Kobo Aura HD or Kindle Paperwhite 2013?

[missimpossible]

Well, I got to test both ereaders for a while yesterday, and have plumped for the PW2 (though I haven't actually got it yet as it's going to be a birthday gift now!). The screen of the Aura HD is perhaps slightly nicer - I definitely think it was probably a touch closer to the "real" feel of a book - but I wasn't sold on it, given the price difference. The size also proved to be a bit of a deal-breaker, as it just doesn't feel quite as nice in the hand as the PW2 (to me, anyway). The case of the Kindle is much closer to what I want (though I did prefer that the PW1 said Amazon instead of Kindle on the back, but that's pretty minor) and I really like the interface. I set both to my "normal" font/margin settings and actually managed to get the same result I get on my Touch pretty easily on the PW2, so that was another worry gone.

I mostly tend to use my reader on the go and at night, so portability is a big factor for me. That combined with the fact that I use the Amazon books store about 90% of the time and the wider range of cases/accessories for the PW2 made it the winner for me. I can certainly see the appeal of the Aura HD though and if it had been slightly smaller and the back hadn't had those ridges (I wasn't keen on those!) I would have had a much harder choice on my hands.

Thank you all for all your help!

[eschwartz]

You're Welcome.

Enjoy your new Kindle!

[jandrew]

Originally Posted by missimpossible

Well, I got to test both ereaders for a while yesterday, and have plumped for the PW2 (though I haven't actually got it yet as it's going to be a birthday gift now!).

That's great! Glad you had the chance to evaluate and make the choice that's right for you. Have a happy birthday (when it comes around) and many happy page-turns

[missimpossible]

Thanks guys! One more quick question - if the Kindle is purchased by another from Amazon for me, does it come registered to their account? If so, can I deregister it and put it on mine?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by missimpossible

Thanks guys! One more quick question - if the Kindle is purchased by another from Amazon for me, does it come registered to their account? If so, can I deregister it and put it on mine?

Make sure the person who buys it orders it as a gift. That way it won't be pre-registered to the buyer's account. It can be de-registered and re-registered, but it save a bit of hassle that way.

[eschwartz]

Or you will be prompted to either accept the default-shipped account details or choose your own.

Or you can deregister and reregister at any time, from device settings.

[Lemons]

Thank's for the help after looking through most of it, I decided to get the Aura, non HD due to the fact they was on sale + discount codes & the fact that you can use it's features with a add on to calibre for side loading books ( I don't like going through stores to buy books when already own them twice in book form ), just got to find a case for it now and wait for whenever they decide to ship it what I saw could take awhile

[missimpossible]

Oh man, I just typed up a long summary of my first few weeks' experience with my PW2 but the internet ate it

Safe to say, I'm incredibly happy with my experience with the PW2, and don't regret not paying extra for the Aura HD at all - the slightly better screen was not worth the trade-off (for me) in terms of size, interface, and price, among other things. In fact, I can't stop reading on my PW long enough to deal with my neverending paper book stack!

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by missimpossible

I'm incredibly happy with my experience with the PW2, and don't regret not paying extra for the Aura HD at all - the slightly better screen was not worth the trade-off (for me) in terms of size, interface, and price

Those are all valid points. I love reading on the Aura HD but it is BIG. I find myself grabbing the smaller Aura quite often just due to the size.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by missimpossible

Oh man, I just typed up a long summary of my first few weeks' experience with my PW2 but the internet ate it

Pro tip from an experienced lose-long-posts genius (who is sometimes too lazy* to follow his own advice):

Type long texts in a notepad and copy/paste.

*You might want to read 'foolish' instead.

[cutterjohn42]

Originally Posted by missimpossible

Oh man, I just typed up a long summary of my first few weeks' experience with my PW2 but the internet ate it

Safe to say, I'm incredibly happy with my experience with the PW2, and don't regret not paying extra for the Aura HD at all - the slightly better screen was not worth the trade-off (for me) in terms of size, interface, and price, among other things. In fact, I can't stop reading on my PW long enough to deal with my neverending paper book stack!

Good choice. I'm late to the thread but I can re-iterate nothing but problems with Kobos. The original WiFi Kobo wasn't too awful, but not really all that awesome. I ended up getting a Touch when it came out and started having nothing but problems with it, having to multi-tap(2-3 taps) to turn a page(on a fairly regular basis), resets, corruptions, locking(-> reset), and finally it bricked itself. Rather than going through the hassle(and expense) of sending it in for repair I just went out and bought a Nook Touch(planned to get a kindle but there were only older models in stock locally).

The Nook Touch was OK, but alot like the WiFi Kobo nothing of a big deal, so when the PW1 came out I picked that up and am still using it ATM. i.e. no real problems but I just never got to working well with it.

I ALMOST thought about trying out a Kobo Aura HD but this thread brought those painful shoddy Kobo fw memories back and why I swore to myself to never ever touch another Kobo product. Kindle PW1 has never reset itself, bricked itself, require multiple taps to turn one page, etc. but the "white" screen isn't really white and I look in askance at their suggested light levels, i.e. in brightly lit rooms/outside backlight is at min setting for me, and c. 16-17 in dimly lit areas. My only problem with the kindles are their use of their own Mobi/AZW format, but I used calibre to convert all of my old epubs to AZW3 so now I have everything in both formats.

I used a Palm IIIx for a very long time as my ereader(CSpotRun), and a Franklin eBookman for a while, then eventually got the mono Rocket(RCA then) reader and finally a Sony PRS-505 which I really liked, but it was a little slow feeling once I moved to the Kobo Wifi(this was my best Kobo experience which is why I took the shot on their touch v. B&N or Kindle but they phailed hard).

I still miss using the Palm IIIx sometimes as I liked the green backlight that illuminated the text...