Quantcast
Channel: MobileRead Forums - Kobo Reader
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 11138

H2O Anti-Fingerprint Measures

$
0
0
Hi, first time poster.

I've been through a few eReaders the years, primarily of the Sony variety, more recently Kobo (Touch, Glo), since Sony made the commercially suicidal decision to abstain from frontlighting. As and when I pass my readers on to kids and relatives, or lose/break the things, I buy myself the latest and greatest non-Kindle device. So last week when I dropped my Glo and broke the screen I promptly trotted off and bought an H20.

Impressions thus far have been very positive. It's got a great screen, has a much more sensible lighting range than the Glo, and the size is perfect for me. For some reason it seems a bit faster than the Glo, although I understand it has the same processor and RAM.

Some Sony style physical buttons would be nice, but I expect they would defeat the whole-water proofing idea, and add cost. Oh, and having to press three “clicks” to get to either the Table of Contents or search function is beyond stupid, in fact it’s brain dead. There is more than enough room on the menu bar at the bottom of the screen to put a couple of shortcuts for those functions there. While they are at it, a shortcut to take you to a certain page number would be worthwhile too.

However, overall, it is the best non-Kindle device readily available, at least in Australia.

Alas, there is one big, huge, enormous problem. The glossy front bezel of this thing is a fingerprint magnet like no device I have previously owned.

The Kobos (Koboes, Kobii?) are generally great readers. Any reservations I had when Rakuten took them over have been thoroughly dispelled. But the problem with the glossy bezel on this machine is bad. Really, really, bad.

I don't know how they managed to achieve this result, given the wonderful finish that they applied to the rear of the device. If Kobo had applied the same matte/rubbery finish to the front bezel this device would be fantastic. Maybe Kobo did all their R&D testing in Canadian and Japanese winters where sweaty, oily fingerprints aren’t such a problem. Maybe I’m an exceptionally sweaty and oily pig. I don’t know. I’ve never had this problem before.

So, how to fix this?

I don't like the idea of applying adhesive skins to my devices because, in my experience at least, they invariably peel off and look tacky.

I could buy a cover like the Gecko Protection Deluxe which covers the bezel, but I find those too bulky, heavy and intrusive. In fact I don’t like covers in general, and the H2O is big and heavy enough, as it is. I prefer to carry it in a sleeve in my briefcase.

So....I'm thinking of taking some fine sandpaper to the bezel and rubbing it down to a matte finish. Does anybody know if the black finish is through and through, or am I going to wind up rubbing through to a different coloured base material?

Any other ideas would be appreciated.

Meeeowww!!!

Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 11138

Trending Articles