Libra Are we expecting a Kobo Libra BW?

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Kobo needs to do something as they are losing to Amazon. They need to complete. What they have now is not competitive enough. Amazon sees the reasoning to have BW as well as color models. Kobo seems to not get it.

I wonder whether their plan to bring the Kobo and Tolino devices into line with each other is taking a *lot* more time and effort than they anticipated. Adding extra new devices may make it even harder.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I wonder whether their plan to bring the Kobo and Tolino devices into line with each other is taking a *lot* more time and effort than they anticipated. Adding extra new devices may make it even harder.

I do hope that's the reason and not financial difficulties or plans to back out.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I also have the feeling that not everything is ok with Kobo. Why aren't they releasing more new models? Are they really planning to abandon the ereader business or even fold altogether?

Hmm. Now you've got me a little nervous. Not just because I prefer Kobos to other models, but because I haven't downloaded to my computer any of my Kobo purchases in nine years! I went to direct download with my eyes open, in that I figured my exposure was merely that Kobo would give advance notice before shutting down its ebook store, but I hope that day isn't imminent.

Perhaps I should start chipping away. Not my idea of a good time, though.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by issybird

Hmm. Now you've got me a little nervous. Not just because I prefer Kobos to other models, but because I haven't downloaded to my computer any of my Kobo purchases in nine years! I went to direct download with my eyes open, in that I figured my exposure was merely that Kobo would give advance notice before shutting down its ebook store, but I hope that day isn't imminent.

Perhaps I should start chipping away. Not my idea of a good time, though.

Well, they're hardly going to do it tomorrow (of course I hope they're not going to do it at all), so perhaps just download a handful every day. Shouldn't take that long.

Even better, connecting your Kobos to calibre and deDRMing books downloaded to your Kobos via the obok plugin should be faster than using ADE.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Well, they're hardly going to do it tomorrow (of course I hope they're not going to do it at all), so perhaps just download a handful every day. Shouldn't take that long.

Even better, connecting your Kobos to calibre and deDRMing books downloaded to your Kobos via the obok plugin should be faster than using ADE.

It would be easier (IMHO) to download ePub. That way you can use the ACSM Input plugin and DeDRM in one go. Also, you can download in order.

[John F]

Originally Posted by issybird

...

Perhaps I should start chipping away. Not my idea of a good time, though.

Maybe wait? Once Amazon announced no more D&T, weren't there browser scripts created to do bulk downloads?

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Well, they're hardly going to do it tomorrow (of course I hope they're not going to do it at all), so perhaps just download a handful every day.

Yes. My worst case scenario was that if Kobo went out of the ebook business, they would give reasonable advance notice. Unlike some of the disappear overnight purveyors back before the grand shakeout.

When Amazon made downloading so very much more difficult, I did go back and get a portion of my library, probably somewhere in the range of 33% to 40%, just in case although I'd be stunned if Amazon went out of the book business, i.e. the books would still be accessible. I would expect a higher conversion ratio at Kobo especially in a now-or-never scenario, but far from the whole shebang. No point in jumping through hoops for books that will either never be read or never be reread. Eclutter is still clutter. I know mileage varies!

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It would be easier (IMHO) to download ePub. That way you can use the ACSM Input plugin and DeDRM in one go. Also, you can download in order.

That's not easier. It's just the method that will give you the pure epub without any kepub bits.

The easiest is directly from a Kobo device via the obok plugin.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by issybird

No point in jumping through hoops for books that will either never be read or never be reread. Eclutter is still clutter. I know mileage varies!

Well, I jump through hoops for absolutely every book I buy, and have done so for 15 years. Whether it will ever be read or not doesn't matter, I can't sleep unless I've liberated every ebook I own. But I'm aware not everyone wants to bother.

[Apollyon202]

Originally Posted by issybird

Yes. My worst case scenario was that if Kobo went out of the ebook business, they would give reasonable advance notice. Unlike some of the disappear overnight purveyors back before the grand shakeout.

I wouldn't worry about kobo going out of business. They just released a new gadget, which is a gimmick, but still.
I’d worry if kobo only rolls out gimmicks instead of the cool e-readers they made in the past.

[nana77]

Originally Posted by Apollyon202

I wouldn't worry about kobo going out of business. They just released a new gadget, which is a gimmick, but still.
I’d worry if kobo only rolls out gimmicks instead of the cool e-readers they made in the past.

And also the Instapaper feature, and a Libra Colour.
Not like I'd like to bet, but if I recall it correctly, if something new wasn't yet ready by now, like Amazon did for the 10th december... due the yearly closing of manufactures in China for february, I wouldn't wait anything till next spring almost.
The latests previous releases, according to Wikipedia, were in 2024 and there were both an upgraded carta 1300 screen (Kobo Clara BW), and two Kaleido 3 ones.
Imho following the others' business (thought someone else already said that in here) isn't always the safest way...
Imho as it was mentioned in here before, if the E-ink Mobius Carta isn't outdated, within its 300 dpi, a thinner layer (and now if it's being used by the folding devices) it would't be that weird to try differentiate (as any company has its own, varying, policy).

[nana77]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Heck, even the newest Gallery 3 device I've seen is noticeably a downgrade from most active display devices.

Not sure when you have seen and compared it, but by looking at some youtube videos it seems that what once was a patch to allow an higher level of brightness, now that feature has come default's within some latest firmware upgrade.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

That's not easier. It's just the method that will give you the pure epub without any kepub bits.

The easiest is directly from a Kobo device via the obok plugin.

I disagree. By downloading the ePub, you can keep track of what you've downloaded easier.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Apollyon202

I wouldn't worry about kobo going out of business. They just released a new gadget, which is a gimmick, but still.
I’d worry if kobo only rolls out gimmicks instead of the cool e-readers they made in the past.

Kobo has mostly rolled out gimmicks. The color Readers are gimmicks.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by nana77

Not sure when you have seen and compared it, but by looking at some youtube videos it seems that what once was a patch to allow an higher level of brightness, now that feature has come default's within some latest firmware upgrade.

Our comparison of the Kaleido 3 displays was was about a month back on 2025-Nov-15. Both devices were on their latest firmware revision (4.44.23552 and 5.18.6). We tried our best to match the frontlight brightness level. For testing, we used a couple of books intended for children since they was mostly colour illustrations and a homebrewed ebook with colour images. We also compared the books on my iPad Pro in the Kindle app, the Kobo app and the Pocketbook app.

As I said, we were able to make the two eInk device displays look very close by playing with the display settings on the KLC. While both looked pretty good by themselves, the iPad Pro looked far better with any of the apps.

Both of us ended up preferring the KLC's default display setting since we agreed that setting had the best highlight and shadow detail but his grandkids preferred the Colorsoft's display with it's brighter colours.

For the Gallery 3 display, we used a Remarkable Pro that Chris was able to borrow from work. It was on whatever version it's automatic software update installed. It's 65K colours was a definite improvement over the Kaleido 3's 4K colours but the display refresh for best colour was very noticeably slow.