Kobo future firmware feature request thread

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Barruel

So no Kobo rep is monitoring this? Has any feature requested here ever actually made into the firmware?

There are probably Kobo employees here, but, they are not here in an official . If they are looking at this thread, it will be only for curiosity. If you want a new function, report it directly to them via the feedback on their site.

Plenty of the suggestion made in this thread have been implemented in the firmware. Whether it was because of the post here, I don't know.

For you suggestion, when you change the font settings, two things happen:

• The settings are saved for the book you are reading. If you close and reopen the book, it will use the saved settings.
• The new settings are saved as the default for any new book opened, or book that doesn't have saved settings.

Based on the amount of discussion here on fonts and the related settings, I must be very unusual. I rarely change the font. And almost as rarely change the size. Most of the times I have changed it this year has been to test something related to a post made here. The other reason is when swapping between epubs and kepubs. The scaling used is different, and needs changes to have the same apparent size. When swapping between these formats, I normally make a change in a book to save the settings so I can get back to it easily. But, it is just changing the size a couple of steps and the margins by one step.

[compurandom]

I wish I could (temporarily?) disable saving font changes to the default profile while keeping the changes in the current book.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by compurandom

I wish I could (temporarily?) disable saving font changes to the default profile while keeping the changes in the current book.

This! This times the number of electrons in the Universe, THIS.

[Wallace Lee]

Originally Posted by Barruel

Hi.

I have a firmware feature request.

I miss a feature such later [Paperwhite's] firmware had, which was the ability to set reading settings "profiles". I remember I could set font, spacing margins, justification, etc. and store it in a profile. I could even give a custom name to it.

I asked for this multiple times in here.
I also asked one day that a Kobo developer was replying to various proposals.
Most proposals done by the community would give issues we don't know about, and the guy explained them while replying to most messages.
But he ignored mine

Saving reading [font sizes+thickness] settings for books would be awesome.
Tuning the light is annoying too. I don't see no reason in the world why we can't save some lighining profiles and give them custom names ('bed', 'kitchen', 'work', etc).

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Wallace Lee

I asked for this multiple times in here.
I also asked one day that a Kobo developer was replying to various proposals.
Most proposals done by the community would give issues we don't know about, and the guy explained them while replying to most messages.

Where was this? It has been a long time since a Kobo employee has been here openly. Your join date is July 2017 and I can only think of one Kobo employee who might have posted since then.

But he ignored mine
Saving reading [font sizes+thickness] settings for books would be awesome.

The font size is already saved for a book if you set it (see my post above). The weight is not, but, I'm not sure if that is something you would change frequently.

Tuning the light is annoying too. I don't see no reason in the world why we can't save some lighining profiles and give them custom names ('bed', 'kitchen', 'work', etc).

The reason is simple: Money.

It costs to develop new function. And it then costs to maintain that function. And answer questions about how it works. Because of that, they will only add function that they believe will benefit a good percentage of their users. And help to sell their devices.

[Barruel]

Originally Posted by davidfor

The reason is simple: Money.

It costs to develop new function. And it then costs to maintain that function. And answer questions about how it works. Because of that, they will only add function that they believe will benefit a good percentage of their users. And help to sell their devices.

That includes catching up with the competition and offering what they are offering whenever it is possible. It even adds to what is IMO the main selling point of Kobo vs Amazon's walled garden, which is customization of the reading experience.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Barruel

That includes catching up with the competition and offering what they are offering whenever it is possible. It even adds to what is IMO the main selling point of Kobo vs Amazon's walled garden, which is customization of the reading experience.

I don't know what your point is. Kobo should do things just because Amazon does them? If so, not a good idea. Considering them and working out if it fits, yes, but, not everything should be copied.

And, what I think is your second point, "more customisation" hits the point I made. It costs money to do it. And they have to decide where is the best place to spend the money.

Of course, there is a risk with "more customisation". It can overcomplicate the interface and that will alienate a lot of users. Honestly, most users want a simple interface with fewer options. One of things that people here forget is that we are not typical users. In fact, we are not the target market for Kobo, Amazon, tolino or any of the other dedicated ereader manufacturers. Their market are people who just use the devices, set the font once, maybe adjust the light once or twice a day, do not care about ligatures, widows and orphans, DRM or any of the other things we spend all our time here discussing. They just want to buy a book and read it. Adding either of these two options mentioned is not going to help the bulk of Kobo's users.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Barruel

That includes catching up with the competition and offering what they are offering whenever it is possible.

