Review: Kobo Ereader

It has to be said: when it comes to eReaders, the Kobo is not very sexy. Bigger than the Sony by about a half inch, it’s thicker and has a ‘quilted’ back and the famous D-pad. The famous D-pad is I would like to say, the bane of my life. You have to be careful to hit it in the right spot or it will do the opposite of what you want. I am tempted to say that one day I will upgrade from my Kobo Wi-Fi to a Kobo Touch and never have to hit the D-Pad again, but I tried the Kobo Touch in store and it has the same issue as the Sony. The swipe requires quite a bit of pressure and doesn’t feel as simple as it should. I’ll go out on a limb and suggest it’s something to do with the anti-glare screen technology.

However, in its favour once you plug the Kobo in, it prompts you to add the Kobo shortcut and applications and rather than prompting you through a dozen steps simply asks do you want to keep reading or if you want to manage content. For the most part I drag and drop publications as syncing works both ways and I don’t want all my books on my laptop.

A big improvement from the earlier Kobo is the reduced lag time when using the D-pad – it’s still there, but not as long or as annoying. As time goes by hopefully both the lag and the D-pad will vanish; it could certainly take a lesson from Sony where the buttons are concerned.

The font size is good and the screen is clear and easy to read, even in direct sunlight.

PROS

Nice reading experience and the device is simple to use.

CONS

Not very sexy as far as devices go and it can be slow if you are used to using a tablet, Kindle for PC or other faster device.