Forma autorotation bug

nikev · 01-13-2020, 11:18 PM

Hi,

I just got a new Forma, and for the most part I like it.

However, the autorotate feature doesn’t work well for me. I hold the reader in portrait mode with my left hand, with buttons on the left and the Kobo logo on the top left. However, when the reader sleeps the screen often rotates so that it is upside down unless the reader is held right handed. And when the reader wakes up everything is upside down as well, and have to switch the reader from portrait to,landscape and back again to get it oriented the way I want. I tried disabling autorotation but that did not help.

Am I doing something wrong, or is this a bug?

Nike

rashkae · 01-14-2020, 12:10 AM

Nikev: Did you bypass registration and not update the firmware? That was indeed a very annoying bug on the Forma when it was first released, but was fixed log ago.

nikev · 01-14-2020, 09:48 AM

Thanks.

My firmware is the current 4.19.##### version from December 2019. I don’t understand why it does not work properly for left handed reading.

Nike

dow · 01-14-2020, 07:07 PM

Ha! Mine's the opposite, sort of. I typically read with the buttons on the right, and close the sleep cover before putting the reader down when I'm done. When I open the sleep cover the next time, the book cover is right side up, but on waking, the text is upside down, and then auto-rotates to be right side up. It doesn't bother me, I just thought it was funny. I guess if it stayed upside down, then I'd be more concerned. Hope you find a solution.

icallaci · 01-15-2020, 09:25 AM

I had an early Forma, locked to portrait, that always opened upside-down, no matter how I opened it (flat on a table, vertically, given a shake before opening, etc.). This happened continually, even with firmware 4.19.14123. Recently I bought another Forma, and guess what? It behaves perfectly. So perhaps Kobo recognized the problem and fixed it in the later models.

rashkae · 01-16-2020, 07:30 AM

The first thing I have to ask when troubleshooting something odd, (which I find so obvious, I often miss,).. have you tried turning it off and on again? On the Kobo, you have to press and hold the power button for about 8 seconds for it to power off. You'll know if it was when next time you power on, you have to wait for boot, with the little boot squares/circles.

For those trying to replicate what your seeing, how is the Kobo going to sleep.. are you pressing the power button? closing a sleep cover? or is the kobo going to sleep from being idle?

And finally, are you holding the kobo mostly horizontal? (ie, laying flat rather than held straight up?) The only reason I can think of for the screen to flip when your putting it to sleep is if it's getting tilted upside down right at the time it's going to sleep. (or the motion at the time makes the accelorometer *think* it's upside down.)

icallaci · 01-16-2020, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rashkae

The first thing I have to ask when troubleshooting something odd, (which I find so obvious, I often miss,).. have you tried turning it off and on again? On the Kobo, you have to press and hold the power button for about 8 seconds for it to power off. You'll know if it was when next time you power on, you have to wait for boot, with the little boot squares/circles.

For those trying to replicate what your seeing, how is the Kobo going to sleep.. are you pressing the power button? closing a sleep cover? or is the kobo going to sleep from being idle?

And finally, are you holding the kobo mostly horizontal? (ie, laying flat rather than held straight up?) The only reason I can think of for the screen to flip when your putting it to sleep is if it's getting tilted upside down right at the time it's going to sleep. (or the motion at the time makes the accelorometer *think* it's upside down.)

For me, I tried everything above. I use a sleep cover, but tried using the on/off button to see if that made a difference. Nope. I tried holding the Forma vertically when closing the cover to see if that made any difference. Nope. I tried holding the Forma vertically when opening the cover. Nope, nope, nope. I use a stand when reading, so the Forma was almost always vertical when it was on. Nope. Nothing made any difference except getting a newer Forma, which does not have this problem.

nikev · 01-16-2020, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rashkae

The first thing I have to ask when troubleshooting something odd, (which I find so obvious, I often miss,).. have you tried turning it off and on again? On the Kobo, you have to press and hold the power button for about 8 seconds for it to power off. You'll know if it was when next time you power on, you have to wait for boot, with the little boot squares/circles.

For those trying to replicate what your seeing, how is the Kobo going to sleep.. are you pressing the power button? closing a sleep cover? or is the kobo going to sleep from being idle?

And finally, are you holding the kobo mostly horizontal? (ie, laying flat rather than held straight up?) The only reason I can think of for the screen to flip when your putting it to sleep is if it's getting tilted upside down right at the time it's going to sleep. (or the motion at the time makes the accelorometer *think* it's upside down.)

In my case, I don't use a sleep cover. I just press the power button to put it to sleep. I have rebooted etc, but it doesn't make a difference. The accelerometer gets confused pretty much no matter what I do. I wonder if it's a hardware issue.

rashkae · 01-16-2020, 04:54 PM

If you bought it Retail and are still withing your DOA period, I would definitely seek a return/exchange.

poczynek · 01-16-2020, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikev

In my case, I don't use a sleep cover. I just press the power button to put it to sleep. I have rebooted etc, but it doesn't make a difference. The accelerometer gets confused pretty much no matter what I do. I wonder if it's a hardware issue.

Mine is the same and is annoying. It's a trigger happy auto rotate thing.

nikev · 01-23-2020, 05:52 PM

I sent my Forma in for replacement. We shall see if the new one works better. The old one was really rather annoying.

palladio · 01-25-2020, 08:07 AM

Curiously, for a separate issue - the side light leak problem some Formas seem to have - I did a manual reset and have just noticed that I had the same issue described in this thread and it now appears to have gone away.

I am not sure this is the answer, as it perhaps needs a bit longer to confirm. But the behaviour is now correct, and different from before.

