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bradbase · 07-31-2010, 08:06 AM

I'm incredibly happy with the Kobo. I bought it two nights ago and it's doing everything I want of an E-Reader and, thankfully, nothing more (except maybe an easter egg I seem to have found).

The Kobo even rendered a 56Mb PDF thesis I wrote which has broken significantly more advanced devices. Below, at "The E-mail", is an e-mail I wrote to my friends exclaiming my surprise.

I've read posts that complain about what it doesn't do and how people are pleading for more of it. I see the Kobo as a no-frills E-Reader and it delivers on that. The things it doesn't do are, in my opinion, its strengths. I don't need yet another Internet hungry multimedia all-things-to-all-people device that contains my life. If I wanted one I'd have bought an IPad. I did, at first, consider an IRiver Story but it's priced the same as a netbook computer and I love my Clix version 1. Also, how much media can the human body actually take? Between a "phone", computer/laptop, MP3 player, MP4 player, wretched IPhones, etc... All of which most people seem to already own. Anyway I seem to have crushed my soapbox with enthusiastic pre-rant... Back to the praise.

In my opinion the Kobo is about $AU50.00 too expensive, but as it came out recently I can understand someone needs to pay for development costs.

The E-mail
===============================
Moving house aggravates one particular bane of my existence... my growing book collection. I love books and like reading. The trouble is that books heavy, they take up space and I don't use them often. In terms of keeping a simple life clear of possessions not owning books is a smart move. Of course the love of books and the desire to keep life clutter free causes me conflict.

Enter the E-Reader revolution. Last night I bought myself a Kobo. The most no-frills E-Reader I can find. The price is on the high end of what I find acceptable, but it's all new tech so I figure someone has to pay for development.

I have found the Kobo to be the solution I had dreamed it to be.

Of course being a techie, and as part of my nature, I have to see where the Kobos limits are. The most challenging document I have been able to find is my honours thesis. PCs struggle to render it and printers worth many thousands of dollars have been known to crumble trying to print it. It's a PDF created by LaTeX and I have vectorised all images in it (except one). Due to the images it's a 56 Mb PDF. File size wise it's significantly larger than an entire book collection. eg; I have downloaded 71 classics incl. Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Carroll, Dickens, Dostoevsky and the like which take up 25 Mb between them.

So, I put my thesis on the Kobo expecting to hang it, get some obscure message about how I should be more considerate to a wimpy specification focused budget manufacturer or maybe even reading the document without pictures.

To my great surprise and complete astonishment, I have been able to read my thesis pictures and all without fuss, complaint or omissions whatsoever. The pages with the complicated images take a little while to render, but they eventually appear. I can even have the document turned landscape and re-sized without complaint or hiccup. The rendering engine in the Kobo seems to be better than most software PDF viewers I've come across.

EDIT for this post: My images and tables come out pristine however the tables in the book "Freakonomics", Levitt and Dubner, 2005, Penguin Books are far from impressive and in some cases not easily readable. The typesetter for that book needs to do a better job.

I am seriously impressed.

Now I need to book publishers to hurry up and get greater catalogues so I can buy the e-versions and get rid of more books.

07-31-2010, 08:06 AM	#1
bradbase Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Kobo	I'm happy with the Kobo I'm incredibly happy with the Kobo. I bought it two nights ago and it's doing everything I want of an E-Reader and, thankfully, nothing more (except maybe an easter egg I seem to have found). The Kobo even rendered a 56Mb PDF thesis I wrote which has broken significantly more advanced devices. Below, at "The E-mail", is an e-mail I wrote to my friends exclaiming my surprise. I've read posts that complain about what it doesn't do and how people are pleading for more of it. I see the Kobo as a no-frills E-Reader and it delivers on that. The things it doesn't do are, in my opinion, its strengths. I don't need yet another Internet hungry multimedia all-things-to-all-people device that contains my life. If I wanted one I'd have bought an IPad. I did, at first, consider an IRiver Story but it's priced the same as a netbook computer and I love my Clix version 1. Also, how much media can the human body actually take? Between a "phone", computer/laptop, MP3 player, MP4 player, wretched IPhones, etc... All of which most people seem to already own. Anyway I seem to have crushed my soapbox with enthusiastic pre-rant... Back to the praise. In my opinion the Kobo is about $AU50.00 too expensive, but as it came out recently I can understand someone needs to pay for development costs. The E-mail =============================== Moving house aggravates one particular bane of my existence... my growing book collection. I love books and like reading. The trouble is that books heavy, they take up space and I don't use them often. In terms of keeping a simple life clear of possessions not owning books is a smart move. Of course the love of books and the desire to keep life clutter free causes me conflict. Enter the E-Reader revolution. Last night I bought myself a Kobo. The most no-frills E-Reader I can find. The price is on the high end of what I find acceptable, but it's all new tech so I figure someone has to pay for development. I have found the Kobo to be the solution I had dreamed it to be. Of course being a techie, and as part of my nature, I have to see where the Kobos limits are. The most challenging document I have been able to find is my honours thesis. PCs struggle to render it and printers worth many thousands of dollars have been known to crumble trying to print it. It's a PDF created by LaTeX and I have vectorised all images in it (except one). Due to the images it's a 56 Mb PDF. File size wise it's significantly larger than an entire book collection. eg; I have downloaded 71 classics incl. Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Carroll, Dickens, Dostoevsky and the like which take up 25 Mb between them. So, I put my thesis on the Kobo expecting to hang it, get some obscure message about how I should be more considerate to a wimpy specification focused budget manufacturer or maybe even reading the document without pictures. To my great surprise and complete astonishment, I have been able to read my thesis pictures and all without fuss, complaint or omissions whatsoever. The pages with the complicated images take a little while to render, but they eventually appear. I can even have the document turned landscape and re-sized without complaint or hiccup. The rendering engine in the Kobo seems to be better than most software PDF viewers I've come across. EDIT for this post: My images and tables come out pristine however the tables in the book "Freakonomics", Levitt and Dubner, 2005, Penguin Books are far from impressive and in some cases not easily readable. The typesetter for that book needs to do a better job. I am seriously impressed. Now I need to book publishers to hurry up and get greater catalogues so I can buy the e-versions and get rid of more books.