Aura HD going from fw 2.8.1 to 3.1--worth it?

[rkr]

1)i just wanted to ask that should i upgrade the firmware to 3.1 from 2.8.1(as 2.8.1 has virtually no obvious bugs)?i have been waiting so that all bugs are resolved but they keep on increasing or a few relevent ones still remain and new appear(coz i saw wifi problems have appeared and many others ).and so should i wait for new updates or do it coz it seems they are taking away few usable features as well with more firmware releases?

2)what are the features i loose and what do i gain except pocket?what are the main bugs that i might encounter in 3.1 that hamper the experience?

3)i use my aura hd for reading pdfs and a few novels .so how big of a deal is loosing stats in experience of reading a book?will they ever come back?

4)and also are there any margin changes as i look as much less margins as possible so more reading space for pdfs and novels?

5)what do i loose in sideloaded kepubs?like i know i loose stats but what other feaetures would i loose or gain?

6)and do i loose anything on the pdf experience side as its very important to me?i found in other threads that pdf in landscape has problems are they resolved or still there?

7)And overall which firmware would be a better firmware for a person using the kobo to read pdfs?

one more question: now there are problems with font kobo nickel(btw i use default fonts) but not that i get distracted by font problems but there's a long discussion on it so what does the problem exactly hinder in the reading?i just cant understand how can a font be distracting?

i apologise if i offend somebody but pls explain

pls reply
thanks in advance

[RobertJSawyer]

My advice: stay away from 3.1.0, for the reasons I outline in this post: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=113

[barutanseijin]

I would avoid it. For most, any benefits are likely to be outweighed by losses.

For me the main benefit of the 3.1.0 firmware is that it's easier to select japanese words to look up in the dictionary. Previously, it was sometimes almost impossible to select the second character of a two character compound, and i'll say it was simply impossible to select a word that begins at the top of line. Or a word with furigana. Dictionary lookups for roman letter languages might be slightly streamlined, too. I use the dictionaries a lot. So hooray for that.

On the downside, i can't connect to my wireless LAN and the reader has trouble opening epubs. I spent nearly my whole busride home trying to open up the book i was reading. Kinda defeats the whole purpose of the device.

[Ken Maltby]

If having statistics on your reading is something that you want then you will need to use the Kobo software. (Personally I never bothered compiling them when reading paper or ebooks and don't see where they would be useful, for me. Now for Kobo and Google Analyitics they seem to be just the thing.) But there are alternative reading programs that can be added to the Kobo readers, including Koreader which some feel is a much better PDF reader.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=226456

Luck;
Ken

[GeoffR]

I can't comment on the PDF reader as I don't use it.

The kepub reader has some serious formatting problems in 3.1.0, not all books are affected, and some are affected worse than others, but the worst affected ones are pretty much unreadable.

On the other hand the epub reader works better than in 2.8.1, page turns are smoother, and it gets some of the new features such as a back button to return to the place you opened the book from, and the dictionary allows cross-referencing and google/wikipedia lookups.

(Since 3.1.0 is worse for reading Kobo-bought kepubs and better for reading sideloaded epubs, I suspect Kobo will fix the problems with the kepub reader fairly quickly.)

The Kobo Nickel font has super-wide line spacing in 3.1.0, other fonts ae OK. This can be worked around by applying the custom line spacing patch which allows you to set the line spacing as low as you want for any font.

Library navigation has some good new features compared to 2.8.1, you can mark books as unread, and list only reading/unread/finished books.

I haven't had any of the Wifi or USB problems that others have reported, I'd be a lot more negative about it if I did, but I see 3.1.0 as a big improvement over 2.8.1 in almost every way except for one very serious fault (the kepub reader). If Kobo can fix the kepub reader soon then I'll be very happy with this firmware, otherwise I will probably go back to 3.0.1.

[Haesslich]

Either 2.10 or 3.10 work well for PDF files, in my experience - 2.8.1 wouldn't account for the unremovable footer when scaling pages, so you'd always loose part of a page. 2.10 and 3.10 do.

I haven't had the issues Robert J Sawyer has seen, not the wifi issues that plagued my Aura HD on 2.6 and 2.8.1. But I don't use the Kobo Nickel font either, where many people report problems with formatting.

[DNSB]

Hmmm.... I don't read many .kepub.epub ebooks either purchased from Kobo or converted from epub so I can't say much about some of the issues mentioned. The only Kobo purchased book I've read since the 3.1.0 update had a issue with the bottom of the cover image being displayed on a second page but the text itself looked okay.

I have not seen the problems with USB or WiFi connections reported by others and with the modified for 3.1.0 version of Metazoa's patcher, I have the reduced footer and finer margin, font size and line spacing control I've come to like. I do have one co-worker who has issues with his WiFi but he's had that issue since his original Kobo WiFi. He continues to refuse to replace his antique 2Wire router with a newer unit -- it's old enough that it only supports WEP.

