Hasta La Gadget!

Now you can — finally — adjust the look of the Kobo Touch’s display

Kobo has added a much-needed update to its Touch e-reader, bringing new fonts and layout options. Previously, the not-too-bad e-ink Kobo was limited to a choice of just two font, with no way to control the way these were represented on-screen. The free 1.9.5 update fixes this.

First up are the fonts. You can now choose between 7 typefaces — Amasis, Avenir, Delima, Felbridge, Georgia, Gill Sans and Rockwell. I picked Amasis, and not just because it’s the first on the list: to my eye it’s the least obtrusive when reading.

Next are the typesetting options. Now you can control font size, line spacing, margin size, justification (off, full or ragged-right) and something called “Kobo Styling.”

The margin setting is the big one here. The IR beams that detect your finger to activate the touch-screen mean that the screen is set farther back in the case than in, say, the Kindle. This a casts small but not insignificant shadows at the edge of the screen. Previously, the text ran right to the edge, into these shadows. It was a big distraction. Now, the shadows are still there, but the text can be moved out of the way.

You can also add your own fonts via the Kobo desktop software.

Finally, about that “Kobo Styling” option. I though I was going crazy, clicking it and seeing no effects. It turns out that it really doesn’t do anything. According to a forum posting by Kobo intern George Talusan, “The checkbox is vestigial. We’ll remove it in a future release but in the meantime have fun clicking it.”

The update is either already installed on your Kobo device, or will turn up soon, over the air.

Kobo Touch Edition Software Updates [Kobo]

Kobo Touch Firmware 1.9.5 [Mobile Read Forums]

See Also:

• Kobo Launches Touch-Screen E-Ink Tablet
• Why Borders' Kobo E-Reader Still Falls Short