Kobo has unveiled a brand new firmware update for their compete modern of line of e-readers. This includes the Kobo Glo, Kobo Aura, Kobo Aura HD, and the brand new Kobo Aura H2O. It includes a bevy of enhancements, such as the ability to turn off the X-Ray inspired Beyond the Book.
New Touch Zone: The new software adds a fourth option in the Reading Settings menu to customize the tap zones for turning pages and accessing the menu options. The new setting is optimized for one-handed reading.
Keyboard: The keyboard now offers the option to use accented versions of letters by long pressing on them.
Beyond the Book: This feature has been changed slightly to add the option to view related titles from the initial popup window.
Reading Progress: The reading progress feature can now be set to display info for the current chapter or the entire book, and can be set to show page numbers, percentage read, or time remaining in footer.
Dictionary Fix: A bug that caused users to have to re-select what dictionary to use each time has been fixed to remain on the selected dictionary.
Other Changes: There’s a new “You’ve finished” page added to the end of Kobo ebooks that shows reading stats, related titles, and includes a Facebook sharing option.
The update should be pushed out automatically to most Kobo e-Readers when you are connected up to WIFI and press the sync button. Like most firmware upgrades, not all countries receive it at the same time, as it would kill the servers to have millions of people updating it at once. If you want to get the jump on installing this, you can download it from HERE, then Extract the downloaded file and place its contents in the .kobo folder by accessing it via Windows Explorer. Safely eject the Kobo from your computer and unplug the USB cable; the update will automatically install.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.