As I received a nice tax rebate today, I decided to check out the Kobo Vox 7 inch e-reader Android tablet. For the Canadians amongst you, FutureShop is offering $10 discount. Now, it’s possible I will return it before the return period expires; the reviews I’ve read and seen on YouTube have been rather negative – sluggish, unresponsive machine, poor quality build – but I will see for myself. I am not expecting it to be comparable to the iPad – Apple’s tablet has a dual-core Apple A5X custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip with quad-core graphics and 1GB of RAM compared to the Vox’s 800 Mhz processor and 512 RAM – and of course with at least $400 difference in price, you wouldn’t expect them to compare. I intend using them for different purposes. I expect my iPad to remain my go to tablet of choice, and the Kobo to be purely e-reading based. The main advantage I’m hoping to get from the Vox is that I will be able to read books from all three of my main sources – Amazon, Kobo and the local library – on one e-reader sized device. This will also be my first experience with Android….
Those of you who follow my blog will know how much I've lusted after the new Amazon Kindle Touch, and also shared in my frustration at Amazon's refusal to ship it outside the US. Anyway, today I caved and took a short trip across the US border to Best Buy in Plattsburgh to purchase one. From my experience with the WiFi only Kobo, I did in the end decide to purchase the base model WiFi only with special offers for $99. I had a few tense moments when a Nook was produced that had been set aside for me and the saleswoman couldn't find the Kindle Touches… I was very relieved to finally have it in my hand. As it is technically not available in Canada I was a little anxious about registering, especially as it took me three attempts with the virtual keyboard. However, it all seemed to go through and I am now happily downloading my content to my Kindle Touch. Size wise the Kindle Touch is noticeably smaller and lighter than the Kindle Keyboard – not surprising as it doesn't have a keyboard! Comparing the screens to the Kindle Keyboard and Kobo, the two Kindles seem virtually…
Those of you who follow my blog will know how much I’ve lusted after the new Amazon Kindle Touch, and also shared in my frustration at Amazon’s refusal to ship it outside the US. Anyway, today I caved and took a short trip across the US border to Best Buy in Plattsburgh to purchase one. From my experience with the WiFi only Kobo, I did in the end decide to purchase the base model WiFi only with special offers for $99. I had a few tense moments when a Nook was produced that had been set aside for me and the saleswoman couldn’t find the Kindle Touches… I was very relieved to finally have it in my hand. As it is technically not available in Canada I was a little anxious about registering, especially as it took me three attempts with the virtual keyboard. However, it all seemed to go through and I am now happily downloading my content to my Kindle Touch. Size wise the Kindle Touch is noticeably smaller and lighter than the Kindle Keyboard – not surprising as it doesn’t have a keyboard! Comparing the screens to the Kindle Keyboard and Kobo, the two Kindles seem virtually…
So I have been using the Kobo now for almost a week, and I must say I have enjoyed using it. The touch interface seems responsive and is fun to use. There are many things I prefer about the Kobo user interface to the Kindle interface – the use of book covers for one thing. Some of those are very attractive and the Kindle's text-based user interface seems a little basic by comparison. Of course, I have not seen the UI for the Kindle Touch, but from the video of the Amazon press conference it seems as if it is still predominantly text based. Amazon's Collections feature where you can categorise your books into user defined groups for easier searching is one thing I find hard to live without. Currently I only have a few books on the Kobo, so choosing/finding one is not too tricky, but on my Kindle I have over 30 pages of books. A lot of the things I like about my Kindle are UI based. I enjoy sharing on my Facebook page and Twitter feed when I find an interesting passage or have finished a book. I just find that more intuitive on the…
So I have been using the Kobo now for almost a week, and I must say I have enjoyed using it. The touch interface seems responsive and is fun to use. There are many things I prefer about the Kobo user interface to the Kindle interface – the use of book covers for one thing. Some of those are very attractive and the Kindle’s text-based user interface seems a little basic by comparison. Of course, I have not seen the UI for the Kindle Touch, but from the video of the Amazon press conference it seems as if it is still predominantly text based. Amazon’s Collections feature where you can categorise your books into user defined groups for easier searching is one thing I find hard to live without. Currently I only have a few books on the Kobo, so choosing/finding one is not too tricky, but on my Kindle I have over 30 pages of books. A lot of the things I like about my Kindle are UI based. I enjoy sharing on my Facebook page and Twitter feed when I find an interesting passage or have finished a book. I just find that more intuitive on the Kindle…
