut off when series is showing Increase size of kepub chapter progress chart Increase the cover size in library Increase the view details container size Remove footer (row3) and increase cover size on new home screen Show all games

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10-23-2018, 08:54 AM	#78
stumped Wizard Posts: 3,305 Karma: 10259306 Join Date: May 2016 Device: kobo forma, Kobo Libra, Huawei media Tab, fire HD10, PW3 HDX8.9,	i have to say that I am not impressed by the gain ( if indeed there is any gain) in actual white screen area. there is no gain in word count at all in your sample

10-23-2018, 11:32 AM	#84
Liesse Zealot Posts: 134 Karma: 610994 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: UK Device: Kobo Libra Colour	My order got cancelled. 'Suspect activity' probably because I was in Turkey when I tried to order. I'm thinking I might wait a bit to see some more hands on impressions and if someone like Argos will get stock. Could anyone let me know how long their shipping took direct from kobo to the UK? Sent from my STF-L09 using Tapatalk

10-23-2018, 11:50 AM	#86
Pjama Guru Posts: 733 Karma: 2347200 Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: TX Device: Scribe and Libra Colour	Kobo Forma now showing as out of stock on Walmart....

10-23-2018, 12:17 PM	#87
Stevex Addict Posts: 225 Karma: 15318 Join Date: Nov 2015 Device: Kobo Glo HD	I gave in and ordered mine today. London UK. Liesse I‘ll post again when it arrives!