Forma New Kobo reader: The Forma/Shape

[bookyboy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I didn't realize that the Oasis 3 was so expensive. I thought it would have been a similar price to the Libra. Given that the Forma is cheaper then the Oasis, no question the Forma. Even the Libra is a better value.

Interesting.

I think I have to get some eyes on an Oasis 3 in person.

I briefly had a new Libra and it didn’t do much for me. The buttons weren’t placed great for me and the recessed screen was a bit “meh” also... Admittedly I didn’t get a ton of time with it. I quickly realized I didn’t “love it” and returned it.

I really enjoyed my Forma for a bit but the screen thing was driving me insane, particularly with all my night reading. Also, related to my QC comment above, the bottom page turn button was a touch sticky vs one on top. Just ridiculous stuff that shouldn’t happen on the premium model and price point.

I am curious about that “ridge” on the back of the Oasis 3. I wonder if that makes it great to hold. My one consistent complaint with Libra & Forma is that they are so thin that I find them painful to comfortably hold without a PopSocket on the back (not a case person). I honestly wish the wedge sides were even thicker and more geared toward hand/grip ergonomics.

(One thing I keep loving on the Nook GLP 2019 is how comfortable it is to hold - at store only is my experience though)

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by bookyboy

(One thing I keep loving on the Nook GLP 2019 is how comfortable it is to hold - at store only is my experience though)

The Nook GLP is a very fine reader in terms of hardware. If that's the most important thing for you, by all means get it. Its software is pretty barebones, though. No custom fonts, etc. But not all people are picky about the ereader software.

I don't regret buying the Nook. But I knew what I was getting and that I'd have to jump through various hoops (font embedding, changing base font size in Calibre etc) to get the reading experience I wanted. For a person coming from Kobo the Nook software may well be disappointing.

[bookyboy]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

The Nook GLP is a very fine reader in terms of hardware. If that's the most important thing for you, by all means get it. Its software is pretty barebones, though. No custom fonts, etc. But not all people are picky about the ereader software.

I don't regret buying the Nook. But I knew what I was getting and that I'd have to jump through various hoops (font embedding, changing base font size in Calibre etc) to get the reading experience I wanted. For a person coming from Kobo the Nook software may well be disappointing.

Increasingly I think I may need to give one a more serious go.

I’m not very picky on the custom aspects but, as you can probably tell, I simply want the hardware to be great, ergonomic and the light/screen needs to be awesome (light on or off).

I take it the issues from the past with the smaller GlowLight 3 aren’t there on the Plus? (Keep reading about all sorts of software niggles/sideloaded content problems)

I see you have an Oasis 3. Where’s that on your list of preference/quality/etc?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by bookyboy

I take it the issues from the past with the smaller GlowLight 3 aren’t there on the Plus? (Keep reading about all sorts of software niggles/sideloaded content problems)

Generally not. It's best not to load a huge heap of books all at once, though. The best way to avoid issues is to use Calibre for adding and deleting books. Connect the Nook, load 5-10 books in one batch, wait until loading is finished, then load another batch. In the end, eject the Nook from Calibre, using the Calibre device ejection. It will then take a little time until the Nook has processed all the new books.

I have about 900 sideloaded books on my Nook. No problems so far.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by bookyboy

I see you have an Oasis 3. Where’s that on your list of preference/quality/etc?

Hard to say. On a par with the Libra, perhaps. The lighting is better, no doubt about that. The reading experience is very good, there are no bugs. But the Libra has more options and, being plastic, is more comfortable to hold, imho (The O3 has an aluminum back). Your mileage will probably vary.

The Nook comes third, because of its lackluster software. But then I'm pretty picky about fonts, layout and other such things. You may be totally fine with the Nook firmware.

The Voyage is the last. Its screen is just too small.

[bookyboy]

@sirtel: Good stuff, thank you!

[MGlitch]

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I may well be as I haven't followed Nook stuff in a number of years, but can't you jailbreak the current line of Nooks and install a reader which would allow for custom fonts?

Not sure what version of android the Nooks run, and how many options still exist for it. I know the last time I checked it was already pretty limited.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by bookyboy

Was not me by the way… Another poster here.

Well, it WAS you or I wouldn't have been able to quote you without some sort of underhanded trickery on my part.

Yeah, that’s exactly what I would call it when people can be going through 10 Formas and find none of them are acceptable.

They are charging $250 here… Some standards are not unfair to expect

When the Clara rolled out with lighting issues, I was all over Kobo for poor quality control. The Clara was a bog-standard 6" device that had issues because they cut corners and didn't use enough tape.

