New Home Screen vs Old Home Screen

[booklover6]

No way will I accept a home screen like that. Not when the Kobo screen I am used to is so good, in conjunction with Kobo Utilities in Calibre, in which I remove the Sync tile and any other tile I don't want. "Suggested books" on a home screen is one reason I won't tolerate a Nook. I even recently paid to remove advertising on my Kindle Voyage. I don't need any suggestions, I have more books than I will read in my remaining life time already.

[TimeEffect]

I think the new UI is more mature despite looking like Amazon's.

I liked the tiles but it needed a face lift.

What I dont understand is the redundancy and poor use of space.


Top line for your recent reads is good. But then having a whole square for your entire library feels redundant, when it could have simply been a small text button, like on Kindles.


Collections definitely would have been a better use of that space.

Even though I hated the idea of ads, I grew to like them on my Kindle as they come off as personalized recommendations that genuinely may interest me.

The space on the bottom could have also been much better off to be used, especially for the unique reading stats that I love on Kobo. Too bad they are always bugged though.

The giant tutorial buttons for pocket and the store seem too big for anyone who knows their way around the Kobo... I also feel as if the layout has too many book covers on screen, and it would have been nice if the secondary books were maybe smaller.

[Willa]

I like the old home screen just as it is - I have control over how it looks, I use the Kobo Utilities plug in to remove unwanted 'features'. I also like having the collections tile. It is fully customisable to my wants and needs making that part of the reading experience exactly how I want it. As it should be.

Currently Kindle offers you the choice of whether you would like advertising when you purchase the device - and the Kindle with advertising is cheaper than the one without. I certainly wouldn't have paid £190 for a luxury ereader to be bombarded with advertising if I had been given the choice at the point of purchase. Are Kobo going to be offering partial refunds for accepting advertising - to be in line with Amazon?

The only choice I have now is not to sync - therefore not running the risk of 'updating' to the new home screen. I understand that there is a patch available but if I purchase a book from Kobo (rare but it happens) it will download the update when I sync to get the book.

I appreciate that Kobo does regular updates to improve their ereaders or to fix problems - but this is NOT an improvement from a customer point of view imho .

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Willa

Currently Kindle offers you the choice of whether you would like advertising when you purchase the device - and the Kindle with advertising is cheaper than the one without. I certainly wouldn't have paid £190 for a luxury ereader to be bombarded with advertising if I had been given the choice at the point of purchase. Are Kobo going to be offering partial refunds for accepting advertising - to be in line with Amazon?

I wondered about the partial refunds, too!

If, going forward, Kobo is only going to sell devices with ads, so be it. Caveat emptor. But this was a retroactive bait-and-switch. They can't even claim this is an added "feature" since other features have been taken away. I would still prefer the old screen, but if you could dismiss the marketing tiles with a long press as you can with old screen tiles, and replace them with collection tiles, I'd shrug it off. Not as good a use of space, but I'd get along.

I'm not happy about losing OverDrive access; that was a convenience I valued.

[llcj]

Two big thumbs down for the new home screen for all the reasons mentioned above.

[Willa]

Originally Posted by issybird

I wondered about the partial refunds, too!

Originally Posted by issybird

If you could dismiss the marketing tiles with a long press as you can with old screen tiles, and replace them with collection tiles, I'd shrug it off. Not as good a use of space, but I'd get along.

This. You should still be allowed to customise the screen as you can with the old one.

[Ksquared]

I did share my opinion of that new home screen with Kobo - I encourage others to do the same! I work in Quality Assurance (not for Kobo, BTW) and nothing is more difficult than a customer that tells you about a problem six months after is started to annoy them.

https://www.kobo.com/help/?style=one...&culture=en-US

[Willa]

Originally Posted by Ksquared

I did share my opinion of that new home screen with Kobo - I encourage others to do the same! I work in Quality Assurance (not for Kobo, BTW) and nothing is more difficult than a customer that tells you about a problem six months after is started to annoy them.

https://www.kobo.com/help/?style=one...&culture=en-US

Already done!

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by issybird

If, going forward, Kobo is only going to sell devices with ads, so be it. Caveat emptor. But this was a retroactive bait-and-switch. They can't even claim this is an added "feature" since other features have been taken away. I would still prefer the old screen, but if you could dismiss the marketing tiles with a long press as you can with old screen tiles, and replace them with collection tiles, I'd shrug it off. Not as good a use of space, but I'd get along.

But, none of the Kobo firmware version have not had "ads". Every single version has displayed prominently links to the store, or recommendations or some other list of books or access to parts of the store. I've never had any problems with this as it wasn't intrusive to intrusive. The recent tiled home screen has probably been the least intrusive and also the most customisable.

The loss of function is my main problem. Tiles like collections, finished books and new books, and the annotations link on books. And the library tile just doesn't seem to be as useful as the previous one. I'm not sure why.

I'm not happy about losing OverDrive access; that was a convenience I valued.

Sorry, OD isn't working, or is it the loss of an OD tile?

[Willa]

Originally Posted by davidfor

But, none of the Kobo firmware version have not had "ads". Every single version has displayed prominently links to the store, or recommendations or some other list of books or access to parts of the store.

Yes, but you have been able to dismiss them in the past - apparently it is being reported that the 'new' tiles won't budge!

Waves to David

[meeera]

I contacted Kobo to ask if there was a way to sync without having the new homescreen forced upon me. Then to express my displeasure at the response. Was told to Have a Great Day!

[issybird]

Originally Posted by davidfor

But, none of the Kobo firmware version have not had "ads". Every single version has displayed prominently links to the store, or recommendations or some other list of books or access to parts of the store. I've never had any problems with this as it wasn't intrusive to intrusive. The recent tiled home screen has probably been the least intrusive and also the most customisable.

As Willa said, the promotional tiles could be dismissed and then they were gone for good - or at least until an update. With the new screen, half the screen is given over to promotion and it won't budge.

The loss of function is my main problem. Tiles like collections, finished books and new books, and the annotations link on books. And the library tile just doesn't seem to be as useful as the previous one. I'm not sure why.

Yup.

Sorry, OD isn't working, or is it the loss of an OD tile?

Since syncing downloads new firmware first, I can't use the OD function on my One or have the books sync to my other devices, unless I've misunderstood something (very possible ). Fortunately my purchased material is sideloaded except in very rare instances when I want to read a book right away, but of course those instances won't happen any more either.

[John F]

Originally Posted by issybird

...

Since syncing downloads new firmware first, I can't use the OD function on my One or have the books sync to my other devices, unless I've misunderstood something (very possible ). Fortunately my purchased material is sideloaded except in very rare instances when I want to read a book right away, but of course those instances won't happen any more either.

Do you patch? I thought there was a patch to disable updates?

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by John F

Do you patch? I thought there was a patch to disable updates?

Yes, that patch exists.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by John F

Do you patch? I thought there was a patch to disable updates?

I tend to go for the "as it works out of the box" option; I've applied the full screen hack to my Kobos and that's it. Once and done, I'll add, unlike with the weekly firmware updates.

Frankly, I don't have the skills to patch easily; I could get there, but my Luddite heart quails at the learning curve. I can't use a computer right now anyway, so that would be for the future.

I appreciate the reminder that there are options; I'm just annoyed that Kobo is making me choose between unattractive alternatives, that for my purposes they've broken something that worked well before.