Forma Just ordered new Kobo Forma

[disconnected]

The 32GB one is on the Kobo site now. I'm seriously tempted but I'm really worried about the quality control and the possible hassle of trying to return it (I'm in the US) if there are problems; it's not showing on the Walmart or Chapters/Indigo sites.

I've ordered direct from Kobo before but the prices on the previous models I bought were quite a bit lower so I didn't worry as much and as it turned out I didn't have to return any of them anyway.

I had the 8GB Forma briefly and it was seriously flawed so I was happy that I'd ordered it from Walmart and could return it locally for immediate credit.

I'd been afraid of the large size (I found the Oasis 2 way too heavy, awkward, slippery, and sharp-edged) but the Forma was amazingly comfortable to hold. The stripe on the wedge-side was very visible but I like large margins so the stripe didn't bother me. The light gradient across the screen was more bothersome but I thought I could live with it. The power button was sluggish but I was willing to live with that too.

I left wifi turned on after I registered the Forma and it downloaded and installed the latest firmware. There were two really major problems. One was that it kept freezing up, requiring a soft reset to unfreeze it. It would happen almost every time I switched hands (whether I had it set to auto or portrait only) and quite frequently even if I held it quite still in one hand. The other problem was that it often became confused about recognizing where the screen was being tapped. A tap to turn the page might do nothing or it might turn the page in the wrong direction or bring up the settings screen; a tap to bring up the settings screen might turn the page instead. It was totally random and after a few misreads it would just freeze. I did dozens of soft resets and a couple of factory resets but nothing helped.

I haven't read of anyone else having the same problems as I had but I think I'll try to hold off for a while and see what other people have to say about the 32GB version.

[m_j]

Originally Posted by disconnected

The 32GB one is on the Kobo site now. I'm seriously tempted but I'm really worried about the quality control and the possible hassle of trying to return it (I'm in the US) if there are problems; it's not showing on the Walmart or Chapters/Indigo sites.

I've ordered direct from Kobo before but the prices on the previous models I bought were quite a bit lower so I didn't worry as much and as it turned out I didn't have to return any of them anyway.

I had the 8GB Forma briefly and it was seriously flawed so I was happy that I'd ordered it from Walmart and could return it locally for immediate credit.

I'd been afraid of the large size (I found the Oasis 2 way too heavy, awkward, slippery, and sharp-edged) but the Forma was amazingly comfortable to hold. The stripe on the wedge-side was very visible but I like large margins so the stripe didn't bother me. The light gradient across the screen was more bothersome but I thought I could live with it. The power button was sluggish but I was willing to live with that too.

I left wifi turned on after I registered the Forma and it downloaded and installed the latest firmware. There were two really major problems. One was that it kept freezing up, requiring a soft reset to unfreeze it. It would happen almost every time I switched hands (whether I had it set to auto or portrait only) and quite frequently even if I held it quite still in one hand. The other problem was that it often became confused about recognizing where the screen was being tapped. A tap to turn the page might do nothing or it might turn the page in the wrong direction or bring up the settings screen; a tap to bring up the settings screen might turn the page instead. It was totally random and after a few misreads it would just freeze. I did dozens of soft resets and a couple of factory resets but nothing helped.

I haven't read of anyone else having the same problems as I had but I think I'll try to hold off for a while and see what other people have to say about the 32GB version.

I have Forma 32G.
I encountered freezing multiple times. But I found out the reason was I used .mobi files directly without conversion. After I used Calibre to convert my files to .kepub format, I haven't had any freezing issue. By the way, I strongly recommend converting files to .kepub before putting into Kobo. I got some sluggish annotation and control issues with other formats. I think .kepub has the best compatibility with Kobo machines.

About the inaccuracy of touching, I don't have that issue at all. The control is quite accurate in my opinion. Maybe you can try manual factory reset in the official link. Hope it can solve the issue.

