Aura h2o or voyage

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

For kindle replacements they normally send out refurbished devices.

Unless it's faulty when you receive it, in which case you'll get a new one. But yes, if it goes wrong after 6 months, you'll typically get a refurbished unit of roughly the same age. That's standard practice.

[Poodlemom1]

Originally Posted by stethorn

Can any one tell me about kindle unlimited. I have amazon prime to had a look at what books I could read for free. Chose one call the maze runner and it made me sign upto kindle unlimited? Is this not part of prime.?

Kindle Unlimited is not part of Prime.

[mr_nihilism]

H2O FTW

[sparklemotion]

Just curious if anyone on here is getting both?

[evanft]

Screw it, I'll try to offer a run down of the pluses and minuses of the two devices. I have an Aura HD and I've spent enough time with Kindles to get a feel for them.

Kobo Aura H20
+ Big screen
+ More open. Can read EPUB without conversion
+ Water proof
+ More text adjustments available
+ Can sideload your own fonts
+ Expandable storage
+ Light can be turned off completely
+ $20 cheaper than base model Voyage with ads
- Bulkier than Kindle
- Kobo's ecosystem is not as good as Amazon's.
- Infrared touch screen generally doesn't work as well as capacitive
- Battery life in real world is not as good as Kindle
- Slow page turns relative to Kindle
- Large amounts of wasted space without converting books in Calibre and patching the device's firmware
- Screen is recessed, which can create a shadow on the screen
- Kobo software is often buggy

Kindle Voyage
+ Thin and light
+ Screen is flush with bezel
+ Capacitive touch screen
+ Lightning fast page turns
+ Great ecosystem
+ Great customer service
+ Rock-solid firmware
+ Fantastic battery life
- $200 for WiFi ad-supported model
- Limited text customization
- Unknown if hacking will be possible
- Requires conversion in Calibre to read EPUB
- Can't sideload fonts

[stethorn]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

Just curious if anyone on here is getting both?

I'm tempted, but the kobo is slowly moving ahead of the kindle. Would love to know how kobo have tested the water resistance, for example after a year of use of the case flexing could it allow the slightest bit of water in.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by evanft

Screw it, I'll try to offer a run down of the pluses and minuses of the two devices. I have an Aura HD and I've spent enough time with Kindles to get a feel for them.

Kobo Aura H20
+ Big screen
+ More open. Can read EPUB without conversion
+ Water proof
+ More text adjustments available
+ Can sideload your own fonts
+ Expandable storage
+ Light can be turned off completely
+ $20 cheaper than base model Voyage with ads
- Bulkier than Kindle
- Kobo's ecosystem is not as good as Amazon's.
- Infrared touch screen generally doesn't work as well as capacitive
- Battery life in real world is not as good as Kindle
- Slow page turns relative to Kindle
- Large amounts of wasted space without converting books in Calibre and patching the device's firmware
- Screen is recessed, which can create a shadow on the screen
- Kobo software is often buggy

Kindle Voyage
+ Thin and light
+ Screen is flush with bezel
+ Capacitive touch screen
+ Lightning fast page turns
+ Great ecosystem
+ Great customer service
+ Rock-solid firmware
+ Fantastic battery life
- $200 for WiFi ad-supported model
- Limited text customization
- Unknown if hacking will be possible
- Requires conversion in Calibre to read EPUB
- Can't sideload fonts

You left out under the Kindle Voyage...

- Larger amounts of wasted screen space without using modified fonts and/or jailbreaks

Amazon's margins are pretty big and the line height for KF8 is also pretty big. So those do total up to a lot of the screen going unused and you cannot fix any of this by the way you code your eBooks. You have to embed a specially modified font to fix the line height and you have to jailbreak to fix the margins and with the Voyage, it is not yet known if it can be jailbroken.

Actually, for the Kindle, I would think the ecosystem would be a - as it's more of a walled garden. If you do not remove DRM from your eBooks, then Kobo has more options where to buy eBooks then the Voyage. And if you live outside of the USA, and have access to a library that has Overdrive, you only get ePub. In the US, yes, you do get Kindle eBooks via Overdrive, but a number of publishers only put out ePub. So still, not all Overdrive eBooks are Voyage compatible. This is a big + for the H2O.