Further to davidfor's excellent summary, there is an example of Kobo doing exactly this in a way that likely DID make a cost-effectve difference. The recent upgrade to the Kobo dictionaries is exactly the sort of "catch-up" that makes financial sense for Kobo - closing the gap in an area where Kindles had a big edge, and doing so in a way that is relevant to ordinary users, not the tinkerers of MR.

[compurandom]

Originally Posted by Wallace Lee

Tuning the light is annoying too. I don't see no reason in the world why we can't save some lighining profiles and give them custom names ('bed', 'kitchen', 'work', etc).

That almost sounds like something NickelMenu could do, assuming there's a way to directly set brightness. Might be worth asking there.

[Barruel]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I don't know what your point is. Kobo should do things just because Amazon does them?

Basically, yes. That's how markets evolve. By standarizing features. If you can't buy a new car today without ABS or Bluetooth connectivity is not because every car brand has single-handedly decided to include them in their cars. It's because these features are nowadays standard car features. That's why current cars have better equipment than cars being sold 10 years ago.

Originally Posted by davidfor

And, what I think is your second point, "more customisation" hits the point I made. It costs money to do it. And they have to decide where is the best place to spend the money.

I might agree with that if Kobo were just that small store in the corner of street. They are Rakuten, which is nothing less than the japanese Amazon and a company with a $11.6 billion market cap. I don't know much about them or their financial status, but I bet they can indeed afford some extra hours of their professional programmers to enhance their readers. Same with support staff.

Originally Posted by davidfor

Of course, there is a risk with "more customisation". It can overcomplicate the interface and that will alienate a lot of users.

Deciding how to implement software features and how interfaces should present them to the users is what professional software designers are paid for. I'm a teacher and I've never programmed anything other than a microwave, but I don't see how a "Save" button, a "Restore" button and a combo box displaying saved reading settings would "overcomplicate the interface".

Originally Posted by davidfor

Honestly, most users want a simple interface with fewer options. One of things that people here forget is that we are not typical users. In fact, we are not the target market for Kobo, Amazon, tolino or any of the other dedicated ereader manufacturers. Their market are people who just use the devices, set the font once, maybe adjust the light once or twice a day, do not care about ligatures, widows and orphans, DRM or any of the other things we spend all our time here discussing. They just want to buy a book and read it. Adding either of these two options mentioned is not going to help the bulk of Kobo's users.

We are no typical users. Those don't read ebooks. The ones who do, do it on their phones, tablets or computers, and the few of them who use an ereader own a Kindle. Looking at anything different from a Kindle is, at least where I live, indeed untypical. We are using a niche product inside a niche market. Right.

But I wasn't requesting something exotic only connoisseurs would appreciate. I was requesting a way of having something we already have in a more flexible way. It was a "just let me back those ok settings up so I can try some others without losing them". That's simply a natural extension of features as simple, universal and standard as changing font, margins or line spacing. In an ereader. It is something so elemental that even Kindles have it.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Barruel

Basically, yes. That's how markets evolve. By standarizing features. If you can't buy a new car today without ABS or Bluetooth connectivity is not because every car brand has single-handedly decided to include them in their cars. It's because these features are nowadays standard car features. That's why current cars have better equipment than cars being sold 10 years ago.

Except, what if someone puts a bad feature in? Do you expect everyone to copy it? And ABS in cars is actually an interesting example. When it started to appear, so did air-bags. And for a time cars had one or the other, but air-bags were what seemed to be added quicker. I never understood that. A choice between a safety feature that would help prevent accidents and one that only helped once you were in an accident. And made less sense here in Australia as wearing seatbelts had been mandatory, and nearly universally accepted, so the original air-bags didn't really add much.

I might agree with that if Kobo were just that small store in the corner of street. They are Rakuten, which is nothing less than the japanese Amazon and a company with a $11.6 billion market cap. I don't know much about them or their financial status, but I bet they can indeed afford some extra hours of their professional programmers to enhance their readers. Same with support staff.

Yes, Rakuten is a large company with a lot of revenue. But, that doesn't mean that they will be willing to lose money on one small subsidiary. Most companies treat subsidiaries as independent companies and expect them to be profitable in their own right.

And of course, this isn't the only place where a few extra people would help. Do you think Rakuten could actually afford to add a few extra people everywhere that some external person thinks it is needed?

Deciding how to implement software features and how interfaces should present them to the users is what professional software designers are paid for. I'm a teacher and I've never programmed anything other than a microwave, but I don't see how a "Save" button, a "Restore" button and a combo box displaying saved reading settings would "overcomplicate the interface".

