Kobo (and the Inconsistent) Touch (screen)
I was planning to write a review of the Kobo Touch this week but unfortunately I have encountered a hardware problem.
Over this past weekend I set a new goal for myself. I took all my ereaders out of storage and stacked up all the ones that I had never written a review for. I plan to use each one for a week and then write a review on the weekend.
By popular request on Twitter, I set out to review the Kobo Touch first. Unfortunately, the review is going to have to go on hold until I get my unit downgraded to an older firmware or I get it replaced.
I don’t know if I am the only one who has encountered this, but I cannot get the touchscreen to respond consistently (with firmware 1.9.11). My Kobo Touch seems to only recognize very specific screen taps and ignores the rest. I often have to tap the screen 3 and 4 times before it deigns to turn the page. This is a problem, because I’m used to devices that let me touch the screen however I want and have it respond.
Normally I might tough it out, but I posted my problem over on MobileRead. Within a couple hours I got this response:
My experience is that I have the most consistent turns when I tap right down into the bottom right corner of the screen. Not sure why that is, but it’s where works best for me to tap ergonomically speaking anyway so it works well for me.
Yeah, that’s not good. The device is supposed to support the user, not force the user to adapt to its quirks. No, wait, if his experience is that extreme then I wouldn’t call this a quirk; this sounds like a major flaw with the Kobo Touch.
If I had to guess, I would say that this is likely a software issue. That’s what the second comment posted over at MobileRead suggests. But I’m not sure, frankly; a sample size of 3 isn’t enough to diagnose the problem. All I can say now is that there is a problem, and that it has rendered my Kobo Touch unusable.
I hesitated to post this complaint, given that I posted someone’s open letter to Kobo Sunday night. But eventually I decided that the Kobo Touch is a premium ereader, and the public needs to know what they’re getting into when they one.
I hadn’t realized when I first read the letter quite what nesler meant when he said he wouldn’t recommend the Kobo Touch; given the issues I have had I wouldn’t recommend it either.
P.S. If you’ve had issues with the touchscreen or you know how to fix it, please leave a comment.
P.P.S. I’m going to finish out the week on the iriver Story HD, and post that review this weekend.
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