Why do you like the Kobo Aura One?

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What other brand Reader comes (out of the box) with as many tap zone options as Kobo?

Onyx and Boyue. Any decent ereader app has more features. Kobo is obviously far more feature-rich than the horribly cauterized Amazon UI, but that's not high praise. The Kobo UI is okay, but it's not great. Kobo has dropped the ball on the UI. It strikes me as strange that the UI of a company that produces ereaders cannot compare to the UI created by some guy in a back room somewhere. Lack of care or imagination, I suppose.

For example, in Alreader and Coolreader, I set all the outside tap zones to next page. So no matter how I'm holding the device, I can always tap for next page. If I want to go back, I swipe. Simple. But you can't do it in nickel. You can use Coolreader, but it's pretty ugly and lacks the font options of nickle.

The Kobo UI is a lot more configurable and feature-rich than Amazon's, but that ain't saying much.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

Well, that's just the point, if you want to compare the price I think you have to compare them with their offficial covers respectively with leather covers.

I disagree. You can buy a cheap cover for the Aura One. You can't for the Oasis. Not an option. And then the Oasis comes with ads And the Aura One has a far better front-light, etc, etc.

If people want to buy the Oasis, that's great. Like the Gold Iphone. But clearly the Aura is far better value for money.

[chrisridd]

Are Onyx and Boyue really "brand" Readers? Honestly I don't know, I've never seen one.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

Are Onyx and Boyue really "brand" Readers? Honestly I don't know, I've never seen one.

Yes they are. And you can order them from the internet. banggood is a well-priced option for American users. Booxtor sells Onyx Boox in Europe.

Most American readers have never seen a Kobo, yet they exist. And they buy them from the internet.

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

Yes they are. And you can order them from the internet. banggood is a well-priced option for American users. Booxtor sells Onyx Boox in Europe.

Well I'm not sure that being available on an Internet site really qualifies!! But yes, they do seem to be sold by a German site (ereader-store.de). How about support and so on?

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

Well I'm not sure that being available on an Internet site really qualifies!! But yes, they do seem to be sold by a German site (ereader-store.de). How about support and so on?

Then Kobo doesn't quislify either. You're dealing with the same situation as Kobo if you are in the USA. Consumers order from Kobo or Chapters via the internet.

From what I've read, support from both banggood and ereader-store.de is good. If there is a problem, you might need to send it back, but that is normal for any ereader unless you buy it from a physical store. Banggood is Chinese so it takes longer, but they do support the devices. Booxtor who works for ereader-store.de is a constant presence in the Onyx forum and they are constantly updating and supporting firmware. ereader-store.de would be my choice if I was in Europe. I hope to order from them in the future.

These devices are open Android and are not for everyone. But if one wants genuine richness of features and the ability to customize, it is the only way to go. But they may not be as stable as a Kindle or a Kobo, though the new generation does seem increasingly stable.

/Off Topic Off

[JSWolf]

Onyx and Boyue are brand name Readers. There are also others out there that are brand name Readers. Just because you've never heard of such doesn't make them not brand name Readers.

As for tap zones, no Reader that I know of allows customization of the tap zones as some seems to want. Different apps may allow this, but out of the box, not that I know of.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Onyx and Boyue are brand name Readers. There are also others out there that are brand name Readers. Just because you've never heard of such doesn't make them not brand name Readers.

As for tap zones, no Reader that I know of allows customization of the tap zones as some seems to want. Different apps may allow this, but out of the box, not that I know of.

Both Boyue and Onyx come with ereader apps that allow total tap-zone customization. The apps are pre-installed and are therefore out-of-the-box. Alreader also matches nickels font customization. You can even increase font size and weight by sliding up and down the edges of the screen.

[geek1011]

I have some interesting stats from my firmware downloader page. The aura edition 2 has 16 times less firmware downloads than the aura one (since January 2017). The top 2 eReaders seem to be the Aura one and the Glo HD. The bottom one is the Aura edition 2. The Kobo Aura one is most popular in China, and the Glo is most popular in Italy. These stats may be not completely correct because I have only been keeping track of firmware downloads through my page since January, and not everyone manually installs firmware. I also have only 17280 download events so far.

Personally, the only benefit I think the aura one has is the overdrive integration.

Sent from my XT1527 using Tapatalk

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by geek1011

The Kobo Aura one is most popular in China, and the Glo is most popular in Italy.

Interesting. I had no idea the Aura One had penetrated China.

[Katsunami]

I'm still debating if I'm going to keep the KA1 or swap it with my mom, who now has my old KPW1 on loan. While I love the big screen, there's just too much that irks me on the device...

[frenshprince]

Why I love It :

- The bigger screen allows me to read more without touching the device.
Really usefull when you are eating.

- Search in Google.
Better than dictionnaries, since you have pictures.
That's my Kobo's favorite feature

- Tweaking font.
Useful when ebooks are not really well formatted.

Therefore, I wish the screen contrast/sharpness were as good as my Kindle Voyage.
But it's not.

So I still use both.

[Question Mark]

Love that I can sideload fonts and install a custom Chinese-English dictionary. It makes reading books in Chinese so much more enjoyable. Instead of having to carry around a tablet or a paper dictionary in addition to my KA1, I can now just click on characters to bring up their English translation.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=202182

[gilster]

Originally Posted by frenshprince

Why I love It :

- The bigger screen allows me to read more without touching the device.
Really usefull when you are eating.

- Search in Google.
Better than dictionnaries, since you have pictures.
That's my Kobo's favorite feature

- Tweaking font.
Useful when ebooks are not really well formatted.

Therefore, I wish the screen contrast/sharpness were as good as my Kindle Voyage.
But it's not.

So I still use both.

I wish I found the Google search (or, for that matter, Wikipedia) as useful as this on my Aura One. When I try either, I get so much screen flashing and a wait as the page loads, not to mention difficulty in scrolling once it has loaded, that I've just stopped using the feature. I like what the Kindle ecosystem does better -- if the WiFi is on, my Oasis will just pull the top paragraph from the Wikipedia entry, which is often enough for quick reference. It doesn't attempt to load a web page but extracts the text, so that the result looks much like a dictionary look-up. I've gotten a lot of mileage out of this and hope Kobo will adopt something similar.

[radius]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

As a simple novel reading device, I don't see the point. 6" seems adequate and is easier to hold. I imagine the Aura One would be quite ungainly in bed at night!

Some of these have been mentioned already, but reasons I like the KA1:

- better word layout. 6" is a little bit tight and so you tend to get more rivers or awkward hyphenation on some readers
- manga. Reading manga on 6" is possible, but an 8" device is more comfortable and close to perfect. The larger screen size also helps with displaying two-page spreads
- can increase font size while maintaining adequate number of words per page. I am just starting to need reading glasses and sometimes it is just more comfortable to hold my reading material farther away. A larger screen lets me read without feeling liked I only have three words per page.
- good PPI and contrast. Some MR members feel the screen is only mediocre, but I think it is quite good, or at least good enough. Certainly better than the original Aura.
- good physical design. I think this is close to Goldilocks size for me and I like the flat surface of the screen; they also slimmed the width of the bezels. Unlike the previous flagship (Aura HD?) the back is a nice rounded shape and has a grippy pattern molded into it, rather than asymmetrical angles and too-smooth, slippery, finger-print-prone back.

The one major physical drawback of the KA1 for me is loss of pocketability. I often stick a 6" reader in my back pocket temporarily (ie: while walking from car to coffee shop etc) but the KA1 was either a read at home machine or carry in bag machine. It is too big for me to feel comfortable holding it one handed on public transportation etc.