Clara Next Kobo Model - Kobo Clara HD

[thymaster]

I upgraded mind to a 64GB Class 10 microsd card. You need to clone the 8GB card, restore it on the new card and re-partition the card after to maximize the storage.

Originally Posted by TheBard

I assume the Clara's MicroSD card capacity is 8GB. The slot in the Clara picture seems to be empty, and the slot in the Glo HD contains a 32GB card.

Has anybody tried using a card in the Clara with a capacity greater than 8GB?
If so, does the firmware need to be transferred from the 8GB card, ir is the firmware stored somewhere other than on the MicroSD card?

Thanks!

[jlynton]

Originally Posted by CH23

I can confirm that this is the case;

KOReader checks the device name before launching, to set itself up for the right capabilities (like the orange backlight on the ONE and Clara)

I manually added 'nova' to this script, as it wouldn't start.

After doing this, it would.

Clara = Nova

Have you, or has anyone, tried Vlasovsoft's CoolReader?

[Mrs_Often]

Originally Posted by Mrs_Often

First impression [...]

Second impression...

Hardware: very comfortable to read! Comfortable to hold, and the screen is very smooth (especially compared to the Glo's rough [IR] screen). It's responsive and fast (but then again, I'm comparing to the old Glo...). It's a little difficult to use the sliding finger up/down the left of the screen to get an exact percentage (like 1%) of the light brightness, but with a bit of practise I got the hang of it. I also like the button at the bottom. It works when I want it do, and it doesn't work when I'm just resting the device on the button on my finger(s)/hand while reading. And then the actual LEDs... unfortunately there are some LEDs that shine brighter spots in the direction of the screen from underneath the bezel. I compared the two devices I ended up with (I need to send one back), and the brighter spots are in the same locations on both devices, however on one of the devices it is more prominent (brighter) than the other. See image (I'm holding the protective plastic up from the screen of the left device on the picture, it's not a screen defect ... oh and I see I must have tapped the menu while doing so; the lighting menu should have been showing on both screens. You'll just have to trust that I had the same lighting settings on both devices ).

EDIT: I forgot to add: the light is soooooo much less bright (duller?) than the Comfortlight on the Glo. Even in full blue-hue. With the red lighting, 1% is too dark for me to read when there is still a small light on in a dark room! Yay! This makes me very happy, as I have very sensitive eyes and 1% brightness on my Glo was still to bright to read even with a light on in a dark room. Also, comparing the two devices, one device is slightly brighter at 1% than the other, and it is also more red (the other is doesn't go as far down the orange scale towards red).

Unfortunately, the device with the brighter spots on the bottom right is the one that is less bright... how am I going to choose which device to send back!? Agh.

Firmware (4.8.11090): There seem to be some bugs (or I messed things up, I will have to factory reset and see if they're still there):

• Changing light percentage (sliding finger up/down the left side of the screen) shows the percentage in the top margin. This should go away (and be replaced with book title if reading real Kepub) once I start reading again, but it doesn't. It just stays there however many pages I turn... (this was fixed after a restart)
• There seem to be two books "anchored" to first and second position on the home screen. The book cover of the first book thus always shows up on screen in sleep mode, even if it was not the last book I opened/read. Third and fourth position is adjusted properly when I open/read new books... It's weird because I haven't read the books stuck on first and second place in months (years?) so the "last read date" can't be an issue This wasn't fixed after restart, restoring to original config file or after repairing my account. EDIT: If I manually remove books 1 and 2 from the home screen, books 3 and 4 become books 1 and 2, and the same anchoring occurs... EDIT 2: Normal behaviour is back after factory reset, but I haven't fully set up my device yet, I just added four books to test this.
• Order of sorting is not remembered when browsing Collections... But I didn't check this after restoring the original config file. EDIT: Works fine in 4.7.10733 after identical setup as 4.8.11090)

For the rest it all seems identical/very similar to the 4.811073 firmware on my Glo (except obviously for the added Comfortlight PRO options and the missing games in beta features... I'm hoping for working patch-stuff for the 4.8.11090 (this is a new concept to me as I think the whole concept was developed while I was away from this forum for aaaaages, so I'll have to look into that in more detail to know what on earth I'm talking about).

I like the new-ish fast page progression thing too. Works well. Thank you davidfor for pointing out you can change the page flipping speed by moving your finger across the device! I wouldn't have figured that out on my own I don't think. It's a little tricky, because if I start flipping pages forward and slow the speed down by moving my finger to the left, I move my finger over where the page number is displayed so I can't see what page(s) I'm at/moving through, and if I move my finger diagonally left/up so I can still see the page number, the flipping stops because I'm not touching the bottom of the screen any more. But I suppose, if I know what page I'm wanting to go to I can just type that in in the "go to page" place instead of doing the flipping. So I'm moaning about nonsense.

Originally Posted by geek1011

- There is now a disable quick turn reading setting (it can be set in the config file, maybe the gui) (ReadingSettings::disableQuickTurn)

It's not in the GUI as far as I can see. But yep, adding disableQuickTurn=yes to config file disables the flipping!