Also, we don't know yet how the battery of the H2O compares to the battery of the Voyage yet as the Voyage is not released and the H2O is not released long enough. So any talk of the battery isn't appropriate yet. You cannot go by past devices.

As for page turns, when comparing the HD to the PW2, the HD has a lot more to have to update because of the higher resolution. You now have to compare like to like given that the Voyage has the same resolution as the H2O.

So please when comparing, only compare what we know. We don't know about the page turn and we don't know about the battery. Amazon uses infrared on the Touch and it works very well. Sony has used infrared on some of it's Readers and it works very well. So please don't say that infrared doesn't work well. It does and it's been proven by Amazon as well as other companies. And another thing, capacitance touch ads another layer to the screen, so given two identical devices, one with capacitance and one with IR, the chances are the one with IR will be clearer even if only slightly so the device with the light and the capacitance touch has two layers on the screen while the IR only has one.

When you fix the things not quite right in your comparison, the H2O comes out on top.

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by stethorn

I'm tempted, but the kobo is slowly moving ahead of the kindle. Would love to know how kobo have tested the water resistance, for example after a year of use of the case flexing could it allow the slightest bit of water in.

I'd love to see the Kobo in person, both devices seem great. I'm getting the voyage. If Best Buy sold the Kobo here, I'd be more likely to give it a try due to making it easier to return if there were issues.

Good list of post of pros and cons. However, you forgot to mention page turn buttons (a plus for me!) on the voyage and also the automatic light sensor.

[booklover6]

Another thing, the flush screen of the Voyage may not be something people like. My Aura has that flush screen, and it is the least sharp of all my Kobos. Also, taking that thing outside to read, I see every freaking particle of dust. Taking my Kobo Mini outside, I don't see any of that. Huge difference. I don't know how the Voyage will compare, but I won't be using my Aura outside in daylight.

[evanft]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You left out under the Kindle Voyage...

- Larger amounts of wasted screen space without using modified fonts and/or jailbreaks

Amazon's margins are pretty big and the line height for KF8 is also pretty big. So those do total up to a lot of the screen going unused and you cannot fix any of this by the way you code your eBooks. You have to embed a specially modified font to fix the line height and you have to jailbreak to fix the margins and with the Voyage, it is not yet known if it can be jailbroken.

Relative to an unpatched Kobo, it's not bad at all. An unpatched Aura HD with a book that hasn't had it's CSS altered probably shows about the same amount of text as an a K4NT.

I have as much problem with the way the Kindle handles margins, line spacing, and fonts as anyone else, but I'm not going to deny that a stock Kobo with a book that hasn't been specially altered wastes a ton of space as well.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Actually, for the Kindle, I would think the ecosystem would be a - as it's more of a walled garden. If you do not remove DRM from your eBooks, then Kobo has more options where to buy eBooks then the Voyage. And if you live outside of the USA, and have access to a library that has Overdrive, you only get ePub. In the US, yes, you do get Kindle eBooks via Overdrive, but a number of publishers only put out ePub. So still, not all Overdrive eBooks are Voyage compatible. This is a big + for the H2O.

You can buy pretty much any book anywhere and put it on either device with a Calibre conversion. With the ecosystem, I was speaking more to buying books directly on each device and how the experiences compare to each other. In regards to both selection and price, I very much believe that the Kindle offers a superior experience.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Also, we don't know yet how the battery of the H2O compares to the battery of the Voyage yet as the Voyage is not released and the H2O is not released long enough. So any talk of the battery isn't appropriate yet. You cannot go by past devices.

Eh, you're probably right, but isn't the Aura H20 essentially an Aura HD with waterproofing and the carta screen? If that's the case, I think you can make some pretty good assumptions about the longevity of the device.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

As for page turns, when comparing the HD to the PW2, the HD has a lot more to have to update because of the higher resolution. You now have to compare like to like given that the Voyage has the same resolution as the H2O.

