[Ripplinger]

As someone who absolutely loves their Sony 350s and recently bought a Kobo Glo, I can say this... like the light on the Kobo Glo, it's got an even color, not plagued by the Kindle color hues, and it's super convenient when needed. But that's where it ends, everything else is superior on the Sony for software and even the screen. The "feel" of the screen is even better on the Sony, it's a very smooth surface. The feel of the Kobo makes it seem like there's a powdery coating on the screen (yes, I know there can be some actual powdery feel to the frame even, but I've made sure I've cleaned all that off). The touch is more responsive on the Sony as well, it's rare that I have to swipe to turn a page a 2nd time, but the Kobo probably about 50% of the time. I do find that using a tap on the Kobo instead of a swipe seems more reliable.

Differences between the software on the 2 readers range from hating how the Kobo might handle an epub to other differences that are just annoying to missing things the Kobo can't do that the Sony can.

I'm still tempted to return the Kobo and wait for Sony, but there are times I really need a light, and if Sony doesn't release a lighted reader this year, that's 6 months I could have had the light while waiting for the following year's releases from Sony. And it's another toy I can test scanned epubs on as I'm working on them, and still have use of a light when needed.

The size of the Kobo really isn't much larger than the Sony. But as far as 5" screen vs 6" screen, because of the superior flexibility of fonts and sizes on the Sony with PRS+ installed, just about the same amount of text fits on both screens when using the same font size with my preferred settings on the Sony. I've put brackets around the text in the photo so you can easily see what the Sony shows vs what the Kobo shows on the bigger 6" screen (it will show a nice size comparison too, the Sony reader is in the Sony non-lighted cover). The Kobo settings have line spacing set to the lowest setting possible and using the Malabar font, which was the closest to the LexiaDaMa font on the Sony. Screen appears a bit darker on the Sony because the light source is coming from the right (there's a bit of glare that seems to fade the upper right corner of the Kobo, but that's the light source only, not the screen). The screen is actually a bit lighter than the Kobo, and I have other Sonys that are quite a bit lighter.

Your decision will end up being how important the light is to you.

Edit: The Sony page turns are also faster than the Kobo even when the Kobo doesn't refresh and only 5 books on the Kobo.