I am using the Kobo sleep cover by the way.

RobertJSawyer · 01-29-2020, 04:44 PM

Does the Kobo Forma allow all four orientations (portrait, landscape, reverse portrait, reverse landscape) or only two? Thanks!

jackie_w · 01-29-2020, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertJSawyer

Does the Kobo Forma allow all four orientations (portrait, landscape, reverse portrait, reverse landscape) or only two? Thanks!

It allows all 4 orientations if you use the 'Auto rotate' setting.

If you choose the 'Portrait' setting then only 2 are allowed - portrait and reverse portrait. Similarly, the 'Landscape setting allows only landscape and reverse landscape.

stumped · 01-30-2020, 01:24 AM

i think that a couple of things, like the my books pages, only display in portrait ( on my device that is the case). I can read in landscape but I can't view my books( or IIRC the home page) in landscape. its not something that i have deeply explored so others can perhaps expand on this

01-13-2020, 11:18 PM	#1
nikev Connoisseur Posts: 53 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: PRS 505	Forma autorotation bug Hi, I just got a new Forma, and for the most part I like it. However, the autorotate feature doesn’t work well for me. I hold the reader in portrait mode with my left hand, with buttons on the left and the Kobo logo on the top left. However, when the reader sleeps the screen often rotates so that it is upside down unless the reader is held right handed. And when the reader wakes up everything is upside down as well, and have to switch the reader from portrait to,landscape and back again to get it oriented the way I want. I tried disabling autorotation but that did not help. Am I doing something wrong, or is this a bug? Nike

01-25-2020, 08:07 AM	#12
palladio Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2013 Device: Kobo	Curiously, for a separate issue - the side light leak problem some Formas seem to have - I did a manual reset and have just noticed that I had the same issue described in this thread and it now appears to have gone away. I am not sure this is the answer, as it perhaps needs a bit longer to confirm. But the behaviour is now correct, and different from before. I am using the Kobo sleep cover by the way. Last edited by palladio; 01-25-2020 at 08:10 AM.

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01-14-2020, 12:10 AM	#2
rashkae Wizard Posts: 1,142 Karma: 5061953 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Aura HD	Nikev: Did you bypass registration and not update the firmware? That was indeed a very annoying bug on the Forma when it was first released, but was fixed log ago.

01-14-2020, 09:48 AM	#3
nikev Connoisseur Posts: 53 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: PRS 505	Thanks. My firmware is the current 4.19.##### version from December 2019. I don’t understand why it does not work properly for left handed reading. Nike

01-14-2020, 07:07 PM	#4
dow Addict Posts: 248 Karma: 848380 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Boerne, TX Device: Kobo Forma, Kobo Aura HD, Sony PRS-505	Ha! Mine's the opposite, sort of. I typically read with the buttons on the right, and close the sleep cover before putting the reader down when I'm done. When I open the sleep cover the next time, the book cover is right side up, but on waking, the text is upside down, and then auto-rotates to be right side up. It doesn't bother me, I just thought it was funny. I guess if it stayed upside down, then I'd be more concerned. Hope you find a solution.

01-15-2020, 09:25 AM	#5
icallaci Guru Posts: 768 Karma: 6528026 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: Kobo Elipsa	I had an early Forma, locked to portrait, that always opened upside-down, no matter how I opened it (flat on a table, vertically, given a shake before opening, etc.). This happened continually, even with firmware 4.19.14123. Recently I bought another Forma, and guess what? It behaves perfectly. So perhaps Kobo recognized the problem and fixed it in the later models.

01-16-2020, 07:30 AM	#6
rashkae Wizard Posts: 1,142 Karma: 5061953 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Aura HD	The first thing I have to ask when troubleshooting something odd, (which I find so obvious, I often miss,).. have you tried turning it off and on again? On the Kobo, you have to press and hold the power button for about 8 seconds for it to power off. You'll know if it was when next time you power on, you have to wait for boot, with the little boot squares/circles. For those trying to replicate what your seeing, how is the Kobo going to sleep.. are you pressing the power button? closing a sleep cover? or is the kobo going to sleep from being idle? And finally, are you holding the kobo mostly horizontal? (ie, laying flat rather than held straight up?) The only reason I can think of for the screen to flip when your putting it to sleep is if it's getting tilted upside down right at the time it's going to sleep. (or the motion at the time makes the accelorometer think it's upside down.)

01-16-2020, 04:54 PM	#9
rashkae Wizard Posts: 1,142 Karma: 5061953 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Aura HD	If you bought it Retail and are still withing your DOA period, I would definitely seek a return/exchange.

01-23-2020, 05:52 PM	#11
nikev Connoisseur Posts: 53 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: PRS 505	I sent my Forma in for replacement. We shall see if the new one works better. The old one was really rather annoying.

01-29-2020, 04:44 PM	#13
RobertJSawyer Guru Posts: 730 Karma: 3871570 Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo Libra 2, Clara 2E, and Clara HD; Kindle PaperWhite	Does the Kobo Forma allow all four orientations (portrait, landscape, reverse portrait, reverse landscape) or only two? Thanks!

01-30-2020, 01:24 AM	#15
stumped Wizard Posts: 3,305 Karma: 10259306 Join Date: May 2016 Device: kobo forma, Kobo Libra, Huawei media Tab, fire HD10, PW3 HDX8.9,	i think that a couple of things, like the my books pages, only display in portrait ( on my device that is the case). I can read in landscape but I can't view my books( or IIRC the home page) in landscape. its not something that i have deeply explored so others can perhaps expand on this