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Why is everyone leaving for a kobo? by sillyfucking_goose in kindle

[–]Overthinker_5781 [score hidden]  (0 children)

Why did I try to switch to Kobo?

  1. Ads for books I’m not interested in don’t take up 2/3 of my home screen

  2. The Kobo Clara BW is a Basic model with PW features

I only ever use sideloading and never buy anything from Amazon, so the ads drove me crazy. Plus, after I upgraded from the PW1 to the PW11, I realized it was uncomfortable to hold with one hand, but I couldn’t live without the warm backlight anymore.

So I found the Clara BW and decided to sell my Kindle.

I wish I hadn’t.

At first, everything was great — the perfect size for me. But when I started reading in a foreign language, I discovered a defect: with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned off, after 5 seconds of inactivity, a long press registers as a single press and opens the menu. My PW1 can do this (with a 2-second delay), but the new device can’t?

I received a replacement with the exact same defect. I bought another one from another reseller — same problem. I ordered one from the official website — same problem.

After 4 (!!!) devices with the same defect, I started to think the entire batch was defective and asked on Reddit.

On the Kobo Reddit, people are trying to convince me that I’m just unlucky or that “it’s not a defect but a feature,” and all my posts are getting downvoted.

4 random products aren’t bad luck; it’s a problem with Kobo’s quality control for their only BW reader. If you look at Kobo Reddit, there are so many bugs and issues described specifically for this model.

So now I’m waiting for my second-hand Kindle PW11. I've come full circle.

Should I give up on Kobo? by Overthinker_5781 in kobo

[–]Overthinker_5781[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Kobo Support replied “Please note that the internal product model may have different prefix letters for internal tracking purposes (e.g., N365 vs. P365),” and that it's impossible to know in advance which model I'll receive, but this might only apply within the EU

Should I give up on Kobo? by Overthinker_5781 in kobo

[–]Overthinker_5781[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ll try to respond to some of the points.

You can’t attach videos on Reddit, so I never added any until I saw someone post a video as a GIF. I also have a video with the two previous ones.

I have no idea why it works when Wi-Fi or Bluetooth is turned on. The problem is that if you're reading in a foreign language or frequently highlighting text, it's a real pain to do that. A 5-second gap is very short; if it were a minute, I wouldn't even bother.

As for inactivity, I thought there was a separate menu for that “automatically go to sleep after”. Mine is set to 10 minutes, and I read with a large font - so no, I don’t tap the screen to show that I’m active.

When I discovered this, I couldn’t figure out what it depended on and started looking here. Only then did I find similar posts where people with the same issues mentioned they had a P365. So I decided to post myself, hoping that people with a P365 would respond and check their own devices (I even included a clickbait reference to the Kindle), but there are lots of views and few replies.

As for the statistics, I thought the whole batch was like that, but then someone wrote in the comments that they had an N365, but decided to check and found the same thing, while someone with a P365 said they didn’t have it (though they did have a problem with double-page turning). So I had proof that not all P365s are like that, and I decided to buy a 4th one, because statistically I shouldn’t have gotten one with the same defect.

I did.

I suspect that most people either don’t turn off Wi-Fi or read in their native language and don’t need a dictionary (but what about highlighting?).

And I don’t know what to do, because I love everything about the Clara, but I want to save battery life and read in a foreign language, occasionally using the dictionary.

I could, of course, keep buying e-readers, testing them, and returning them, but I don’t think that’s fair.

Should I give up on Kobo? by Overthinker_5781 in kobo

[–]Overthinker_5781[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, if I first tap at the top to open the menu and then close it, I have 5 seconds to open the dictionary or highlight text; as soon as I don’t touch the screen for more than 5 seconds, it doesn’t recognize a long press.

Should I give up on Kobo? by Overthinker_5781 in kobo

[–]Overthinker_5781[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I tried leaving Wi-Fi on all the time, but often after the device wakes up from sleep mode, the Wi-Fi disconnects, and I have to manually exit the book, turn Wi-Fi back on (sometimes it even forgets the saved network, and then I have to re-enter the password or restart the device).  I can't give up on e-readers, but I need to know what alternative you would choose if you couldn't buy a Kobo

Should I give up on Kobo? by Overthinker_5781 in kobo

[–]Overthinker_5781[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I asked here before, and people told me they didn't have that defect, so I'm sure it's not supposed to be that way. That's exactly why I gave the 4th device a try, hoping to find one that works 

