How to get clues about upcoming Kobo ereaders?

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by Apollyon202

"We have some amazing projects that should be ready to share with you in the second half of the year – developments that will fundamentally change how we read and write on our devices. We're going to keep pushing at the edges of what reading can be.".

I think this is more about the upcoming 5.x firmware instead of new hardware.

[issybird]

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[Yapyap]

Originally Posted by Apollyon202

“We have some amazing projects that should be ready to share with you in the second half of the year – developments that will fundamentally change how we read and write on our devices. We’re going to keep pushing at the edges of what reading can be.”

I read that as well (on that Reddit post - no such email received) and it sounds like either the most annoying sort of buzzword-marketing-speech or something that sounds terrifying, LOL.

I mean .. what does “pushing at the edges of what reading can be” or “fundamentally change how we read” even mean.

My best scenario guess is that they’re planning to introduce some features modern Kindles seem to have re: AI recaps or summaries or an easy way to get an overview of who the characters are etc - I’m not particularly keen to have AI pushed into everything, but that’s at least a somewhat legitimate use for it and may be helpful to people.

Definitely sounds more like new software/firmware features to me than “we’re going to release a successor to Kobo Sage, with a lovely Carta 1300 screen and page turn buttons and a bigger battery” though...

[Apollyon202]

Originally Posted by Yapyap

I read that as well (on that Reddit post - no such email received) and it sounds like either the most annoying sort of buzzword-marketing-speech or something that sounds terrifying, LOL.

I mean .. what does “pushing at the edges of what reading can be” or “fundamentally change how we read” even mean.

My best scenario guess is that they’re planning to introduce some features modern Kindles seem to have re: AI recaps or summaries or an easy way to get an overview of who the characters are etc - I’m not particularly keen to have AI pushed into everything, but that’s at least a somewhat legitimate use for it and may be helpful to people.

Definitely sounds more like new software/firmware features to me than “we’re going to release a successor to Kobo Sage, with a lovely Carta 1300 screen and page turn buttons and a bigger battery” though...

Yeah I agree. Marketing bs at its finest. Instead, what would be really useful is like expanding the default reading program's features without adding any bloatware (including "AI"), so people wouldn't have to bother with kobopatches and koreader anymore.

[icallaci]

I agree that this is rather concerning and not (as I suppose it was meant to be) reassuring that Kobo is still in the game. Oh, and if it's not hardware, then I don't care.

Originally Posted by Apollyon202

Someone posted on reddit that they received an email from the kobo CEO, which is apparently some marketing material, although the last few sentences could be interesting / concerning:

"We have some amazing projects that should be ready to share with you in the second half of the year – developments that will fundamentally change how we read and write on our devices. We're going to keep pushing at the edges of what reading can be."

Well, from my viewpoint it's rather concerning.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Apollyon202

Yeah I agree. Marketing bs at its finest. Instead, what would be really useful is like expanding the default reading program's features without adding any bloatware (including "AI"), so people wouldn't have to bother with kobopatches and koreader anymore.

They're unlikely to do that, because it's expensive and most users don't care. We nerds using patches or KOReader are a minority, probably quite small minority at that.

[JSWolf]

I too received the email from Kobo. I have no idea if this is software, hardware, or both.

[nana77]

Originally Posted by Apollyon202

Someone posted on reddit that they received an email from the kobo CEO, which is apparently some marketing material, although the last few sentences could be interesting / concerning:

"We have some amazing projects that should be ready to share with you in the second half of the year – developments that will fundamentally change how we read and write on our devices. We're going to keep pushing at the edges of what reading can be."

Well, from my viewpoint it's rather concerning.

Hopefully not this..

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by nana77

Hopefully not this..

Only having watched some of the second video (I don’t trust Good Ereader to tell me it’s raining in monsoon season) I doubt that these things are anywhere near ready for prime time

1) the ghosting and overall quality of the screen which he tried to pass off as being more paper like. Nah buddy it’s just bad quality

2) cost and durability are very likely stacked against this

3) imagine you’re reading and you shift slightly and the glasses shift now you have to correct them.

4) it would seem you are effectively blind while reading. Which instantly kills reading on commutes or out in public.

5) that remote control is begging to be lost somewhere


Kobo only recently embraced color ereaders (and please let’s not debate about the quality or wisdom of this it’s irrelevant). I don’t see them making this leap since it doesn’t really offer anything but does introduce nearly infinite new points of failure vs the current line up of ereaders they offer

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Apollyon202

Someone posted on reddit that they received an email from the kobo CEO, which is apparently some marketing material, although the last few sentences could be interesting / concerning:

"We have some amazing projects that should be ready to share with you in the second half of the year – developments that will fundamentally change how we read and write on our devices. We're going to keep pushing at the edges of what reading can be."

Well, from my viewpoint it's rather concerning.

Whoa, there, pardner!

Isn't this a paraphrase of what Amazon wrote a couple of years ago? You know, "amazing products," and "developments...how we read and write on our devices"?

[Apollyon202]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

They're unlikely to do that, because it's expensive and most users don't care. We nerds using patches or KOReader are a minority, probably quite small minority at that.

Most users would care if those features had been implemented.

At the same time, if companies didn't force AI on people, they wouldn't care about it at all. Among other things, Kobo gained popularity over Kindle because it's a way more open platform.

I don't see why expanding existing features would be more expensive compared to putting AI stuff into Kobo services and/or fundamentally changing the way people read.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Apollyon202

I don't see why expanding existing features would be more expensive compared to putting AI stuff into Kobo services and/or fundamentally changing the way people read.

We don't know yet what they're going to do or if they'll put AI into Kobo services.

And no, most users wouldn't care about more features. Even here on MR many don't care, as evidenced by people using Kobos interchangeably with other brands with fewer features or even preferring those other brands. And outside MR the average user is far less "nerdy".

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

We don't know yet what they're going to do or if they'll put AI into Kobo services.

And no, most users wouldn't care about more features. Even here on MR many don't care, as evidenced by people using Kobos interchangeably with other brands with fewer features or even preferring those other brands. And outside MR the average user is far less "nerdy".

Add to that that even here there’s a divide between folks who pick up the latest devices from kobo and those who don’t but still keep using older Kobos. Heck even the kobo arc forum occasionally gets some post and that’s a device well past its EoL.

I don’t really know what new feature kobo could add that would be a must buy for me. Color didn’t do it, and even if it matched current LCD color depth and range it’s unlikely it would have. I have no use for AI features which I doubt would work on side loaded content anyway. I suppose darker blacks and stronger whites since I read in dark mode so an increased contrast would be something I could appreciate.

I don’t think the redesign I suggested would even be something that would make me buy a new Kobo on its own.

[Sirtel]

I would buy a new Sage with a better battery life + correctly working buttons, and/or a new b/w Libra with a faster processor. As far as software goes I'm pretty content with the stock Kobo firmware (patched). I don't care about AI features, writing or color.

[cellaris]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

And no, most users wouldn't care about more features. Even here on MR many don't care, as evidenced by people using Kobos interchangeably with other brands with fewer features or even preferring those other brands. And outside MR the average user is far less "nerdy".

This is something a PocketBook representative has already mentioned: over 90 per cent of their users use their e-readers with the factory default settings. They don’t make the slightest change, not even to the simplest of the available options. I’m convinced that this applies to any brand of e-reader.