[Stridr]

I'm trying to decide between the Kobo Aura and the Kindle Paperwhite v.2. I have a lot of books that are in epub format, and so this makes the Kobo Aura tempting. Another big plus for me is that the Aura has 4 gb of memory and the ability to expand memory with an sd card.

So assuming the interface is as good as nearly as good as the Kindle Paperwhite v.2, that would be my choice.

Unfortunately, I don't have anyway to to "test drive" an Aura. It's not carried by any local stores, and I don't know anyone who has one.

I have had some experience with the Kindle Paperwhite v.2. I bought one as a gift for my Mom and spent some time putting books on it and playing around with it before giving it away.

My plan was to get one for myself also if I really liked it. However, I found it was more of a pain than I expected to conver the epubs to Kindle files. I was able to do it, but it would be real inconvenience to have to do this continually. Also, the memory of the Kindle filled up real fast. And while things worked fine at first, there were problems within a week... Turns out that for the Kindle to operate properly, you need to leave a lot of free space in the memory, because Kindle needs to fill this with various system files.

But I basically liked the Kindle's interface, most especially it's "page flip" feature. that lets you stay on the page you are on, while simultaneously flipping forwards or backwards in the book. (While you are flipping forwards or backwards in this mode, you're in a new somewhat smaller window, imposed on top of the existing page. The effect is similar to being able to just keep your current page in a "real" paper book by keeping your finger there, while you temporarily go backwards or forwards to check something.)

Does the Aura have a feature like this?

Also, generally, how does the Aura's interface compare with the Kindles? Is it in the same ballpark when it comes to performance and convenience?

I spend enough time screwing around with settings, troubleshooting, etc. on my smartphone and on my computers. When I want to read, I just want to spend my time reading without having to fiddle around with anything, so a I favor a smooth, reliable interface that will work "out of the box" without requiring me to do lots of tweaking, etc.

Does the Kobo Aura fit the bill on this?