Hi everyone,
I have been a Kobo owner for a few years, starting with the Kobo Touch, Kobo Glo and Kobo Mini.
I now own a Kindle Paperwhite 2 since a week. I am extremely pleased. It is overall a superior product to my Kobo Glo (although in all fairness the Paperwhite 2 should not be compared to the Glo but to the more recent Kobo Aura).
The main reason why I wanted to try Kindle was the perpetual software issues and annoyances of every Kobo ereaders. It's beyond me why Kobo can solve some issues while creating new ones in the process. In the meantime, some features such as notes taking seem indefinitely broken.
The pros of the Paperwhite 2 over my Kobo Glo:
- The software is stable, not buggy, and does what it says.
- System is snappier, faster.
- The Amazon store is way above the Kobo store - no comparison.
- The screen contrast is superior and white. The Kobo light isn't really white, it has a blueish tone (not in itself an issue but I prefer the white rendition of the Kindle light).
- It seems solid, you can feel the heft in your hand.
- Wifi is always on, with no noticeable impact on battery life.
- Wikipedia access !!! I am an avid history books reader, and having direct access to Wikipedia by simply pressing on a word is fantastic!
The cons of the Paperwhite 2:
- It is noticeably heavier than the Kobo Glo (and that's why it feels more solid too).
- You cannot turn off the light, although you can lower it down to a point at which it is not noticeable. Not an issue but I find it weird, I prefer Kobo's light button to allow you to switch it on or off entirely.
So the cons of the PaperWhite are quite minimal. Ex aequo with Kobo is PDF reading ability. Kindle does reflow text so that is better, but it did crash on me however. That being said, if I have a PDF to read, I prefer doing it on my tablet anyway.
I am also very much interested in the upcoming Goodreads integration.
After converting my EPUB library into AMZ3 with Calibre, I cannot be happier with the Paperwhite. Count me as a Kindle fan now
