There can be only one: Kobo Glo vs (Jailbroken?) Kindle Paperwhite

[combine1237]

Hello, and thank you for clicking on this thread. First I apologize for opening a new thread on this subject, but I am going(within 1-3 days) to purchase an e-reader, and there are some items I am unsure of when comparing these two e-readers.

1. The first object of contention is the difference in the two touchscreen technologies, the infrared touchscreen on the Glo and the capacitive touchscreen on the Paperwhite. I have yet to find a local store in my area that has working models of either to test the responsiveness and accuracy of their screens. Can anyone confirm how the two stack up against each other and if there are that many differences(excluding the brightness and slightly different colors).

2. It strikes me that amazon seems to love the walled garden approach with their kindles and does not support near as many formats as the Kobo does. If one jailbreaks a kindle will it support the same formats as a Kobo does effectively, could you turn the light off using a KUAL application, and are jail-broken Kindle Paperwhites stable and legal.

3. Finally, can one connect a usb(by micro-usb adapter) or micro-usb card to the Kindle Paperwhite before and/or after it is jaibroken.

About myself: I have never owned an e-ink device and have no pre-existing collection of e-books. I do enjoy reading books and am tired of my eyes tiring after reading on lcd screens after long periods of time.

Thank you for reading this and any knowledge, possible answers, thoughts, advice, so forth on my questions and the subject would be immensely appreciated.

Edit: Sorry, I live in the U.S.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by combine1237

1. The first object of contention is the difference in the two touchscreen technologies, the infrared touchscreen on the Glo and the capacitive touchscreen on the Paperwhite. I have yet to find a local store in my area that has working models of either to test the responsiveness and accuracy of their screens. Can anyone confirm how the two stack up against each other and if there are that many differences(excluding the brightness and slightly different colors).

The Kobo screen lighting is more even. It is effectively better. I have handled one and I was impressed. However, you cannot dim it as much as a PW. So in a dark room you may find it is too bright! Do you have sensitive eyes? This could be a show-stopper. Maybe check in the Kobo forums.

I have not handled a PW, but from what I've read in reviews and on this board, the PW screen is less even than the Kobo and shows cones of light and shadow at the bottom. However, most people don't seem to mind. But you can get a stinker which includes lots of discoloration (pink and blue) on the screen. It seems that Amazon has poor quality control. Hopefully they've ironed it out by now. Most people are happy with their PWs but you can get a bad one.

Originally Posted by combine1237

2. It strikes me that amazon seems to love the walled garden approach with their kindles and does not support near as many formats as the Kobo does. If one jailbreaks a kindle will it support the same formats as a Kobo does effectively, could you turn the light off using a KUAL application, and are jail-broken Kindle Paperwhites stable and legal.

Yep. Amazon has implemented its own format to wall off all other retailers. However it is easy to convert epubs (the main open-source format) to mobi and azw (Amazon-readable formats) using the free software Calibre. I suggest you get this software and learn to use it.

Re: Jailbreaking, I think you would be better served to ask in the Kindle forum. I think it is stable and that you can turn off the light after jail-breaking.

Be aware that neither ereader offers usable pdf support. The main difference in terms of file readability between the Kobo and the PW is that the Kobo supports epub. This is easy to get around with Calibre. However, they are both pretty crappy when it comes to pdf. Sony is much better for this.

Oh, btw, the Kobo software is reputedly flaky. Honestly, between the two, I'd probably get the PW, but if I got a crap screen, and it was still crap after 24-hours, I'd send it back. Personally, I'd wait for the new Sony probably coming out by next autumn.

Originally Posted by combine1237

Edit: Sorry, I live in the U.S.

That's okay. It's not your fault

[samhy]

Originally Posted by Rizla

The Kobo screen lighting is more even. It is effectively better. I have handled one and I was impressed. However, you cannot dim it as much as a PW. So in a dark room you may find it is too bright! Do you have sensitive eyes? This could be a show-stopper. Maybe check in the Kobo forums.

I think there are now some batches with a yellow light which seems less bright than the original bluish one.

[combine1237]

Sorry for the late response I just remembered, I kept trying to use the wrong password when accessing the site. In the meantime I was passing through Reno last night and was able to try out both the Kindle and the Kobo. The Kindle was pretty responsive and had a good touch, but it felt a bit closed walled, I then moved on to the Kobo which worked wonderfully, a bit bright, but worked wonderfully until the sensors stopped registering touch in the middle of my examination and would not register from that point on. I could not tell if it was the firmware, or the device itself. This alone was enough to put me off from the Kobo. As long as I do not receive a faulty Kindle, I am pretty sure I can work around the walled garden for a little stability.

