Comparison of Tablets: Giant’s Kobo E-Reader May Put the Kindle in Its Place

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In the annals of great underdogs, a Canadian Subsidiary of a Japanese mega-retailer makes for an Unlikely entrant. And yet here’s Kobo again, with a new e-reader That could give Kindle owners some serious second thoughts.

The new Kobo Aura One is literally big, a 7.8-inch behemoth into a world of standard 6 -inch displays. But its features are usefull outsized, Whether it’s robust waterproofing, a clever new nighttime lighting system, or a way to help you read as many top-shelf books as you please without paying a penny. More Importantly, they’re all enhancements you will not find on an Amazon Kindle.

Kobo A-Gogo

It’s a rocky time for e-readers. Last month, the Association of American Publishers Reported That book while overall revenue thickening increased .6 percent in 2015 versus the year before, e-book revenue fell a precipitous 11.3 percent. Extensiveness of Amazon’s e-reader lineup, only two crack the company’s top 100 sellers in electronics

So it’s not surprising then Kobo HAS That felt some of this decline as well.; in fact, the only surprising thing for most people May Be That an e-reader called Kobo exists at all. The upstart’s parent company, Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten, wrote down its 2011 Kobo acquisition by nearly $ 250 million Earlier this year.

The bleak economics of e-reading belies the steadily increase increasing joys of the devices themelves , Especially in the burgeoning premium category. Not many people May be willing to spend hundreds of dollars on an e-reader, but if you’re one of them, you’re in for a treat. That Applies to Amazon’s $ 200 Kindle Voyage, its more recent $ 290 Oasis-which comes with its own leather charging case, and now to the $ 230 Kobo Aura One, All which launches on September 6. It does things neither Of Those Amazon devices can dream of, and it has to if it wants to shake people fromtheir e-reader lethargy.

“When people talk about seeing declines in the space, one of the things that’s embedded in that’s That people are still reading on devices thatthey bought in 2011 and 2012, “says Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn. “Then They slowly upgrade until something comes along that’s good enough to make them step upward. It’s not like smartphones, where you’re getting a giant influx of new customers every 18 months. “

Kobo

if e-reader success is a matter of enticements, the Aura One makes for a pretty solid siren. Previous Kobos have been waterproof, but the latest model can survive submerged two meters for up to an hour, not that you’d need to. The Aura One hops on the anti-blue-light trend phasing out blue spectrum overtime So THAT reading in bed does not go on to affect your sleep. (There are studies say That this is helpful, and Apple Introduced a similar feature in iOS 9.3, but mileage will vary).

It’s usefull bigger. Tamblyn says the 7.8-inch display helps mimic the feel of a hardcover, rather than a paperback, and That aging e-book enthusiasts prefer having more words on a page here at blown up font sizes. In my short time with the Aura One, I can confirm That Despite its size, it’s comfortable to hold one-handed, thanks to minimal weight and a pleasantly texturized rubber backing. I do not knowthat I prefer a bigger screen yet, or prefer it enough to sacrifice equally That little bit of cream in my bag. All that surface area can ook make the Aura One a little awkward to navigate When you’re using the keyboard to search the store, or adjusting Far-Flung settings.

But you’re mostly just reading. And besides, any annoyance quickly disappears when you get to the Aura One’s best feature. The one where you do not have to buy books anymore.

Maximum OverDrive

Apologies if this comes as no surprise, but you do not actually have to purchase e-books. You can rent them from your local library, through a company called OverDrive.

I know, right? Free books! And it’s not like you were going to display them on your built-ins anyway. The reason more people do not know about this, or maybe more accurately just do not do it, Is that the process is a pain. You have to sign up at your library, register at OverDrive on your browser, download a book and transfer it to your device; it’s a mess, no matter what e-reader you own.

“The previous experience of people side-loading to the device was 16 steps to borrow through a library,” says Tamblyn. “And if any One Of Those went wrong, it was usually a customer service call to us.”

You’ll notice That Tamblyn uses the past tense. That’s Because Rakuten bought OverDrive in 2015 for about $ 400 million, All which Means OverDrive and Kobo are siblings-which is why (thanks, corporate synergy!) The Kobo Aura One Has OverDrive built right in.

That gets a little tangled, so let me Clarify: You can borrow e-books directly on the Aura One, for free, with just a few taps. I picked up National Book Award finalist Fates and Furies last night with about 30 seconds of work, zoals the download time. It retails for $ 13 on Amazon.

There are hiccups to OverDrive borrowing. Eventually the titles disappear from your device When the lending period is over (Although you can re-up), and the selection can be scanned. OverDrive but giving equal weight as a paid bookstore is a remarkable thing. If you borrow 10 books a year, that’s easily a hundred dollars you’ve saved, not to mention Avoiding the hassle or side-loading.

For now, the immediate OverDrive access is limited to the Aura One, though Tamblyn did not rule out the Possibility That it could come to other models as well. It goes a long way towards making That $ 230 purchase price more palatable, though. Especially When That still undercuts Amazon’s best by a solid amount.

“We were certainly quite delighted to see someone come out with something up in the $ 300 range tat was still a 6-inch screen, that hadn ‘ t done anything with light and sleep, not waterproof, “says Tamblyn. “That was a great gift to us.”

There are things not to like about the Aura One. It has no physical buttons, if you prefer Those, and Kobo’s e-book store selection still falls well short of the Kindle Store. The larger size might throw you off. But there’s so much to like usefull. More Importantly, there’s so much here That you will not find anywhere else. At the very least, it makes Kobo worthy of a closer read.

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