[lkmiller]

No freezing here, but I don't think I've tried any sideloaded books yet.

I've been pleased with the touch accuracy. The Aura One was always slightly off -- not a problem with Forma.

[anacreon]

Originally Posted by m_j

I have Forma 32G.
I encountered freezing multiple times. But I found out the reason was I used .mobi files directly without conversion. After I used Calibre to convert my files to .kepub format, I haven't had any freezing issue. By the way, I strongly recommend converting files to .kepub before putting into Kobo. I got some sluggish annotation and control issues with other formats. I think .kepub has the best compatibility with Kobo machines.

I have only side-loaded kepubs (apart from a few PDFs), and I've had to do soft resets fairly frequently up to my present F/w (11980). Sometimes it's been hard to soft reset. I do hope that some F/w will solve that.

[Calenorn]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Nook, oh boy. Since they released Nook ST w/Glowlight, I think their hardware is the best. But their software... it was never the best. But the most recent software (the software currently powering the Glowlight Plus and Glowlight 3) is buggy and sluggish. Reading a book is fine. Anything else? Forget it.

You don't know how badly I wish I could slap Kobo's software on one of my Nooks. The best of both worlds! (Or you could put Nook's software on a Clara, Forma or Aura one. For the true masochist!)

Personally, I find the Clara HD hardware every bit as good as NOOK's Glowlight 3. YMMV.

[disconnected]

Originally Posted by m_j

I have Forma 32G.
I encountered freezing multiple times. But I found out the reason was I used .mobi files directly without conversion. After I used Calibre to convert my files to .kepub format, I haven't had any freezing issue. By the way, I strongly recommend converting files to .kepub before putting into Kobo. I got some sluggish annotation and control issues with other formats. I think .kepub has the best compatibility with Kobo machines.

About the inaccuracy of touching, I don't have that issue at all. The control is quite accurate in my opinion. Maybe you can try manual factory reset in the official link. Hope it can solve the issue.

All my books were epubs from Calibre using the Kobo Touch Extended plugin. They all work fine on my other Kobos -- H2O2 and Clara.

The touch screen problem was just really weird. It wasn't the usual kind of thing where it's just a bit off. When it was off it was really off but in a very precise way, so that touching the far left side of the screen half way up might bring up settings instead of paging back.

I still want to order the 32GB one but I'm trying to hold off for a while.

[m_j]

Originally Posted by anacreon

I have only side-loaded kepubs (apart from a few PDFs), and I've had to do soft resets fairly frequently up to my present F/w (11980). Sometimes it's been hard to soft reset. I do hope that some F/w will solve that.

My Forma's firmware version is 11982.
I haven't encounter any major software issue so far.
The latest firmware may have solved stability issues.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by m_j

My Forma's firmware version is 11982.
I haven't encounter any major software issue so far.
The latest firmware may have solved stability issues.

The only difference between 4.11.11980 and 4.11.11982 is a fix for the PIN lock. 4.11.11980 did have some stability fixes. Kobo is working on others.

[melmac]

So have read bits and pieces from all the forma threads and there seems to be a lot of complaints is anyone happy with their Kobo Forma?
I'm thinking of getting one as a Christmas gift but have yet to find one on display turned on so I can see the screen quality. I'm a little nervous about blind buying with what seems like a lot of negative reports around

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by melmac

So have read bits and pieces from all the forma threads and there seems to be a lot of complaints is anyone happy with their Kobo Forma?

I have two problems with my Forma.

Firstly, it does have the dark stripe on the button edge. It disappears when I am reading, but, I do know it's there are other times.

And secondly, my wife has it. And she won't be giving it back. That was sort of the plan. I'd get it and try it, and then she would while I took her Aura ONE. But, I wasn't really expect to like it as much as I did.

I'm thinking of getting one as a Christmas gift but have yet to find one on display turned on so I can see the screen quality. I'm a little nervous about blind buying with what seems like a lot of negative reports around

Some JB HiFi have started stocking them. I don't know if they have them on display, but, their search shows three stores in Perth with them.

