Can Kobo Mini be ROOTED to provide...

[vugtitan]

Can the Kobo Mini be rooted to provide something simple like folder options?
at present i have 6500 books and it is a pain to browse through them.

reason i have so many is so that i have CHOICE.

no i don't want to put them in shelves as my life span is less than 10000 years and i get bored after just after putting 3 books on a shelf manually.

what i want to do is improve the navigation which is half witted by the kobo "designers".

i mean to read a book you have to go to library wait for it load then browse thru 6500 books and click on it.if you don't like the book instead of a going back button you have to click home go to library scroll thru 6500 books again and again click some book...

installing some android app which enables folder support and read any format with pdf reflow is all i ask.

[PeterT]

Maybe halfwitted users shopuld nlot buy a device that does not meet their needs....+

Alas, at present, no. Kobo's eInk devices are not Android based, so using an Android app won't help here. At present, there aren't any alternative ePub reading apps for Kobo's eInk devices but it sounds like one may be ported over. Fingers crossed. There has been some mention about kindlepdfreader in the Kobo Developer subforum that may address your PDF reflow request. (Haven't tried it, so I don't know.)

kindlepdfviewer thread: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=203622

[vugtitan]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Maybe halfwitted users shopuld nlot buy a device that does not meet their needs....+

you don't understand.

the designers are not meeting my needs.

customer is king.

i like the kobo mini.

font/weight adustability.

but navigation is such A PITA.

I mean cheap $5 chinese mp3 players have folder support so why for the love of all that is american can't designers give us what we want?

[BookBunny]

You could use Calibre to put the books on "shelves" aka glorified playlists. That's most likely the closest you'll ever get to a folder structure. The concept of the bloody obvious is completely lost to most mobile device UI designers. Hurr better make everything as dumb and clunky as possible.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by vugtitan

you don't understand.

the designers are not meeting my needs.

customer is king.

i like the kobo mini.

font/weight adustability.

but navigation is such A PITA.

I mean cheap $5 chinese mp3 players have folder support so why for the love of all that is american can't designers give us what we want?

Hmmm.. cheap mp3 player gets files browser. Expensive mp3 player -- iPod Touch -- does not get file browser. Which market would you rather be in?

Considering your statement that you have stuffed 6500 ebooks onto a Mini. With it's limited storage, that suggests that you are not purchasing that many ebooks from the Kobo webstore since your average ebook is <161KB. You've bought the razor but you are not buying the blades.

Given your first post, I would suggest that you would be better off to have spent the few minutes to browse the web for more information about the Kobo Mini before having purchased it instead of grumbling after your purchase that it does not meet your expectations.

The customer is king? Please tell that to Microsoft, Adobe, Google, Apple, Amazon, Sony, etc. None of them have responded to my emails demanding immediate changes in the way their products operate to match my demands.

Regards,
David

Originally Posted by vugtitan

the designers are not meeting my needs.

customer is king.

If you look at a product and there is a major design decision that is contrary to your needs, then the product is not suited to your needs. Of course, you can suggest a feature because the customer is important to the success of a company. On the other hand, the customer is a group of people as far as a business is concerned. They have probably done their market research to see what the group that they're trying to serve needs, and made design decisions based upon that. If they cannot meet the needs of a particular customer (or a group of customers that is outside their target demographic) in an economic manner or in a manner that will satisfy the group that they are trying to serve, then it is contrary to their interests to do so. In fact, they may be obligated not to do so if it hurts their profitability.

As a consumer, you have options to deal with this. You can choose a company that better reflects your needs. That is one of the benefits of a competitive marketplace. If no business meets your needs, you are free to create something that does meet your needs. Since there are a number of ereaders that are open to modification, including Kobo products, and a vast body of open source software to base your ideal reader on (ranging from support libraries to full ereading applications) the problem is within the scope of an individual. Though, admittedly, it would be a skilled and determined individual.

[theonna]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

On the other hand, the customer is a group of people as far as a business is concerned. They have probably done their market research to see what the group that they're trying to serve needs, and made design decisions based upon that. If they cannot meet the needs of a particular customer (or a group of customers that is outside their target demographic) in an economic manner or in a manner that will satisfy the group that they are trying to serve, then it is contrary to their interests to do so. In fact, they may be obligated not to do so if it hurts their profitability.

Problem with that logic is that market competition is won on a piece of paper with check marks. Meaning that if you put options that your device has together with other device on the paper, and yours has more check marks, you don't need to do more, you won. So it ends up having a lot of nobody ever cared to have options with none of "you actually need skill to implement", in case of Kobo- you end up with hardware design that seems to be top of the line, they succeeded with their engineers, with software that many cheap knock offs would be ashamed to wear, meaning they failed to use or hire qualified programmers.
Mini- awesome little friend. Wonderful small comfortable to hold reader. Awful soft.
Kobo Touch- could easily beat Nook or Kindle if only did not have it's awful soft.
Aura- unique top shelf hardware, again same crappy soft...

People buy Kobo devices for hardware. They leave because of software and crappy customer service. It is that bad. So if people actually care that Kobo does not go belly up, they should embrace idea of improving soft, rather that chastising people for buying wrong devices, because "of course, you cant expect Kobo to ever add file manager or improve their book collection handling".
P.S. Of course Kobo logic might be, that they only need for people to be buying their product once, it should cover their costs, thus they don't feel they need to do anything more, at least Kobo passes check mark tests.

