If we ignore readers shops, the only manufacturer for models, store technology and aspires to stand up to the king Amazon is Kobo. We have tried the new Aura One, a reader e-books differently and we have analyzed both from the point of view of technological product and from the purely reader.
Larger and water resistant
A new eBook from Kobo? The manufacturer in the hands of giant Rakuten takes a couple of years generously expanding its catalog of e – book readers, yes, but this Kobo One is not like any other. As with Oasis Amazon, Kobo does not offer this new device as a reader for anyone but for those who really will take advantage of its features at a high price.
The design of the Kobo Aura One is sober but safe. It is robust in appearance and reality. The back has a rough texture quite nice and makes it difficult for the reader accidentally slip of the hand even when wet. Wet? Yes, but that’s explained later.
In the design of the Kobo Aura One there are no physical controls other than the power button, placed in the back and clearly visible by its blue color. To differentiate with this tone a button of ignition does not look bad and it contributes enough of usability in the device.
The absence of physical controls makes all interaction with the book is by screen. Once you learn where to play and how you have to play, dealing with the Kobo is easy. Relying on the screen for certain tasks such as turning pages or moving through menus seems to be the most accurate, but to return to the start menu or access options for changing the letter or size of the same I still believe that a physical button is a better solution. And that does not mean that touching the upper left side of the Kobo Aura One does not always bring us to the home screen of the options.
A feature in which Kobo has been a pioneer and reference is the water resistance of its e-book readers. It may seem somewhat accessory but it makes a lot of sense.
If I have to vote for an electronic device that is always waterproof, my decision is clear: an e-book reader. And the Kobo Aura One gives it to me
In the day to day it allows us to be less careful with how and where we take or leave the reader, but in summer is something that can become essential. Beach or pool are places where there is usually no problem to bring an e-book and enjoy one of the queens activities of the holidays and leisure time.
With the Kobo Aura One we can go further, spend extra protection, worrying about oversights in the sand (after the beach day we can wash the book under water), and even to be in the pool while reading the Kobo Aura One. Its water resistance profile allows even to submerge it.
A larger screen with night mode
The biggest technical differentiation of the Kobo Aura One is its screen. We start with the size, here are not the six inches of rigor that have remained as the standard in the industry but we raised the bet to a very interesting 7.8 inches.
The difference in numbers may seem small but the Kobo e-book is generous in hand but the excellence of the proposal is that your reader Kobo remains manageable (though we can no longer take it almost in his pocket). Its lightweight and thickness (only 230 grams and 6.9 mm) does not make it uncomfortable or problematic to hold it with one hand. We have conducted reading sessions of over an hour even in bed, when the most critical is the weight and size of a reader, and no complaints. It’s like using a 6-7 inch model.
We also asked an intensive user of 6-inch books to tell us her impression and although at first skeptical about the comfort of her larger screen, she finally got used to the few days and size was no longer a problem. Mainly thanked the extra space to be able to read more content per page.
The screen of the Kobo Aura One, of 7.8 inches and with night mode, is its greater trinket. It looks great and allows us to read very comfortably more content with each page step
The increase of size of the screen of the Kobo Aura is accompanied of a better resolution: 1404×1872 pixels. This gives about 300 dpi density, making obtain sharpness as paper printed at the usual reading distance.
The supporting lighting system is balanced, adjustable (both manually and automatically by a sensor) and comfortable. LED lights frames are distributed evenly completely. Here, it should be mentioned that in addition to the usual white LEDs in these reading lighting systems, the Kobo Aura One includes some RGB type.
Like other manufacturers of electronic display devices, Kobo has introduced its new device in a mode of night reading , which becomes much warmer screen on demand or from a certain time that can be set in your configuration. Takes some getting used to start it because the change is great and we feel that the color turns to too warm , but as has happened to us with smartphones or tablets, at the end you end up appreciating that way, at least compared with the usual white light until now.
Almost a month without loading the book
The new Kobo reader is powerful, with a correct operating speed for an eBook. The lag and waits in the touch screen response are associated with the electronic ink technology itself. There is a delay since you press until you apply the change and refresh the screen, but it is not an impediment to the usual tasks you will need, such as entering passwords or initial settings. Another thing is that we had to coexist with this experience on an ongoing basis.
That desperation happens easily when we use the browser in beta. It is impossible to navigate freely without discomfort because the screen requires your time to update all the information on the web, so its use should be very sporadic.
The processor in charge of rendering the entire Kobo system is 1 Ghz, accompanied by 512 GB of RAM and an internal memory of 8 GB, which we cannot expand externally. In an e-book, we are convinced that it is not a problem that has nothing to worry about.
Nor is autonomy something you want to be aware of when talking about a “native” e-book reader. And with this Kobo Aura One the maximum is fulfilled. With a charging time of less than an hour, the battery of the new model Kobo is able to hold more than three weeks Wi-Fi, automatic brightness and about 45-60 minutes of reading daily. And that charge is made with a simple microUSB cable.
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Good interface, to rebufo in store and shopping
Amazon has an important domain in the eBook world both at the level of physical device market share and in its huge Kindle store. Maybe that’s why Kobo has been somewhat behind although, except for the potential of his book store, its interface and possibilities within the electronic book seem higher.
