Products · Product
Kobo e-readers
Raised as a usability problem by 39 people on Hacker News over 16 years (2011–2026), in 32 threads.
People raised many different problems with Kobo e-readers, but no single problem has yet been raised by 3 people in 3 different months and threads.
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 42 complaints
- Owner finds the e-reader's usability annoying enough to consider switching2026-09-08
- Color screen background too dark, must run backlight high, draining battery2026-08-22
- Physical buttons often don't register presses2026-08-21
- Page turns are slow, and sometimes fail so text gets highlighted instead2026-08-21
- Removing the old screen stuck to the glue was the hardest part of the repair2026-08-03
- The interface is very confusing to the commenter2026-07-29
- Night mode is hard to find; UI poorly organized and page turns very slow2026-07-18
- Sideloaded ePubs display poor typography, with spacing around em-dashes looking wrong2026-06-15
- Must repeatedly reject tracking and region prompts on every link, and pages still show the wrong language2026-05-24
- Only OverDrive access, one library card at a time, no audiobooks or periodicals2026-04-20
- Pages randomly start turning fast, so the reader loses their place2026-04-20
- Books sometimes display with iffy formatting, requiring fiddling in Calibre2026-04-20
- Sync is slow with large libraries and the front page shows ads2026-04-19
- Website hides phone number and email; user loops between chatbot and docs without success2025-12-19
- Website sent user in endless circles; could not find a way to refund2025-12-19
- Must wait for native software to load before switching into KOReader; setup needed a config file deleted2025-12-16
- Power button is poorly placed and sensitive, so it turns on in the bag and ruins progress2025-10-17
- Display needs backlight most of the time and has poor contrast2025-09-04
- Font size varies oddly, and comic series need remembering which book was finished2024-10-16
- Built-in dictionary is poor and can't be set as default2024-04-10
- Extremely slow response, and periodic crashes force hard power cycles that lose reading progress2024-02-05
- Must convert books to proprietary KePub format to get expected features2022-08-11
- Can't set a zoom level to reduce margins, so zooming must be redone on every page turn2022-08-11
- Notetaking is unusable because it is too slow to keep up2022-08-11
- Forces account creation on first boot with no option to skip2022-02-23
- Forced to connect to network and register before using the device2022-01-22
- PDF reader on the Kobo is terrible to use2021-09-21
- Slow text input response makes searching for books frustrating during setup2021-09-21
- Painting on the e-reader is very slow to update the screen2021-07-14
- Direct download links are hidden, forcing users to browse around to get files2020-08-26
- Menus and definition boxes are slow to appear and leave visible screen ghosting2020-08-26
- Touch detection is slow and poor, making it hard to highlight quotes2020-08-25
- Can't highlight text across pages; highlights display as dark grey on black, hard to read2020-08-25
- Every tap, keystroke and scroll triggers slow one-second screen refreshes, making it frustrating to use2020-06-12
- Downloading an ebook requires an .acsm file, Adobe software, and a hidden dropdown menu2020-05-26
- Turning pages needs two hands, one to hold the reader and one to tap the screen2018-01-15
- Browsing is slow due to low refresh rate; typing input is laggy and inaccurate2017-12-27
- Can't filter or see which books are DRM-free; must open each book2016-08-19
- Must upgrade device, install host software and create account before simply displaying books2014-09-11
- Setup forces internet connection and client software install, making transfer of own books hard2014-04-20
- Can't figure out how to order the device2012-10-22
- Page turns are slower than on a Kindle, annoying at first2011-11-04