Can someone please list me the main DISADVANTAGES between the Kobo Touch & Kindle 4

[tablettweet]

Hi I am a Kindle 4 user, I don't know about KoBO but this is what I don't like about Kindle 4 :
- it is impossible to add note on Kindle 4 since it lacks of a physical keyboard, you may use an on screen keyboard but it is not so convenience and I think it is for ebook finder in Kindle store not for a note adding
- I don't like the way that I have to click twice when I want to add a highlight (but you'll get use to it after use it for a while)
- In landscape more, if you are reading a PDF you cannot use a 5-way-navigator to turn page only page turning buttons that are allowed which is for me, it is not so comfortable.

[Wildgift]

Originally Posted by Jaden

Amazon will be glad to hear.

BTW Kobo ePubs (KePubs) have a very nice footnote system. If you click on the footnote, it is displayed on the screen, much like a dictionary entry. Only if the note is too long, you'll have to click on "more" (or something like that) to get it displayed on a separeate page (with a return button). It works very well and with KePubs, it's never difficult to use the footnotes.

I imagine it is as nice as Amazons system, though I can't say for sure since I don't have a Kindle.

ePubs, on the other hand, are very different and the formatting is not controlled by Kobo. So some will work perfectly well, others will be a little difficult. It all depends on how the publisher implemented their footnotes. Firmware 1.9.17 has improved the performance on footnotes in ePub, at least for me. Had no problem so far, even with ePubs that proved to be difficult before (concerning footnotes).

I found the kobo to be impossibly slow. That book is 1100 pages. To load a note would take 40 seconds plus. And iOS is just broken. Too bad. I loved the form factor.

[Wildgift]

And btw the kindle iOS sync is perfect, which was key to me.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by Wildgift

I found the kobo to be impossibly slow. That book is 1100 pages. To load a note would take 40 seconds plus. And iOS is just broken. Too bad. I loved the form factor.

You've never once mentioned the firmware version you used.

Never takes that long for any notes of pages to load for me, though I don't have a book with footnotes that's 1100 pages long.

I don't think that my Kobo is slows, either. Page turns are instant, for example, even with larger books.

[Wildgift]

Originally Posted by Jaden

You've never once mentioned the firmware version you used.

Never takes that long for any notes of pages to load for me, though I don't have a book with footnotes that's 1100 pages long.

I don't think that my Kobo is slows, either. Page turns are instant, for example, even with larger books.

Sorry, don't remember. I sold it awhile back. I was on their beta team and always had the latest firmware. Yes, page turns were fine. They told me though that they were having trouble with ios sync. I'm not a hater, but it was just a trudge to use, and they never fixed the problem where a footnote in the top line only brought up the menu. Too bad. I loved the coupons and the badges.

[Shopaholic]

Originally Posted by wastelander

I have been leaning towards the kobo recently because it supports epub and mobi formats....

The Kobo does NOT support Mobi formats. Where'd you get this info from? I just did a quick read through of the User's Guide posted online & they support epub & PDF & Kobo epub. No mention at all of Mobi. I could be wrong, but I don't believe that it does.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by Wildgift

Sorry, don't remember. I sold it awhile back. I was on their beta team and always had the latest firmware. Yes, page turns were fine. They told me though that they were having trouble with ios sync. I'm not a hater, but it was just a trudge to use, and they never fixed the problem where a footnote in the top line only brought up the menu. Too bad. I loved the coupons and the badges.

Too bad you don't remember - (and I don't have the book you've mentioned). I really think it's better now, but we can't test it. And you can't test if you set the tap zones to 1:2 or 2:1 (where the menu only comes up if pressed in the lower middle) would work without bringing up the menu. So we can't really help with the decision.

Over here, you can buy and try - if that's possible where the OP lives, maybe that would be an option?

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by Shopaholic

The Kobo does NOT support Mobi formats. Where'd you get this info from?

It supports mobi, but not always perfect. And if I recall correctly, it only supports non DRMed mobi. Don't use them, so I wouldn't know. I always use Calibre to convert to ePub.

