Why do you like the Kobo Aura One?

[meeera]

Originally Posted by radius

The one major physical drawback of the KA1 for me is loss of pocketability. I often stick a 6" reader in my back pocket temporarily (ie: while walking from car to coffee shop etc) but the KA1 was either a read at home machine or carry in bag machine.

Shhhhh! Don't mention the pockets!

[dmapr]

Originally Posted by radius

The one major physical drawback of the KA1 for me is loss of pocketability. I often stick a 6" reader in my back pocket temporarily (ie: while walking from car to coffee shop etc) but the KA1 was either a read at home machine or carry in bag machine. It is too big for me to feel comfortable holding it one handed on public transportation etc.

I never put a reader into the back pocket no matter how small, but with cargo pants I'm able to stick it in the front pocket. Granted, the KA1 tends to stick out, but not enough to fall out or catch on anything over the distances you're talking about. And when everything else fails… I have a fanny pack that doesn't get challenged by the size of it

[Braid]

When it comes to high-end e-readers, when it is going in my backpack (which is every day) I like to have the device in its official sleep cover AND a neoprene zipped sleeve, to protect against any knocks. (Since these official sleep covers tend to be as expensive as a cheap e-reader)

I struggled for what felt like ages to find a sleeve that would fit the Kobo Aura One in its sleep cover - all the other neoprene sleeves I could find were for 8" and were just too tight for comfort. Today I felt really good to receive "the one". It is the "iPad Mini Sleeve, MyArmor Bohemian Stylish Canvas Fabric Bag Cases for All 8-8.4 Inch Tablet", sold by MyArmour on amazon UK for £7.99.

[filmo]

Braid, You can provide a lot more screen protection by sliding 1/8 inch thick tempered hard board cut to size next to your reader's screen outside sleep cover and inside the sleeve. I have packed my reader next to laptop or netbook computer inside its bag or even in a suitcase next to a tempered hard board or hard cover book without damage.

[Katsunami]

I've compared the KA1 again with my old Kindle Paperwhite 1.

I mostly like the KA1 because of its larger screen (especially in full screen mode), and the much better font capabilities (more precise size setting, thickness).

The one thing that struck me most is the fact that the KA1 actually looks *white* (creamy white) after adding a bit of the red of the natural light into it. The KPW1 looks green next to it. (Witout the natural light added, the KA1 looks blue.)

What is also gone is the sense of the screen looking like two sheets of glass with milk in between, with letters floating in it (KPW1) to looking more like a flat surface that is illuminated like a tablet (KA1).

No doubt about it; the KA1 is the better reader with regard to screen and fonts. If they could just get that fracking firmware working and stable....

[MGlitch]

Folks keep claiming the firmware isn't stable. I can't remember the last time it crashed on me.

[Katsunami]

I'm not talking about crashing.

There's something called feature stability too. Stats and search breaks or works depending on the version of the firmware, strange flickers on screen when tiles are removed, syncing works or breaks, that sort of thing. There's always *something* broken in a Kobo firmware. On my old Touch and KPW1, I've sometimes gotten new/backported features, but never did anything break.

If there's always something broken, and you update the firmware with the thought of "let's see what works and doesn't work now", gives an air of incompetence in the company, and damages trust and enjoyment of the product.

[MGlitch]

Ah, I'd call that buggy, but I suppose the difference is just semantics.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

There's something called feature stability too. Stats and search breaks or works depending on the version of the firmware, strange flickers on screen when tiles are removed, syncing works or breaks, that sort of thing. There's always *something* broken in a Kobo firmware. On my old Touch and KPW1, I've sometimes gotten new/backported features, but never did anything break.

If there's always something broken, and you update the firmware with the thought of "let's see what works and doesn't work now", gives an air of incompetence in the company, and damages trust and enjoyment of the product.

Isn't it interesting how people's opinions can differ so wildly about the seriousness of a bug - or is it merely a regrettable quirk?

Are you suggesting that nothing in the Kindle firmware is ever broken? If so perhaps you should head over to this thread and let some of those Kindle owners know that they must be mistaken. They have been reporting for 6 months that whole paragraphs of text randomly 'go missing'.

Serious bug or minor inconvenience? You decide!

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

Isn't it interesting how people's opinions can differ so wildly about the seriousness of a bug - or is it merely a regrettable quirk?

Are you suggesting that nothing in the Kindle firmware is ever broken? If so perhaps you should head over to this thread and let some of those Kindle owners know that they must be mistaken. They have been reporting for 6 months that whole paragraphs of text randomly 'go missing'.

Serious bug or minor inconvenience? You decide!

I should have been more precise. None of the things I've ever used in the Kindle Touch or Paperwhite broke. I wouldn't have noticed some possible breakages, as half or more of the Kindle is disabled through parental controls. The only thing you can basically do with it is read a book, and track progress.

[Telemachus]

I never actually saw an Aura One until I opened the box. I was surprised by how tablet like, thin and light the weight was. I'm sure if I'd seen it displayed in a store I would have bought one sooner. WH Smith and Argos are the only High Street Kobo stockists I know of in the UK. I've been to several branches in different towns and never saw a KA1 on display. Argos doesn't even feature Kobo in the physical catalogue anymore.
I can't express how much I love being able to adjust the colour temperature of the light. In the daytime I don't use the light for illumination as such but to change the grayish clay-like tone of the background to an almost pure white, providing beautifully crisp contrast. At night I thrive off being able to get a sort of tobacco-stained aged paper background. It has a more natural homely feel to it. For my paper books and ereaders without built in lights I'd like to find a battery powered, clip-on booklight with the same degree of variable intensity and colour temperature. Just wish I could leave the Wi-Fi turned on so I could search words with Wikipedia without draining the battery so quickly.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I should have been more precise. None of the things I've ever used in the Kindle Touch or Paperwhite broke. I wouldn't have noticed some possible breakages, as half or more of the Kindle is disabled through parental controls. The only thing you can basically do with it is read a book, and track progress.

None of the things I've ever used on my One ever broke In fact, I'm still running the original firmware as: if it ain't broke, don't fix it! (and I'm not going to upgrade now, with the spectre of that horrible new start screen hanging over it!)

I just want to read my books, setting the margins like I want and using the font and font size as I want them.

[Katsunami]

What's so horrible about the new home screen? I never liked anything but a list to display information. I also dislike the icons and previews Windows uses by default, except for pictures... I've got too many files to have them displayed as icons or previews, and the same goes for books.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

What's so horrible about the new home screen? I never liked anything but a list to display information. I also dislike the icons and previews Windows uses by default, except for pictures... I've got too many files to have them displayed as icons or previews, and the same goes for books.

I like the collection tiles and the tiles for my current reads. They make navigation easy and I can see where I stand at a glance with the books I'm reading. And I like being able to dismiss tiles that aren't of interest and I particularly like not being marketed to on my devices, especially when Kobo is clueless about what I actually like to read.

The reverse of that is what's so horrible about the new screen.

[Katsunami]

Oh. Sounds like a change for changes sake.

I like a list display, because I can immediately see the series, the title, the author, and my custom page count.

The (custom) page count is important to me, to be sure I don't pick a 1200 page book if I want an inbetween light read. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood to read a story that'll take me 30-40 hours to finish.