Kobo Touch Edition – new firmware update; adding fonts no comments
Kobo has released a new software update for the Kobo Touch Edition. I believe that v1.9.6 is the third update since Kobo’s latest ereader was released.
This update adds some enhancements to Reading Life, like being able to share your awards on Facebook. More importantly (to my mind at least), Kobo has added dictionary support to “all supported eBook formats.” The inability to use the dictionary in sideloaded ebooks was a big mark against the Kobo Touch prior to this update. There is also now a dictionary search tool that allows you to type in a word for lookup. Additionally, the update says that font controls now work in “all supported eBook formats.”
I’m currently reading a library ePub on my Kobo Touch. The dictionary function seems to work fine with this title now. I also tried using the dictionary with other sideloaded ePubs, a PDF file and a TXT file. With the PDF and TXT titles you can’t tap and hold on a word to look it up, but you do get the dictionary search tool.
Update: Software v1.9.6 also added a new feature to the Advanced Settings page. You can now elect to turn off those annoying page numbers that sometimes show up in the side margins of some ePub books.
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The previous update allowed users to add their own fonts to the Kobo Touch Edition. I just got a chance to try this and it is very quick and easy to do:
First you need to connect your ereader to a computer. Once connected it should show up as KOBOeReader Removable Disk or something similar. Click on that to open a window showing the files and folders on the Kobo Touch. Create a new folder on the ereader titled ‘fonts’. Now simply add the fonts you want into this folder. It is probably a good idea to include the italicized and bolded versions as well. You could also use only the bolded version if that is easier for you to read.
Where to get fonts? There’s a bunch of them in the Fonts folder of the Windows directory if you have a Windows PC. Just be careful that you copy rather than move (right click and select ‘Copy’ ) the font files to the ereader — you do not want to accidently move the fonts off of your computer! You can run a search of your computer for ‘fonts’ to find more. Some graphics packs contain fonts or you can find free fonts to download on the Internet.
