Touch Kobo Touch Firmware 1.9.16

[voom]

I suppose people who would have the (soft) skills to be good supporters hardly ever become supporters as they can easily get more interesting jobs with better pay

[dioioib]

I did a little digging and looked at the datasheet for the processor the Kobo Touch uses, well specifically the chip errata and there are quite a few bugs in the silicon supplied by Freescale (i.MX508). One of the issues listed has to do with SD card data writes. They did list a work around but this could be why a working solution is slow coming.

I was told that my unit was defective so I am going to try the next unit and see if its more responsive and reliable.

I did buy a ADATA microSD Class-10 Card which listed in Disk Utility as SDXC (Not the SDHC I expected - #win). It worked fairly well in my reader but only on FW 1.9.14. Still could not get 1.9.16 to work reliably.

But I have to be honest I still love my Kobo!

[readingwonder]

It would be nice if Kobo came back into the thread to assure those people that are having issues, and those people that are hesitant to buy a Kobo Touch, like me, that they're looking very seriously and very diligently into the issue. Instead, their blog just talks about media and marketing events.

[dioioib]

I would go easy on them CES just happened and that trade show does mean a lot to all vendors globally.

I'll let you know how my next reader works and hopefully you can use that to decide if this is the right product for you.

The customer service surrounding this issue for me at least has been fantastic. I have never seen any other hardware manufacturer commit themselves to releasing as many updates for their hardware and continually adding to the device. Kobo is a newer budding company and is on the right track in my opinion.

Just make an informed choice. And why worry about what Kobo thinks about their own products and services. Of course they are going to use a reassuring platitude who in their right mind would say anything bad about their own products or services.

All I can say is my service has been top notch and I have done quite a few RMA's over the years with many different companies and products.

[John F]

Originally Posted by dioioib

I would go easy on them CES just happened and that trade show does mean a lot to all vendors globally.

...

I'm not sure what CES has to do with it, nor do I really care. The device has been out for over six months. Fix the problems.

[SameerH]

Hi everyone, I just wanted to pop in and let everyone know that we're looking very closely at the SD card performance. Thus far we have been unable to locate a problem, but we are continuing to try.

I posted on another thread asking if readers experiencing the described problems would be willing to send us their SD cards (we would compensate) ideally with the content on it, it would be extremely helpful. If interested in helping, please email me at shasan at kobo dot com.

As many of you know, your comments and those of all of our other customers through various social media channels have a direct effect on our feature/fix prioritization, and we are proud of our track record of quickly acting on feedback and delivering frequent updates responding directly to customer requests.

[John F]

Originally Posted by SameerH

...

As many of you know, your comments and those of all of our other customers through various social media channels have a direct effect on our feature/fix prioritization, and we are proud of our track record of quickly acting on feedback and delivering frequent updates responding directly to customer requests.

Take a look at this thread:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=166744

For another problem, try this:

1. Side load an ePub with a table of contents
2. Start reading
3. Bring up the table of contents
4. Pick an entry
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 ten times

For me, many times it does not work. The menu entry just stays black (until you click somewhere else on the screen)

For another problem:

1) side load an ePub
2) start reading
3) highlight a word (tap and hold)
4) bring up the menu for that has "definition" in it
5) click on definition
6) repeat steps 3-5 ten times

For me, many times, the menu button "definition" just turns black and nothing happens

Or try this, for another problem:

1) delete the two installed books, guide and reading life?
2) side load some epubs
3) go home
4) go to library
5) delete a side loaded ePub
6) repeat steps 3-5 ten times

For me, this works erratically. The book still appears to be in the library until you click somewhere else.

There appears to be some fundamental problems with the menu system.

[frankieGom]

Originally Posted by readingwonder

However, many of those that are experiencing problems with .16 and have rolled back to .9 no longer experience those same problems. If it was purely a hardware issue, they should be having the problems across the board, but an older firmware seems to remove the issues for them.

Not necessarily... it could be that the newer firmware implements features that stress the HW differently or use real estate that was left alone until then.

