Forma Is ghosting normal?

[theonlyjuan]

Hi, I've just bought a Kobo Forma and if page refreshing setting isn't set to refresh every page, visible (but not horrible or truly distracting) ghosting of previous pages is present.

Is this completely normal or should I be worried?

I intentionally picked a Kobo with the largest screen which was also the most expensive one. Since I spent over 300 eur for it, I would just like to make sure that this is something that always happens with e-readers.

[Deskisamess]

I've been using e-ink readers since 2009, and in my experience, yes, this is normal. Set the page refresh to every page if it bothers you.

[frostschutz]

every eink display has ghosting, that's why refreshes are necessary

but some have worse ghosting than others, so hard to say what is considered normal

[patrik]

I have a Forma and have set to refresh every chapter. I rarely notice it.

[NiLuJe]

For pure *black on white* text, ghosting should be extremely minimal on a Forma, yeah (you're more likely to notice contrast differences in the font rendering when there's a sharp contrast difference between pages (i.e., the next page putting text over a previously empty space in the previous page) than actual ghosting). But it's still eInk, so it's there.

Images are a tougher nut to crack. And nightmode is terrible and will ghost like crazy, which is why it's not an user-facing feature.

Although, as usual, depends on reading conditions, font sizes, rivers, contrast between pages, temperature, etc.

[ZodWallop]

I started with Nook Simple Touch and Kobo Aura that used Pearl screens and ghosting was very noticeable. So my Nook Glowlight Plus and Kobo Clara appear to never have ghosting. But I'm sure that's because I'm used to what it used to be like. Carta screens seem to handle ghosting much better than Pearl.

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by patrik

I have a Forma and have set to refresh every chapter. I rarely notice it.

I also have it set to every page. The one time I definitely do notice it is when I'm in the My Books list and click on the page number at the bottom center to jump to a different page; then the black box in the lower right corner is ghosted on the page I jumped to; it doesn't do a refresh for that.

[theonlyjuan]

Thank you everyone for well articulated and constructive responses. If I use the setting that refreshes the screen with each page, everything is fine. However does refreshing the page so often drastically shorten the battery time or is it neglectable?

[Quoth]

Negligible. I've always used every ereader that way.

[rashkae]

It's not really a matter of battery, but some people are much more bothered by the flash than they are the ghosting or sloppy/fuzzy font rendering. I've always used full refresh as well.

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by theonlyjuan

Thank you everyone for well articulated and constructive responses. If I use the setting that refreshes the screen with each page, everything is fine. However does refreshing the page so often drastically shorten the battery time or is it neglectable?

As far as the lifespan of the battery goes, unless you're living on the edge of poverty you'll be Jonesing for the newest and latest model by the time the battery gives up the ghost.

[tourneur]

Originally Posted by rashkae

It's not really a matter of battery, but some people are much more bothered by the flash than they are the ghosting or sloppy/fuzzy font rendering. I've always used full refresh as well.

After setting it to refresh every page I actually stopped noticing the flash, because every page turn is now consistent. It's a great improvement plus, of course, no more ghosting.

[theonlyjuan]

Awesome! Thank you everyone for the answers.