kobo vs nook the never ending question

[bazz]

hello all,
i'm new here and this is my first post.
Before people start flaming me..I read tons of discussions, posts etc...but still cant make up my mind

So I want an ereader..After doing lots of research there were only three left..
the kindle, kobo touch, new nook touch
I dropped the kindle because i want a touch screen.

I thought I made a choice..the nook but then i discovered for some strange reason there is no audio anymore? what were they thinking? (again i know this is not a must but i like listening music when i read)

But ok..i can live without sound. my mp3 player will do fine.

Then there are the battery's..Any one knows if there a lot of failures with them on the kobo or the nook? i'm not living in the us so sending back would cost me a lot

My biggest concern..the formats..How is it possible a device can read epub, pdf etc..but not a simple txt file?
So if i choose the nook..will I be able to read all my downloaded epub books?
Will Calibre work with the new nook?

And maybe as a final question..There are alternatives that are as good as the kobo and the nook in the same price category.? (dont like kindle with their own format)


Tx for the anwers and the never ending efforts on this forum for newbies

bazz

[Zoshka]

I owned the Nook Touch and Kobo Touch and kept the Kobo. Sideloaded epubs work on both devices, but the Nook does an awful job with pdfs, whereas the Kobo has a zoom function that works okay. With formats like txt, it's fairly simple to convert them in Calibre. If it's important, the Kobo has a decent web browser, much easier to use than a Kindle one. Kobo is moving into Europe with the Touch, and those in Australia have ordered through Borders, so they might have the advantage for overseas buyers. I found the Kobo much more comfortable to hold and use, which is the main reason why I returned the Nook, but that's a personal preference. There are a number of video reviews out now for both devices, so you can see how they work in actual use.

There haven't been any battery issues that I've heard of, the main complaints have been ghosting, since both devices don't refresh until after 6 page turns. The good news for Kobo is they just came out with a firmware upgrade that allows you to set the number of page turns before a refresh, they added better touch screen responsiveness, and they're working on adding more font choices. Then, in terms of price, you get a $10 gift certificate when you download the Kobo desktop software to set up the Kobo, so that makes it $20 cheaper, depending on how you buy it.

[SCION]

Have you tried syncing your Kobo with a Kobo app?

Originally Posted by Zoshka

I owned the Nook Touch and Kobo Touch and kept the Kobo. Sideloaded epubs work on both devices, but the Nook does an awful job with pdfs, whereas the Kobo has a zoom function that works okay. With formats like txt, it's fairly simple to convert them in Calibre. If it's important, the Kobo has a decent web browser, much easier to use than a Kindle one. Kobo is moving into Europe with the Touch, and those in Australia have ordered through Borders, so they might have the advantage for overseas buyers. I found the Kobo much more comfortable to hold and use, which is the main reason why I returned the Nook, but that's a personal preference. There are a number of video reviews out now for both devices, so you can see how they work in actual use.

There haven't been any battery issues that I've heard of, the main complaints have been ghosting, since both devices don't refresh until after 6 page turns. The good news for Kobo is they just came out with a firmware upgrade that allows you to set the number of page turns before a refresh, they added better touch screen responsiveness, and they're working on adding more font choices. Then, in terms of price, you get a $10 gift certificate when you download the Kobo desktop software to set up the Kobo, so that makes it $20 cheaper, depending on how you buy it.

[Nanopr]

It would be nice if we can get feedback on your syncing experience from both devices. Can you guys share your feedback? I'm seriously thinking of replacing my PRS600 but both of these devices have come out with bugs & issues that re holding me back.

[Nanopr]

Never mind... I found threads on this topic at tha Nook & Kobo forums.

[Latinandgreek]

I believe that the Kobo can handle more formats than the Nook: pdf, html, mobi, epub, cbr, cbz and rtf, if I'm not mistaken.

[delphin]

Since the Nook STR is Android based, as long as you can root the device, you can load dozens of different reader Apps.

For example, FBreader is free to download from the Android Market and will handle text files.

Even without rooting the Nook STR, B&N may make some of the more popular reader apps available through their own B&N marketplace (as they do now for ezPDF and RepliGo on the Nook Color.)

It may take a little while before some of these 3rd party Apps are tweaked to look their best on the Nook STR's eInk screen, but when they are, I have little doubt that they will give the Nook more options and better capabilities than the Kobo.

[cfrock]

I agree on the Nook's potential in the hack dept; its been out for a short while and its come a long way so far. That said, you really have to commend the official Kobo dev team on the sw updates they've pushed so far. They are unquestionably the most active on this board and actively asking for input from their users. Thats huge in this day and age.

[delphin]

Originally Posted by cfrock

I agree on the Nook's potential in the hack dept; its been out for a short while and its come a long way so far. That said, you really have to commend the official Kobo dev team on the sw updates they've pushed so far. They are unquestionably the most active on this board and actively asking for input from their users. Thats huge in this day and age.

I agree that the Kobo development team deserves credit for being responsive to user requests. Right now they have no choice since the device was introduced with several fairly significant issues relating to missing or buggy features.

At the risk of over simplifying things a bit -

SONY PRS-x50 -> very few bugs at release -> but also VERY poor about responding to users with updated features.

For example Sony users have been complaining about the PRS-x50 readers poor choice of font scaling ratios and lack of user selectable fonts FOREVER, but Sony had done NOTHING.

Barnes and Nobel Nooks -> More buggy than Sony on it's initial release -> but also more responsive to user feedback and feature requests.

For example, unlike Sony, the Nooks now all allow users to select fonts and line spacing, and when users complained about side loaded content not being accessible on the main bookshelf, B&N added this feature for the Nook STR. (and as I said above, with Android available you have other options for things like PDF viewers if you don't want to wait for B&N to improve theirs)

Kobo Touch -> Pretty much still a "Work-In-Progress" at release -> but, development team has been just SUPER about responding here to user feedback.

[Pinecone]

Originally Posted by Nanopr

I'm seriously thinking of replacing my PRS600 but both of these devices have come out with bugs & issues that re holding me back.

Easy, PRS-650.

[ST-One]

Originally Posted by Pinecone

Easy, PRS-650.

My choice as well, if the price had been a little lower.

[Wildgift]

Love my kobo

[SCION]

Originally Posted by Wildgift

Love my kobo

I'm a fan as well!

[octoberdana]

I own a nook classic but didn't like the form factor or home screen of the nook touch. I just purchased a kobo touch and so far overall I really like it. Very comfortable to hold and I like the simple home screen.