Firmware 2.6.1: New Features and Bugs

[GeoffR]

This thread is for reporting features and bugs (and their workarounds) that are new in firmware 2.6.1.

To keep the thread useful for those who just want to see what is new in this firmware, please don't post your opinions on whether the feature is good or bad, comment on the competence of the firmware designers, etc. Just factual descriptions of what has changed in this firmware please.

I'll update this opening post with a summary of what is new as people report.


New Features:

ePub reader no longer shows the book title at the top of the page, but has a larger.top margin instead.
Glo no longer has the reading settings option for a solid black bar at the bottom of the page.
Aura/Glo has a new storefront layout.
Tapping on a link to an external website in an epub now opens the site in the browser, like kepubs.


New features that might be bugs:

Touching the screen soon after waking to an open book, or after opening a book, triggers a screen refresh.
Invoking the search function from the home screen or shelves list now defaults to a bookstore search.


Previously Aura-only features that now work on other models (Glo only?):

Glo now uses a tiled home screen like the Aura.
Glo full-cover sleep/power-off screen shows mode and reading progress in a box instead of a banner.
Glo now shows time left to finish the current book on the sleep/power-off screen (kepub only).
Glo light indicator is now at the top of the screen and percentage brightness is shown when adjusting.
Glo has a new Reading Life settings option: Kobo notifications off/on (default off).
Glo now has the same bookstore layout as the Aura: home page Bookstore menu with seperate pages for:
- Storefront: Carousel of recommeded books at top as in previous firmware, other things such as wishlist at the bottom.
- Related reading: Carousel of purchased books at top, carousel of similar books to currently selected book below.
- Recommended for you: Carousel of recommended books, similar but different to the Storefront one.
- Categories: Browse by genre categories as per previous firmware.
- Reading lists: Browse by bestseller lists etc. as per previous firmware.
- Wishlist (wishlist is not shown at bottom of the new tiled home screen, only via bookstore menu.)


Bug Fixes:

Ghosting issues when scrolling PDFs fixed.


New Bugs:

The Glo has new wifi icons, but the help page that describes what the icons mean still uses the old wifi icon.
The ePub reader does not display PNG images. [Now fixed in firmware 2.6.1b (55e7f0d3f0)]
Opening a book triggers a double screen refresh.


Attached photos show the new home screen, bookstore, and sleep screens on my Glo:

[GeoffR]

Here is a minor bug I noticed: There is a new wifi icon shaped like a quarter-bullseye, but the help page describing the meaning of the symbols shows the old wifi icon of 4 bars of increasing height.

[gouni]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

Here is a minor bug I noticed: There is a new wifi icon shaped like a quarter-bullseye, but the help page describing the meaning of the symbols shows the old wifi icon of 4 bars of increasing height.

Wifi enable or disable, is not a bug, now there are two icons.

[AlPe]

Bug Report

As I wrote here (with screenshots), since firmware 2.6.1, PNG images on "regular" (non-KEPUB) EPUB files are not displayed. This holds for EPUB 2 and EPUB 3 files. This observation has been confirmed by another user.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by gouni

Wifi enable or disable, is not a bug, now there are two icons.

I see two new wifi icons (enabled is a quarter bulls-eye, disabled is a empty quarter-circle) which replace the old icon. The help page shows the old icon, which is not used anywhere in the new firmware that I can see.

[rayhigh]

Since the update, after I eject the Aura and unplug it, about half the time nothing happens - it just sits on the screen saying to eject it. Sometimes the power switch would restart it, but just now, it would not. I did a pinhole reset, hopefully this will fix it going forward, otherwise it will be a royal pain.

[FJames]

The "new" items about using a box instead of a banner on the sleep/power-off cover screen, and showing the Glo icon at the top instead of the bottom, are both new to the Glo only (same as previous firmware on the Aura).

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by FJames

The "new" items about using a box instead of a banner on the sleep/power-off cover screen, and showing the Glo icon at the top instead of the bottom, are both new to the Glo only (same as previous firmware on the Aura).

Thanks. Do you know if the previous Aura firmware showed the time remaining to finish the book on the sleep/power-off screens, or is that new for the Aura too?

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by rayhigh

Since the update, after I eject the Aura and unplug it, about half the time nothing happens - it just sits on the screen saying to eject it. Sometimes the power switch would restart it, but just now, it would not. I did a pinhole reset, hopefully this will fix it going forward, otherwise it will be a royal pain.

How long did you wait after unplugging it? I find that my Glo sometimes takes half a minute to realise it has been unplugged.

Just to be sure this is a firmware change and not something specific to your hardware, has anyone else encountered this problem?

[rayhigh]

I waited over a minute. I will time it over the course of today and report results.

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by rayhigh

Since the update, after I eject the Aura and unplug it, about half the time nothing happens - it just sits on the screen saying to eject it. Sometimes the power switch would restart it, but just now, it would not. I did a pinhole reset, hopefully this will fix it going forward, otherwise it will be a royal pain.

This has been seen in the past on the Touch as well, but is a highly intermittent issue.

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

Thanks. Do you know if the previous Aura firmware showed the time remaining to finish the book on the sleep/power-off screens, or is that new for the Aura too?

I think that depends on the format of the book. I expect it only shows for Kobo format ePubs as opposed to regular ePubs.

[samhy]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

Thanks. Do you know if the previous Aura firmware showed the time remaining to finish the book on the sleep/power-off screens, or is that new for the Aura too?

Yes, it showed the remaining time with the fw 2.5.2.

[FJames]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

Do you know if the previous Aura firmware showed the time remaining to finish the book on the sleep/power-off screens, or is that new for the Aura too?

That I don't know. I think that only applies to kepubs, and I've deleted all the finished kepubs off my Aura with 2.5.1 firmware. With an epub as the current book, the Sleeping box has two empty lines in the middle. The 2nd empty line is where it shows the battery status while charging, so the first empty line could be for time remaining.

[jackastor]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

Here is a minor bug I noticed: There is a new wifi icon shaped like a quarter-bullseye, but the help page describing the meaning of the symbols shows the old wifi icon of 4 bars of increasing height.

Looks like the help screen shows the icon they are using for Touch, which has not changed for the touch but has for the glo to the 1/4 bullseye as you mentioned. As why they did not update it in the glo help files is beyond me, but maybe they just over looked the detail. It is still a minor bug as you mentioned but only for the Glo.


regards

Jack