The Forma is different. It is a new form factor with a larger screen. The larger the screen, the more difficult it is to do even frontlighting. And frontlighting on e-ink screens will never be the perfectly even uniform lighting we have all come to expect from exposure to tablet and phone LCD screens. No e-ink device has perfectly even frontlighting device-to-device. You get six of the same ereader and put them on a table side by side and turn the room lights off and there will be lighting variations.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I may well be as I haven't followed Nook stuff in a number of years, but can't you jailbreak the current line of Nooks and install a reader which would allow for custom fonts?

Haven't read about anyone jailbreaking the most recent Nook, but I don't really follow jailbreaking threads and forums. Anyway, I'm not going to bother with jailbreaking, even if it's possible. Calibre does the same job for me and I'm content with that.

[bookyboy]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Well, it WAS you or I wouldn't have been able to quote you without some sort of underhanded trickery on my part.

You misunderstood - what I meant was “I’m not the user who went through 10 Forma’s (and other devices)” - was a user on Kobo reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/kobo/commen..._them/f61rxlg/

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

The Forma is different. It is a new form factor with a larger screen. The larger the screen, the more difficult it is to do even frontlighting. And frontlighting on e-ink screens will never be the perfectly even uniform lighting we have all come to expect from exposure to tablet and phone LCD screens. No e-ink device has perfectly even frontlighting device-to-device. You get six of the same ereader and put them on a table side by side and turn the room lights off and there will be lighting variations.

LCD panels aren't perfect, either. Edge bleed is a pervasive problem so no, we don't get perfect, even, uniform lighting here, either.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Haven't read about anyone jailbreaking the most recent Nook, but I don't really follow jailbreaking threads and forums. Anyway, I'm not going to bother with jailbreaking, even if it's possible. Calibre does the same job for me and I'm content with that.

You don't jailbreak nooks. You root them.

[lkmiller]

Forma or Oasis 3? Forma. I have an Oasis 2 and have no desire to get the 3.

For me, Nook Glowlight Plus is most comfortable, then the Forma. I needed to add a Pop-socket to the Oasis 2, and it's still not really very nice to hold.

I sideload everything to the Nook and never had any issues. I never had issues with the Glowlight 3 either. The day I got the Glowlight Plus I put about 40 books on at once using calibre's "save to disk" because calibre hadn't been updated to see it as an ereader device yet.

[bookyboy]

@lkmiller

Thanks for your input..

I went to Best Buy today and tried out the Oasis 3 and - that's out.

I didn't care for the metal - at all - and found it very slippery. The size/shape of it was great, but they should have made it with a rubber touch grippy finish (IMO anyhow).

Afterwards, I went and enjoyed the Nook Glowlight Plus for a bit at B&N. I still think that is the cream of the crop hardware wise right now. That said, the software certainly is limited. You really can't customize much of anything - even just stuff like headers/footers. It's kind of bummer on that front, particularly since we all have varying tastes on layout/look/information density. Highly curious how B&N has done so little with the software.

One further dealbreaker overall for me on Nook is that I have really no way to get Pocket/Instapaper/Read-it-later articles on to it. I'm not wedded to any service in particular, but from all I can tell - there is NO way to do any kind of read-it-later stuff with a Nook. That's highly unfortunate as I love to save long form web stuff for reading on my Kobo/iPad/Pocket on various platforms.

I guess I'm back to "see how my Forma will be when a new unit arrives next week from Kobo" and hope it's tolerable. I'd honestly go back to a Clara HD or other "normal shape" Kobo if *any* of them had buttons. Man oh man. When you get used to page turn buttons, they are something I don't ever want to not have again.

Screen stuff aside, I didn't enjoy the PopSocket thing on my Forma. I need to find some type of rubber "grip thing" that I can tape/glue to the back to give my hand/fingers something to really hold on to that has some shape/thickness to it.

Love to hear any suggestions on that if someone has any.

[MGlitch]

I’d suggest looking into the invert mode on the Forma when you get one. The downside is images will be inverted however I find the white text on black background is nice and doesn’t affect the battery in a noticeable way. It also makes the uneven light around the wedge less noticeable.

Might not be ideal depending on what you read, especially from pocket, but text wise it’s fine. You can also still use the comfort light to soften the black and make the text off white or more orange.

You can either patch this in, which is arguably better or test it by searching on the Kobo for “dev mode on” without the quotes then going to settings device information developer settings and enabling invert screen. Patching replaces the ade page Numbers option in reading settings.