Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of people posting about using an 8BitDo Micro as a remote page turner with Kobo devices, and apparently it’s super easy to setup using the 8BitDo Ultimate Software app and it doesn’t require altering the Kobo software at all.
I guess I didn’t know that Kobo’s devices supported Bluetooth page turners natively without having to jump through configuration hoops.
I just tested this out with a Bluetooth page turner I got a long time ago and it took like 2 minutes to get everything setup and working on the Kobo Libra Colour. Apparently Bluetooth keyboards will work for turning pages as well.
The only problem is Kobo’s devices automatically turn off Bluetooth whenever you turn them off, so you have to go to the settings menu and turn it back on and reconnect the controller every time you want to use it. I don’t know why Kobo doesn’t make it easier to connect Bluetooth devices.
It’s actually a pretty slow and annoying process to reconnect it every time, but at least using Bluetooth remote page turners is an option with Kobos. These kind of controllers don’t work with Kindles because their Bluetooth only supports audio so you have to use clip-on page turners that are kind of clunky and visually irritating.
With as many people that like using remote page turners, you’d think these ereader companies would start selling their own Bluetooth page turners at some point and provide official support and make sure they work properly.
If you’re looking for a remote page turner for your Kobo ereader, the 8BitDo Micro seems to be a popular option. I’ve heard that some 8BitDo controllers won’t work without additional setup, but the Micro has an app you can install on your phone to map the controls to work with Kobos.
In the past I’ve tried out several cheap Bluetooth controllers, none of them works because to turn the page they would do the complicated thing and simulate a mouse scrolling the page, which would give unpredictable results if it even worked.
Nathan could you please confirm if this controller works with Boox devices? they have their own dedicated controller but it’s not cheap.
I don’t have this controller so I can’t confirm anything, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work with Boox devices. I used an old Boox Bluetooth page turner to test on the Kobo.
@J.C.
I bought a rather cheap BT remote controller on amazon.de (ASIN B0CR5G3H7C). Here’s a picture https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51KBmWkEMBL._AC_SL1500_.jpg
This works without problems on my Boox TUC as page turner in the neo reader, although the buttons “<-" (left) or "^" (up) both turn back a page and left or down turn forward.
After some adjustments in the settings of the apps it also works in KOreader and Librera on any Android device. When I remember it right I had to disable the scroll mode in these two apps to get a real page turn, otherwise the device would just scroll.