That's one of my "favourite" statements made here. I am a software engineer with a lot of years of work. Adding a button to the UI is probably easy, but, it doesn't stop there:

• First you have to decide what the option is for.
• Then decide where it goes.
• And what the label is (a lot harder than you think)
• And is it on by default or not. And that makes you revisit everything above.
• Then you need to work out how it interacts with other options.
• Then write the code to handle the option and anything else going on.
• Plus update the UI code. At which point you discover there isn't actually room on the screen for the option.
• Next is to test it and make sure it works.
• Then testing it to make sure it does what was originally intended (these aren't the same thing).
• Then more testing to make sure it hasn't broken anything (again, not the same thing).
• About this this time you update the documentation (some will do it at the start with updates here to complete).
• Then you need to produce the actual release.
• And update the support staff.
• And after that, you need to support it in the software for the rest of the life of the software.

And of course, you are suggesting the developers spend "some extra hours". Extra hours they are probably already spending. Extra hours that they possibly want to spend with their families. That's sort of like me suggesting that teachers spend "some extra hours" as their students aren't getting the marks some external party thinks they should get.

We are no typical users. Those don't read ebooks. The ones who do, do it on their phones, tablets or computers, and the few of them who use an ereader own a Kindle. Looking at anything different from a Kindle is, at least where I live, indeed untypical. We are using a niche product inside a niche market. Right.

I'm not sure of your point. My point was that people here tend to think that what they want is what others need. It isn't. And while I was explicitly talking about the target market for "dedicated ereader manufacturers". But, it the same whether you are talking about dedicated ereader devices or ereader apps. We are not typical, and what we ask for is beyond what most users want or need. These companies are catering for others, not us.

But I wasn't requesting something exotic only connoisseurs would appreciate. I was requesting a way of having something we already have in a more flexible way. It was a "just let me back those ok settings up so I can try some others without losing them". That's simply a natural extension of features as simple, universal and standard as changing font, margins or line spacing. In an ereader. It is something so elemental that even Kindles have it.

No, it isn't particularly exotic. And it would help some people. But, how many? That is what Kobo have to decide. Do enough people want this to make the investment worthwhile? And, is it more important than the hundreds or thousands of suggestions that they probably have right now? Remember, this isn't the only suggestion for a change they have. They can't do them all. They have to decide which to do next. And they probably have a list of features to develop over the next few years.

Having said all that, have you told Kobo what you want? Kobo does not officially monitor this forum. Suggestions made here will either not be seen, or not carry much weight. Suggestions made through official channels will be taken and are always considered. And if others are making similar requests, then it gets more notice and is more likely to be implemented.

[johnson_chung]

I just want to use WIFI.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by johnson_chung

I just want to use WIFI.

I think we need more details. WiFi works fine here for all of my Kobo devices. What part of it isn't for you?

Or is the problem that you needed to do a factory reset and haven't been able to update the firmware? At the beginning of last year, Kobo had to remove support for older security protocols. That meant that devices on older firmware could no longer connect to their servers. You need to be on firmware 3.19.x or later for WiFi to work. You can install this manually, or use the Kobo desktop application to do it.

[compurandom]

Originally Posted by Barruel

but I don't see how a "Save" button, a "Restore" button and a combo box displaying saved reading settings would "overcomplicate the interface".

My grandma just recently, and very reluctantly, started using ereaders.
Computer interfaces confuse her in general, but she's more or less gotten the hang of it now.

Until you come along and ask for a "very small" interface change...that adds a button to the screen and rearranges everything, and now I have to go re-teach her how to use it all over again.

Thanks. Bleh.

Me? I'm all for adding stuff to _my_ interface. I've got NickelMenu installed and I've added buttons to it until I can't find stuff anymore. (And after a while, remove the ones I don't use as much as I thought I would.) And if the feature you ask for is added, that's probably where it should be added.

The people in this forum in general should be able to handle changes and adapt, but even here people complain with even small interface changes. Add a scrolll bar? Watch the complaints come in that 3 pixels were stolen from their screen width to fit the scroll bar in.

The people _not_ in this forum in general are even less adaptable than the people here. And some of those are like my grandma.

[johnson_chung]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I think we need more details. WiFi works fine here for all of my Kobo devices. What part of it isn't for you?

Or is the problem that you needed to do a factory reset and haven't been able to update the firmware? At the beginning of last year, Kobo had to remove support for older security protocols. That meant that devices on older firmware could no longer connect to their servers. You need to be on firmware 3.19.x or later for WiFi to work. You can install this manually, or use the Kobo desktop application to do it.

I'm in China. I have updated my aura to the latest version. For Kobo ereader was not sold in China mainland, it seemed that Kobo has banned Chinese IP.