[ewphoenix123]

My Aura finally arrived today, and I'm really glad I got one.

First Impressions:

This thing really is bigger... I didn't get a proper impression on the improved screen real estate by looking at the screenshots. I love it, the size feels right to me as it is closer to a real book. On the plus side it is just small enough that it fits in the old oversize soft sleeve I use for my Glo.

The weight difference is noticeable, not to bad for me personally, but it might be for some, especially if you plan to read with a cover on. On the other hand it's still lighter then your average real book.

Whats countering that weight increase, for me, is the new back shape, it is more comfortable to hold with my small hands then the Glo.

The screen is great, mine is a tad more "white" without light then my Glo.
Maybe I just got lucky, as there are usually slight differences when it comes to screen whiteness even in the same production batches.

No world changing improvement compared to the Glo when it comes to text rendering, but a bit crisper, and the bigger screen size and resolution is noticeable.
I could reduce my fontsize by two steps and maintain the same level of reading comfort.

The light is close to perfect for me.
No shadows I could see, although I couldn't test it in perfect darkness yet.
It's even, a bit warmer (more yellow/less blue) then the one on the Glo and can be reduced to a much lower level. I didn't have the opportunity to test night reading yet, but a short "under the blanket" test, let's me assume that I gonna read at 4-5% at night.
Little information on the side, as I haven't noticed it mention in detail before, you can change the lightlevel in steps as you do on the Glo, but also by dragging the light slider. This allows you to choose more varied light-levels between those big jumps. Really nice.
Oh yeah, no bright spots for me in the light layer.
One annoying point, You need one more tap to adjust your light level.

I absolutely love the new frontpage.
Books you currently read remain on the front even when you add new books.
Shelves you visited are shown on the frontpage.
Newly added books are shown as a single field and don't clutter the screen.
And you can remove each item you don't want there manually.
I even like the searchbar on top, which I assumed I would hate.
But if you know which books or series you want to read next, you won't have to browse through the shelves anymore, just enter the title or series name (or author).

I really really hope other Kobo devices get this Frontpage design aswell, chances are imo pretty good as the whole concept looks like a perfect example for responsive ui design, which makes it easily adaptable to the different screensizes of other koboproducts.

The new keyboard is much better and makes it possible to use the searchbar properly.

Bootup time, book opentime and pageturn speed are identical to my Glo.
BUT I replaced my internal Glo SD Card with a faster one, which gave it actually a slight speed improvement. So the Aura may actually be slightly faster then the average Glo, but the difference is minimal. So the important impression here is, that it is not slower, as some were afraid.



And now to the point I was most worried about... the slippery back.
Well... It's actually not that bad.
Most reports make it sound they switched materials in a drastically, and for people that came from the amazing padded back of the touch it might seem that way.
But it's actually the same plastic they used for the later batches of the white Glo (in germany at least).
For those not aware of it, the later produced Glo's that were sold in Germany were a bit more slippery, less soft then the original batches sold in f.e. France. The difference is minimal.
I had acer tablets that were much more slippery.
Might be a different experience for people who have sweaty hands, but I was expecting much worse.


So is it a must have device?

It depends greatly on your reading habits.
If you read mostly during the day or in slightly dim conditions and usually use a normal to small font-size, imo the Glo is a great device for you, especially considering the price difference.
The Aura will be generally a bit better and offer more text on the screen, plus a better Frontpage interface but not so much that it will really matter for you.

If you regularly read in darker environments, or use a bigger then usual font-size the Aura really becomes a much much better device for you.