Aura HD Kobo Aura HD

[domani7]

I am really disappointed. Given the customer service, i was crossing my fingers that nothing would be wrong with my Aura. Unfortunately, no such luck.

1. There are 2 pinpricks of light on the screen. Only visible when the light is on but still.
2. When the light is off, the screen is slightly darker than the screen on my Nook simple touch. How is this possible??? I know i shouldnt have gotten the ivory but even when i hold the aura under the nook so i dont see the bezel the aura's screen still looks darker.

I'm gonna have to do an exchange and I'm really dreading it....

[Bittybye]

I seem to have the worst luck with ereaders. My Kobo takes forever to load the covers of my books and seems to freeze when until all the books have their cover, any ideas?

[domani7]

Ok more evenhanded impressions, since I don't want to be too mean:

I like the shape, though not as nice as the shape on the Nook simple touch. I don't hate the plastic, although obviously it's not as nice to hold as the NST it's nowhere near as slippery as the kindle. So: not too shabby!

I miss the physical buttons! I realized that they're really necessary for reading with on the subway. On the subway (train) I'm holding on to the rail with one hand and my nook with the other. I can hold the nook quite firmly and press on the buttons with one hand. I've never dropped the NST on the subway in 2 years. However, with the Aura in ordeer to change pages I need to lift my thumb off the bezel and tap the screen. While I'm doing this, the reader will only be balanced on my hand- this looks like it's a recipe for disaster!

I guess I need to develop a new hold. Maybe with my pointer finger on top of the bezel with my thumb doing the touching. Annoying.

The screen isn't much darker than the NST... But I thought it would be better, not just almost as good!

Finally for the good- I love that I can set up bookshelves with calibre. I'm never manually painstakingly doing shelves on my nook again.

In conclusion- I like shelving very much, the screen is not as nice as I expected, and I miss physical buttons.

[Uschiekid]

Originally Posted by Bittybye

I seem to have the worst luck with ereaders. My Kobo takes forever to load the covers of my books and seems to freeze when until all the books have their cover, any ideas?

if you use calibre, try having calibre send covers for all your books. I recommend taking all your books off and putting them all back on using this method. this way, kobo never has to create a cover, they're already there waiting. I never seem to have to wait anymore for covers to load.

[domani7]

I can't read on the Aura, I miss the nook. I have the nook and the aura next to each other and I just like reading on the nook better. But I refuse to deal with the shelves on the nook. I don't want to root the nook and I don't know if it'll work/help. I'm frustrated right now. I want to combine the best features of the nook and kobo readers. Why isn't there a reader without a fatal flaw?

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by domani7

On the subway (train) I'm holding on to the rail with one hand and my nook with the other. I can hold the nook quite firmly and press on the buttons with one hand. I've never dropped the NST on the subway in 2 years. However, with the Aura in ordeer to change pages I need to lift my thumb off the bezel and tap the screen. While I'm doing this, the reader will only be balanced on my hand- this looks like it's a recipe for disaster!

I can't imagine taking such a large, expensive ereader on a subway. A Kobo Mini would be better for that. Leave the Aura at home!

[domani7]

Originally Posted by booklover6

I can't imagine taking such a large, expensive ereader on a subway. A Kobo Mini would be better for that. Leave the Aura at home!

This is the point of an ereader- that it's portable. If I can't take it with, there's not much point. I haven't yet taken it anywhere, by the way because I can already tell it's a bad idea. Also I only got it today.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by domani7

This is the point of an ereader- that it's portable. If I can't take it with, there's not much point.

Yeah, well I wouldn't take that one out, if I had one. Small and light would be better, for me. I take my Kobo Mini, or if I need a light, my Paperwhite.

[ilovejedd]

Just received my Aura HD. So far, not so good. I was setting it up via wi-fi and the device said it found an update which it automatically installed. Device restarted and seems to have been reset to factory defaults so had to set-up the device again. After that, I was able to log-in to my Kobo account but for some reason, my device won't sync Kobo purchased ebooks via wi-fi. Had to install Kobo on my PC. At least that worked.

Unfortunately, not liking the firmware much. I'm running PRS+ on my PRS-350 which has a ton of features. Hierarchical collections, tap anywhere for next page and folder browsing support are some of the things I find myself missing.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Unfortunately, not liking the firmware much. I'm running PRS+ on my PRS-350 which has a ton of features. Hierarchical collections, tap anywhere for next page and folder browsing support are some of the things I find myself missing.

When you go to www.kobobooks.com, sign in and check under the "My Library" item, do the books you expected to download over wifi show on the "I'm Reading" tab? Those are the books that will sync to your device. Check the "Purchased" tab and if you see books there that you want to sync, select those books and hit Bookmark which should enable them to be downloaded on your next sync.

Regards,
David

[Nil Einne]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

You must also watch out for the format of the card itself.

Cards bigger than 32GB are most often SDXC instead of SDHC, and this requires a different controller. Not all devices support SDXC cards. There are some 64GB SDHC cards, but that size is not officially supported for SDHC as far as I know; therefore it may not work with all SDHC controllers.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, AFAIK the difference between SDHC and SDXC are minimal and you should not need a different controller (unlike with SDSC vs SDHC). The only real difference is in the size since SDHC limits the field which defines size to a certain value whereas SDXC allows it to be larger, but the actual size of the field hasn't changed, it's just that the value is limited in SDHC. SDXC cards should also be formatted with ExFAT by default where as SDHC with FAT32, but there's nothing stopping the user formatting either with either barring OS limitations. There are additional speeds and capabilities which were first defined in the SDXC related specs, but AFAIK there's nothing stopping a SDHC card also having these speeds and capabilities, the intention is for backwards compatibility with them (although as always for a variety of reasons this may not work out). Note this doesn't mean that it's guaranteed a 64GB card will work in any SDHC device, there are various reasons it may not and we have a report of a FAT32 formatted 64GB card not working with the external slot of the Aura (but also with one working with an unknown slot).

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by DNSB

When you go to www.kobobooks.com, sign in and check under the "My Library" item, do the books you expected to download over wifi show on the "I'm Reading" tab? Those are the books that will sync to your device. Check the "Purchased" tab and if you see books there that you want to sync, select those books and hit Bookmark which should enable them to be downloaded on your next sync.

All my purchased ebooks show up in the "I'm Reading" tab and I've never had any library sync issues before with the iOS and Android apps whenever I set up a new device. Alas, bit of a moot point since I've already done a desktop sync and that seems to have solved the wi-fi sync issue, too. Will know for sure when I buy a new ebook.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

tap anywhere for next page

I've been begging for that since I bought my Kobo Touch - but it seems they think that three settings are more than enough and otherwise you can swipe (which I don't like).

Can't imagine that it is difficult to program...

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by booklover6

Yeah, well I wouldn't take that one out, if I had one. Small and light would be better, for me. I take my Kobo Mini, or if I need a light, my Paperwhite.

The Aura is at least as small, if not smaller, than a lot of the phablets I see on public transportation.

[MrDoug]

Originally Posted by Bittybye

I seem to have the worst luck with ereaders. My Kobo takes forever to load the covers of my books and seems to freeze when until all the books have their cover, any ideas?

Yes, as soon as you finish reading a book trash it.. That's what I do.. I have never re -read a book in my life. Saves shelf space.. I actually give them away ASAP for someone else to enjoy rather than hoarding them in my house or e-reader.. that way your e-reader will be trouble free.