So, I have unboxed the Kobo Touch and have spent my first few hours with it. My first impressions are generally positive. Hardware: The Kobo Touch has the same 6 inch eInk display as the Kindle. From what I could see, there was no discernible difference in contrast between the two, but as they use different fonts, it was tricky to say. In any case, both are clear and easy to read. I found the IR touchscreen reasonably responsive and easy to use. In comparison to the Kindle 3G Keyboard the Kobo seems tiny; of course this is because it doesn't have a keyboard. I found the Kobo comfortable and easy to hold, and page turns were easy. I did miss being able to turn back a page with my right hand – the Kindle has page back buttons on the same side of the case as the page forward one. Personally, I found I had to use two hands – not easy with a cat purring in your lap. One thing the Kobo does slightly differently to the Kindle is the screen refreshes. By default it will only refresh the screen fully on every sixth page turn, minimising…
So, I have unboxed the Kobo Touch and have spent my first few hours with it. My first impressions are generally positive. Hardware: The Kobo Touch has the same 6 inch eInk display as the Kindle. From what I could see, there was no discernible difference in contrast between the two, but as they use different fonts, it was tricky to say. In any case, both are clear and easy to read. I found the IR touchscreen reasonably responsive and easy to use. In comparison to the Kindle 3G Keyboard the Kobo seems tiny; of course this is because it doesn’t have a keyboard. I found the Kobo comfortable and easy to hold, and page turns were easy. I did miss being able to turn back a page with my right hand – the Kindle has page back buttons on the same side of the case as the page forward one. Personally, I found I had to use two hands – not easy with a cat purring in your lap. One thing the Kobo does slightly differently to the Kindle is the screen refreshes. By default it will only refresh the screen fully on every sixth page turn, minimising the…
As those of you who follow my blog will know, I am a strong advocate of e-reading and in particular, Amazon's Kindle. I have had a Kindle now since January 2010, and have built up a significant library of ebooks. However, I've recently become very frustrated with Amazon's US-centric focus and am beginning to wonder if the Canadian Kobo might be a better way to go. With this in mind, today I purchased a Kobo Touch e-reader and plan to take advantage of Chapters' two week return policy to review it and decide whether that is the way to go. I believe both of them are good, reliable e-readers and I don't think a purchaser would be disappointed in either. Both have the eInk display which is easiest on the eyes. At the point where I was considering going into ereading, before I bought my Kindle, I did experiment with both Kobo and Amazon stores and customer service and was equally happy with both. At that point the Kobo ereader was not yet on the market. As of yet, I have not unboxed it, but from what I understand, the following are the relative merits of Kindle and Kobo….
As those of you who follow my blog will know, I am a strong advocate of e-reading and in particular, Amazon’s Kindle. I have had a Kindle now since January 2010, and have built up a significant library of ebooks. However, I’ve recently become very frustrated with Amazon’s US-centric focus and am beginning to wonder if the Canadian Kobo might be a better way to go. With this in mind, today I purchased a Kobo Touch e-reader and plan to take advantage of Chapters’ two week return policy to review it and decide whether that is the way to go. I believe both of them are good, reliable e-readers and I don’t think a purchaser would be disappointed in either. Both have the eInk display which is easiest on the eyes. At the point where I was considering going into ereading, before I bought my Kindle, I did experiment with both Kobo and Amazon stores and customer service and was equally happy with both. At that point the Kobo ereader was not yet on the market. As of yet, I have not unboxed it, but from what I understand, the following are the relative merits of Kindle and Kobo. Kindle…
Amazon recently announced a press conference to take place tomorrow, September 28th. It is widely expected to introduce the Kindle Fire, Amazon's long expected entry into the tablet market. As per Time, the specs are: based on Android 2.1, but modified to the point of being unrecognizable, Siegler reports. The software will emphasize Amazon's own digital content—movies, TV shows, music, e-books and the Amazon Appstore—with a carousel view of all content on top and pinned app icons on the bottom. The idea is to make content purchases and consumption as simple as possible. In terms of hardware: According to Ryan Block at gdgt, Amazon's tablet will look a lot like Research in Motion's Blackberry Playbook tablet—a 7-inch slab with sharp corners. That's because Amazon reportedly hired manufacturer Quanta, which designed the Playbook, to "shortcut" the Kindle Fire's development process. Naturally, everything is speculation until Jeff Bezos gets up on stage and introduces the new product. Many believe that it will be the first tablet offering to be a serious competitor to Apple's iPad. Rumour suggests Amazon will be pricing this most aggressively – below cost at $250-$300. That is half the price of the lowest spec iPad. Equally importantly, it…