Originally Posted by geek1011

- A whole bunch of resize events have been added to basically every control (I wonder why)

I've no idea what I'm talking about, but could this have anything to do with the new "Large Print Mode"? It's new in the beta features (or at least, it's the first time I've seen it, I don't know if it's new to the device, the firmware or to earlier firmware/device where I wasn't paying attention).

Originally Posted by CH23

Clara = Nova

Oh, that's a much better name! From now on I'm calling my device the Nova! (Honestly, who chooses a cow's name for an ereader [sorry to any Claras out there, no offence, and you're obviously not a cow if you're reading this].)

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

Capacitive screens often don't play nice with my skin for some reason. I visit some office buildings that have it in their elevator buttons and I often just wait for someone else to come along to finally push it.

And the glove issue... [...]

A capacitive reader just isn't workable for me. The glove issue makes me wonder why anyone would want one, unless of course they only read in their warm and cozy homes.

That makes sense, thank you for sharing. Does that mean you don't use any capacitive screens/devices, so also no touch screen smart phone, no laptop trackpad, no tablet, etc? Must be quite a hassle to find things that work with your fingers. But it must be bad if you can't even comfortably hit an elevator button... And yes I now mostly read in a warm and cozy place, and I've quit using public transport so I don't have the glove issue any more.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Mrs_Often

Firmware: There seem to be some bugs (or I messed things up, I will have to factory reset and see if they're still there):

• Changing light percentage (sliding finger up/down the left side of the screen) shows the percentage in the top margin. This should go away (and be replaced with book title if reading real Kepub) once I start reading again, but it doesn't. It just stays there however many pages I turn... (this was fixed after a restart)

I see this on my Glo HD. But, it is cleared the next time I do something to update the top of the screen. Tapping the screen to display the menus is enough to do this.

• There seem to be two books "anchored" to first and second position on the home screen. The book cover of the first book thus always shows up on screen in sleep mode, even if it was not the last book I opened/read. Third and fourth position is adjusted properly when I open/read new books... It's weird because I haven't read the books stuck on first and second place in months (years?) so the "last read date" can't be an issue This wasn't fixed after restart, restoring to original config file or after repairing my account.

Are these books also first in the library list when sorted by "Recent"? Are they purchased books? And what happens if you actually open them and then open something else?

I had this happen to me once. I somehow set the date a year ahead and was reading a purchased book. I fixed the date before I finished the date. After that, every time the device synced, the reading status for that book from the last sync before fixing the date was downloaded to the device. So, it stayed in the first place at 33% read. In the end, I had to delete the book to the archive to prevent it syncing. A year later, I restored it and marked it as read.

So, check the date. Opening and closing the books might be enough to sort it out. Or marking the books as finished will remove them from the home screen.

I like the new-ish fast page progression thing too. Works well. Thank you davidfor for pointing out you can change the page flipping speed by moving your finger across the device! I wouldn't have figured that out on my own I don't think. It's a little tricky, because if I start flipping pages forward and slow the speed down by moving my finger to the left, I move my finger over where the page number is displayed so I can't see what page(s) I'm at/moving through, and if I move my finger diagonally left/up so I can still see the page number, the flipping stops because I'm not touching the bottom of the screen any more. But I suppose, if I know what page I'm wanting to go to I can just type that in in the "go to page" place instead of doing the flipping. So I'm moaning about nonsense.

This went through a lot of beta testing. Kobo tried various ways and positions for starting this and using it. The final method is by far the best.

I've no idea what I'm talking about, but could this have anything to do with the new "Large Print Mode"? It's new in the beta features (or at least, it's the first time I've seen it, I don't know if it's new to the device, the firmware or to earlier firmware/device where I wasn't paying attention).

The "Large Print Mode" was added to the firmware some time last year.

Oh, that's a much better name! From now on I'm calling my device the Nova! (Honestly, who chooses a cow's name for an ereader [sorry to any Claras out there, no offence, and you're obviously not a cow if you're reading this].)

I agree with the name, but I keep thinking of a character in the third "Back to the Future" movie. Apparently the name makes sense in Spanish.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I agree with the name, but I keep thinking of a character in the third "Back to the Future" movie. Apparently the name makes sense in Spanish.

It's a feminine name (I really think in a character in Heidi) and it means clear too.

[Mrs_Often]

Thank you for your replies! (I edited my post in the mean time)

Originally Posted by davidfor

I see this on my Glo HD. But, it is cleared the next time I do something to update the top of the screen. Tapping the screen to display the menus is enough to do this.

Ah yes I forgot to mention that. Bringing up the menu indeed solves it... but still, the user shouldn't have to go through the hassle

Are these books also first in the library list when sorted by "Recent"? Are they purchased books? And what happens if you actually open them and then open something else?

