[Derf]

So I was showing my Kobo Clara to my sister, and she said it was 'neat', but asked me why I didn't get a Kindle. I tried explaining to her all the benefits I saw, but she just shrugged and said 'yeah, but I mean, I would probably just have gotten a Kindle.'

Then I came came across this review from PCMag back in June of "The Best eReaders of 2018", where they rank the 2015 Amazon Paperwhite gen 3 as 4.5 stars, and the new 2018 Kobo Clara HD as 4 stars.


They cited the Kindle paper white as an Editor's choice award winner, with only 'no adaptive lighting, waterproofing, or Audiobook support'.


They said less good things about the Kobo, although it satisfied all the 'Pro' factors of the Kindle Paperwhite, and dinged it for not being waterproof and having an 'awkward' Overdrive interface.


OK, Kobo only JUST released a firmware update to allow Overdrive support on the Clara HD. So I wasn't sure if the reviewer meant that it was difficult to check out library books on the computer and then transfer them over to the Clara, or if they were confused about the capabilities of the Clara, because at the time it did not really 'support' overdrive on the device.

So I dug into the actual review of the Clara HD. And it begins with :

Kobo's new $129.99 Clara HD is the slimmest, lightest, and most peaceful way to read your e-books this summer. It's the e-reader boiled down to the essentials: a sharp screen in an easy-to-hold body with long battery life. Unfortunately, the Clara HD isn't waterproof. None of the e-readers available at this price point are, but given that Kobo pioneered water-resistant e-readers with its H2O models, it would have been nice to see. You'll have to jump up to the $179.99 Kobo Aura H2O for that.

The Clara HD also doesn't support audiobooks, but neither do its competitors in this price range. For audiobooks on an e-reader, once again, we suggest the Kindle Oasis. It would be our Editor's Choice for midrange ebook readers, except for one thing: Amazon's crushing dominance of e-book sales in the US, and its increasing role in publishing new books. This means for most people, Amazon's is a more convenient option.

They are basically saying that Amazon is the best, and anything that isn't Amazon or can't access Amazon is therefore not capable of being the best. Like if someone said "A Chevy is a good car, but it isn't a Ford, therefore the Chevy is not as good as the Ford." To me this logic does not compute.

They go on to say

Kobo is a big deal in several countries outside the US, most notably Canada. It runs its own e-book store, which recently had everything we looked for that isn't published by Amazon.

So.... if it can access all the books that are on Amazon, not specifically published by Amazon, you're rating the quality of the eReader (the topic of this article) based off the fact that the eReader can't access Amazon only self-published content.

And so it seems like PCMag is shilling for Amazon. Pushing more people who might be interested in getting a eReader to go for Amazon's Kindle based off the fact that you can read more fringe content on the Kindle than you can on a Kobo... ignoring ALLLLLLL the other salient good things about the Clara as a reading device.

It just made me frustrated.

What do they say about actually using the device? How about the newest technology to hit eReaders, color shifting night lighting, to hit the scene since 2015?

The Clara HD's color-changing front light is a great strength. The Barnes & Noble Nook Glowlight 3 does the same thing, but Amazon's still committed to serving you blue light only.

That's it. A sentence! You dinged the Kindle for NOT having it, but barely glanced over it on the Clara, like an afterthought. No mention of how it affects your reading at night, just a mention that it does it, like the B&N nG3. Tell me you actually used this device to test some reading on?....

Kobo's user interface feels like the Ubuntu of ebook readers. It's very basic.

So apparently ubuntu (the operating system, not Gnome, or KDE the GUI interface) is very basic. Interesting. In also news, all the font adjustment, line spacing, highlighting / note taking, lighting adjustment, reading stats, pocket integration, or ad-free experience of the Clara HD interface is basic. Very basic.

Did the author accidentally copy and paste her notes from the Nook review?

She concludes :

Amazon and Apple own 92 percent of the e-book market in the US, and Amazon has also become one of America's largest publishers. You can't read Amazon or Apple e-books on this e-reader. That makes Kobo more of a niche choice for people who want to avoid the Amazon ecosystem. That said, the Kobo Clara HD illuminates your reading with a warm, color-changing light, but can't get past Amazon's superior ebook selection.

And that is her takeaway. Its a niche product for people who don't want to drink the kool-aid of everyone else, so drink up...

I know this is a rant, but seriously, the bias is just a little over the top, no?