Touchscreen responsiveness: Kobo v Sony

[odamizu]

For those of you who have owned both a Kobo (especially H2O) and a Sony (PRS-x50 or T-series), how does the touchscreen responsiveness compare?

I ask because I am thinking about getting the Kobo Glo HD or maybe Aura H2O.

People often say the capacitive touchscreens on the newer Kindles are better than any IR screen, but I have found the Sony PRS-x50 and T-series IR screens to be excellent and no worse than my Kindle Voyage.

I've also read specific complaints about the Kobo IR screens being imprecise and not always responsive to page-turn taps/swipes, especially when compared to Kindles.

If you've owned both a Kobo and a Sony, how does the touchscreen responsiveness compare as far as page turns and highlighting goes?

Thank you!

[dordale]

I went from reading on Sonys (PRS-350 and PRS-650) to a Kindle Paperwhite 2 and then to a Kobo Aura HD. Honestly, I don't find much difference between the responsiveness of the capacitive and IR touchscreens.

Both the IR touch screen of the Sonys and the capacitive screen of the Kindle work well for me. That being said, I don't use the highlighting feature, or access a lot of footnotes. I do use the dictionary lookup quite a bit and it works well on all my devices.

You asked specifically about the difference between the IR on the Sonys and the IR on the Kobo--I don't notice any difference in responsiveness or accuracy. Once in a great while, my Aura HD does not respond to page turns--taking a couple taps to turn the page. But when this start happening, a reset of the device clears it right up. This isn't a frequent problem--probably only happened twice in the eight months I've had my Aura HD.

[filmo]

I have Sony T1 and Kobo Touch, Kobo Mini. Not much different in page turn speed between brands unless processor speed is different. Sony only turns page with swipe vertical or horizontal. Kobo turns page with taps in area close to screen side or as alternative upper area or lower area. I like vertical swipes better as alternative but Kobo can't.

Many other difference and Kobo keeps improving.

[odamizu]

Thank you dordale and filmo! This is very helpful.

When I read the complaints about Kobos being unresponsive when tapping to turn pages and selecting text to highlight, I was concerned. But if Kobo's IR touchscreen is comparable to Sony's, I suspect it will be okay for me.

[arspr]

Are you mad, guys!!?!?

Sony IR is much more precise than Kobo one... As I've said quite a number of times, Kobos (at least AuraHD and H2O) don't see the PRS-650 stylus...

Kobo IR just works. But sometimes it can get somehow frustrating while highlighting or inside WebBrowser. But truth be said, it perfectly works for page turns and general interface management.

[filmo]

Only probem I sometimes had with Sony IR touch was touch freezing or not responding. The back key quickly cures the feeze problem.

[Ripplinger]

In my experience between the Sony 350 and the Kobo Glo, the Sony readers have been much more touch sensitive and accurate than the Kobo readers. With the Sony it would take just the slightest movement of my thumb to flip the page, and it always worked. You barely had to touch the screen at all, even hovering above the glass but close enough to catch the IR beams would change the page. Highlighting was very accurate and the thin stylus worked just as well as your finger.

With the Kobo Glo, it was infuriating at times with certain firmware for me, where it would take up to 4 tries to get the page to turn. And that wasn't a rare occurrence, it would happen as much as 50% of the time I'd go to turn a page. Then I tried going back to an older firmware and while it was much better, it still wasn't near as good as the Sony. I stuck with that firmware for over a year before risking updating again. You still have to do a more deliberate, longer swipe to turn the page on the Kobo compared to the Sony, it's just not as sensitive as the Sony IR is.

Of course there were times when the occasional bug would land on my screen and flip the pages, and I always found it amusing at how sensitive the IR was (and liked it for that reason). It was pretty rare though that a page-flipping bug would land on the screen, so it wasn't a problem at all or a nuisance.

While I do read while I eat at times, I don't eat over the reader so it basically becomes a crumb tray. I've never had a problem with food crumbs getting lodged under the bezel with either reader.

