New Kobo Owner, first impressions coming from PW1

[twowheels]

UPS **finally** delivered my Clara HD last night. After a few hours of reading here are my first impressions moving from a 7+ year old Kindle Paperwhite 1 that was ordered on announcement day.

I like that it's slightly smaller and lighter than my Kindle, with the same screen size. It fits in my pockets much better. That said, I found it slightly harder to hold than the Kindle, it just didn't feel as well balanced in my (proportional to my 1.92m/6'4" frame) hand. The smaller bezel did mean that I had to hold my hand in a slightly more cramped position. I suspect I'll get used to this.

The color changing lighting is VERY VERY nice. It's the only reason I upgraded, and I'm very happy with it. Mine has a slight bright spot near the bottom page numbers at night from one of the warm LEDs, but not too bad, so I think I'll keep it (my PW1 had some uneven shadowing at the bottom, which I got used to also). Putting it side-by-side with my Kindle in a dark room is shockingly different -- HUGE improvement.

I like swipe to adjust brightness (though it's a bit touchy), but REALLY MISS pinch to adjust font size. I didn't think I'd care, but it turns out that I really do. I need to look around the dev forums, hopefully somebody has solved this.

Speaking of pinch to adjust font size, I probably wouldn't care as much if it would keep a more consistent size when switching between books/articles. On the Kindle I seldom had to change it, but it feels like I have adjust the Kobo on every book/article.

Page turns are a bit less responsive than the Kindle, I feel like I have to tap a bit longer to get them to register. I'll probably adapt.

I didn't think I'd care about higher resolution so much, and toying with the PW4 in the stores side by side w/ the PW1 had me convinced that I didn't care about the resolution, but I have to say that it was nicer than I realized and immediately obvious. Not sure why I didn't get that impression when playing with the PW4. I found myself reading with a smaller font than I did on the Kindle.


On my Kindle, I had the official leather cover. The original ones (PW1-3) were way nicer than the current gen cover (PW4), and is very nice. Unfortunately Kobo has far fewer cover choices, and the one I bought (Finite, slim sleep cover), while nice, isn't quite as soft and has sharper edges. Hopefully it'll break in a bit, if not I'll keep looking for something nicer.

Overdrive integration is nice, though the built in search is a bit clunky given that it can only search one library. Easier to find books on my phone and let them auto-sync down. I've yet to get a second library to work, even though I'm logged in to my Overdrive account. I might try setting it up again, but it's clunky, especially entering my 20+ character randomly generated password with lots of symbols, some of which took a bit to figure out... (hint, long press on a similar symbol to find the ones not on the keyboard)... e.g.

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Pocket integration is really cool -- loving that.

News support was nicer on the Kindle. I liked how it presented the stories in a newspaper type of format w/ boxes. The navigation isn't quite as good on the Kobo, but good enough.

I've not yet put any custom fonts on it, not sure if I will.


I'm sure I'll discover more as time goes on, but so far I'm happy with it.

[twowheels]

And looking at my Kindle side-by-side, I can REALLY see the difference in typography -- I can't make the Kindle look anywhere near as nice.

Also, the lighting on the Kindle has a lot more rainbow hue to it that I never noticed before, but seeing them side by side it's glaringly obvious.

It never bothered me before, but I don't think I could go back after this...

[NiLuJe]

The PW1 notoriously had the worst screen ever, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy .

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

The PW1 notoriously had the worst screen ever, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy .

I had one...and didn't realize just how bad the screen was until we got the 2nd gen Paperwhite. The first one's lighting was very blotchy, for lack of a better word.

I wouldn't use it for any comparisons with current models.

[twowheels]

The thing is, I had previously taken it into BestBuy more than once and compared to the PW4 on display (at multiple stores) and didn't see such an improvement that I cared to upgrade, but against the Clara I do see a difference. I wonder if it's the lack of extra glass over the top that makes the Clara feel like a bigger improvement.

[John F]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

The PW1 notoriously had the worst screen ever, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy .

Worse than a Sony PRS 700?

[NiLuJe]

@John F: Okay, you got me there ;p.

(Seriously, though, that comparison is a bit of a stretch, as the tech was drastically different. Unlike the PW1, which just happened to be the first mainstream implementation of the current layer guide approach ).

[John F]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@John F: Okay, you got me there ;p.

(Seriously, though, that comparison is a bit of a stretch, as the tech was drastically different. Unlike the PW1, which just happened to be the first mainstream implementation of the current layer guide approach ).

To spin it differently, if someone asked me what was the worst front lit reader ever, I would say the 700. If the question was more along the lines of your post, than I would have to research it, I just don't recall that many complaints about the PW1, and I would need to revisit all the other Gen 1 front lit/layer guide e-readers.

As an aside, even though it may be considered the worst screen ever, I don't think I would consider it that bad; I think I would pick it over any non-front lit e-reader (if I had to).

[NiLuJe]

@John F: Hmm, interesting, if I recall my usage pattern at the time, I was much fonder of the K4 as a daily driver, but I did suffer through actually using the PW1.

(In short, I tended to use the K4 in direct sunlight and/or decent lighting conditions, and the PW1 otherwise. And man, was it painful. A blotchy, cloudy, ghosty mess).

[HLS]

First thing I noticed when getting a KOBO Clara, Libra H20, Aura H20 Edition 2 6.8" is the screen is so much crisper and nicer than the kindles. I also feel the lighting is better on the kobos. light seems more even. I love the greater control on fonts, margins... etc I really like the Libra. I have it in white which makes it look more expensive than it really is.

I just wish they will make modes over 32GB especially my Kindle Oasis/paperwhite. I have so many audio companions that I almost used up all my 32GB

[Gone]

Originally Posted by twowheels

I like that it's slightly smaller and lighter than my Kindle, with the same screen size. It fits in my pockets much better. That said, I found it slightly harder to hold than the Kindle, it just didn't feel as well balanced in my (proportional to my 1.92m/6'4" frame) hand. The smaller bezel did mean that I had to hold my hand in a slightly more cramped position. I suspect I'll get used to this.

That's why I switched to the Libra H20. For me, the Clara had too small bezels and was slippery. And I found that the 7 inches screen is just the perfect size.