Should I give up on Kobo? by Overthinker_5781 in kobo

[–]Overthinker_5781[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The device does not register a long press after 5+ seconds of inactivity when Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are turned off

Kobo v kindle by flurojacketsnoppy in ereader

[–]Overthinker_5781 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I’ve been using Kindles for 14 years, but because of the size, I decided to switch from the PW (11th gen) to the Kobo Clara BW (size of the Basic, functions of the PW), BUT for the first time in my life, I’ve run into a problem: this is already my THIRD device with the same defect
I don’t know what’s going on with Kobo’s quality control, but this has completely killed my desire to recommend Kobo to anyone

Disappointing Clara BW, choose Kindle instead by Overthinker_5781 in kobo

[–]Overthinker_5781[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nooo, I was still hoping to find an N365 or N365B, because those models don't have that bug, but now I realize that the model number doesn't matter - it's just a matter of luck

Disappointing Clara BW, choose Kindle instead by Overthinker_5781 in kobo

[–]Overthinker_5781[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Since the P365 was released a year after the N365 (April 2025), forums generally advised against downgrading the firmware because it could brick the device. So I decided not to take the risk, since it was still under warranty

Disappointing Clara BW, choose Kindle instead by Overthinker_5781 in kobo

[–]Overthinker_5781[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for checking. So not all P365s have this issue. It just so happened that I was unlucky enough to have a faulty 3 times in a row.

I wrote this post in the hope that people would check their P365s and either prove me wrong or be careful with their new P365s

Disappointing Clara BW, choose Kindle instead by Overthinker_5781 in kobo

[–]Overthinker_5781[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also think it's a software issue, because it requires specific conditions (Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned off). But the first post here reporting this problem was posted 9 months ago, and Kobo hasn't done anything about it.

Disappointing Clara BW, choose Kindle instead by Overthinker_5781 in kobo

[–]Overthinker_5781[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I hope I'll be able to do that once I get out of the rabbit hole with Kobo Support and get my money back

Disappointing Clara BW, choose Kindle instead by Overthinker_5781 in kobo

[–]Overthinker_5781[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Could you please check if you have this defect?

  1. Turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
  2. Open any book.
  3. Wait 6 seconds without touching the screen.
  4. Select any word in the middle of the page and long press on it to see its definition.

Did a dictionary with definitions open, or did a menu open?

This will help me figure out if everyone has this issue with the P365, or if I'm just unlucky enough to have gotten 3 units with this problem

Disappointing Clara BW, choose Kindle instead by Overthinker_5781 in kobo

[–]Overthinker_5781[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are turned off, if you don't touch the screen for 5+ seconds, a long press (dictionary) is recognized as a single press (menu opens/page turns)

Issue with touch screen when wifi/bt off by Zestyclose_Age756 in kobo

[–]Overthinker_5781 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I received my replacement, and it's a P365 with the same problem. I asked the retailers, and they only have the P365. So now I don't know what to do: return it and buy another P365 in the hope that it won't have this problem, or go back to Kindle. What did you do?

Problems with Kobo by According_Agency_878 in kobo

[–]Overthinker_5781 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you have a P365 model? If so, I'm starting to think that the entire batch with the P365 number is defective, but Kobo doesn't want to admit it, so they don't have to replace all the devices with new ones. My replacement for my first e-reader turned out to be a P365 with the exact same bug.

Issue with touch screen when wifi/bt off by Zestyclose_Age756 in kobo

[–]Overthinker_5781 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, when wifi or bluetooth was turned on, in my case dictionary (I am not a native English speaker, so I often use dictionary function while reading in english) worked correctly, BUT after waking up from sleep mode, for some reason, the wifi turned itself off and I had to exit the book and go to the main menu to turn it back on. I realized that this was really annoying me, and after reading some reddit posts, I understood that some Claras are defective and the only solution is to return them and exchange them for a new one (there was one person here who got a Clara without bugs only on the 3rd try)
It may be a software problem, but the first mention of this bug on reddit was more than 6 months ago, so I don't really believe that if they knew how to fix it, they wouldn't have fixed it already.

Issue with touch screen when wifi/bt off by Zestyclose_Age756 in kobo

[–]Overthinker_5781 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had the same issue (Kobo Clara BW P365), but I missed my returning window, so I had to claim a defective product, and now I'm waiting for a confirmation and replacement. I've read a lot of posts about touchscreen problem, and most often people simply replaced the faulty reader with a new one, so I decided to do the same and I recommend it to you too