Hmm I didn't check the library list and I can't remember if I opened the books or not (I've since factory reset and haven't put everything back yet, so I can't check). I will definitely check if it happens again. They were all sideloaded, except for book 4, which was a bought kepub synced directly from Kobo servers. But that book never made it to the first position in the minimal 'testing' (i.e. mucking about) that I did.

So, check the date. Opening and closing the books might be enough to sort it out. Or marking the books as finished will remove them from the home screen.

The device date was correct upon setup, which was only an hour at most before I noticed this issue... I didn't check the device date afterwards, but I doubt it will have changed to something strange in an hour (although of course it is definitely worth checking, so I will do so next time I see the issue).

I have the/your handy Kobo Utilities plugin store & restore the reading progress and dates of my sideloaded books. The dates in the last read column for the books in question are somewhere in 2015 and 2016, and they were not finished, I abandoned them at 1% and 2% read respectively. But tap-hold gives a 'remove' option which then prompts choices: remove from home screen; remove from device; remove from library. So I removed the anchored books from the home screen that way... and then books 3 and 4 were anchored to places 1 and 2. I did try opening both books in this instance, but with no change. I.e. book 1 remained in place 1, book 2 remained in place 2, even if it was the last opened (this book 2 was the bought kepub at about 7% read 'today'; and book 1 was an unread sidedloaded epub [sent to device as kepub]).

The "Large Print Mode" was added to the firmware some time last year.

Ah okay, I guess I have been away for a while

I agree with the name, but I keep thinking of a character in the third "Back to the Future" movie. Apparently the name makes sense in Spanish.

Aaahhh yes, that Clara! Well I suppose that's better than a "Clara the Cow".

[geek1011]

davidfor, do you know anything about the firmware (see post 407,414)?

[jackie_w]

@davidfor & Mrs_Often,

I confirm a problem with sort-by-Recent on fw4.8.11090. I just did a factory reset to remove all my tweaks from the last few days in case it was something I'd done. All books on the device are sideloaded kepubs via calibre, just 4 books to keep things simple. I did check the time/date setting.

If I open a book (Book 1) then go back to MyBooks Recent - Book 1 is now the last item on the last page, when it should be the first item on the first page. I repeated with the next 3 books and observed the same behaviour each time. At the end of this experiment the 4 books, top-to-bottom, in MyBooks Recent are Books 1 2 3 4.

If I now go to the Home page, the top row left-to-right is 1 2 3 4, i.e. most recently opened is top right when it should be top left.

If I switch off to standby the screensaver cover is Book 1, the 4th-most-recently-opened book.

Based on observations from the last couple of days I think things may get more complicated once you start adding new books, marking others as read or unread etc. My head is hurting now ...

[Mrs_Often]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

@davidfor & Mrs_Often,

I confirm a problem with sort-by-Recent on fw4.8.11090. I just did a factory reset to remove all my tweaks from the last few days in case it was something I'd done. All books on the device are sideloaded kepubs via calibre, just 4 books to keep things simple. I did check the time/date setting.

If I open a book (Book 1) then go back to MyBooks Recent - Book 1 is now the last item on the last page, when it should be the first item on the first page. I repeated with the next 3 books and observed the same behaviour each time. At the end of this experiment the 4 books, top-to-bottom, in MyBooks Recent are Books 1 2 3 4.

If I now go to the Home page, the top row left-to-right is 1 2 3 4, i.e. most recently opened is top right when it should be top left.

If I switch off to standby the screensaver cover is Book 1, the 4th-most-recently-opened book.

Based on observations from the last couple of days I think things may get more complicated once you start adding new books, marking others as read or unread etc. My head is hurting now ...

Pah, I was hoping it was something I messed up Thank you for testing and confirming!

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by Mrs_Often

Pah, I was hoping it was something I messed up Thank you for testing and confirming!

You're welcome! I was fearing I had a faulty unit - so I was quite relieved to find out it wasn't just me

[oren64]

@jackie_w Did you check if the date and time is current?

[RobertJSawyer]

I suspect the name "Clara" was chosen to suggest "Clarity," in honour of the new higher-definition screen. As for Kobo Nova, I'm putting a Russian character in my next novel; she'll be named Kobonova (Koe-BON-uh-vah).

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by oren64

@jackie_w Did you check if the date and time is current?

I did.

[Mrs_Often]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

You're welcome! I was fearing I had a faulty unit - so I was quite relieved to find out it wasn't just me

[s]...there must be something that we're both doing to mess something up (or to trigger the bug) though. I've just factory reset the two [s]Clara[/s] Nova's I have and sideloaded 4 books in kepub format and done nothing else... and the ordering in recent and home screen works as expected

(I was trying it out again because I realised I'd gone back to the home screen after opening a new book each time, I hadn't tried sleeping with the new book still open yet... but, since both ways are working on both devices at the moment I have no idea what triggers the bug/mess.)[/s]

EDIT
I know... it's updating from 4.7.10733 to 4.8.11090...

[oren64]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I did.

Probably a bug in the firmware.

You can check and see the last date read in the KoboReader.sqlite in Content > DateLastRead, use sqlitestudio software.