Ghosting

[MorganM]

I was wondering if the Kobo Touch has the *ghosting* thing happen when the page turns? I think it's called ghosting when the eink flashes with each page turn?

I have a Kobo WiFi and the ghosting is starting to annoy me. My Libre pro might have a slightly smaller screen but there isn't any ghosting at least.

[Shopaholic]

Ghosting is when the image of the words on the screen stays on there but much lighter, even when you turn the page. It's like a ghostly image of itself. I believe what you're thinking of is called flashing.

[MorganM]

Yeah that's it!

I have contacted Borders AU in regards to the ongoing issues with my Kobo since I only bought it like 6mths ago. Hey maybe I will get a replacement! Doubt it...

[Joe563]

Originally Posted by MorganM

I was wondering if the Kobo Touch has the *ghosting* thing happen when the page turns? I think it's called ghosting when the eink flashes with each page turn?

I have a Kobo WiFi and the ghosting is starting to annoy me. My Libre pro might have a slightly smaller screen but there isn't any ghosting at least.

What you describes happens with all devices using e-ink displays. The Libre Pro uses a black and white LCD rather than an e-ink display so that is why you don't experience it with your unit.

[MorganM]

The Libre Pro uses a black and white LCD rather than an e-ink display so that is why you don't experience it with your unit

Yeah I know :P That's one reason why I bought it.

[hermes]

I observed this with my kobo touch. It is quite annoying/obvious. One wants to turn one's head away for a second. I mentioned it to the Chapters store manager. He replied 'All ereaders have this.
"My Sony doesn't." was my reply to his reply.

[Joe563]

Originally Posted by hermes

I observed this with my kobo touch. It is quite annoying/obvious. One wants to turn one's head away for a second. I mentioned it to the Chapters store manager. He replied 'All ereaders have this.
"My Sony doesn't." was my reply to his reply.

When the Kobo Touch was released it had a different type of page turn where a full page refresh was done only about every sixth page. That sixth page turn appears to be the same as used on the Sony PRS-350 (pocket edition) for every page turn. I do not have the Sony e-reader but I observed this on a review of the Pocket Edition on the CNET website.

This afternoon a new version of the firmware was released for the Kobo Touch with an adjustable setting for page refreshes. If you set the 'full page refresh' setting to 1 page you should see a page turn that is similar to that on the Sony Pocket edition.

Regards,
Joe

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by hermes

I observed this with my kobo touch. It is quite annoying/obvious. One wants to turn one's head away for a second. I mentioned it to the Chapters store manager. He replied 'All ereaders have this.
"My Sony doesn't." was my reply to his reply.

Nonsense; the Sony most certainly does have a "flashing black" screen refresh.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by MorganM

Yeah I know :P That's one reason why I bought it.

The overwhelming majority of people find that, after using an eInk device for a few hours, they no longer consciously see the screen refresh. It's repetitive, so your brain just "filters it out".

[MorganM]

It hasn't bothered me for the last 6mths and lately I'm noticing it and it's giving me the shits lol. Apart from that I like my Kobo.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by Joe563

This afternoon a new version of the firmware was released for the Kobo Touch with an adjustable setting for page refreshes. If you set the 'full page refresh' setting to 1 page you should see a page turn that is similar to that on the Sony Pocket edition.

I didn't want this to get lost in the thread. Kobo Touch released a 1.9.4 software update yesterday, delivered over wifi. I pressed the "cloud update" icon on the home screen and it started to download the update in 10% increments. You could see the progress report at the top of the screen but it didn't interfere with doing anything. I think the process took 20 or 30 seconds. Then a screen popped up and asked me if I wanted to install now and this would require an auto reboot ... or ... I can wait until the device next went to sleep.

The result was: noticeably faster page turns, an option when a book is open to see advanced settings with a mid-page tap and that's where you set the refresh (defaulted to six pages), and they've done something to impact the residual ghosting even with the default setting. If I take my reading glasses off and put my nose to the screen I was (finally) able to see the faint ghosting that lasted for five screens with the previous update (1.9.2). Now, I can't see it leaving the default setting of 6 page turns.

Also, it seems like they have tweaked the speed of wifi re-connections. It's a total guess, of course, but I wonder if these trade-offs slightly impact battery life. It's certainly worth it if that's the case.

[TimW]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

I didn't want this to get lost in the thread. Kobo Touch released a 1.9.4 software update yesterday, delivered over wifi. I pressed the "cloud update" icon on the home screen and it started to download the update in 10% increments. You could see the progress report at the top of the screen but it didn't interfere with doing anything. I think the process took 20 or 30 seconds. Then a screen popped up and asked me if I wanted to install now and this would require an auto reboot ... or ... I can wait until the device next went to sleep.

The result was: noticeably faster page turns, an option when a book is open to see advanced settings with a mid-page tap and that's where you set the refresh (defaulted to six pages), and they've done something to impact the residual ghosting even with the default setting. If I take my reading glasses off and put my nose to the screen I was (finally) able to see the faint ghosting that lasted for five screens with the previous update (1.9.2). Now, I can't see it leaving the default setting of 6 page turns.

Also, it seems like they have tweaked the speed of wifi re-connections. It's a total guess, of course, but I wonder if these trade-offs slightly impact battery life. It's certainly worth it if that's the case.

Mike Cane has a post on the update and includes a video. Looks good.

http://mikecanex.wordpress.com/2011/...-touch-review/

[MorganM]

Wow I'm impressed after watching that video review. Makes me want to buy one...

[SameerH]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

I didn't want this to get lost in the thread. Kobo Touch released a 1.9.4 software update yesterday, delivered over wifi. I pressed the "cloud update" icon on the home screen and it started to download the update in 10% increments. You could see the progress report at the top of the screen but it didn't interfere with doing anything. I think the process took 20 or 30 seconds. Then a screen popped up and asked me if I wanted to install now and this would require an auto reboot ... or ... I can wait until the device next went to sleep.

The result was: noticeably faster page turns, an option when a book is open to see advanced settings with a mid-page tap and that's where you set the refresh (defaulted to six pages), and they've done something to impact the residual ghosting even with the default setting. If I take my reading glasses off and put my nose to the screen I was (finally) able to see the faint ghosting that lasted for five screens with the previous update (1.9.2). Now, I can't see it leaving the default setting of 6 page turns.

Also, it seems like they have tweaked the speed of wifi re-connections. It's a total guess, of course, but I wonder if these trade-offs slightly impact battery life. It's certainly worth it if that's the case.

Glad you are enjoying the update. We don't project any battery impact due to the changes based on our testing.

[SensualPoet]

Thanks TimW for the link! You can see how snappy it has become.

And thanks, Sameer, for the note about battery impact.

Speaking of battery ... it might be helpful if the green charging light were blue when charging and green when done. It appears to be green when plugged in.