So for me, Sony's IR was much more sensitive and accurate than Kobo's.

[odamizu]

@arspr and @Ripplinger: Thank you for these further insights. I may have to give more thought to this

[Ripplinger]

The Kobo readers seem to work much better and more consistently when just tapping to turn the page, even with the flakey firmware I had. I didn't have the page turn issues if I could just stick to a tap. But swiping is just a much more natural movement to me while reading.

[anacreon]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

The Kobo readers seem to work much better and more consistently when just tapping to turn the page, even with the flakey firmware I had. I didn't have the page turn issues if I could just stick to a tap. But swiping is just a much more natural movement to me while reading.

It took me some time to get used the varied methods to move pages.


I read books with one hand (the left one), so I parametered my kobos so that a tap goes forward, and I swipe backwards to go back. This reading parameters choice apply only to reading though, so

• when in a pop-up (dictionary, note), it works best for me with an angled swipe, from top right to bottom left (for which I need my right hand);
• when in books or collection lists, I mostly use the up/down swipe to go back, down/up to go forward (right hand too), but it too often ends in opening a line in the middle, and when it annoys me, I use the small lateral swipe on the bottom bezel with my right hand.

[dordale]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

The Kobo readers seem to work much better and more consistently when just tapping to turn the page, even with the flakey firmware I had. I didn't have the page turn issues if I could just stick to a tap. But swiping is just a much more natural movement to me while reading.

For another perspective--I almost always swipe to turn pages--it's more natural for me as well. (I think being using Sonys previous to my Aura HD instilled that in me.) I have no problems at all swiping to turn pages on my Kobo. It works very well. As I've mentioned previously, a couple of times the Kobo stopped being responsive, but a simple soft reset cleared that up.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by arspr

Sony IR is much more precise than Kobo one... As I've said quite a number of times, Kobos (at least AuraHD and H2O) don't see the PRS-650 stylus...

That's been my experience -- and it's the same when comparing the Kobo to the Touch Kindles and the Nook Touch as well. The least accurate and least responsive touch screen I have is my Kobo Glo. Is it a major problem? For me it's an irritant -- but I'm guessing it's because I move back and forth to different readers. I would probably get used to Kobo and automatically compensate for it if I used it exclusively. I don't know for sure. As is, I consider the screen responsiveness as one of Kobo's biggest weaknesses.

[Anthem]

I only have one Kobo with a touchscreen and that is the Glo. Honestly, it is just... OK. It is very slow compared to ANY of the touchscreen Kindles that I have had/have and it feels like it misses tons of touches unless I hold my finger on the spot I wish to touch for what feels like forever. I haven't had my Sony PRS-350 for a long time, but I remember it being very snappy by comparison with the Glo.

But Sony really doesn't do consumer level e-reading devices anymore... so the question is kind of moot at this point. Move the context to NOW and the question becomes "Touchscreen responsiveness between Kobo and *quiet whisper of nothingness*".

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by Anthem

... But Sony really doesn't do consumer level e-reading devices anymore... so the question is kind of moot at this point ...

Not moot. I posted the original question because I'm considering a Kobo, but I keep hearing that its touchscreen isn't very responsive or precise. Most posters blame this on the IR technology, but I know from personal experience that Sony's IR touchscreens are very responsive and precise. So I wanted to know if Kobo's IR is comparable to Sony's IR. If so, then I'm pretty sure I'll be happy with a Kobo.

From the responses I've received, it seems Kobo's IR is less responsive than Sony's, perhaps to avoid mosquitoes and breadcrumbs from turning pages

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by odamizu

From the responses I've received, it seems Kobo's IR is less responsive than Sony's, perhaps to avoid mosquitoes and breadcrumbs from turning pages

Supposedly, with release 3.15 of the firmware, the screen is more responsive. I haven't been updated yet but I may force it, if it really makes the screen a bit better that would go a long way to making me like the Kobo better. (This is my main issue, now that I've got the Constantia font the Kobo.)