Firmware 4.18.13737 released

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I believe that Kobo is deliberately choosing some smaller affiliates to roll the updates out to first. That way they can get some feedback before sending it to larger groups. They have pulled firmware fairly quickly when problems were found. The first 4.17.x was an example. There is also some dependency in location, though I don't think that is as important as it once was.


The only risk is if you don't want the firmware version that is being rolled out. Choosing one of the later affiliates means you aren't a crash test dummy And in cases of unusually fast releases, you might bypass the earlier versions.

It's fine with me that they tested it on other people's devices first

New in-book navigation and header/footer options were not something I had an urgent need for.

[Vintage Season]

I upgraded to 4.18.13737 today, from 4.15.12920… and I'm already tempted to go back*. If Kobo had given us enough settings to replicate the previous look (book title above, page number below, and a header/footer font that matches the current reading settings) I wouldn't mind the options, but the new header and footer adjustments are—yes, subjectively!—hideous.

* I never encountered the forgotten page number bug some users reported, so that's not a reason for me to stay with this update.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

Quick question for the people with a Forma (or, possibly, other devices using an eMMC for internal storage): have you managed to reproduce the "FAT32 dirty bit is set" issue on this FW?

I haven't played much with it on my end, but, so far, so good... .

I've seen it a couple of times since the update.

Edit: This is on my laptop when using it's USB 3 ports. One of which works with my Kobo ereaders, the other one will charge but does not recognize the ereader as being connected.

[Semwize]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I've seen it a couple of times since the update.

similarly, 2-3 times was.

[NiLuJe]

Well, there goes that theory, then. Thanks guys .

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Vintage Season

I upgraded to 4.18.13737 today, from 4.15.12920… and I'm already tempted to go back*. If Kobo had given us enough settings to replicate the previous look (book title above, page number below, and a header/footer font that matches the current reading settings) I wouldn't mind the options, but the new header and footer adjustments are—yes, subjectively!—hideous.

* I never encountered the forgotten page number bug some users reported, so that's not a reason for me to stay with this update.

So what exactly is it you dislike about 4.18? I have not installed 4.15 due to the bug sometimes forgetting where you left off. You can do a number of things with the header/footer. You can change the size, change the font, turn off the titles, and change the spacing.

Having come from 4.7 > 4.17 > 4.18, I like 4.18.

[Haesslich]

My Indigo bought Libra just got the update today. It wasn't there yesterday when I checked.

Hopefully this fixes the odd freezing.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So what exactly is it you dislike about 4.18? I have not installed 4.15 due to the bug sometimes forgetting where you left off. You can do a number of things with the header/footer. You can change the size, change the font, turn off the titles, and change the spacing.

Having come from 4.7 > 4.17 > 4.18, I like 4.18.

Jon they literally tell you what they dislike. Just because the issues can be corrected with patches doesn’t mean they aren’t valid criticisms of the current firmware.

[Sirtel]

I just turned both the header and the footer off. Too much wasted space even with patching. The progress bar is enough most of the time and I can always view page numbers with a single tap. Chapter progress doesn't matter to me.

I decided to convert the majority of my books to epubs, not kepubs. They're mostly novels and there's not all that much difference in speed. With custom fonts, the advanced font control patch and patched line heights the layout looks very nice.

I also have custom screensavers and a custom English dictionary in addition to the default one (swapped it for the Portuguese one, which I'm the least likely to ever use - no offense meant to the Portuguese). Yay! Now I have only to transfer my books, and my Libra's all set.

(sorry for going off topic here)

[Calenorn]

Originally Posted by Vintage Season

the new header and footer adjustments are—yes, subjectively!—hideous.

The font chosen for them is very different than the rest of the UI. A bit jarring.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Jon they literally tell you what they dislike. Just because the issues can be corrected with patches doesn’t mean they aren’t valid criticisms of the current firmware.

I have no idea what 4.15 was like as I've never installed it. So I'm asking.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Vintage Season

I upgraded to 4.18.13737 today, from 4.15.12920… and I'm already tempted to go back*. If Kobo had given us enough settings to replicate the previous look (book title above, page number below, and a header/footer font that matches the current reading settings) I wouldn't mind the options, but the new header and footer adjustments are—yes, subjectively!—hideous.

* I never encountered the forgotten page number bug some users reported, so that's not a reason for me to stay with this update.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So what exactly is it you dislike about 4.18? I have not installed 4.15 due to the bug sometimes forgetting where you left off. You can do a number of things with the header/footer. You can change the size, change the font, turn off the titles, and change the spacing.

Having come from 4.7 > 4.17 > 4.18, I like 4.18.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I have no idea what 4.15 was like as I've never installed it. So I'm asking.

Emphasized the relevant parts to, for the third time, answer your question of what they did not like about 4.18, which was answered before it was asked.

[rashkae]

It has been a revelation to me in these threads since 4.17 how many people care about the header/footer. I always thought removing them, or, at least, reducing the page/progress count to a small status line ala Kindle was just the most natural and obvious thing. Apparently, Kobo was more in touch with the masses.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by rashkae

It has been a revelation to me in these threads since 4.17 how many people care about the header/footer. I always thought removing them, or, at least, reducing the page/progress count to a small status line ala Kindle was just the most natural and obvious thing. Apparently, Kobo was more in touch with the masses.

Sometimes I wish I was in on the decision making process for features. Personally I’m good with options to remove the header and footer and have a progress bar.

However I’d have been able to tell Kobo people would want to put the information they want where they want and have the choice to have the progress bar be the chapter or the book. People like customization options for how their book looks. Something kobo has generally done better than Amazon or BN in terms of font sizes, weight, line spacing, and margins, settings. Yeah the other two have them to some degree but Kobo gives more granularity.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Vintage Season

I upgraded to 4.18.13737 today, from 4.15.12920… and I'm already tempted to go back*. If Kobo had given us enough settings to replicate the previous look (book title above, page number below...

I'm glad I'm not the only one hesitating on the update because of the change.

Originally Posted by rashkae

It has been a revelation to me in these threads since 4.17 how many people care about the header/footer. I always thought removing them, or, at least, reducing the page/progress count to a small status line ala Kindle was just the most natural and obvious thing. Apparently, Kobo was more in touch with the masses.

I read on breaks at work, short fifteen minute blocks of time. So if I finish a chapter five minutes in and the next one is seven or eight pages, I'll read through it. If it's longer, I'll likely wait until lunch. My use case is likely different from others.

I wouldn't mind reducting the chapter page progress to an even smaller line like the Nook and Kindle do.

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I just turned both the header and the footer off. Too much wasted space even with patching. The progress bar is enough most of the time and I can always view page numbers with a single tap. Chapter progress doesn't matter to me.

Yeah, if disabled, the chapter info is a tab away. But I discovered the patch to remove the footer height by 50% and since then I've grown very attached to leaving it on. And it only removed one line of text.