04-17-2010, 06:08 PM | #1 |
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Astak vs Kobo
Okay so I was about to buy a 5" Astak PocketPro a month or two ago and ran into cash flow problems. Now I have some money again and I'm looking to buy so naturally I look for what new and such and I found this Kobo thing coming out soon for $150. I can't find any dedicated forum or threads for it so I'm asking here.
Compared to the 5" Astak (or the new 6" coming out "soon" which has the same internals now I believe), how does the Kobo rate? The thing I like most about the PP is that I can use pretty much any file I want on it so I don't have to worry about being locked into one store. Is this Kobo thing going to be locked in to their stuff or can I download stuff from anywhere, convert them in Calibre to ePub, and have at it? The Astak is also pretty fast and has great customer support. However, for 25% cheaper, and 20% bigger, the Kobo can make up for that. Anyways, what are people's thoughts? Thanks, Dan PS - I'm mostly planning on reading novels and such. No magazines or comics or school books or anything like that. |
04-17-2010, 07:37 PM | #2 |
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The Kobo will use epub, and pretty much only epub (it does have PDF as well but I can't imagine why one would want to read PDF on such a small screen). I tried the Pocket Pro and they are two completely different sorts of devices. The Kobo is an entry level type of device and is great for if you want to read a book straight through and then read another one. But there is no file organization and to be honest it's a little slow compared to some other devices I have tried. Not slow in a deal-breaker sense for someone who reads very linearly one book at a time, but personally I have more than one book on the go and jump around a lot, so I don't think it would be my preferred device.
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04-18-2010, 12:14 PM | #3 | |
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And just to clarify, if I convert all my books to epub in Calibre, I can read them on the Kobo? Or can I only use stuff that I downloaded from their book store? Thanks, D |
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04-18-2010, 12:19 PM | #4 | |
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04-18-2010, 12:24 PM | #5 |
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The Kobo has an SD slot, and a USB port, and I'm quite certain that I recall the guy from Kobo saying it could read any ePub that didn't have DRM. It might not handle B&N DRM, but it will handle the original ADE DRM, for sure. I've pre-ordered, and am looking forward to its arrival in the next two or three weeks.
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04-18-2010, 01:06 PM | #6 | |
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Harry, I don't know if the issue is worked out yet. I know I told them about it and they said they knew and were working on it, but beyond that I could not say. |
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04-19-2010, 12:20 PM | #7 |
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hey don't over look the Aluratek Libre pro I got one and it very stable, handles a wide range of file formats including drm epub and adobe and if you shop around find it for as little 159.00 usd
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04-25-2010, 03:12 AM | #8 | |
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I don't know much about it, but from what I understand between the differences between E-Ink and Reflective LCD, is that E-Ink is less power consuming, but other than that from what I've read the Reflective LCD displays better contrast, doesn't have that annoying page blackout and is cheaper then E-Ink. Which brings up the argument of seemingly the Reflective LCD has more advantages over E-Ink, why isn't it used more than E-Ink then? Am I missing some of the advantages and disadvantages here? |
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04-25-2010, 01:04 PM | #9 |
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I have not actually seen in person either in action but I have ordered a Kobo just recently. Here are a couple videos of it in action where you can see the screen flash and speed of turning pages (which I thought at first maybe would be a problem, but after seeing it in action I really don't think it will be a big deal at all). Watch them at youtube instead of embedded for bigger size.
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