Kobo Glo HD

[Rizla]

Deleted.

[ryuji35]

I agree with Kobo's lighting. My voyage is nice, but I find the backlight too bright. It's like fluorescent. But comparing it to my Glo, I prefer the latter's light. It doesn't strain my eye and it really feels just like a "glow" rather than a light.

[Canuck_in_Japan]

So with the terrible Canadian dollar, $129 is only $100 US. Time for some cross border shopping, anyone?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The problem (for Amazon) would have been what the heck do they do with the PW2? The Glo HD is $129.99 and the PW2 without special offers and just WiFi is $139. So in order to match the Glo HD in price, the PW2 would have to have the price dropped to about that of the Kindle and the Kindle would have to not exist. This would lose significant money for Amazon

They don't need to do anything. If the per unit cost of the 300ppi screen has dropped enough then we will probably see it in the 2015 Paperwhite (or whatever they decide to call it). Question is will they wait until Sept/Oct when the PW2 will be 2 years old or will something come sooner (also does 300ppi mean much to average consumers). It'll still be Amazon with the better ecosystem and book prices against Kobo's more robust formatting options and glitchyer devices (in my experience). Also I don't know how it is in places like the UK & Germany, but in the US Kobo devices are not very readily available at typical outlets for such things and Kobo hasn't seemed inclined to change that. I really wish they could get them into more B&M outlets than some indie bookstores and Family Christian stores neither of which seem to get the new stuff very quickly if at all.

Personally the Glo HD looks to be quite nice, but I don't think I'd want to go back to a 6" screen.

[AnemicOak]

Don't think this has been posted yet...

You Should Take Kindle’s Last Rival Seriously
http://www.wired.com/2015/04/kobo-new-ereader/

WE’RE ALMOST AT a point where the Kindle name is, like Kleenex to tissues, interchangeable with e-reader. That’s fair; it was among the first in the US, and with the quiet retreats of Sony and Barnes & Noble’s Nook line, it’s among the last. But the introduction this week of an e-reader that both matches the top-end Kindle’s marquee feature and severely undercuts its price is a reminder that Amazon hasn’t monopolized the market yet. In fact, it’s got competition that’s more serious than you’d think.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I find that once you figure out a light level that works, you tend to stick with it. I know I do. I only really read with the light sometimes in bed and I use 4% or 5%.

Now the page turn buttons would actually not work as well as swiping the screen when laying on my side (in bed) reading. I don't always have my hand in the same place. But with the touch screen, I just do the same exact swiping and it works very well.

I have a light sensor on my Surface Pro 2 and it's turned off because it's just annoying.

I never stuck to the lighting level on the PW2 (and I don't on the H20) I read in different lighting situations so I'm adjusting up and down all the time. With the Voyage I never have to adjust now. The light sensor works very well as do the page press sensors.

Whatever the differences in the devices Amazon still have the better infrastructure. If kobo want to battle Amazon they need to do more than bring out decent devices.

[ryuji35]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Don't think this has been posted yet...

You Should Take Kindle’s Last Rival Seriously
http://www.wired.com/2015/04/kobo-new-ereader/

Hey, it's just what I've said earlier lol!

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Don't think this has been posted yet...

You Should Take Kindle’s Last Rival Seriously
http://www.wired.com/2015/04/kobo-new-ereader/

That's a really good article. It emphasises why I'll always have an ereader from both Kobo and Amazon and why we really need more than just Amazon.

[GeoffR]

In most of the world the biggest difference between the Amazon and Kobo ecosystems is that the Kobo ecosystem includes the public library. In New Zealand for example the public library system has ebooks from all of the big publishers except Hachette, but epub only.

Ask for advice at my local library about what ereader to buy and the response is "anything except a Kindle."

[MGlitch]

Even if you never bought from another source than Amazon, you should desire competition. Because once that competition is gone, so too are the deals Amazon offers.

[GERGE]

Kobo is the best of the all worlds for me. I check out books and essays from university library (directly from home and office with university VPN, helps greatly for work too), I buy all my novels either from Amazon or from Kobo with discount coupons, when I really want to read a book without waiting I buy within the device (only international ebook store we can use directly in Turkey is Kobo and the indies, I use Amazon with an USA Kindle account and convert with Calibre), our local ebook stores sells with ADE so I can easily use them too...

There are really no other option for me, Kobo is the only thing there could possibly be. But I do envy you guys with choices =)

[Ripplinger]

I pretty much leave the light on my Glo at the same level no matter where I'm reading. It's bright enough for even a dark room, and in other light it just seems to brighten up the page, making it appear more white which improves the contrast of the text.

At my public library in Chicago I believe most (if not all) titles are also available in Kindle format. I never tried borrowing directly to the PW (since I really don't read on it, got it a great price and was more curious about the differences), but I would assume it would be just as easy as downloading to an epub reader. So it's somewhat surprising that not all libraries offer Kindle formats since they are available.

Lately even though I never read on the PW, I've been the majority of my books at Amazon and just transferring to the Kobo Glo. They do clearly have the best purchasing experience, whether you download directly to your reader or sideload like I do.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

In most of the world the biggest difference between the Amazon and Kobo ecosystems is that the Kobo ecosystem includes the public library. In New Zealand for example the public library system has ebooks from all of the big publishers except Hachette, but epub only.

Ask for advice at my local library about what ereader to buy and the response is "anything except a Kindle."

I'm in the UK. My local library (which is a county library) has a woefully inadequate supply of ebooks for lendng. The fiction library total is 1063 titles, I've just checked, with 228 non fiction.

I have no idea If that's the same across the UK but I would never buy an ereader for library books. It's just not worth it.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I'm in the UK. My local library (which is a county library) has a woefully inadequate supply of ebooks for lendng. The fiction library total is 1063 titles, I've just checked, with 228 non fiction.

I have no idea If that's the same across the UK but I would never buy an ereader for library books. It's just not worth it.

I'm in the US so I'm unable to directly access the London Public Library, but the overdrive the LPL has them at 4,600 some odd fiction titles. I imagine libraries here in the states are similarly limited, with major metropolitan libraries having larger selections than their smaller town counterparts.

[chanfm]

Kobo Glo HD sounds wonderful but the absence of an SD card is a real problem. With Kindles, you can keep your excess books in their cloud but Kobo does not offer such facilities. I am wary of loading too many books in the Kobo in case page turning, etc is slowed down.

Is there any way of connecting Kobos to cloud services such as dropbox? It would be nice if we could sync across Kobo devices.

I know that one can keep excess books on a laptop and transfer as and when necessary but I am often without a laptop when I travel.