A Good Review for the Vox on The Ebook Reader.com

[Cdesja5]

http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/kobo-vox.html

This is Part 1; the editor promises to post new reviews shortly including comparisons between the Vox, Kindle Fire, Nook Color and Nook Tablet.
Notice that the comparison is being kept to similar eReader tablets and that unfair comparisons to other types of tablets will not be included in the next reviews.


Several YouTube videos about the Vox (from ZDNet, Good eReader, eBook Reader and other eReading blogs/sites)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naUMLeOqT1Q (Vox vs Nook Color)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rb1f...eature=related (Vox vs Kindle Fire)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n26d3...eature=related (Vox Video Review)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk2ftJO_F0I (Vox Review, Overview Performance)

[Laridae]

It didn't look that "good" to me.
Said it compared quite poorly to the Kindle Fire and the Nook.
But we're kind of a captive market here in Canada, at the moment.

[Cdesja5]

I was more refering to the verdict. For anyone not in the States this appears to be the best of the cheap tablets. And it does have a number of things that are positives (in my opinion)...this is an honest review and quite positive.
- can add up to 32 gb memory
- is not a"closed" system like the Nook, can sideload virtually any compatible app ...." The Kobo Vox comes with the stock Android music player that supports common formats (listed below) and the Rdio app pre-installed. You can sideload other apps too, such as Pandora and the other apps Amazon and B&N claim for their tablets. That's the beauty with an open Android operating system"
and " One of the coolest things about the Kobo Vox is how open it is. In addition to the Kobo eReading app, the Vox comes with Press Reader for newspapers and Zinio for magazines. Plus you can install pretty much ereading app you want, including Kindle and Nook. Not to mention the Overdrive app for borrowing library ebooks"
- has an excellent screen
" The high-quality display is definitely the Vox's strongest point. Most budget tablets under $200 have run-of-the-mill TFT LCD screens with lower resolution that aren't nearly as good, especially for reading"
- the processor while slower than the Nook and the Fire works fine except for certain games...
- "The Kobo's single core 800MHz processor handles most tasks fine, ereading, web browsing, pinch-zooming, scrolling, playing music, and even watching movies is very smooth. One thing it struggles with is certain games" (this is not a gaming device it's a reader so I don't see that as a problem)
-

Verdict

The Kobo Vox has turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Between the excellent screen quality and open operating system, it's better than most budget tablets by a mile.

[oldyellr]

Note that the Vox reviewed does not have the December update.

[Laridae]

I would hesitate to recommend the Vox to "most" people.
Your glowing assessment is based mainly on what it Could do, rather than what it Does do. Most people want devices that work intuitively out of the box and will pay a premium for the convenience. That's why Apple is one of the biggest and most profitable companies in the world. (RIP Steve)

I'm a big fan of the Vox too, but that's because I'm having fun playing with it. However, I recognize that I, and most of the others on this forum are not "typical".

You can make a lot of things with a Lego set too - but that is only of interest to people with the time and inclination to Want to make things!

As someone said in another post, for these devices to really be successful on the mass market they need to be idiot-proof, like Toasters.

I love the Kobo because it allows me to obtain books from a variety of sources, including my old Kindle purchases. Funny thing is, I never want to be stuck in a closed ecosystem again. But the reviewer is right, the Vox is less polished. Kobo needs to integrate borrowing and PDF support into their own software. That would merge three collections into one for most people. And, of course, they need to address tge many small bugs that plague the critter. Then there is improving the rest of the system by addressing the less critical stuff.

[oldyellr]

Originally Posted by Laridae

I would hesitate to recommend the Vox to "most" people.

Remember that the complaints and bugs reported here are just a tiny percentage of all Vox's that have been sold. Do you personally know of anyone experiencing these troubles? I don't. Remember the uproar over how slow, bad and buggy and resource-hungry Windows Vista was? We read about it hundreds of times each day on the web. You would have thought it would have brought Microsoft to its knees. However, I personally never met anyone who had a problem.

[mr_nobody]

Originally Posted by oldyellr

However, I personally never met anyone who had a problem.

I would posit that you haven't dealt with many vista users in that case. Talk to an IT professional that deals with vista every day and I think you will get a different story.

It's true we can't know how widespread problems with the vox are. That being said, we have heard second hand stories of large numbers of returns on them which is never a good sign. And problems like sleep of death are a _fact_ which are affecting the majority of voxes based on users here. (and no, I don't believe just because someone has never signed in here, that means their vox is not affected by SOD)

[oldyellr]

Originally Posted by mr_nobody

I would posit that you haven't dealt with many vista users in that case. Talk to an IT professional that deals with vista every day and I think you will get a different story.

Actually, I have heard bad things from IT people, just not the Great Unwashed who buy their laptops at Walmart. That's why I still have XP.

[mr_nobody]

Originally Posted by oldyellr

Actually, I have heard bad things from IT people, just not the Great Unwashed who buy their laptops at Walmart. That's why I still have XP.

Ha ha, maybe this was your point all along...the average person just expects computers to be buggy and slow so _they_ don't complain!

Originally Posted by mr_nobody

Ha ha, maybe this was your point all along...the average person just expects computers to be buggy and slow so _they_ don't complain!

The average person is also less likely to cause their own woes. They buy a Vox, get their books from Kobo, and leave it at that. They are less likely to tweak settings, unlikely to install third party apps, and and will virtually never do any hardcore mods. In otherwords, they fit Kobo's test cases.

When something goes wrong with one of my devices, I realize that it's probably a result of my actions. After all, I simply can't leave well enough alone.

[jsokal]

BWinmill,

I agree 100% with your post.