Kobo Touch

Key takeaways

Kobo Touch belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kobo Touch to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kobo Touch from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Kobo Touch (also called the "Kobo Touch eReader") is the third generation of the Kobo e-reader device designed by Kobo Inc. It was revealed on 23 May 2011 and was released in the U.S. on 10 June 2011 at a price of $129.99. The Kobo Touch 2.0, the successor to the Touch, was released in September 2015.

Hardware This model of the Kobo Touch improved upon its predecessors by using a zForce touch-sensitive display; hence its name, the Kobo Touch. The infrared based touch interface does not require electrical conductivity, allowing for the user to interact with the device when wearing gloves. Other improvements included an E Ink Pearl screen, a faster processor capable of smooth PDF panning, 802.11n Wi-Fi capability, and reduced size and weight. The Kobo Touch is shipped in five colours: lilac, blue, silver, black, and white. It is made of a soft matte plastic. The back of every Kobo device features a quilted pattern. Like the original Kobo model, the Touch is manufactured in Taiwan. The Kobo Touch was introduced to compete with Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook. By not including a physical keyboard like the Kindle Keyboard, and leaving only a home button on the front face of the device, Kobo was able to further shrink down the dimensions of the Touch. The 2 GB of memory was similar to what competitors offered; this memory allows for the storage of approximately 1,000 books. With a 32 GB microSD card that can be inserted in the side of the Kobo Touch, the number of books that can be stored rises to 30,000. Battery life of the Kobo Touch is estimated to be approximately one month, assuming reading for 30 minutes a day and Wi-Fi turned off.

Variants Three variants of the Kobo Touch were released: N905, N905B, and N905C. The first was the original Kobo Touch; the second was the model with advertisements; the third was the low-cost model introduced after the release of the Kobo Glo.

Software Kobo Touch runs on the Kobo Touch Firmware, based on the Linux kernel. The software is available in 8 languages and 2 variants: English, French, Canadian French, Japanese, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Brazilian Portuguese. The main screen shows tiles that automatically update based on actions the user has performed. Tiles may appear for books, newspapers, magazines, store categories, or games the user has recently read, browsed, or played, respectively. The main screen is called "Reading Life". The main application, the digital reader, supports a variety of ebook formats: ePub, PDF, Adobe DRM, MOBI, RTF, HTML, TXT, Comic Book Archive file, JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF, TIFF. By flicking or tapping a side of the screen, the user may advance to the next page or previous page. Adjusting the font is possible with a feature called TypeGenius: users can change the weight, sharpness, and font size of any preinstalled fonts on the Kobo. Highlighting, adding notes, and looking up definitions in the built-in dictionaries is also possible by long-tapping a passage in any part of the book. The Kobo Touch also provides statistics about reading progress: average reading time per session, total time read, pages turned, and the percentage of books completed. Books can be viewed in a list view or grid view in the user's library. They can be arranged based on title, author, file size, file type, and when they were last opened. Users can also arrange their books into collections. Users may also download books through the use of the Kobo Bookstore. Adding books to a wishlist, purchasing books, and browsing through the library can be done on the Kobo itself thanks to the Wi-Fi chip. Once purchased, books are saved in the cloud and can be redownloaded at any time if the user has deleted the book from his/her device. This feature also allows for reading location, bookmarks, highlights, and notes to be synced across many devices. eBooks compatible with the Kobo Touch can be borrowed from many public libraries, including the Ottawa Public Library and the Toronto Public Library. These books with DRM require authentication from Adobe in order to be read on the device. Books may be added to the device with the Kobo Desktop app or third party apps such as Calibre. The Kobo Touch also includes integration with the read-it-later service Pocket. Once a user has signed in with their Pocket account, articles saved to Pocket can be read on the Kobo Touch. Four applications are included with the Kobo Touch: a web browser, sudoku, chess - now replaced by Unblock It - and a sketch pad. The web browser allows for downloading of files that can be read on the device. Kobo does not provide technical support for these applications. Originally, 15 free previews of select books were included, although Kobo ceased including books with their devices.

Reception The initial reaction to the Kobo Touch was mixed to positive. Reviewers lauded the design of the device, and the software, most notably praising the inclusion of a touch screen, a new E-ink panel, a microSD card slot, included applications, and the minimalism of the device. Complaints included an overall sluggishness to the interface (which eventually got solved in firmware updates) and the lack of hardware buttons for turning pages. A rocky launch in Japan led to parent company Rakuten disabling online store product reviews for the first time in their history. Accompanying advertising for the e-book store listed a larger library then was available at the time, prompting action from the Consumer Affairs Agency.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kobo Touch

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kobo Touch claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kobo Touch before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kobo Touch ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kobo Touch

In research: Kobo Touch appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kobo Touch in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kobo Touch is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Dedicated ebook devices, Kobo Inc., Linux-based devices, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kobo Touch outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Kobo Touch in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kobo Touch means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kobo Touch out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kobo Touch in simple terms?

The Kobo Touch (also called the "Kobo Touch eReader") is the third generation of the Kobo e-reader device designed by Kobo Inc. It was revealed on 23 May 2011 and was released in the U.S. on 10 June 2011 at a price of $129.99.

Why does Kobo Touch matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kobo Touch?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kobo Touch.