Judging by the limited number of videos released so far, the Voyage seems to turn pages as quickly as the PW2.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Amazon uses infrared on the Touch and it works very well. Sony has used infrared on some of it's Readers and it works very well. So please don't say that infrared doesn't work well. It does and it's been proven by Amazon as well as other companies. And another thing, capacitance touch ads another layer to the screen, so given two identical devices, one with capacitance and one with IR, the chances are the one with IR will be clearer even if only slightly so the device with the light and the capacitance touch has two layers on the screen while the IR only has one.

I'm just going to have to completely disagree here. I have not used a single IR-touch based ereader that had the responsiveness of the capacitive PW1/2 or the Kobo Aura. Sure, page turns work fine, but trying to type on the keyboard or do a lot of quick touches is a lot more difficult with IR touch than capacitive.

Originally Posted by booklover6

Another thing, the flush screen of the Voyage may not be something people like. My Aura has that flush screen, and it is the least sharp of all my Kobos.

That wasn't necessarily due to the flush screen. That was almost certainly due to the touch layer Kobo chose to use on their device.

Originally Posted by booklover6

Also, taking that thing outside to read, I see every freaking particle of dust. Taking my Kobo Mini outside, I don't see any of that. Huge difference. I don't know how the Voyage will compare, but I won't be using my Aura outside in daylight.

I think this is more to due with the front of the Aura being closer to glass than the mini, so it makes imperfections stand out a little more. I notice on my Aura that fingerprints or dust aren't nearly as visible as on my iPad, for example.

[JSWolf]

evanft, please edit your reply to my message as I have edited my replay to your comparison while you ere quoting my older message. Thanks.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by evanft

That wasn't necessarily due to the flush screen. That was almost certainly due to the touch layer Kobo chose to use on their device.

It's capacitative, and so is the Voyage. But since the Voyage has a higher PPI, maybe this won't matter.

Originally Posted by evanft

I think this is more to due with the front of the Aura being closer to glass than the mini, so it makes imperfections stand out a little more. I notice on my Aura that fingerprints or dust aren't nearly as visible as on my iPad, for example.

Still I wonder how that will be, on the Voyage, as I think it must have the extra layer that the Aura has. The Aura is still perfectly readable in sunlight, but more tablet-like, too.

[mr_nihilism]

- Infrared touch screen generally doesn't work as well as capacitive

My experience with the PW2 & H20 is that both have very receptive screens that respond to the slightest touch. I used to have the Aura HD as well and it was extremely good. My guess is that Kobo has made improvements since the Glo, which I also had and for me was sometimes unresponsive.

For my two cents, I would say the difference between capacitive and Infrared with the latest devices is non-existent.

[robko]

Originally Posted by stethorn

Also if I leave my glo for a week or 2 the battery drains, my kindle kk never did this.

That's not normal for a Glo. Mine often sits for a month between uses in sleep mode with very little loss of power.

Originally Posted by stethorn

Then getting books onto it. Does kobo have any way to load books remotely if not purchase from kobo, and do you still need Kepub to make use of time left, etc

The H2O runs virtually identical firmware to the Glo, so basically what you can do on the Glo and how it works is the same with the H2O

[ewphoenix123]

Originally Posted by evanft

Eh, you're probably right, but isn't the Aura H20 essentially an Aura HD with waterproofing and the carta screen? If that's the case, I think you can make some pretty good assumptions about the longevity of the device.

That's one thing that gets ignored/missrepresented in most threads, as almost everyone seems to fixate on the waterproof feature.
It's a real BIG Hardware change that the H2O switched from pearl to carta screens, which means different energy consumption, different screen change speed, ghosting etc.

And if the changes on kindle devices when they switched to carta screens are any indication, the H2O should improve in all those areas to some degree compared to the HD.

There seems to be also an improvement in regard of the LED tech used (no more PWM).

Might be worth keeping an eye on this site which should release a indepth review soonish