And another head-desky review! From gizmodo au:
"Kobo Aura H2O Review: A Gorgeous, Waterproof Screen That No One Needs"
First, they dismiss the relevance or utility of a gorgeous screen, because it's "only" for reading:
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As beautiful as the Aura HD’s screen one, the H2O manages to step it up. In terms of light distribution, there’s quite a bit less grey patching near the bottom of the screen, and that lovely, LED glow sits virtually even from corner-to-corner — an impressive feat in front-lit world.
And with a resolution of 1430×1080 at 265 dpi, text looks virtually flawless. Which is great, but it’s also important to note that this is just text we’re talking about. Pristine resolution seems wholly unnecessary where e-readers are concerned. You’re not trying to achieve perfect image reproduction — you just want to be able to read the damn words on the page. And you don’t need imperceptible pixels to do that.
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But the keyboard, of course, is important, for some reason, in a way that the beautiful text rendering is not:
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The keyboard is not great. It’s nitpicky, certainly, but the Kobo keyboard isn’t staggered in the way your laptop’s keyboard is or even a Paperwhite’s. Are you going to be using it a lot? Almost definitely not. But when you do, the perfectly aligned, stacked keys are just off-putting enough to be noticeable.
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Because of course we spend a significant amount of our time on a Kobo keyboarding, right? Right?
(Out of interest: I've never really noticed the keyboard. It works for typing in several characters to find a book. That's all it needs to do.)
They also think that the Kobo Store is a really important issue, but mostly for very heavy readers. (Hint, folks: find Apprentice Alf. Befriend him.)
The one comparison pic with a Kindle has the Kobo with a delicate serif font and the Kindle with a hefty slab-serif.
Their conclusion:
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Sorry, Kobo. You made a beautiful thing. It’s just too bad no one needs it. It’s a commendable effort, but unfortunately for Kobo, the Kindle will be keeping its crown for the time being.
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Guess who sponsors the reviews there? Dick Smith. Guess which is the only ereader Dick Smith sells? Not that that would influence the reviews, of course.
Not a single mention of the font and layout options. They don't mention opening any menus or looking at any settings. No mention of how the light is controlled. Etc. Etc. But it hasn't got 3G!!1!