Just wanted to share some tidbits about my new Kobo Clara HD.
1) the back cover is hard plastic. This often gets knocked as one of the complaints about the device. But then, I've seen many of the Kobo back covers get knocked. The main issue with the Clara is that it has a strange stippling pattern for grip, but isn't that grippy, especially when your hands get sweaty.
Well, I found a solution. PlastiDip. If you have the cojones, take off the back cover, and lay down a couple coats of black Plastidip. PlastiDip usually peels right off things like clearcoat on cars, or metal wheels, but on a plastic cover it adheres very well. It gives the cover a nice rubbery, tactile feel.
2) The built in SD card is a Sandisk Edge 8GB.
I don't have crystaldiskMark, since I'm on a Mac, but I have a similar program. Here is the speed test results for the Clara.
It isn't that great.
I replaced it with a 32GB Samsung Evo Plus card, that has faster speed tests.
From off, the Kobo boots up faster now. I've got my eyes out to see what else might be faster too.
3) the battery is a 1500mah 2.8mm x 54mm x 83mm 3.7V lipo. So far it is getting great battery life, but it may be possible to actually fit a larger battery.
4) there is a woman who posted a great fix for the Clara HD. Search youtube for 'kobo clara fix'. She describes putting electrical tape on the sides of the screen. And I've heard from others that this works!... I was anticipating having to do this too, but I found that actually, if you just take off the back cover and press the backside of the screen against the front bezel, the side lighting disappears. It seems that the double sided tape there just needs a little more help. So, I don't even need to wrap my screen in electrical tape. Just one other possibility for those inclined to try to fix the issue.