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Yes, I agree with taming, whole-heartedly.
You need to start at the beginning: what Kobo Vox is is a colour e-reader on an open Android 2.3 platform, backed by the Kobo reading platform and bookstore. The screen is an absolute joy and, while not directly supported by Kobo obviously, you can add apps from locations other than the supplied free-only apps store. This open platform means you can install the Kindle Android app, the Nook Android app and the Overdrive Android app giving you a complete reading experience. There is also support for third party newspapers, magazine and streaming music services included in the box. And you can easily import your own ebook content or expand storage to 32 GB using an SD card.
All of the above works perfectly, as far as I can see, right out of the box, no tweaking (other than installing the third party apps). That alone makes this very good value at $199.
As far as I am concerned, everything else is gravy. I have been having some challenges with streaming video, which might be me or might be the current software or the limitations of this entry level tablet hardware. It's notable that there is no Netfllix-like service attached to Kobo Vox and that might tell you something. Having said that, video apps made specifically for Android -- YouTube and Al Jazeera for example -- produce perfectly acceptable on demand and live streaming at full screen.
I can see how lack of access to the Google Android Market is a big downside and, unless that can be addressed, the tablet-y aspects of the Kobo Vox will remain limited. However, as a colour e-reader environment, with lots of extras tossed in, it appears to be very strong value. Given Kobo's agile development model, we can expect additional tweaks and capability in the coming weeks.
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