Is it worth the risk purchasing a Kobo?

[Katel]

Solicitous you say Kindle is only available in the US. I see you're in Tasmania and I'm in Victoria but the Kindle is widely available here in stores, particularly Dick Smith. Maybe those stores are not in Tasmania.?

Rainio, about the Kobo Touch I'm totally new to ereaders, not technically adept, and have only had my KT for about two weeks, but I do like it. I find it responsive, the pages turns fast, and it's easy to navigate. I do find the e-ink screen disappointing in that it's dark and needs a light, but then perhaps they are all the same across the board, I don't know. I also have some trouble getting the wireless connection to work, sometimes it does and some times it doesn't but that might be a glitch in my device. I love the sound of the Glo and am just spitting chips that I didn't know it was coming out before I bought the KT.

Oh one more thing my first and only experience with Customer Support has been abysmal as their communication was so incomprehensive , and my problem was solved on the boards here.

[Katel]

Sorry for that green toothy smilie at the top of my previous post, I don't know how it got there. Still learning the ropes around the boards. Insert embarrassed face here, now the smilies won't work, lol.

[murg]

I like my Touch. I've managed to work around most of the problems with reading ebooks, or just learned to ignore them.

Kobo hits my main requirements for an eReader: sideloaded books and ePubs.

I'll probably be getting a Glo at some point, although I'm very annoyed at the AUD$30 premium we're having to pay in Australia. There is no good reason for this, other than the local distributor profiting at our expense. So, I may wait until the price drops before getting a Glo.

Kobo's customer service and firmware development and release processes need a lot of work.

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by Katel

Solicitous you say Kindle is only available in the US. I see you're in Tasmania and I'm in Victoria but the Kindle is widely available here in stores, particularly Dick Smith. Maybe those stores are not in Tasmania.?

Sorry, my bad, I was actually referring to the new Kindle Paperwhite with the new funky light. AFAIK it wont be available internationally until sometime next year. And of course the Nook isn't available at all (glowlight or not).

[Sharkus]

Firstly, I do work for Kobo, so my views could be seen as biased, but hopefully they won't be.

My first eReader was the original Kobo, and I rather enjoyed using it. It's still going strong, now in my Mother-In-Law's hands and she seems to enjoy it too.

I now have a Touch and I'm happy with it. I read on it daily during my commute and haven't had any real issues with it. I can read on it, and that's what it's all about.

You could say it's partly ironic that I like the Touch as I'm actually on the team responsible for the iOS application, so you'd expect me to use the iPhone / iPad version of the app, but I don't. I personally find the iPad too heavy and a bit too large, and the iPhone a little too small. Perhaps the rumoured iPad Mini might be in the sweet spot, size wise, but I think I'll still stick to my Touch.

[framboos]

Happy, satisfied users who don't have any problems with their Kobo will much less likely go online, look up this specific Kobo forum and share how content they are with their Kobo Considering this forum is not overflooding with issues (compared to how many Kobo's are sold), I think it's safe to say the Kobo operates well enough to buy !

I have a Kobo Touch since a few weeks and am a happy user. It worked perfectly out of the box and with the Kobo store - like probably most Kobo users will be using the Kobo. I had some issues when I tried to put my own ebooks on it and the 2.0 firmware thats how I found this forum.

[thp1017]

First, I absolutely love my KT (and the original Kobo1 before it), and will definitely be upgrading the to the Glo this fall.

With respect to the "risk", I think a lot depends on how you want to use the device.

I've only ever sideloaded books that don't have DRM. Since I don't use the Kobo Desktop software, I don't get forced to update the firmware - I'm actually still running 1.9.14! And if you are *somewhat* technically literate, you can easily roll back the firmware if needed. So if you're happy to sideload books, and update the firmware using either the sync tool, or manually, after other guinea pigs on the forum say its okay, then I think the Kobo is a great eReader.

If you want to purchase books on the device, or download via Kobo Desktop, however, things are probably trickier, given the current approach by Kobo to force the firmware update... maybe you can copy over DRM-ed books via ADE? I don't know if that works, or how difficult that is, maybe someone else can chime in?

[Mrs_Often]

I fiercely love my Kobo Touch! Yes, most firmware versions have bugs,
some more annoying than others, and yes, Kobo Customer "Care" is a bunch of bollocks (most of the time)...

But oh. The device is great. I keep in mind that Kobo is still young, and that it's adding lots and lots of functionality to the device's firmware because Kobo's customers are asking for more. And of course, building more features into a device will cause bugs. You could say debugging doesn't work very well and I would agree, but I stay patient because eventually the firmware will be updated and problems will be solved... Yes, new problems are likely to be introduced with more new functionality, but I do see the problems becoming less and less. The current firmware is still problematic, but the newest firmware that is only available to certain Kobo Touches (new ones, and the ones in Japan) is very very stable and very near to perfect.

As for the customer "care", if you open a ticket you might get lucky and receive a response from someone who actually knows what they're talking about. But more likely, you could get automated reply about something else entirely in which case: your problem will be solved here on the forums, and much faster too.

Is it worth the risk? If you're patient and can see the whole picture: yes, absolutely. I have not seen another device that has hardware that is as lovely. The quilted back is just delicious, and so so comfortable to hold. The colours are nice. It's just a lovely design. The firmware navigation is great (and where it isn't great, improvements are being made). It's just a matter of time until the firmware is absolutely perfect and I know that Kobo won't stop trying until it is.

I could understand if you'd choose Amazon instead. Amazon just works, there's no hassle or wait.. but it's boring. Personally I think the Kindle hardware is ugly. Amazon site is a big fat waste of eyesight, it's full of all sorts of everything on one page so much so that I just don't know where to look (well, after a while I've learnt to ignore everything but the few things I'm looking at).

