First of all, I wasn't saying that the Vox was in any way as great an experience as a true, full feature tablet. It is rather an "e-reader with benefits" and has the advantage of being inexpensive with a decent screen and easily available outside the US, contrary to the Kindle Fire and Nook Color.
The Vox is first and foremost a reader. The
hardware of the screen was not the reason the responsiveness was lagging. The software update of March addressed the issue. The Vox is quite good for reading outdoors (except for direct sunlight) in my experience, as well as indoors where there is some glare from overhead lighting. That said, of course, it is NOT as good as an e-ink reader by any means. However, I would not read my Samsung in those circumstances but can generally read the Vox.
Besides assorted bug fixes and improvements, v1.9.17 improved the responsiveness of the touchscreen and fixed some connectivity problems. The new software also provides integration with Facebook Timeline. The viewing angle is +/- 89. That is quite good.
1.9.17 update (March 2012):
- improved recognition of page-turn taps
- Home screen correctly remembers your carousel choice
- Improved sync performance
- Fixed render of menu items when a word is highlighted
- Fixed trouble connecting with wifi
- Option to share your reading activity to Facebook Timeline
- Other stability and performance improvements
1.9.16 update (Dec 2011):
- Speed improvements to page turns & when performing searches
- Crisper sharper text
- A new recommended for you list, a listing of books related to your tastes.
- Changes to the home screen
1.9.15 update (Dec 2011)
• Resolved issue with battery level not reporting the correct charge.
• Resolved issue with some customers losing their WiFi connectivity.
• Improved video streaming.
• Improved the stability of device resuming from Standby mode.
• Plus various bug fixes.
A number of other enhancements were added at the same time:
- Updated reading menu
- Dictionary
- New Page themes
- New Fonts
- New Shelf Backgrounds
- Search Store from Android Search
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Here a some other reviews that talk about the screen:
http://ebookreader.org/kobo-vox-review.php
Quote: The other thing you need to check is whether the screen will work perfectly even in outdoor lighting. Like most screens these days, this one is glossy and very reflective. This means that outdoor reading will not be as enjoyable as with an E-Ink e-book reader. However, the screen of the Kobo Vox towers tall above majority of its peers in terms of outdoor reading. It is more than readable unless you expose it to direct sunlight. The text quality is as impressive as that of the Nook Color. The background is lighter and the text noticeably darker than on most other tablets.
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http://goodereader.com/blog/electron...full-hands-on/
Quote: pdate 2: Many people have been asking about the new screen Kobo is using on their Vox. It is a AFFS display which is being billed as Anti-Glare! When we were in Toronto it was raining like crazy and we could not test it out in direct light. The one thing I can say is the screen pops, and I found it way better then resistive screens found in lower-end tablets. The big thing I noticed was that the resolution was tremendous and even with lots of overhead light there was little to no glare at all.
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http://www.squidoo.com/kobo-vox-colo...-tablet-review
Quote: I have been using the Kobo Vox for about 6 months, and it has work great as a eReader Tablet. The screen is very sharp and easy to read text on websites, and eBooks. I think reading eBooks in color is also awesome since it allows me to see the color of a picture instead of just black and white like a eBook reader. I like using the Vox for reading ebooks because it takes less then a minute to start up, and It is always speedy, so I don't have to defrag the hard disk, run computer maintenance softtware, or update it because the Vox is a eReader and not a computer.
http://www.laptopmag.com/review/eboo.../kobo_vox.aspx
Reading Experience
While LCD screens are definitely inferior to E Ink for reading text, the Vox still provides a decent reading experience. The company boasts an FFS+ coating on the display in order to reduce glare in direct sunlight, the same coating used in airplane cockpits.
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IMO, for someone from the general public (not a techie) looking for a "starter" tablet or an inexpensive device to read pdfs (and can't afford a "real" tablet) the Vox is a good choice.