Forma wedge-side light issue

[SilverGreen93]

Well, I went with mine back at the shop and they said they will send it to Kobo for replacement. I am now waiting for the new one to see if it's better.

[bookyboy]

Originally Posted by dyk

Hello, bought a Forma this Black Friday hoping the light strip issue would be resolved by now. Unfortunately, the light strip is still visible. Question is will it get better over time?

It won't get better over time.
I'd return it while you can if it bothers you.

[Scarpad]

I brought mine back to Walmart after 30 days. Not only for the line issue but mine stopped connecting to WiFi, loved the screen size but too many issues for a $250 devce

[NiLuJe]

It's been a year, it seems pretty obvious by now that it's in large part a design issue/choice, so, no?

(Oh, and if you meant, will it get better *over the lifetime of *your specific* device*, then, again, of course not ;p).

[tayseidel]

Mine has the light band issue but not at the light levels I normally read at. I can imagine it being an issue for someone who reads with the light at 100% all the time. I rarely exceed 14% so for me, it's a non-issue.

[RobertJSawyer]

How is the light band on the button side in inverse-video mode? (Night mode; white text on a black background.) Almost all of my use is in the dark at low light levels on the device in inverse mode. Thank you!

How to toggle inverse-video mode:

https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/20...-new-easy-way/

[NiLuJe]

@RobertJSawyer: Comes down to user-preference. I find it less noticeable at first, but actually more annoying in practice.

Note that I may be the odd duck here because I consider reading in night mode on eInk plain heresy to begin with ^^.

[SilverGreen93]

Originally Posted by tayseidel

Mine has the light band issue but not at the light levels I normally read at. I can imagine it being an issue for someone who reads with the light at 100% all the time. I rarely exceed 14% so for me, it's a non-issue.

I find it more noticeable at around 10-40% brightness than at 100%. And it is more noticeable at blue light than at yellow light. Although at max yellow, the color is not uniformly distributed. If you hold the Forma with the buttons on the left it will be very noticeable that the light in the left is blacker, softer and than on the right it is pure yellow. Pretty weird gradient.

I went with mine to the service. They didn't fix it although they said they did. The second time they issued a replacement. But the replacement unit had the same problem. I think I will keep the replacement unit until a better Kobo is launched.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@RobertJSawyer: Comes down to user-preference. I find it less noticeable at first, but actually more annoying in practice.

Note that I may be the odd duck here because I consider reading in night mode on eInk plain heresy to begin with ^^.

I find reading with night mode on that I have to turn up the light to a higher level. It's just easier to read without night mode.

[revenant]

I had it, very strong whitish alongside the handle. Before returning I was allowed testing a second one at the store, had the same issue. A second store: the Forma on exhibit was perfect, no light issues, but "not on sale". The one they opened up for me had it.

My take: it could be that if you leave it on for quite some time, the issue tends to become less noticeable (as per one of the early posts: leave it on full-power, to "burn" it). Some of you who had it for some time could confirm/exclude this.

Bottom line: +1 as one of the last posters, I'll stand awaiting for a better Kobo. So far, my Aura One has been serving me well.

[Lemons]

Originally Posted by RobertJSawyer

How is the light band on the button side in inverse-video mode? (Night mode; white text on a black background.) Almost all of my use is in the dark at low light levels on the device in inverse mode. Thank you!

How to toggle inverse-video mode:

https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/20...-new-easy-way/

I just got the Forma, and while it has some faults, Night mode works very well and can't see much of the bar on the side(still there somewhat), the only flaw with Night mode, however, is the ghosting and covers also get inverted. It honestly looks better in night mode than the Aura One, in my opinion, but it will depend on lighting. The second flaw is the one I have has a dead pixel that is more noticeable in dark mode but it is out of the way not to rely bother me.

[Richwood]

Difference in illumination along the side with the paging buttons barely noticeable on mine at the illumination levels I have tried, from about 15% to 100%. I am in the USA and my Forma arrived today, 9 Jan 2020. Ordered the day after Christmas and it is the 32 GB version. The slightly brighter strip is narrow enough so it does not intrude onto the default print area on my unit. Considering that the pages of a printed book are not flat, particularly not near te spine, the page illumination level varies on the book pages too. So did clip-on book lights and various Kindle and Sony covers with integral reading lights including the cover for the Sony T3 and lighted covers for the Kindle Keyboard, Kindle 4/5 and Kindle Touch.

[koboyedi]

To me illumination levels make no difference. I read in light shadow with 30% white backlight and this is what it looks like
[Image converted to attachment]

Kobo service looked at the image and after going through the usual factory reset procedure initiated the replacement process. I'm willing to do this for max 3 times before I switch to kindle. I just can't live with this.

Just one note because I've seen this on a youtube video with the kobo clara hd. One woman opened her device, put some masking tape on the side of the LEDs and this eliminated the light spill on the display, making it perfect. Don't think I want to try to open the forma.

[DNSB]

@koboyedi: You might want to check the Mobileread's guidelines on image sizes. If you click on the paperclip icon, you can use the manage attachments option instead of having an oversized image as part of your message. If editing a message, you'll need to go into advanced mode to get the option.

[dow]

Holy Oversized Images, Batman!

Seriously, I've officially had my Forma since Christmas (ordered it before then, then had to let SWMBO wrap it and put it under the tree). It's my third reader (sony prs505, Kobo Aura HD, and now the Forma), and I just don't see what the big deal is all about. Sure, mine has the shadow, or gray bar, or light sliver, or whatever you want to call it, but let's be reasonable here. You've got a device that can hold hundreds of books, has a long battery life, does what it's supposed to do, and weighs almost nothing, and people are saying things like,"I just can't live with this." Ridiculous. Folks, this is a First World problem, and in the grand scheme of things means absolutely nothing. Be glad of the wonderful piece of technology that you've got or get something else. Regardless, please stop complaining about it. You're talking about the digital equivalent of the shadow between pages in a paper book, for Pete's sake.

\Rant mode off\