The info can be found on the kobobooks.com site, eReader, Kobo Touch, technical specifications:

Books: EPUB, PDF and MOBI
Documents: PDF
Pictures: JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP and TIFF
Text: TXT, HTML and RTF
Comics: CBZ and CBR

[John F]

Originally Posted by Jaden

You've never once mentioned the firmware version you used.

Never takes that long for any notes of pages to load for me, though I don't have a book with footnotes that's 1100 pages long.

...

I'm using the latest firmware (*.17) and footnotes/end-notes for side-loaded ePubs suck.

[The Terminator]

Originally Posted by wastelander

Thanks for the replies so far

What about battery life and freezing issues with each one? The more I have read, the more I see the kobo is potentially the less stable reader with a lot less battery life - what do you guys think?

I've had it freeze once or twice but usually it just restarts itself. I read about 2h-3h a day and I only have to charge once every 2-3 weeks, 4 weeks if I don't use it much. And that's with the SD card in.


The Syncing used to be so so, but now it works flawlessly, I can read a few chapters on my phone then open my Kobo Touch up and it will pop up saying a more recent bookmark is available and if I want to go to it.

Going to endnotes seem to be book specific, I have a really nice ePub of Les Miserables and the endnotes work fine and only takes about 2 seconds to open the endnote and almost instant to go back when you press the back button.

Some people don't like the slider, and I agree that it isn't the most accurate thing for plain ePubs, but the books that you buy and sync from Kobo it works good since you drag through pages in chapter instead of pages in book, I find it works good for Bible reading.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by John F

I'm using the latest firmware (*.17) and footnotes/end-notes for side-loaded ePubs suck.

I don't have many books with footnotes, but for me it has improved. Not that it's always perfect now - there's a newspaper that doesn't work properly with the Kobo, for example. Calibre newsfeeds work very well, but this specific newspaper doesn't.

But I've already noticed that not only different eBooks/ePubs but also different Kobos act... differently.

I've never had the double tap problem (or so rarely that I don't remember), but have a "dead tap zone" now with .17.

Footnotes are better, also the "menu needs double tap" bug is gone. But it seems that this varies from Kobo to Kobo and ePub to ePub.

[danskmacabre]

I've only ever owned a Kobo touch ereader and not used the kindle 4 much (I did have a brief try out with one a friend owns).

All in all I'm very happy with my KT.

I HAVE had it freeze up a couple of time. I think it was due to a dodgy epub I got from the Gutenberg project. A forced restart fixed it tho.

In some of the earlier earlier firmwares it would not recognise taps for page turning and then would suddenly turn 2 pages..

For the most part these issues are no longer a problem, the latest firmware (1.9.17) is pretty good for me.

The advertised support for 32 GB microsd cards is debatable tho. Anything over 2GB and many people have problems.


It sounds like I prefer the Kindle. Actually I by far prefer the Kobo Touch for the following reasons.

the KT supports epub (and many other formats) the Kindle doesn't support epub. WQhich means I can buy my ebooks from pretty much anywhere.

with the Kindle you're locked into the Amazon environment. (I do know there's ways around this, but for the average consumer, it;s probably beyond them).

No external storage with the Kindle. The KT support MicroSD cards. which is nice.

[Prestidigitweeze]

I'll be happy to include you in our list, M. Wasteland, and a belated welcome to Mobile Read. What sort of disadvantage to the Kobo Touch and Kindle 4 are you interested in becoming?

[The Terminator]

Originally Posted by danskmacabre

The advertised support for 32 GB microsd cards is debatable tho. Anything over 2GB and many people have problems.
.

I'm using an 8GB SDHC card with no problems. I think mine is a Sandisk.

But people definitely have had problems with the memory cards, if you want to use one ask people on the forum which ones work well.

[ProfCrash]

If the average user spent a few minutes online they would find that it is not difficult to buy from stores other then Amazon.

All the independent bookstores sell DRM free Mobi and EPub, so you don't have to do anything. If you want to shop at an ePub store you need to have a chat with Apprentice Alf and in about 30 minutes you are good to go.

Better yet, you take one look at the Amazon bookstore and realize that it sells pretty much everything Kobo, BN, Sony, Apple and the others sell and then some so you don't worry about shopping at different stores.

Sorry, but the "locked in" thing is bogus and has been for a long time.