Help!! Kobo touch or basic Kindle???

[ruka90]

Hi,
My sister is going to buy me an e-reader and she left me to choose between a Kobo touch and A basic Kindle. i read so many reviews about the two devices and i watched comparative videos but i couldn't decide yet.


what i want to know is :

-is the kobo touch slow and lagging? does freezing and resetting incident happens a lot? does the touch feature have a good response? does the touch feature wear off and won't work anymore?
-can i disconnect the amazon account from my device?is every book i read on the kindle will be marked on the account?does the conversion from epub to mobi work well or sometimes the book get messy?

please help me. i really don't know what to choose . i even made a list of pros and cons and it didn't help. I'm currently more on the side of the kindle but i don't want to be unfair to kobo.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ruka90

what i want to know is :

-is the kobo touch slow and lagging? does freezing and resetting incident happens a lot? does the touch feature have a good response? does the touch feature wear off and won't work anymore?
-can i disconnect the amazon account from my device?is every book i read on the kindle will be marked on the account?does the conversion from epub to mobi work well or sometimes the book get messy?

I don't know anything about the Kobo Touch -- though, if I could find one cheap enough, I would like to try one out. I do own and regularly use the Kindle Basic. As far as I'm concerned it has the darkest, clearest font available on an eReader (slightly better than my Nook Simple Touch). It's a solid and light device, good response and it is solid.

To answer your questions. No, you don't have to have it connected to your Amazon account -- though I think you lose some features when using a deregistered Kindle. Side-loaded books do not show up on your Amazon account, unless you use "Send to Kindle." I have had really good luck converting ePub books to Kindle using Calibre. Sometimes I even make the format better -- though I can say the same about converting Kindle books to ePub.

One thing you should also realize. The Amazon infrastructure -- in my opinion -- is superior to anything else. I use the Send to Kindle web app to send clippings to my Kindle all the time. One of my favorite features.

[robko]

Originally Posted by ruka90

Hi,
-is the kobo touch slow and lagging? does freezing and resetting incident happens a lot?

No and no in my experience. If the reviews you were reading were older, they won't reflect the current newer firmware.

Originally Posted by ruka90

does the touch feature have a good response? does the touch feature wear off and won't work anymore?

Yes and no. The touch on the Kobo Touch uses IR beams above the surface of the device, so you technically don't even to touch the screen (although it's hard not to and doesn't matter if you do) so there is no danger of it wearing off.

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by ruka90

-is the kobo touch slow and lagging? does freezing and resetting incident happens a lot? does the touch feature have a good response? does the touch feature wear off and won't work anymore?

I've used a Kobo Touch for several years, and I've never had a problem with it being slow and unresponsive or requiring a reset. The touch feature will occasionally require a second tap to register a page turn, but that's the worst I can say about it. I think it's a great ereader.

[jscarbo]

I love my Kindles and am no expert on Kobo but, in terms of price, wouldn't it be more accurate to compare the Kobo to the Kindle Paperwhite. If so, in my opinion ,the PW is the better choice if you live in the US. More content, better prices and excellent service and support. Epub to mobi or azw conversions should be flawless in Calibre. I recommend the Paperwhite if you're in the US but can't comment for users in other countires.

[the.Mtn.Man]

The one thing the Kobo has over Kindle is that it's more open. You might be able to transfer epubs to the Kindle format, but isn't the majority of the storage space on the Kindle reserved for Amazon purchases? I also don't care for the idea of being locked into any one retail "ecosystem". Kobo can read epubs acquired from any source, and there are hundreds of thousands of free and public domain epub books available on the internet (Feedbooks is one of my favorite sites).

So unless you really like Amazon, there's really no definitive reason to prefer Kindle over Kobo.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by the.Mtn.Man

The one thing the Kobo has over Kindle is that it's more open. You might be able to transfer epubs to the Kindle format, but isn't the majority of the storage space on the Kindle reserved for Amazon purchases?

No, it isn't. The whole of the Kindle's storage space is available for side loaded books.

[the.Mtn.Man]

Apparently I was thinking of the Nook. For some reason, I was under the impression that the Kindle was similarly restricted.

[ruka90]

Originally Posted by robko

No and no in my experience. If the reviews you were reading were older, they won't reflect the current newer firmware.


Yes and no. The touch on the Kobo Touch uses IR beams above the surface of the device, so you technically don't even to touch the screen (although it's hard not to and doesn't matter if you do) so there is no danger of it wearing off.

Thank you. yes all the reviews i saw and posts i read are quite old so i went and watched newer one: it seems that it's updated and works pretty well .

[ruka90]

Originally Posted by jscarbo

I love my Kindles and am no expert on Kobo but, in terms of price, wouldn't it be more accurate to compare the Kobo to the Kindle Paperwhite. If so, in my opinion ,the PW is the better choice if you live in the US. More content, better prices and excellent service and support. Epub to mobi or azw conversions should be flawless in Calibre. I recommend the Paperwhite if you're in the US but can't comment for users in other countires.

Thank you for the reply

I'm from Tunisia and my sister lives in canada. i'm choosing between the two because they are at the same price in stores and i'm on budget (approximatly 80 canadian dollar)

[danicca]

I'd suggest to check prices for ebooks between amazon and kobo, because there might be 2$ surcharge on amazon site.