François

[dioioib]

Originally Posted by John F

I'm not sure what CES has to do with it, nor do I really care.

I was waiting for about 3 weeks to hear back from support on my ticket, which happened to be the time CES was going on. Not a stretch to believe that things slow down during a trade show. Considering I use to run logistics for an electronics trade-show and the vendors head offices often become a graveyard. When key figures in management are in the field decisions take longer to make. John I'm rationalizing why things are taking a little longer during this time.

The device has been out for over six months. Fix the problems.

I had absolutely no issues until upgrading past 1.9.9 to 1.9.14 & 1.9.16. Side load worked, taps were fine, everything worked. I sympathize with the developers of this great product because I develop embedded myself. I think the device is fantastic there are just some additional issues being caused by:

1) Bad eBooks, corrupted, or errors in ebooks CSS etc. (Used Calibre & Sigil to fix a few.)
2) Slow or incompatible microSD cards. (My lexar class 4 seems the most probematic, ADATA Class 10 seems to work best.)
3) Incompatible file names. (I've had to change about 6 book titles.)
4) Mac OS filling up my memory cards with index files from Spotlight Search.

all of which are extremely frustrating to the average user. I'm just going to be patient, all good things come with age.

So I cannot say all of my issues are a result of the hardware / firmware, some of them are resulting from the content I have been using.

[abitdisappointed]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and to the Kobo Touch. I am running mine on the 1.9.16 firmware which is fantastic until you plug a sdhc card in. I have tried both a Sandisk class 4 and a PNY class 10, 8Gb cards, with multiple and single books loaded via Calibre. The cards appear to completely confuse the reader - books vanish from the library, the machine seizes-up, pages turn sporadically, touch screen is unresponsive, etc, etc. Reset the Kobo, try again, same problem. Remove card and reset loading exactly the same books only on the internal memory and it works like a dream again.

If anyone can give me some tips on how to correct this, or if, as I now suspect, this is a firmware problem can Kobo please tweak their firmware. I now know this is not a new problem. I love the reader but as such I would not recommend it.

Thanks.

[code933k]

lol, 'Notizen verfassen' means that you can note (and save) something. But you can only view software details there.
The term 'Release Notes' should be simply translated to 'Details' or 'Versionsdetails'. Please fix that - thanks.

1. The very same problem shows up in Spanish: "Release Notes" appears "Publicar Notas" which means "Publish Notes". Weird! to say the least. Make it simply: "Notas de la Versión" as "Notas de lanzamiento", which is the textual translation, isn't so adequate for programming illiterate folks.
   
   Dear Kobo developers, if you can put in place a system to collaborate with translations I'll be happy to help out.
   
2. The problem with menu items in need of two or more taps, keeps diminishing the whole interactive reading experience.
   
3. Also blurry (definition/translate word/add note) menu items after 1.9.16 are awful.

[Jay001]

I too am frustrated with 1.9.16. After the update, I've completely lost the swiping functionality, which I used to have. Tapping right is problematic, tapping left is almost non-existent. I will try a factory reset.

[SirFluff]

I never paid this price to be obligated to see what you want me to read, I paid this price to have a TOTALLY ads free device, if I want ads let me have this option otherwise you can be totally sure I will NEVER recommend your device to anyone. I am SICK and TIRED of ads, even when I pee I see ads, stop it, stop it right there, stop pushing people against a information flood.

Now, on my desktop version ALL of my books are gone, only what you god damn recommend to me is showing which I will NEVER buy from you... EVER so why would you even think I'd want such a feature?

[sgeiger]

Does anyone (magically) have any information on the next firmware update? Up until now they've pushed out updates for the touch a monthly basis, but it's been two months since the last. I would LIKE to think that considering how broken the entire Kobo system is they would still be working around the clock to put out updates...

Also anyone know what the next update might DO? (bug fixes, features etc)

[SF&F Reader]

No, I have no information. But my pessimistic guess is that they are spending this extra time to put pulse in there rather than fix the existing problems. . .