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I have both, a Kindle and a Kobo. Actually more than one of each. I prefer the Kindles but not by a lot. There's a lot to be said for the Kobo's. I suspect whichever you get you'll be happy with.
Amazon customer service is great. Kobo customer service is very difficult to reach but once reached they're pretty good. If that's important to you Amazon wins by a wide, wide margin.
The Kobo feels better in my hand. I have both a Kobo Glo and a Kobo Aura. I don't have the Glo HD. Of the two the Aura is the most comfortable to hold for extended periods. In fact it's easily the best ereader in terms of comfort holding it.
The Kobo's have far more adjustments. I have a lot more control over the fonts but no matter what I do with them they never look as good as the Kindles. Kindles just have better screens and better fonts. Of course this only matters when comparing them. When reading I'm happy with whichever I'm using.
Kindles are less buggy. Kobo's have a lot of little problems. Sometimes something works on one book and not the other. But there aren't any serious problems. No show stoppers. Most of the time I just read. Sometimes I have to deal with a problem. Kindles rarely have problems.
If you compare the various stores, Kindle book prices are considerably lower than Kobo book prices. I'm told they have a better selection as well but both have pretty much everything I want so that isn't really an issue.
I like to be able to look up things I read about on Wikipedia as I read and that's trivial on the Kindle. On the Kobo it's iffy, if I can do it at all. Also I get the Kindle with 3G so can do that on the go.
Their dictionaries seem equally good although using them is sometimes easier and the displays are sometimes cleaner on the Kindle. The Kobo has a nice feature in the dictionary that the Kindle lacks: if the definition has a word I don't know I can long tap that and look it up. The Kindle let's me do that in the dictionary when it's full page but the Kobo lets me do that right on a page of the book I'm reading. That's a very nice feature.
Kobo's translation feature isn't as good but it doesn't require an internet connection so it can be used any time, any place. I have 3G so that's also true of the Kindle but without 3G the Kobo's translation feature has a big advantage.
I began with Kindles and I prefer them. I suspect if I'd begun with Kobo's I'd prefer them. They're both excellent platforms. It really won't matter which you get; you'll get the right one.
Barry
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