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[barryem]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Is there a Kobo device with a flush screen like the Voyage or Oasis? I took a quick look at their site but didn't see one. Assuming this partnership stays consistent I might consider a Kobo when my Voyage dies if there is.

I am surprised how much of a difference it made for me but I really like it on my Voyage and don't think I would go back to a recessed screen as long as the Voyage or Oasis are available. (I also have a PW2 for my kids and I can't stand reading on it, partly for the recessed screen and partly because of the lack of buttons/squeeze to change page feature.)

Kobo was the first company with a flush screen ereader, the original Kobo Aura. As soon as they announced it I ordered one. I've bought a couple more on Ebay since then. They're very nice devices. The front light isn't as good as that on Kindles, it's much less even. But it's the kind of thing I notice when comparing and never notice while reading.

This is the vendor I bought from on Ebay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kobo-Aura-D...3N3aaCxb1nqzCQ

They were in perfect condition with good batteries and came in the original box. A few others in this forum have bought from them with similar results.

Barry

[Mivo]

Originally Posted by barryem

Kobo was the first company with a flush screen ereader, the original Kobo Aura. As soon as they announced it I ordered one.

A little off topic and I should ask elsewhere, but I have been wondering if the flush/glass screen causes glare effects? Do you see a reflection of yourself on the display in bright surroundings? This didn't occur to me until I read in a review that e-readers with flush screens degrade the text minimally (compared to, say, the display on the Glo), but it has been on my mind since.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by rcentros

But doesn't the ".ca" website address signify "Canada?"

Yes. The .ca TLD signifies Canada. Does anyone really think a Canadian company won't ship to the USA or elsewhere if they can make a profit at it? To turn your thinking around, does a .com address mean that shipments are only to the USA (probably continental USA which for some strange reason does not include Alaska )?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Mivo

A little off topic and I should ask elsewhere, but I have been wondering if the flush/glass screen causes glare effects? Do you see a reflection of yourself on the display in bright surroundings? This didn't occur to me until I read in a review that e-readers with flush screens degrade the text minimally (compared to, say, the display on the Glo), but it has been on my mind since.

I do notice a reflection off the screen in daylight but unlike most tablets, my ereader screen is not high gloss so it's not like looking at the mirror my tablet screen turns into in daylight--the screen is very readable. On sunny days (what few of them Vancouver has), I'll head out and have lunch/read on a park bench.

From my attempts at close-up photographs of the screens, comparing a 1:1 image of my KA1 and H2O screens with the same font size and text does not show a difference that I can see reliably. I tried printing 4 copies of images from both devices, shuffled them and was unable to pick the KA1 screen images from the H2O screen images (1200x4800 print resolution on the printer).

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Is there a Kobo device with a flush screen like the Voyage or Oasis? I took a quick look at their site but didn't see one. Assuming this partnership stays consistent I might consider a Kobo when my Voyage dies if there is.

I am surprised how much of a difference it made for me but I really like it on my Voyage and don't think I would go back to a recessed screen as long as the Voyage or Oasis are available. (I also have a PW2 for my kids and I can't stand reading on it, partly for the recessed screen and partly because of the lack of buttons/squeeze to change page feature.)

You managed to miss the Kobo Aura One?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Mivo

I'm a little unhappy about this, if that's how it turns out. I've had three Kobo readers and I'm overall satisfied with them and prefer to stick to brands that work for me.

It will probably be easy enough to import Kobos from other EU countries, but I don't agree with their approach and may opt for embracing a different brand altogether. I already found it off-putting that Kobo released the 32 GB Auro One only in Japan and the US. At some point one starts to feel like a second class customer, and that's not a good feeling.

Try being a Canadian. Sheesh... Kobo is located here and didn't release the KA1 LE here. I could understand releasing the 32GB version for the Japanese market first since manga is very popular there but not having any public plans to release the KA1 LE in other countries? That is a bit hard to understand.

Originally Posted by Mivo

I don't see what the benefit for Kobo is. In a market like this, brand identity matters, and fragmentation of this type doesn't strengthen the Kobo brand.

Kobo gains improved access to the German market where Tolino is a major player and they gain access to Tolino's backend software which gives a decent chance that Kobo's firmware will soon support a cloud storage option. That seems to be a feature that quite a few people want going by comments on Mobileread and elsewhere.

Comparing my Tolino Epos to my KA1, they both have 7.8" 300DPI screens and the same HZO waterproofing but I find I prefer the software on the KA1 to the software on the Epos. If nothing else, the font support on the Epos is definitely not up to Kobo's font support and Tolinos's current software is not epub3 compliant though that support is currently only needed for those few epub3 ebooks that are real epub3 using epub3's capabilities -- most epub3 ebooks I've seen are an epub2 with the epub3 nav.xhtml navigation document added.

