Coinciding with the release of the new 7-inch Kobo Libra H2O, Kobo has officially released a new software update for their lineup of Kobo ebook readers past and present.
As noted last week, the new software features that come on the Kobo Libra are now available on all the other Kobo models as well.
The firmware update, version 4.17.13651, adds some new navigation features and an updated user interface, with new header and footer options.
They also added support for six more languages (listed below).
With Kobo updates you can either wait for the update to automatically download and install when syncing, which can sometimes take a few weeks because Kobo rolls out updates slowly to different regions and affiliates, or you can install the update now manually.
See this forum post at MobileRead for the download links and a discussion about the new firmware. There’s also this Kobo Firmware Downloads page.
Here’s the release notes for the 4.17.13651 update:
Enhanced eBook navigation
We listened to Kobo readers who asked for better ways to move around in a book and easily find their way back. We want you to get lost in the story, not in the book!
Know where you are in your book
- Updated headers and footers: Headers and footers now display both chapter and book progress, so you know where you are in your book at all times.
- Progress bar: Understand where you are in your book at a glance, with a progress bar at the bottom of each page.
- You can customize your page layout by visiting Reading settings
Jump back and forth with ease and confidence
While reading a book, tap the middle of the page to get started
- Improved in-book menu: An improved book scrubber now appears as part of the menu. From here, you have access to Settings and Navigation controls.
- Enhanced eBook scrubber: Updated to represent the entire book instead of just one chapter. Flip back and forth without fear of losing your spot. Your previous page is noted for easy access.
- Page previews: Quickly reference and navigate to other parts of your book with page previews while using the scrubber when jumping between chapters.
New languages
We’ve added support for new languages. Tap ≡ and go to Settings > Language to switch languages.
- Danish
- Finnish
- Norwegian
- Swedish
- Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong)
- Traditional Chinese (Taiwan)
Looks like OverDrive is available on my KA1! (Sweden)
Not sure if I like the changes to the reading view. The choice to use bold and more sans-serif fonts clash with the rest of the ui. I also found some issues with the Swedish translation.
Hi
Before in old kobo ereaders we can add fonts , so like Arabic language we can add Arabic fonts to the device and read any Arabic ebook
Starting from kobo forma the company stop this feature
U can’t add fonts 🙁
Thanks
Yes, you can still add fonts. My Clara HD is running 4.15 and I just added fonts last week.
Looks like they STILL haven’t added password protection. What gives? You’d think all electronic devices would have it. What’s the problem here? Just ADD password protection! PLEASE!!
They’ve had a pin lock option in settings for a long time now. You complained about the same thing last year and I said it then too.
ok my better half got her kobo touch updated on 13 Sept 2019 then a further update a week later but I still have not received either.
Are they picking on me or is there something strange going on?
It depends on where you bought it from. Kobo rolls out updates to their affiliates in phases.
Since this update, the amount of pages in the books change when you change the font. Before, i could see how many pages the original books had and i liked that much better. Now i have no idea how many pages a book actually has. Does anybody know hoe to change this
Hi, me too and I hate it. I even have lots of trouble synchronising.
I hate the page “fix” too. I’m reading a book that I know is about 500 pages, but it shows it as 1000 pages b/c of the font size. I have no idea where I really am in the book. I’m also back to having problems turning the reader off. Anyone else?
Ditto with the page numbering thing. I hate it. I now set it to percentage read, but I still have no idea how many pages my book has. I also suffer from the battery drain problem. Even after a fresh charge, my battery is always down to 10% next day. Hopefully the Kobo people are hearing this and working on a fix.
I love the Reading Progress footer with the chapter progress showing (time left to read, next chapter will take this time etc). Is there a way to have chapter progress in one click as before?
bought my kobo clara from walmart a few months ago. they just updated it last week.
Where’s the bottom menu with time estimates? That was a key feature that sold me on the Clara over the Paperwhite.
With this dumbing down of the interface I’m seriously regretting that decision.
Since this update my battery is draining quickly without even using it. Anyone else having this problem? I charge it and then a few hours later it is down to 16%.
Same problem with battery discharging overnight which I believe is caused by sync somehow activating continuously. Therefore turning off auto sync should fix it.
Battery drain for me as well since last update. I will check if turning off auto sync solves it(and hopefully we get a new update soon to fix it)
I also had the battery drain problem. Really no excuse for bringing out such an update and doing nothing about it yet. Because the quick fix is downgrading to the previous software. I did that manually, and the battery is back to normal.
I also turned off automatic sync to prevent the update to re-install.
Battery drain, weird page numbering – this is, without a doubt, the worst update ever.
Just did the update so I can’t comment on a possible battery drain but I for one am LOVING these new implementations, and my Kobo seems faster than ever before.
Thanks!
Contrary to some, my page number stays the number of the ePub, at least for a file copied to the kobo not the ones from the kobo store, and I don’t care how many pages it actually has I like it better when it matches the page flip (flip a page, go up 1)
I have just got a second Hand kobo e-reader N647 and do u know is there option to update it..the person did not tell me that it is outdated ..
That particular model is really old and hasn’t been updated in many years.
I just purchased and received a kobo Libra H2O from Walmart. Problem is that when I power off I expect to see a blank screen, but it shows the Walmart ebooks logo. Doesn’t seem to be powered all the way off. Seems like it will drain the battery if not completely blank.
Help!
Worry not. E Ink doesn’t require power to display an image on the screen, only to change it. And powering off really isn’t necessary except for storage. Sleep mode barely uses any power at all.