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Old 11-10-2012, 05:19 PM   #1
JeffMand
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Deciding whether or not to buy a Kobo Mini

I don't currently own an E-Reader, but I've wanted one for a while and the Kobo Mini is now £50 in WH Smiths. I was wondering if anyone here has been extensively reading on one, as whilst it seemed fine as I tried it out in the shop, it's hard to tell if the small screen would become annoying after a while.
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Old 11-10-2012, 06:04 PM   #2
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I have the Sony 350, which is also a 5" screen like the Kobo mini. I've had mine for almost 2 years now and love it so much that I bought a 2nd one as a spare for when this one dies.

I love the smaller 5" screen, the smaller size makes it so portable it fits in just about any pocket I have, which means I never leave the house without it. I originally bought it when it was on sale thinking I'd end up returning it for a 6" screen, but after using it, I fell in love with it. I have no problems at all reading on the smaller screen and have never missed having a 6" screen. I use it strictly for reading, nothing else.

I'd say for that price, you couldn't go wrong for a first reader. Some people say you have to turn pages more often, but it's just a slight thumb movement to turn the page, you aren't even aware of doing it.
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Old 11-10-2012, 06:10 PM   #3
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I've had the 350 for almost two years, and the Mini for three weeks, more or less. No annoy for me at all, I love them.
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Old 11-10-2012, 06:11 PM   #4
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Since you're inquiring about a specific device, you might want to post over at the Kobo sub-forum here. There are quite a few people with the Mini there and probably many of them don't make it to this sub-forum ("Which one should I buy"). I would say the majority of people posting that have one seem to love it, but I don't have one so I can comment directly.
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Old 11-11-2012, 01:27 AM   #5
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I love reading on the Mini, more page turns than the T1 but I seem to be able to read faster on the Mini without trying.

I can read smaller fonts on it than on the 350 or T1 so the page turns are not a lot more it seems.

Great feel to it and a couple of small firmware problems, but for the most part it works flawlessly.

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Old 11-11-2012, 01:45 AM   #6
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If Amazon made a 5" Paperwhite, I'd buy one in an instant. I'd actually prefer a 5" screen for portability.
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Old 11-11-2012, 05:49 AM   #7
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Thanks for the replies. I think I've decided to buy a Black Kindle 4 now I've realised that you can change the page refresh rate. I thought it was always set to refresh every page turn, as the demo unit I tried was on that setting and it was locked out of the settings menu. Going to Waterstones today to see if they have it in stock.
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Old 11-11-2012, 06:12 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by JeffMand View Post
Thanks for the replies. I think I've decided to buy a Black Kindle 4 now I've realised that you can change the page refresh rate. I thought it was always set to refresh every page turn, as the demo unit I tried was on that setting and it was locked out of the settings menu. Going to Waterstones today to see if they have it in stock.
I'd suggest that you consider the Kindle Paperwhite, too. A little more expensive, but a much better reader. The built-in light is absolutely excellent.
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Old 11-11-2012, 07:00 AM   #9
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I have considered it, but I have very sensitive eyes and when I tried the paperwhite I found it most comfortable with the light at its lowest. I'm also not fussed about touch screens.

I will be using side loaded books mostly, will the dictionary work with them on the K4B?
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Old 11-11-2012, 07:03 AM   #10
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Yes, the dictionary works fine with side-loaded books, although I must say that the dictionary is a lot easier to use with a touch-screen than with the 5-way controller that the K4 has.
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Old 11-11-2012, 09:44 AM   #11
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I used to have the Sony prs 300 which was 5 inches. Now I have a few 6 inch kindle devices and much prefer reading on the 6 inch screen. I have a phone with a 5.3 inch screen and that doesn't feel as comfortable to read on even when you discount the backlit screen. The size matters to me too. I guess 5 inches could be good for someone new to e-reading.

Another thing to consider is the amount of sideload books you have. I bought a Kobo glo last month. I put a lot of sideloaded books on it, unfortunately the kobo glo didn't allow you to customise your sideloaded books. Apart from changing the font and size, you couldn't do anything else with sideloaded books like changing margins, line spacing etc.

The dictionary on the kobo is pretty woeful compared to the dictionary on the kindle.

Last edited by shanghaichica; 11-11-2012 at 09:52 AM.
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Old 11-11-2012, 09:53 AM   #12
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Originally Posted by shanghaichica View Post
I used to have the Sony prs 300 which was 5 inches. Now I have a few 6 inch kindle devices and much prefer reading on the 6 inch screen. I have a phone with a 5.3 inch screen and that doesn't feel as comfortable to read on even when you discount the backlit screen. The size matters to me too. I guess 5 inches could be good for someone new to e-reading.

Another thing to consider is the amount of sideload books you have. I bought a Kobo glo last month. I put a lot of sideload books on it, unfortunately the kobo glo didn't allow you to customise your sideload books. Apart from changing the font and size, you couldn't do anything else with sideloaded books like changing margins, line spacing etc. The dictionary is pretty woeful compared to the dictionary on the kindle.
I've been able to change margins and line spacing etc. on most sideloaded books on the Mini. The dictionary is a bit bizarre though.

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Old 11-11-2012, 10:25 AM   #13
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Originally Posted by shanghaichica View Post
I used to have the Sony prs 300 which was 5 inches. Now I have a few 6 inch kindle devices and much prefer reading on the 6 inch screen. I have a phone with a 5.3 inch screen and that doesn't feel as comfortable to read on even when you discount the backlit screen. The size matters to me too. I guess 5 inches could be good for someone new to e-reading.

Another thing to consider is the amount of sideload books you have. I bought a Kobo glo last month. I put a lot of sideloaded books on it, unfortunately the kobo glo didn't allow you to customise your sideloaded books. Apart from changing the font and size, you couldn't do anything else with sideloaded books like changing margins, line spacing etc.

The dictionary on the kobo is pretty woeful compared to the dictionary on the kindle.
I agree that the reading experience is far better on a 6" device than a 5" device. I originally bought a Sony PRS-350 but very soon changed it for the 650. At the moment I'm using a Kobo Touch but have been very tempted by the Mini and Glo.

I keep reminding myself of reading with my 350 and can resist the pull of the Mini, however a few weeks ago I did buy the Glo but ended up returning it as I found the light too bright even at the lowest setting. While I had it I had no problems with side loaded books, (all of mine are side loaded), and all fonts, font sizes, line spacing and margins were adjustable as normal.
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Old 11-11-2012, 10:32 AM   #14
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I disagree I began with a 6" screen and it was too big for my taste. I prefer 5" a lot.
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Old 11-11-2012, 01:28 PM   #15
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I agree that the reading experience is far better on a 6" device than a 5" device. I originally bought a Sony PRS-350 but very soon changed it for the 650. At the moment I'm using a Kobo Touch but have been very tempted by the Mini and Glo.

I keep reminding myself of reading with my 350 and can resist the pull of the Mini, however a few weeks ago I did buy the Glo but ended up returning it as I found the light too bright even at the lowest setting. While I had it I had no problems with side loaded books, (all of mine are side loaded), and all fonts, font sizes, line spacing and margins were adjustable as normal.
I guess your books were all epubs originally? My books are all in mobi/azw3 format and then converted to epub. The only sideloaded books that the glo handled well were epubs loaded via adobe digital editions. I know the books could have been fixed in calibre but it just seemed like a lot of messing about, considering I had a set up that worked perfectly well on the kindle. In the end I also returned my glo due to problems with the WiFi and battery.

Last edited by shanghaichica; 11-11-2012 at 01:33 PM.
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