Most of my epubs are edited in Sigil and using my personalized stylesheet and I rarely use a font other that Charis SIL or Deja Vu Serif. So far I haven't seen any formatting changes caused by the update. For some reason, page turns seem a bit snappier but that's a subjective issue as I haven't tried taking videos of page turns to see if there are any measurable changes.

I try to avoid reading pdf files on my Aura HD -- most of my collection are technical manuals and it's a pain trying to follow lines even on a larger display -- so can't say much about any changes.

Overall, I find the new features/bug fixes are worth upgrading.

Regards,
David

[Athropos]

I personally decided to stick with v2.8.1 as long as I don't encounter any issue that would be fixed by a more recent firmware. Since currently I have nothing to say against v2.8.1, I guess I won't be upgrading for a long time. There are too much reports here and there about the issues that appear with the new versions...

[rkr]

Originally Posted by Haesslich

Either 2.10 or 3.10 work well for PDF files, in my experience - 2.8.1 wouldn't account for the unremovable footer when scaling pages, so you'd always loose part of a page. 2.10 and 3.10 do.

I haven't had the issues Robert J Sawyer has seen, not the wifi issues that plagued my Aura HD on 2.6 and 2.8.1. But I don't use the Kobo Nickel font either, where many people report problems with formatting.

could you elaborate on what is unremovable footer when scaling pages?does this mean zooming in of pages coz there is no footer while zooming in 2.8.1 ...or does this mean anything else?i put my pdfs after converting them into landscape and at the exact resolution as reader via k2pdfopt?and what about bugs with landscape mode i read about in 3.1 thread i couldnt understand what that meant?pls explain(btw i convert pdfs to landscape so dont use it much but still pls explain).

is it true that translations and dictionary have been removed from pdf reader?if yes is it ever going to come back?

thank you all for the responses.i guess i should stay with 2.8.1 for a while (but i really want pocket without the bugs)--but when do u all expect the obvious bugs(like wifi ,kepub bugs etc ) to be resolved?

pls reply
thanks in advance

[rkr]

and also wanted to pass on a suggestion of a sticky thread -- i think there should be a thread dedicated to the features gained with new firmwares being released and the lost features as compared to the last firmware.--like a description of each firmware thread.(i dont know if there are release notes available for each firmware)
i guess might help people to know to update to it or not?

thanks

[Haesslich]

Originally Posted by rkr

could you elaborate on what is unremovable footer when scaling pages?does this mean zooming in of pages coz there is no footer while zooming in 2.8.1 ...or does this mean anything else?i put my pdfs after converting them into landscape and at the exact resolution as reader via k2pdfopt?and what about bugs with landscape mode i read about in 3.1 thread i couldnt understand what that meant?pls explain(btw i convert pdfs to landscape so dont use it much but still pls explain).

is it true that translations and dictionary have been removed from pdf reader?if yes is it ever going to come back?

thank you all for the responses.i guess i should stay with 2.8.1 for a while (but i really want pocket without the bugs)--but when do u all expect the obvious bugs(like wifi ,kepub bugs etc ) to be resolved?

pls reply
thanks in advance

Notice at the bottom there's that footer showing the page number? That NEVER goes away, unless you do a custom zoom or similar on the page of the PDF you're reading. Before 2.10, the page of the PDF would clip under it, which no longer happens. It now resizes PDF files and takes the bottom footer into account when doing so.

And I never recall seeing the dictionary and translator working in PDF files, so I can't say if it'll return. But for me and PDF reading, 3.10 and 2.10 were huge improvements over 2.8.1.

[jersysman]

I would not upgrade to 3.1 knowing what I know now. The main culprit with me is the WiFi issue. I cannot sync my Aura HD more than 1 day in a row without rebooting the device. This becomes a real pain after the first couple of times. I haven't encountered any of the other issues yet.

[peaceridge]

Originally Posted by rkr

and also wanted to pass on a suggestion of a sticky thread -- i think there should be a thread dedicated to the features gained with new firmwares being released and the lost features as compared to the last firmware.--like a description of each firmware thread.(i dont know if there are release notes available for each firmware)
i guess might help people to know to update to it or not?

thanks

I so agree. As a new Glo owner, I've been combing the forums for just that info - it's all so spread out that I worry about missing some crucial element.

Lyn

[davidfor]

There is already a thread started for each new firmware release. In it we discuss how what has changed with that firmware and how it is working out. It is usually high on the first page for the first couple of weeks after the firmware comes out.

[peaceridge]

Originally Posted by davidfor

There is already a thread started for each new firmware release. In it we discuss how what has changed with that firmware and how it is working out. It is usually high on the first page for the first couple of weeks after the firmware comes out.

Thanks, I've been combing back through them. 3.1 seems to be working for me right now (especially since I'm not used to a different firmware!), but you never can tell - I do like to look at different choices.

Lyn