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rogerinnyc · 09-13-2016, 10:46 PM

Received my Aura One two days ago, already owning a Kindle Voyage and a Kobo H2O. Short assessment: I love it! I'll fill in more details later, but the look and feel is wonderful, and I love the size. Folks are comparing screen quality. My humble opinion is that nothing beats the Voyage for contrast and sharp text. But I'm not reading the A1 next to it. The A1 looks more like a printed page than either the Voyage or the H2O, both of which (again, IMHO) have an electronic, slightly tablet-y view to them. Yes, the A1 is slightly grayer than the H2O, but it is also much brighter, and the text is very sharp -- albeit lower contrast, I think, than the H2O. So this gets very much into the realm of personal preference. To me, it looks more like a printed page than either the Voyage or the H2O.

In addition, I love the waterproofing (without the port cover), the larger size, the flush bezel, the Pocket synching, the GeoffR patches, the choice of fonts and fine control over font size, line spacing and margins. And the new twilight light adjustments, to get rid of the blue light, really is surprisingly nice and useful.

Downsides? I wish I could download issues of the NYTimes when I go outside. Because of Apprentice Alf, I don't particularly care about ecosystems, but Kobo's lack of periodical support is a negative. On the other hand, I have found that Pocket works significantly better than Push to Kindle for articles, so that's score one for the Kobo system. And the new OverDrive support is pretty cool. Ergonomically, it's a bit of an adjustment (for me) for one-handed use, because of the size and the narrow bezels. In truth, I think both the H2O and, certainly, the Voyage, are easier to hold in one hand, but again, that's not slowing down my appreciation for the A1.

In sum, if you have the disposable income, I would get the A1. If you already have the H2O, it's not really an upgrade save for the flush bezel, the larger size and the non-blue light adjustment, so you have to assess for yourself whether that's worth $200 plus. The Voyage is way more portable and is unmatched in screen quality and text contrast, but for all of the above reasons it's not presently going to be my reader of choice at home.

09-13-2016, 10:46 PM	#496
rogerinnyc Addict Posts: 229 Karma: 944808 Join Date: Apr 2009 Device: Kobo Libra 2, Forma and Aura One; Kindle Voyage; Galaxy Note 10	Received my Aura One two days ago, already owning a Kindle Voyage and a Kobo H2O. Short assessment: I love it! I'll fill in more details later, but the look and feel is wonderful, and I love the size. Folks are comparing screen quality. My humble opinion is that nothing beats the Voyage for contrast and sharp text. But I'm not reading the A1 next to it. The A1 looks more like a printed page than either the Voyage or the H2O, both of which (again, IMHO) have an electronic, slightly tablet-y view to them. Yes, the A1 is slightly grayer than the H2O, but it is also much brighter, and the text is very sharp -- albeit lower contrast, I think, than the H2O. So this gets very much into the realm of personal preference. To me, it looks more like a printed page than either the Voyage or the H2O. In addition, I love the waterproofing (without the port cover), the larger size, the flush bezel, the Pocket synching, the GeoffR patches, the choice of fonts and fine control over font size, line spacing and margins. And the new twilight light adjustments, to get rid of the blue light, really is surprisingly nice and useful. Downsides? I wish I could download issues of the NYTimes when I go outside. Because of Apprentice Alf, I don't particularly care about ecosystems, but Kobo's lack of periodical support is a negative. On the other hand, I have found that Pocket works significantly better than Push to Kindle for articles, so that's score one for the Kobo system. And the new OverDrive support is pretty cool. Ergonomically, it's a bit of an adjustment (for me) for one-handed use, because of the size and the narrow bezels. In truth, I think both the H2O and, certainly, the Voyage, are easier to hold in one hand, but again, that's not slowing down my appreciation for the A1. In sum, if you have the disposable income, I would get the A1. If you already have the H2O, it's not really an upgrade save for the flush bezel, the larger size and the non-blue light adjustment, so you have to assess for yourself whether that's worth $200 plus. The Voyage is way more portable and is unmatched in screen quality and text contrast, but for all of the above reasons it's not presently going to be my reader of choice at home.