Oh, btw, the Kobo software is reputedly flaky. Honestly, between the two, I'd probably get the PW, but if I got a crap screen, and it was still crap after 24-hours, I'd send it back. Personally, I'd wait for the new Sony probably coming out by next autumn.

Thank you Rizla, and I do agree on the point of the Firmware on the Kobo, but I would prefer not to wait until the fall and would rather settle for the kindle as of right now.

I think there are now some batches with a yellow light which seems less bright than the original bluish one.

Thanks, but the one I tried in Reno had a pretty bluish tinge to it with the light on.

Pretty much settled on the Kindle now.

Thank you both for your opinions.

As far as infrared vs capacitive touch - one of the reasons I chose a Kindle Paperwhite over a Kobo Glo, despite the prolonged wait for the Kindle Paperwhite to become available in my country, was that the capacitive screen doesn't start turning pages when a fly or a cat hair lands on it ... and in my experience, infrared touch screens just love skipping tens of pages if a bug lands on the screen.

[samhy]

Originally Posted by Elysium

As far as infrared vs capacitive touch - one of the reasons I chose a Kindle Paperwhite over a Kobo Glo, despite the prolonged wait for the Kindle Paperwhite to become available in my country, was that the capacitive screen doesn't start turning pages when a fly or a cat hair lands on it ... and in my experience, infrared touch screens just love skipping tens of pages if a bug lands on the screen.

I agree with the infrared screen. Once the Mini was crazy because of snow flakes (I shouldn't have been reading under the snow, in the first place).
But I still can read when waiting for a bus when it's freezing cold and I don't have to remove my gloves. I also can read while soaking in a warm bath (highly recommended after waiting for said bus), my Kobo being in a ziplock bag.
Those are huge points for me which outweigh the snow on the screen anytime, but YMMV.

[combine1237]

Thanks, but I picked up a kindle today. Can anyone confirm if the screen looks normal or should I post under a different category?
If different category how is the thread closed?

Thanks again.

Combine, if you'd like to post about your screen here, it's the Amazon Kindle sub-forum. Judging by the way the majority of forums work, if you simply leave this thread alone, it will "die" of its own accord - no need to have a moderator lock it.

[GeekyGirl]

My post might have been more helpful if I'd replied before you made your purchase, but I just saw it today and thought I'd post anyway.

I've been a B&N Nook reader for 4 years and due to myriad technical issues, not the least of which was some low-level "support" person somehow deleting my entire library, and an article that someone posted here about a proffered offer to buy B&N but not Nook or ebook division, I tried a Kindle Paperwhite. And I would never go back. Yes, what you say about the "walled garden" is correct, but I find that both the customer support and the ability to sync both page number as well as highlights/annotations EVERY TIME totally made me thrilled with my purchase. I'm a writer and I use highlighting/annotation a lot and now I have the ability to access all of it online, even for my sideloaded content. For me this was my overwhelmingly decisive factor.

As to your questions about the bright spots on the screen, let me offer this. I really like reading on eink screens and so my eyes were not seeking a bright background. So I keep the light at almost the lowest setting in bright light, with maybe enough to make the text "pop." And in low light I turn up the screen only enough to easily see the text. Personally, I don't like reading on the screen when the light is turned all the way up and this is the only time that the spots at the bottom are visible, at least to me. I also don't like reading in total darkness, which is why I rarely need to turn it up.

Your uses may be different, but I thought I'd offer this as you're getting use to your Paperwhite.

There are only two things that I don't like about it–that they decreased the onboard storage from 4 GB to 2 GB and that they still refuse to include a microSD slot. If I could add a microSC card, the Paperwhite would become my ONLY ereader from this point forward. I do use the Kindle app iPad app at times, if I need to carry my iPad with me for the day and they've done a very nice job with that as well.

Here is a site that publishes a list of free and cheap Kindle books every day. The deals are typically only good for that day though, and sometimes, if Amazon decides to change it during the day, the free or cheap pricing might not last the whole day. I've found some very interesting books through this link. Check in the afternoons though, as there is always a second round of books posted then.

www.pixelofink.com

Home this was helpful.