Upgrading my eReader – Kobo GloHD
After long time of dear service, I have decided to exchange my Kobo Glo to a new device, the Kob GloHD. The reasons are simple: higher resolution, better reading quality.
While the photos are not showing these details, the quality of the screen is definitely much better …
I have now read a few hours with the new device, both Japanese and English books, and the crispness of the letters has definitely improved. Very nice. Together with the new device came a new firmware, only released in Japan, 3.16.10. Of course it can be found on MobileRead. As with previous version, I will prepare a MegaPack containing nickel patches, ssh, custom dicts, etc etc, please wait a bit longer until KSM compatibility with the new firmware is perfect again.
Talking of dictionaries: The new version brings a few more dicts, especially there are now two English-Japanese dictionaries, and a much more complete Japanese dictionary.
Unfortunately, as before, there is no Japanese-English dictionary. Till now I have used Tshering’s excellent Japanese dictionary which was enriched with English definitions. But the new version brought a new dictionary that is much more complete:
I have already a script ready that enriches this new big dictionary automatically with definitions from the Edict project, so everyone can now update his own dictionary easily. I will write a blog entry about this soon.
That’s it for the moment, back to reading. I love the new device, and will surely post many articles about it in the future!
I have not used Kobo, but rely a lot on Kindle app in Android devices which seems OK. Of course, I like the Kobo interface, but didn’t bother to go for one more device. How is your Kobo experience compared to other apps or devices?
Radhakrishnan, there is absolutely no way to compare the two. I never managed to read extended time on a normal screen, the eyes are getting to much strained. Not to speak of reading in sun light, etc.
The ePaper is simply a different world, much slower (no way to do internet browsing reasonably), but it is pleasant to the eyes.
For many many years I was a strong opponent of eReaders etc, until a good friend showed me an old Kindle in Vienna in the garden. I got one, and since then I am reading most of it from eReaders. Easy to carry around, easy to carry several books, and most of all, nice on the eyes, easy to read.
I love them!
I’m not at all convinced that the speed thing is accurate for the display. See e.g. these links:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/08/31/nook-simple-touch-hacked-to-emulate-playstation (you’ll note it’s a real-world device from years ago)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24srQXX81Oc (again, note it’s simply the previous generation’s eInk Pearl)
However, the other hardware in our Kobo devices is positively ancient.
Now, obviously 30 fps won’t be as smooth as a 60 fps screen as you’d probably find in your average tablet, let alone one with 120 fps, but based on the above links I assert you’d be able to browse quite reasonably if manufacturers were willing. The bottleneck would seem to be CPU or controller-related more than anything.
Note that I don’t necessarily mean something like the Microsoft Surface with an eInk screen, although bigger screen size, better hardware, and the ability to just run a general-purpose OS would be most welcome, but I’m sure I’d be able to find a use for a regular monitor as well.
Note that it doesn’t need to be eInk. LCD technology has been coming out with cool stuff like this for years:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdXu9jmTI2A
But alas, apparently focus groups, addicted to oversaturated colors, seem to think the colors on stuff like that look “washed out”.
Hi Frans,
yes indeed, it is of course not only a question of the ePaper, but also the cpu. But afair the max refreshrate for epaper still is not in the 30fps area, so not really optimal.
But yes, the bormal Glo is slightly underpowered.
What I really would like is one of those smartphones with one side eink and one side normal screen. But the one model by now does not support UMTS and thus I cannot use it in Japan 🙁