[remcdonald]

Hi All so I picked up my all new Kobo Touch last night and thought I would write up a review for all the people wondering about them here. Full disclosure up front I work at a Chapters (we make the Kobo) which means I'm a little biased but it also means I'm familiar with all the old models and what can go wrong with them (being the tech guy I'm usually the one they call to fix your Kobo when you bring it in).

The first thing you will notice about seeing the Kobo touch is its size and weight it is noticeably smaller, lighter and I think nicer looking than the original. The visual appeal of them is very nice and it definitely mantained the better parts of the old Kobo such as the quilted backing. As well when you turn it on you will notice the old power button with its push and release is gone (good I say I hated that button) it has been replaced by a slider that you pull over and which then snaps back to sleep or wake the device and which you hold over then release to power off the device.

Next when you get close you see the interface. Gone is the I'm reading screen and the old interface. Instead you have a pile showing the covers of the last five books you have read that you can touch to read one of them. Along the top are three buttons allowing you to connect to your library, the store, and the reading life app. The library button is subdivided allowing you to choose books, magazines, and even a shortlist that you can set up. The store works much the same as it did in the old version. Reading Life is the ipod app for kobo and gives you awards and stats based around your reading its kind of fun to see but not essential. On the bottom of the screen are three additional buttons which will open your settings menu, your help menu, and to resync the device.

When a book is clicked on the touch screen is very good and reacts well and has a crisp look to it. You click the left or right side of the screen to change pages and the middle to bring up the in book menu to change font size, scroll through a book or change chapters. This thing is fast compared to the old ones and the blinking of the screen is much less noticeable. Overall the interface is well thought out and works great even the holding a word to bring up the selection for highlighting or the dictionary.

The fonts are crisper on the new device and the extra fonts let you get really big and really small since you now have 16 sizes to play with. As well the new option to use a slider to move a book around inside a chapter makes finding a page you lost much easier and less of a groan.

The wifi setup is easy and takes only a few minutes. Again with the store this device is noticeably faster than the old one and the touch screen makes inputting terms much easier. As well the search is now reactive bringing up book titles as you type to suggest what you are looking for which is awesome. When you buy a book it is added to your front screen along with a progress bar that shows how the download is progressing. As someone has already said there is a beta web browser that they are working on built in and if you need to use it it seems to work very well and is responsive.

I know people have been worried about screen smudges and it does happen. My display devices at work showed some smudging towards the end of the day yesterday. But keep in mind that was after a day being touched by everyone coming into the store including some really grubby handed kids and the like.

The desktop application has also been redone and now looks much better and runs more smoothly. As well the device is using Mini USB and Mini SD so your old cards and cables will not work (you get a new cable though so that's not a problem).

Overall this is home run by the folks at Kobo. I have an original Kobo and I liked it, especially living in Canada and having kindle as pretty much my only other option. But I always felt that Kobo could have made something nicer and envied the Nook a little bit. Now, this device is a worthy competitor to the Nook and Kindle. I would write more but I think I want to go back to reading now. Overall, try one out even if you didn't like the original I think you will be pleasantly suprised by this new offering