Kobo Vox? Good choice?

[croyd]

Hi all,

I just started looking into an eReader and I was looking at the Kobo Vox tablet. I have a few questions for Kobo Vox owners and other folks who decided against them or owners who have returned it.

1) Why choose a tablet reader over a dedicated ereader? What are the main advantages and disadvantages?

2) For Kobo Vox owners, what are the best strengths in your opinion on the Vox?

3) What are its' weakest points and why? Could you please prioritize them as the weakest one being the first in the list. What would you change?

4) For Kobo Vox folks that returned them, why did you return the product and how long did you spend with it before you returned it?

5) For people that chose the Nook or Fire, why did you choose those instead?

Thanks,
Croyd

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by croyd

1) Why choose a tablet reader over a dedicated ereader? What are the main advantages and disadvantages?

The main thing for me is battery life. For some the LCD screen is too hard on their eyes for extended reading times (I vastly prefer eInk, but LCD is usable for me). Some folks find the other things you can do with a tablet to distract them from their reading.

4) For Kobo Vox folks that returned them, why did you return the product and how long did you spend with it before you returned it?

I kept mine for a couple of weeks. I found it to be an OK device overall, but it was outdated hardware compared to the Fire or Nook Touch and came out about the same time. Tech wise it's more on a level with the Nook Color. For just reading it works quite well, but sometimes doesn't have the horsepower to do other tasks as well as one might want. I found it to be pretty buggy, although most Kobo devices have been at launch and they may have issued fixes by now. It's a decent device, just wasn't quite right for me.

[croyd]

Hi AnemicOak,

Thanks for the response. When you say battery life is the main thing, are you saying that the tablets battery life is longer than an ereader? I would of thought the ereader battery would last much longer.

As for hardware, what apps did you find the hardware not capable of running well?

Thanks,
Croyd

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

The main thing for me is battery life. For some the LCD screen is too hard on their eyes for extended reading times (I vastly prefer eInk, but LCD is usable for me). Some folks find the other things you can do with a tablet to distract them from their reading.




I kept mine for a couple of weeks. I found it to be an OK device overall, but it was outdated hardware compared to the Fire or Nook Touch and came out about the same time. Tech wise it's more on a level with the Nook Color. For just reading it works quite well, but sometimes doesn't have the horsepower to do other tasks as well as one might want. I found it to be pretty buggy, although most Kobo devices have been at launch and they may have issued fixes by now. It's a decent device, just wasn't quite right for me.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by croyd

Thanks for the response. When you say battery life is the main thing, are you saying that the tablets battery life is longer than an ereader? I would of thought the ereader battery would last much longer.

No, sorry. I mean that the big advantage to an eInk reader is it's better battery life. I don't care so much if my battery lasts 2 weeks or 3, but with a tablet I've had times when it starts dying on me during a reading session when it had been charged the night before.

As for hardware, what apps did you find the hardware not capable of running well?

Some games and things like streaming movie don't work as well on the Vox (or Nook Color) as they do on something like the Nook Tablet and I'd sometimes experience just an overall slight laggyness even in books or just switching home screens with the Vox (not super noticable except I was already used to faster hardware).



I don't want to make it sound like the Vox is horrible or anything, it's not. Here's a review I did when it first came out...
http://dearauthor.com/ebooks/review-kobo-vox

[The Terminator]

The dedicated Eink readers have better battery life and an easier to read screen.