Aura NEW Kobo Aura Impressions Thread!

[samhy]

Originally Posted by Candiana

I just want to know one thing: anyone received/seen the pink Aura yet??

In France it's expected to be released on 11/15.

[neil74]

Mine has arrived but I am not home till later tonight. Fingers crossed.

I will not be too fussy as my paperwhite is far from perfect. Ultimately I am after a smaller and lighter device to the PW that has a light so the Aura is probably the only game in town right now.

Let’s see......

P.S Any good threads on here about how to manage getting books onto a Kobo? I have calibre but on my kindle have mostly settled on emailing them over.

[palazzo]

Originally Posted by SeigneurAo

Alright, I've read almost all posts of this thread and the only question left I have about this device :
Is the screen quite "glassy" as it shows in some videos ?
I'm worried about daily use, especially outdoor and with sunlight, reflections and all.
Seems to me the surface is different altogether from previous readers.
Thanks for your feedback.

I was also worried it might look shiny like a tablet rather than matt like an ebook, but it's not shiny.

[CubeDweller]

Originally Posted by Candiana

I just want to know one thing: anyone received/seen the pink Aura yet??

From what I'm seeing here and on Facebook, twitter, etc, I'm thinking Kobo received ~100 black Auras, and that's it.

I hope I'm wrong.

[Rugalb]

You just crushed my dreams with this thread. Cancelling my order now, back to Paperwhite 2. Noooooooo. Totally ruined my day.

[CubeDweller]

Rugalb,

I'm not giving up yet, but yes, the PW2 is Plan B for me too.

[neil74]

It is all compromise; the PW is not perfect mine has uneven lighting all across the bottom.

If my aura is perfect then brilliant, if it is has one or 2 minor things then I’ll have to decide. The size and weight of the aura is an attractive feature for me.

[bartveld]

Well.... I'm still happy with it.

[mr_nihilism]

I'm so unimpressed.

I have already returned one Aura because the seal along the top (where the bezel meets the brownish siding) just kinda flaked off a bit and wouldn't catch the eye so much but for when the frontlight is turned on. Then the light itself shows right through. Very annoying. Naturally, I returned it.

Just came back home and guess what, same problem, only slightly worse. Argh!!

I expect better build quality for $150

Oh, and while I'm at it as far as first impressions go: There is indeed marks on the screen that are noticeable under direct light. In my case both Aura's had the marks on the top 1/3 of the screen. And also there is the darkish line at the top that is there whenever the light is on.

I'll go for a third exchange, but after that I'll just "settle" for a AuraHD

Edit: On the bright side, both devices did not have any stuck pixels.

[jgsmith]

I'm curious why a few people have referred to the PW2 as plan B. I have only owned a Sony and Kobo, and liked them both, but have no experience with any Kindles. Is there a reason I should continue ignoring them?

Jim

[soulfuldog]

The only reasons for you to continue to ignore a Kindle is if a) you don't want the hassle of having to switch format from .epub to .mobi (and convert all your old books), or b) if you have a dislike of Amazon. If neither of those is an issue, then why not consider a Kindle?

Anyone considering the new Paperwhite would be well advised to wait and see what the early adopters think of it though. I'm pretty confident there won't be the same issues there were with the original PW (blotchy screen), but as the early reports of the Aura show, there's no guarantee....

[paola]

sadly I am not too surprised at the glitches, as my default expectation is that when a launch date is announced, production always lags behind, and quality control may be rushed to meet deadlines - indeed I think any preorder should be at a discount.
It may be just me noticing things selectively, but this problem seem to happen with the majority of devices being launched, regardless of brand, which is why I've stopped myself from preordering anything ever again, burned too often... Yet, I still very much look forward to seeing an Aura in the wild, and taking the plunge about Christmas time

[RobertJSawyer]

Went to my local Chapters to see the new Kobo Aura 6-inch E Ink e-reader in the flesh. Overall, it's lovely, although, as usual, Chapters simply doesn't have it set up right to show of the device:

Only public-domain books loaded, most of which lack the standard kepub bells-and-whistles; nothing that demonstrates the new Beyond the Book feature; no dictionary installed; no illustrated books (so no way to test the new picture-zoom feature); no sample Pocket articles loaded; and no placard to tell anyone how much the darn thing costs (it's Cdn$149) -- and the sample had one of the pin-pricks of brightness that people have talked about here.

Still: it's really nice as an upgrade to the Glo. Thinner, smaller (and the Sleep Cover is MUCH smaller in terms of height). The flush bezel is terrific, and I didn't find the glare from it (identical to the bit of glare from the matte-finish screen) was bothersome.

Changing brightness by swiping two fingers up or down works just fine. Marking text is a bit more spritely than before, and more accurate, too, in my quick test. Screen refresh options are now: every chapter (!), every page, every 5 pages, and every 10 pages. Instead of a full refresh (brief inverting of the video), each page change very rapidly dissolves to a faint dot screen (like the ones used to shade areas in comic books, although not nearly as obvious as that). I actually kind of liked the transition, and certainly wouldn't find it obtrusive.

The back of the case has a very fine diamond pattern, almost like lizard skin; it's quite comfortable to hold (much more so than the Aura HD's slick back).

At a glance, font choices seemed the same as on my Glo, although there are now two fonts designed to help dyslexics (instead of just one).

The only Sleep Cover available was a black leather one, but it was in stock, too.

The gray Kobo logo in lower left is much less obtrusive than the stark white one on the black Glo, but I'm sad to see them take out the neat underline in the shape of an open book -- I liked the older version of the logo better. Oh, well.

Overall, a really nice device.

[soulfuldog]

Originally Posted by paola

sadly I am not too surprised at the glitches, as my default expectation is that when a launch date is announced, production always lags behind, and quality control may be rushed to meet deadlines - indeed I think any preorder should be at a discount.
It may be just me noticing things selectively, but this problem seem to happen with the majority of devices being launched, regardless of brand, which is why I've stopped myself from preordering anything ever again, burned too often... Yet, I still very much look forward to seeing an Aura in the wild, and taking the plunge about Christmas time

I was just going to edit my post to ask the question re poor quality control as they rush to get new ereaders out. It really does put you off pre-ordering doesn't it.

Thankfully for me, I'll be getting a new ereader for my birthday in November, so I've time to wait and see both the Kobo Aura and the Paperwhite 2 in person (and maybe even hear if Nook will release a new ereader too) before deciding....

[tls]

Originally Posted by l_macd

The only reasons for you to continue to ignore a Kindle is if a) you don't want the hassle of having to switch format from .epub to .mobi (and convert all your old books), or b) if you have a dislike of Amazon. If neither of those is an issue, then why not consider a Kindle?

Anyone considering the new Paperwhite would be well advised to wait and see what the early adopters think of it though. I'm pretty confident there won't be the same issues there were with the original PW (blotchy screen), but as the early reports of the Aura show, there's no guarantee....

Or you dislike the Kindle fonts and lighting.
The new PW might fix the lighting though, as you said.