Quote:
Originally Posted by jersysman
I think you might have misunderstood me. I want to see the debate. But when it gets to be personal and sniping, the information flow grinds to a halt.
Thank you for the information you have given me. That is the kind that I need to make an informed buying decision. I am trying to decide whether to get the Aura or wait to see what Sony and Amazon do. Heck, I might get both.
That's why I am here. So, please, continue to give out good information pro or con. I just wish it could just stay in that vein.
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I own the Aura and the Mini, aside from a Kindle PW and an ipad mini. Those are the one I use. In my household we also have a K4NT, a K3 and a PB360. We had also a Nook glow and a sony T1, both have been given to other family members.
Just to give you a background about my experience.
I love the Mini, its size of course, the design of the device is simple but very nice, the haptic is excellent. Although not HD, the display quality is also real good. The software is not stellar, but it is very good and quite stable, I have had very few problems so far, some that I might have caused.
The Aura is a whole different story. Its display is really good, I like the resolution but it is not much better than my KPW display. A bit, but really not much. It is a bulky device, which I knew before buying, I also don't like the design much, but that is a question of taste, and I am using a cover to counterbalance the fact that I could not find a comfortable position for my hands on the back of the device. What I really, really do not like is the main menu, which is the new trend for Kobo as they implemented it now for the Glo too, it seems to me completely disorganized, but from what I understand it is here to stay so I will have to live with it. I am not a fan either, by far, of the page format, you may have read about it elsewhere so I won't develop here. It is just that if you don't like the page format an e-reader gives you, you're in trouble because that 99% of the activity you do with an e-reader is, well, read. I don't know why, and I have really tried hard to understand, but I don't mind the pages on the Mini, I do mind them a lot on the Aura.
To sum it up, the Aura is not a bad device, it is a good device with some serious drawbacks for me, and it is definitely not worth the 169€, which is the official price here in Europe. I think that you end up getting a better value with the 129€ of the KPW.
As to Kobo as a brand.. well, I'd say they have good hardware and not so good firmware, as opposed to Amazon, which has mid-range hardware but very very good firmware. It would be nice if Sony stayed in the race.