The Kobo Reader
extremely cheap $150 and be tied into the Kobo eBook Store. But what exactly would this Kobo Reader include? Certainly not many of the bells and whistles that eReaders offer for an extra $100, but would it be a solid contender? Kris Abel seems to think so. He posted a very good review of the Kobo Reader on his CTV branded blog, Kris Abel’s Tech Life. The Kobo is a bare-bones reader, have no doubt about that, but there’s a solid market for cheap, well-made eReaders that only do one thing — as long as they do that one thing well. The Kobo uses ePub and PDF formats, has 1GB of memory with SD card expansion available, a one week battery life and the same E-Ink screen as found in the Kindle. What it doesn’t have is any touchscreen input, wireless connection or any features outside of being an eBook Reader. However, it does include Bluetooth so that you can buy books off the Kobo Store by using your computer, iPhone or Blackberry and sending it to your Reader. Pretty smart.
You navigate the menu and pages by the “blue blob” (as Abel calls it) which controls the up, down, left, right and enter functions. It has serif or sans serif font selection and six font sizes. The Kobo will remember where you lest left off, but has no dog ear or bookmark functions. You also can’t input a direct page and instead have to flip to it if it wasn’t your last reading material. But in lieu of that you’ll have a very light and capable eReader.
. Still, the 6-inch E Ink reader is fine hardware in its own right, with quality plastics throughout, a nice patterned rubber back, and a big friendly d-pad for paging through books. The device is actually laid out to mitigate accidental button presses -- even the menu buttons labelled on the front are actually located on the side of the device. As far as software and capabilities, the device is utterly barebones, but at least it keeps its aesthetics throughout, and everything seems responsive and intuitive. There's no 3G onboard (you sync your e-pub titles with a desktop app over USB), no specific word on storage (our guess is in the 1GB to 4GB range), and there don't seem to be any other activities available to reading books. Hopefully you're into that sort of thing, and Kobo at least pre-loaded 100 public domain titles to get you started. The unit will be sold at Borders this summer for $149,
You navigate the menu and pages by the “blue blob” (as Abel calls it) which controls the up, down, left, right and enter functions. It has serif or sans serif font selection and six font sizes. The Kobo will remember where you lest left off, but has no dog ear or bookmark functions. You also can’t input a direct page and instead have to flip to it if it wasn’t your last reading material. But in lieu of that you’ll have a very light and capable eReader.
. Still, the 6-inch E Ink reader is fine hardware in its own right, with quality plastics throughout, a nice patterned rubber back, and a big friendly d-pad for paging through books. The device is actually laid out to mitigate accidental button presses -- even the menu buttons labelled on the front are actually located on the side of the device. As far as software and capabilities, the device is utterly barebones, but at least it keeps its aesthetics throughout, and everything seems responsive and intuitive. There's no 3G onboard (you sync your e-pub titles with a desktop app over USB), no specific word on storage (our guess is in the 1GB to 4GB range), and there don't seem to be any other activities available to reading books. Hopefully you're into that sort of thing, and Kobo at least pre-loaded 100 public domain titles to get you started. The unit will be sold at Borders this summer for $149,
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