And I just noticed that for anyone who wants a Clara HD, JB HiFi has them at $149. That's $30 off.

[melmac]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I have two problems with my Forma.

Firstly, it does have the dark stripe on the button edge. It disappears when I am reading, but, I do know it's there are other times.

And secondly, my wife has it. And she won't be giving it back. That was sort of the plan. I'd get it and try it, and then she would while I took her Aura ONE. But, I wasn't really expect to like it as much as I did.


Some JB HiFi have started stocking them. I don't know if they have them on display, but, their search shows three stores in Perth with them.

And I just noticed that for anyone who wants a Clara HD, JB HiFi has them at $149. That's $30 off.

If there's no stripe when reading then I would be happy. My mum has the Aura One and that is the other option however the forma felt so much nicer in hand than the aura. JB Osbourne Park had them out the back in a box so I could handle it but not turn on. I've tried three other stores who had none I think I'm going to give the city store a go. OT but how JB manage to sell any readers is beyond me their displays are always a total disgrace often no power no wifi covered in dust

Do you have the Kobo cover on yours?

[John F]

Originally Posted by melmac

So have read bits and pieces from all the forma threads and there seems to be a lot of complaints is anyone happy with their Kobo Forma?
...

Someone just started another thread, and they said they were happy. I believe there were other posts of happy Forma owners.

So, yes, there are some people who are happy with their Formas.

[koboy]

Originally Posted by melmac

If there's no stripe when reading then I would be happy. My mum has the Aura One and that is the other option however the forma felt so much nicer in hand than the aura. JB Osbourne Park had them out the back in a box so I could handle it but not turn on. I've tried three other stores who had none I think I'm going to give the city store a go. OT but how JB manage to sell any readers is beyond me their displays are always a total disgrace often no power no wifi covered in dust

Do you have the Kobo cover on yours?

the stripe/band doesn't magically disappear when you are reading.

the point being made is that when you are so immersed in reading a book you forget that it is there but the stripe/band is still there.

you may find this helpful. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=312897

best wishes koboy

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by melmac

If there's no stripe when reading then I would be happy. My mum has the Aura One and that is the other option however the forma felt so much nicer in hand than the aura. JB Osbourne Park had them out the back in a box so I could handle it but not turn on. I've tried three other stores who had none I think I'm going to give the city store a go. OT but how JB manage to sell any readers is beyond me their displays are always a total disgrace often no power no wifi covered in dust

I can get to three of their stores easily. One tends to have the devices setup and working. One usually has on device on display but not setup. They had the Clara HD and I nearly did the setup myself but didn't want to hang around as the firmware downloaded. I did talk to someone about this and he said that a rep of some sort was supposed to visit and do the setup. The last store has only had covers on display for a while and even those disappeared recently.

Do you have the Kobo cover on yours?

Yes and it works well. The only issue for me is that because I tended to hold the Forma in my left hand with the buttons on the left, it opens the wrong way compared to the other devices. That and I tend to play with the edge of the cover that is under my finger. As it is segments for the stand, I kept pushing that part down and putting my finger between it and the back of the cover. No real problem, just a bad habit of playing with edges and imperfections under my fingers. It was worse with the Glo as I could feel the edge of the external SD card and would keep ejecting it.

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by melmac

So have read bits and pieces from all the forma threads and there seems to be a lot of complaints is anyone happy with their Kobo Forma?

I wrote a mini-review on Reddit about 5 days after I got it:

https://www.reddit.com/r/kobo/commen...ir_kobo_forma/

Still satisfied with mine. Still have same thoughts.

The biggest issue is still the "darker stripe" of light down the side. I'm not too sure if it's a defect across all Formas, or just the people complaining about it are the ones taking pictures. Kobo is aware of the issue, and are/were offering replacements.