[Dazrin]

Thanks all!

Originally Posted by DNSB

You managed to miss the Kobo Aura One?

I managed to not see that in their literature, I saw the device but the images I saw weren't clear and I didn't see it written down (I may have just missed that though.)

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Yes. The .ca TLD signifies Canada. Does anyone really think a Canadian company won't ship to the USA or elsewhere if they can make a profit at it? To turn your thinking around, does a .com address mean that shipments are only to the USA (probably continental USA which for some strange reason does not include Alaska )?

I'll try this again ... The original poster said you had to buy Kobos from Canada. The second poster responded that you could order from chapters.ca – which, as I mentioned, is in Canada. Obviously if you can order a Kobo from chapters.ca, they do ship to the U.S. – which, of course, is beside the point because the Kobo is still coming from Canada. The point of the original poster was that you couldn't see Kobos before buying (or easily return them) in the United States.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by barryem

Kobo was the first company with a flush screen ereader, the original Kobo Aura. As soon as they announced it I ordered one. I've bought a couple more on Ebay since then. They're very nice devices. The front light isn't as good as that on Kindles, it's much less even. But it's the kind of thing I notice when comparing and never notice while reading.

This is the vendor I bought from on Ebay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kobo-Aura-D...3N3aaCxb1nqzCQ

They were in perfect condition with good batteries and came in the original box. A few others in this forum have bought from them with similar results.

Barry

I'll second Barry's recomendation. I bought my Aura from the same seller.

The original Aura is a very nice little device. It doesn't have as high a screen resolution as the Voyage. It doesn't have the page turn 'buttons' either. But it is a very nice device.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by barryem

Kobo was the first company with a flush screen ereader, the original Kobo Aura.

The regular Aura (edition 2 now) doesn't look like it is a flush screen anymore, just the Aura One, is that true? I see that the original Aura had a flush screen but they aren't selling that on their site now. The One costs as much as a Voyage so I really doubt I would go that route since I am happy with a Voyage, yes it has a larger screen but I don't feel like that is necessary for me and certainly isn't worth giving up the buttons (I know the V doesn't have true buttons but does have the same effect using the squeeze feature.)

It's not like i'm in the market right now. My V is only 2 years old, hopefully I can get another 2-3 and then I can seriously worry about it. At this point I am just doing some early pre-scouting.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

The regular Aura (edition 2 now) doesn't look like it is a flush screen anymore, just the Aura One, is that true? I see that the original Aura had a flush screen but they aren't selling that on their site now.

Yeah, the Aura 2 is a step backwards from its predecessor. No flush screen, no SD card and the screens both have the same resolution. The original Aura has a Pearl Screen and the Aura 2 has a Carta screen, so it was one step forward, two steps back.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Richwood

... It would not bother those of us in the USA as currently our only choice is to order from the Kobo store in Canada. ...

Originally Posted by rcentros

I'll try this again ... The original poster said you had to buy Kobos from Canada. ...

Different interpretations? A language barrier?

"... our only choice is to order from the Kobo store in Canada ..."

I interpret that as Richwood saying there is a single store in Canada that you can order Kobos from. There is at least one other store you can order Kobos from, chapters.ca (which also happens to be a Canadian company).

[Richwood]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

Tolino has different type of eReaders, so unless they change in Germany only, I don't think they'll be rebranded Kobos.

Kobo has a considerable percentage of both the Canadian and Australian ebook reader markets so do not judge their size by their penetration in the USA and British markets. They may also be quite large sellers in Japan and other Asian countries But I could not find figures.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Richwood

Kobo has a considerable percentage of both the Canadian and Australian ebook reader markets so do not judge their size by their penetration in the USA and British markets. They may also be quite large sellers in Japan and other Asian countries But I could not find figures.

Any chance you have a link, for the hardware side? I see that their ebook Australian sales percent is rather small, and Amazon leads in Canada.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by barryem

I agree! Amazon is doing way more than nothing these days but they're not being as innovative as they were in the early years of the Kindle. I think one of the reasons is because of that early innovation. They've all but perfected the device now. So maybe my comment about them not innovating as much is more because there's not as much left to do.

Even though Amazon has finally come out with a larger screen Kindle that runs current firmware, many people are complaining about the poor battery used. So there is still one more thing Amazon can do. Build an Oasis 3 with a better battery.

Also, Washington state might be passing a law that these portable electronics have to have a user replaceable battery. That would be a big deal given that Amazon is in Seattle, Washington. Also, that would mean Apple would have to come out with new devices that all allow user replaceable batteries.