Kobo Aura H2O - First Impressions

[Haesslich]

Just got mine set up. Perfect screen, and my Kindle usb cable works fine with it. The only snag is that it takes ages to index 400+ files on SD card... just like the Aura and Glo before them.

[Daniel650]

For those who interested in buying a Kobo Aura H2O: Here is my Review (sorry, only german language)

The short version: Buy it! Better than kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Aura HD

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Daniel650

For those who interested in buying a Kobo Aura H2O: Here is my Review (sorry, only german language)

The short version: Buy it! Better than kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Aura HD

Your short version only works if you mange to get a non faulty one. I've had three faulty H20's so I think I'll ignore your short version and wait for the Kindle voyage.

[Anthem]

Originally Posted by robko

Really, aside from Josieb1's bad luck there has been almost no reports of issues with H2O's. That's doing pretty well considering Kobo said it was their biggest numbers of pre-order's ever.

How many orders of devices, do you know? I usually hear almost nothing about any Kobo devices, and I always figured it was simply because they didn't sell very many.

(Besides that original Kobo Wifi update, which everyone talked about back in the day.)

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Anthem

How many orders of devices, do you know? I usually hear almost nothing about any Kobo devices, and I always figured it was simply because they didn't sell very many.

(Besides that original Kobo Wifi update, which everyone talked about back in the day.)

beedaddy, a member on here who lives in Germany posted on another thread that they received two faulty H20's.

@Josieb1: You're not alone (which doesn't help you either). My first Aura H2O had some defect pixels. So I sent it back. The second one I bought locally (MediaMarkt) and it had an entirely defect screen (vertical lines and only a small part of it showed something at all). Perhaps they deliver all broken devices or devices which didn't pass any kind of quality check to Europe?

[mr_nihilism]

Unfortunate, but not really surprising. When Voyage rolls out there will be a few upset individuals. There always seems to be quality issues, a bad batch, etc.

[Haesslich]

Here's hoping her H2O issues mean she'll have a problem free Voyage. I've seen posts like hers on the official Kindle forums, but not a lot.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Haesslich

Here's hoping her H2O issues mean she'll have a problem free Voyage. I've seen posts like hers on the official Kindle forums, but not a lot.

I hope so too, but at least with Amazon it's far easier to deal with returns and replacements, it's not a 'will they' 'won't they' like it is with Kobo.

I finally got Kobo to admit today that if I bought a Kobo from them and I had an issue unless they accepted it was faulty I would have to pay to ship it back to Germany.

What is it with Intl companies assuming that the UK can be just lumped in with Europe! We are an island not part of Europe! Nook is the same, anything bought in the UK has to be shipped to Luxemburg!

Anyway the potential cost of returning a H20 with an unacceptable screen is now far too expensive so that rules out buying direct from Kobo.

[robko]

Originally Posted by Anthem

How many orders of devices, do you know? I usually hear almost nothing about any Kobo devices, and I always figured it was simply because they didn't sell very many.

In the U.S. they don't sell very many which is why you maybe don't hear much. I've never seen hard numbers but they are definitely a bigger player (likely #2 or #3 in the market I'd guess) outside the U.S. so we are talking a decent number of devices.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

What is it with Intl companies assuming that the UK can be just lumped in with Europe! We are an island not part of Europe! Nook is the same, anything bought in the UK has to be shipped to Luxemburg!

Why should the UK be special? We probably have to send it to Luxemburg too from Spain or Sweden, and I bet it's not cheaper. Should Malta and Copenhaguen get a special treatment as well?

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Jellby

Why should the UK be special? We probably have to send it to Luxemburg too from Spain or Sweden, and I bet it's not cheaper. Should Malta and Copenhaguen get a special treatment as well?

I bet it is cheaper from Spain or Sweden, it's between £10 and £13 from here to Germany.

The problem with the UK is we are an island and I'm fed up being part of Europe. If a company sells here they should have a UK warehouse. Amazon do the only companies I deal with that I know of that don't is Kobo and Nook.

Plus it's the shipping distance. Kobo told me that if I ordered from them it would take around two weeks to arrive. It's actually quicker for US customers to get the H20 from Canada that it is for us from Europe.

I don't want this thread to get political and I apologise if it has it's just far too expensive for me as a UK resident to return a Kobo device to Germany.

I've had three devices so far, one of them had a format disc error but the other two were screens issues, my concern is that screen issues are easy to see in front of you when your looking at the device but very hard to photograph, chances are if I got a screen issue with a H20 bought direct from Kobo I would be unlikely to convince them my device was faulty, so I would have to pay the return postage. It's about £5 more to Europe than within the UK.

[simond]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I bet it is cheaper from Spain or Sweden, it's between £10 and £13 from here to Germany.

The problem with the UK is we are an island and I'm fed up being part of Europe. If a company sells here they should have a UK warehouse. Amazon do the only companies I deal with that I know of that don't is Kobo and Nook.

Plus it's the shipping distance. Kobo told me that if I ordered from them it would take around two weeks to arrive. It's actually quicker for US customers to get the H20 from Canada that it is for us from Europe.

To be fair the slow shipping is probably more Kobo than general postage, I ordered an Illumina HD from the Netherlands and it arrived in around 2-3 days much to my surprise.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by simond

To be fair the slow shipping is probably more Kobo than general postage, I ordered an Illumina HD from the Netherlands and it arrived in around 2-3 days much to my surprise.

It's not the shipping speed that puts me off it's the hassle of any potential return (and yes I do have to consider that now) and the cost which is more expensive as it would be going to Europe

The UK registered post next day delivery is £8.45
Europe Tracked and Signed, 3-5 days is £14.10

Those are the cheapest prices which cover insurance.

If I couldn't convince Kobo any device I get was faulty I would have to pay those prices.

And please no one tell me it's unlikely I'd get a faulty device. Remember this would be H20 number four!

[simond]

It's unlikely for most people, unfortunately you've been very unlucky

Yeah, postage costs are high in the UK, but bear in mind that even normal insured postage withing the UK would be £5-6 or so

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by simond

It's unlikely for most people, unfortunately you've been very unlucky

Yeah, postage costs are high in the UK, but bear in mind that even normal insured postage withing the UK would be £5-6 or so

I weighed the parcels going back to Argos, which was just the H20 in a box in a plastic bag, no protective wrapping at all. It weighed around 500 grams

I've already quoted the actual costs but I'll repeat them here, it's £8.45 for the UK and £14.10 to Europe, plus it takes longer to get to Europe so longer for any refund or replacement.

I should not have to risk those costs, that's why I will not buy direct from Kobo. I might have considered it if the return address was in the UK but I won't pay the costs to Europe.

Amazon won't argue about what is a defect. they always ship a replacement first, and return postage for faulty units are zero.

The only UK seller is Argos. Since I have had three faulty units from them I am loath to risk a fourth, certainly not now, I need to wait a few months for hopefully a new batch of units to come through.

I love my Kobo Aura and would dearly love a H20 but I can't get one so I have to make do with what I have and what I can take a chance on, and that is the new Kindle Voyage.

If Kobo even hopes to compete with Amazon they need to do a hell of a lot more than they currently do.