Originally Posted by miquele

How does bookmarking, highlighting work? Is the text clipped comparable to the Kindle or how can I 'export' the highlights? How is the dictionary support? Is there one pre-installed? Are there any good Spanish dictionaries out there? Ah, I wish I knew if all that works well, otherwise I could you try to find somebody carrying a Paperwight to Europe...

I just wrote this for another thread:

Originally Posted by Mrs_Often

On the touch-devices (Touch, Glo and mini), you bring up "selection mode" by either (a) tapping-and-holding a word or (b) swiping down the screen (top to bottom, just a few cm is enough).

a) the word is now selected, and the dictionary has automatically popped up with its definition. Also, a menu bar opens at the bottom of the screen, including icons of: a highlighting pencil, a note page, a magnifying glass and a facebook logo. Highlighting the word is as simple as hitting the pencil, to make a note, just hit the note page icon. A screen comes up with a keyboard and a field to type your note into.

b) The selection mode as described above (with the menu at the bottom of the screen) is now active, but no words is yet selected. In this mode you can select any word by just tapping once (no tap-and-hold necessary [this is also true once you're in the selection mode via method (a), after closing the dictionary popup]). When one word is selected, the dictionary pops up. You have to close the popup, and then the word will be underlined and the beginning and end of the word have balloon type things attached. You can drag those balloons to select more words.

There is also a list or index somewhere of all the notes (and highlights??) you made for a particular book, but I'm afraid I can't tell you much more about it as I've never used it myself. I do recall reading on this forum somewhere that currently that list of notes has a very strange and unpredictable way of ordering itself (not alphabetically, not chronologically...)

I'm not sure about exporting notes as I've never done that. I do recall seeing a post on this forum somewhere about extracting notes via Calibre... Maybe a search for it would answer your question.

And the dictionary support is talked about here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...440&page=8#120

In short, there's (at least) English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, Italian, and Portuguese, and all languages translate to and from English, and all languages have their own dictionary (English word look up; French word look up etc).

[david_e]

I, too, was (am?) a bit apprehensive based on comments, but I also realize people only get back what they give.

Are there bad customer service reps? Of course, but there are also customers with unreasonable demands and expectations.

[ottdmk]

I consider it worth the risk. I'm running with 2.0 firmware, and other then the "wrong cover bug" I don't notice any problems. Are the page turns on sideloaded books slower then they used to be? I guess so. I never really noticed. (So I may or may not notice it a lot when the upgrade comes out.) With the exception of the cover thing, it just works for me. I download at least a book a month from Kobo (the free book club one.) I download books direct from gutenberg.org with the built in browser. I borrow library books using Adobe Digital Editions. It all just works.

The Touch is a great e-reader at a great price ($99 here in Canada, and you might even get a $15 gift certificate with it.) The Glo looks extremely promising and is very competitively priced. My advice is go for it.

[Graycee]

I love my Kobo Touch. It has worked great for me and I find it very easy on the eyes.

Originally Posted by murg

I'll probably be getting a Glo at some point, although I'm very annoyed at the AUD$30 premium we're having to pay in Australia. There is no good reason for this, other than the local distributor profiting at our expense. So, I may wait until the price drops before getting a Glo.

You're forgetting about GST, which brings that price difference down to about $17, going by Collins' launch pricing. Then there's all the usual additional about higher wages, the smaller market slightly affecting import costs and the almost certainty that it'll stay at RRP for about a month before Officeworks and JB start discounting.

All in all, far less of a price difference than, say, Kindle pricing.

[murg]

Originally Posted by cyvros

You're forgetting about GST, which brings that price difference down to about $17, going by Collins' launch pricing. Then there's all the usual additional about higher wages, the smaller market slightly affecting import costs and the almost certainty that it'll stay at RRP for about a month before Officeworks and JB start discounting.

All in all, far less of a price difference than, say, Kindle pricing.

After I wrote that, I did think of the GST. But Collins (the distributor) is paying the GST on their cost, which will be somewhere in the 30% to 50% of the retail price (the Canadian price).

Import costs are relatively minor. Since the units are coming from Taiwan/China, it shouldn't cost that much more to ship to Australia, even if they are air freighted (the product doesn't weigh that much, and airfreight will be under $5/pound ($10/KG)).

The higher wages thing is a furphy. Collins doesn't have that many people dealing with the product (roughly equivalent to the people needed to handle pbooks). There is no real marketing in Australia.

[syber]

Hello rainio
I am a newly minted Kobo Touch user, in fact I got mine last week. I too held off because of some negative reviews I had read regarding customer service.. The Kobo I have has 2.1.1 on it so I haven't experienced any problems other have had. All I can say is that I have had a fantastic experience with my Kobo so far. I believe I made a great decision in getting the KT.
Cheers

Originally Posted by murg

After I wrote that, I did think of the GST. But Collins (the distributor) is paying the GST on their cost, which will be somewhere in the 30% to 50% of the retail price (the Canadian price).

Import costs are relatively minor. Since the units are coming from Taiwan/China, it shouldn't cost that much more to ship to Australia, even if they are air freighted (the product doesn't weigh that much, and airfreight will be under $5/pound ($10/KG)).

The higher wages thing is a furphy. Collins doesn't have that many people dealing with the product (roughly equivalent to the people needed to handle pbooks). There is no real marketing in Australia.

I guess so. I was just mentally running through the usual reasons given for Australian pricing. Don't forget, too, that our disposable income is generally higher in Australia than other Western countries, which often comes into play with Australian prices.

It's different with different products, though. I work at one of the larger electronics retailers in Australia, and our cost prices (incl. GST) are sometimes more than the cost of importing identical units from US retailers (freight and all).