The home screen is the great achievement of a Kobo reader. There we have several of the books that we have budding with its cover and the percentage of the same that we have read. The additions of our library, store news or bestseller lists are continuously updated. And there area for extras like the browser, Pocket (there are readers like me who can decide to purchase between brands only for this choice of Kobo books) or reading statistics, which can serve to encourage you to overcome your own figures.
At the top we have shortcuts to configuration functions or the main menu, and in the lower, reading blocks (books, collections and articles of Pocket), a search or data of our activity with the book.
In the list of books in our library, which may include PDFs or ePub that we have synchronized from a PC (in addition to downloads and purchases in your store), there are filters according to what we are reading, unread or purchased, as well as by frequency Of use.
One of the great attractions of Kobo Aura One from the point of view of the reader is the support for Overdrive. This platform, not available in too many markets, allows the loan of digital books directly in the device from public libraries, universities or private.
Another point in favor of Kobo readers is the freedom left to the reader. To load our own sources for books or the breadth of supported formats, including the most common for comics (CBR and CBZ), they are placed on one side of the scale, but is clearly uneven when the other side we put the user experience And integration into the Amazon system versus that of Kobo. It is the great unfinished business because price level, and put the example of the latest Harry Potter title, no big differences.
Kobo Aura One seen by a reader
I find the e-book reader a great idea. The experience with the readers that I have had has been great, I like the simplicity of the concept of electronic book: electronic ink, navigation by a huge amount of books that can be stored, can change font and font size … Nor I did ask for much more: a reader is to read and longer. And as I like to try new things, there was waiting for me the Kobo Aura.
The Kobo Aura fell into my hands like anything new but familiar. A part of me was dissecting the device minding my previous expectations and subsequent experiences. It is lighter, smaller and much brighter (though I am of little shine) than my Kindle Paperwhite. I am not tech, and therefore I would not know how to do a great analysis on the technical aspects of the reader. So I’m going to talk about my experience using this instrument.
I open the box, I obey the load (I was not particularly rushed) and turn on the screen. We already started with the happy configuration process. An independent user – although sometimes something “puffy” – when it comes to gadgets so I’m not too much trouble. But there I begin to see the first nuisances: the keyboard is not going too thin and Kobo put the user (either by logging in or registering) the browser will at times.
In fact, the registration process had to be completed on the Kobo website because it had reached a level of torture, with the screen refreshing at each character entered. Once this whole configuration step was completed, I was really interested in reading. Browse the store from the reader is impractical if you want to explore beyond news and highlights (and the search also takes a tad).
I do not know how it came across a title that interested me: ‘Modern Romance’, the essential test in which Aziz Ansari (‘Master of None’) delves into the keys to flirting and love in the generation in which we live with omnipresent social networks. The purchase process was quick and painless (well, I had the card a bit empty at the time). Now I used to read.
I am a very avid reader. I just looked at my stats on Goodreads and if I exclude comics, more or less go to a rate of two or three books a month. Reading I like a lot and I’m one of those who finds any time to match it with my other passion: the series. Although the “piracy” exists in this sector, mainly book reader is a reader of paper according to a recent study of reading habits among Internet users. 63% of regular readers prefer the physical format electronic when read and when buying continues gaining buying only paper (53%) compared to 12% who buy everything.
I am currently between the two waters. I really like the paper, I think the feeling that gives the physical format is something difficult to imitate by electronic. But in my house I have no space. So for a couple of years I decided to start reading digital. First with the mobile, but the brightness of the screen did not finish curdling, so I decided to take a low-end e-book reader to, over time, replace it with the famous Kindle Paperwhite and there was a qualitative and quantitative leap in My relationship with the digitized literature.
All this story because I, as a reader, look for simplicity and manageability when read either a physical or an electronic book. Kobo has it, but also most eReaders of the market with the advantages that suppose it (light, underlining, annotations without “spoiling” the paper …) and with something with which they will never be able to replace (at least at present ) To the physical book: browsing, going back and forth pages quickly looking for those passages that you may have missed in a quick read.
For me to go back and forth in a book is important and this is where I think the Kobo Aura has its main asset: A progress bar in which to move the bookmark you want to go (or return) is a Of the best solutions to this problem. Another thing is the topic of navigation with highlights and annotations, which is anything but fine … especially at the time of underlining: more than once I had to repeat the gesture of underlining not performed well.
What I do fault more is the time to go to the footnotes : pop – ups fail (a couple of books with over a hundred of letters between the two, only a couple of them appeared in this format) and Navigation between notes is poorly delimited, is cumbersome. If in other aspects I would not know at all if I opt for a Kobo or a Kindle, here the Amazon device wins by thrashing. For that reason and because the latter is Wikipedia, which has let me know what the hell is the “corvee”.
On the other hand the great advantage of Aura is to use any eBook format, which is an asset given the omnipresence of ePub, incompatible with the Kindle. Plug into the computer and move books without having to convert them to Mobi. Here I have missed an email provided by Kobo to transfer books via Caliber without using the USB, as I can do with the Paperwhite.
A friend of mine said that the Kobo and the Kindle are respectively Windows and OS. Just as apple people are frustrated as soon as they play a PC, the feeling I’ve had when trying out the Kobo Aura coming from a Kindle Paperwhite is similar. Objectively both are good products, but the Aura needs refinement in a couple of ways to convince me to give better life to my faithful Paperwhite.