[filmo]

Rooted?? Kobo e-readers are not looked down, no need to root, you can add any Linux program you have skill to develop and add. Some members here have cloned Kobo Mini internal SD memory card onto larger SD card to more than double memory.

[theonna]

Originally Posted by filmo

Rooted?? Kobo e-readers are not looked down, no need to root, you can add any Linux program you have skill to develop and add. Some members here have cloned Kobo Mini internal SD memory card onto larger SD card to more than double memory.

Do you have any programs to offer as an example? Changing SD card is not a program, just matter of a few commands. Can you point us to a book reader program?
Would Pocketbook innate reader work? Is there anywhere an example?

[JSWolf]

Collections have some advantages over directories.

You can have the same book in multiple collections without having to have multiple copies of the book.

You can put the books in any order you want in the collection.

These are things you cannot do with directories.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Hmmm.. cheap mp3 player gets files browser. Expensive mp3 player -- iPod Touch -- does not get file browser. Which market would you rather be in?

My Cowon J3 (not a cheap MP3 player) does support directories. So there going your cheap (with directories) vs not cheap (without directories) theory.

[theonna]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Collections have some advantages over directories.

You can have the same book in multiple collections without having to have multiple copies of the book.

You can put the books in any order you want in the collection.

These are things you cannot do with directories.

I thought that you have no control over the order in your collections, they are displayed sorted either by recent read, title or author, same as library? And if so, contents of a folder could also be sorted by time added or file name.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by theonna

I thought that you have no control over the order in your collections, they are displayed sorted either by recent read, title or author, same as library? And if so, contents of a folder could also be sorted by time added or file name.

I can put books in a collection in any order I want. I can do so on a Sony Reader or a Kindle. Those are the only two brands I have collection experience with.

With my 650, I can change the order of the collection using Reader Library.

I'm not sure if I can reorder on Sony or Kindle existing collections without deleting and remaking the collections. But in any case, I can do this.

Take the Linden Universe series of books. The recommended order on the first page of the thread, I can use that order for the collection. I can then change my mind and go with the chronological order or I could go with published order or I could have three different collections in all of those orders and I'd only need one copy of each book for this.

Another thing I can do with collections that you cannot do with directories is I can have a collection that contains books in the order I plan to read them. Say maybe the next five books. They can be in an order that's not sortable.

I don't even need to have the series name in the title or even the metadata. As long as they are in the proper order in a collection, I can read in the order I want.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by theonna

Problem with that logic is that market competition is won on a piece of paper with check marks. Meaning that if you put options that your device has together with other device on the paper, and yours has more check marks, you don't need to do more, you won. So it ends up having a lot of nobody ever cared to have options with none of "you actually need skill to implement", in case of Kobo- you end up with hardware design that seems to be top of the line, they succeeded with their engineers, with software that many cheap knock offs would be ashamed to wear, meaning they failed to use or hire qualified programmers.

I'd disagree with your ideas on design and market competition. Your design for market is done on paper. Success in the market depends on keeping your average customer happy. The average customer for the Kobo devices does not stuff 6500 books on a device with about 1GB of storage. The number that Kobo uses of 1000 ebooks on a Mini is being conservative, 1400-1500 epubs is more likely given the average size of the ebooks I have in my library.

Given the numbers I've seen on the web, it would appear that Kobo is succeeding in attracting customers around the world. I'd agree that they do not seem that interested in the US market. Why waste your time and money fighting Amazon and Barnes & Noble in their backyard? The world wide market numbers give Kobo around 25% of ereader sales with Amazon at 51%, Sony at 10% and B &N at 6%. Kobo is also one of the few ereader vendors who have increased their sales in a market where the analysts are claiming that total sales are dropping and will continue to drop.

Originally Posted by theonna

People buy Kobo devices for hardware. They leave because of software and crappy customer service. It is that bad. So if people actually care that Kobo does not go belly up, they should embrace idea of improving soft, rather that chastising people for buying wrong devices, because "of course, you cant expect Kobo to ever add file manager or improve their book collection handling".
P.S. Of course Kobo logic might be, that they only need for people to be buying their product once, it should cover their costs, thus they don't feel they need to do anything more, at least Kobo passes check mark tests.

Kobo seems rather interested in improving their firmware, they release new versions quite regularly and regularly add new features. You may not agree with the direction they are taking their firmware in. Your opinion and you are entitled to it.

Their customer service, in my limited experience, seems to be pretty decent. My issues were dealt with speedily enough to keep me happy. My last complaint was when I purchased an ebook that was not as advertised -- The Compleat Traveler in Black has 5 short stories, the version that Kobo, Amazon and B&N have states Compleat on the cover image but only has the 4 short stories from the original Ace version. Took about 3 minutes in a chat including a break while Hernaldo checked on the ebook and a credit was issued. I would have preferred a refund but the store credit was good enough.

As for a file browser? I doubt we will ever see one in an official Kobo firmware. Do I miss a file browser? So far, the lack of a file browser has not caused me to feel any anguish so I'm rather doubtful. There are other issues that I would rather Kobo spent their developer time on. Will the lack of a file browser drive a large number of Kobo's customers and potential customers to other brands of ereader? Your guess is worth as much as mine. Mine being that the average customer is going to go "What's a file browser?".

As for buying the product once? In many ways the ereader market is like the old razor market. The razor/ereader is sold at a low cost, you make your money on the razor blades/ebooks.

Regards,
David