Kobo Aura H20 or Glo HD, Kindle Voyage or the All-New Kindle Paperwhite

[crissman]

I understand that there are a variety of opinions out there to start off with, so to start off with, I currently am using a PW1 and need to purchase another because I have gotten my 83 year old mother in law using my PW1

So basically what is important for me is the usual clarity of the fonts, and the lighting for the physical properties.

I have it jail-broken with the 5.4.4.2 firmware using calibre, kindle collection, with librarian to manage collections. The ease of creating collection is important to me.

So my questions are which one would be a best fit for me, Kindle Voyage or the latest released Kindle Paperwhite, or the Kobo Aura H20 or the Kobo Glo HD just released.

I have never had a Kobo and have absolutely no idea how it handles collections or if there are even plugins available to help with this. If so then is this a better fit?

As I understand all the new Kindles come with the latest firmware which is unable to be broken without physically opening it up and modifying the hardware which I will not want to do. If it is a matter of software then no problem. So if this can be done or will be done in the future which one would be a better fit for me and if none of these are able to do this then I may want to keep my PW1 and give her the new e-reader.

Any opinions would be much appreciated.

Thanks
crissman

[Ripplinger]

You won't be able to jailbreak any new Kindle, so collections will be out. There is a way like you said that I think still works by opening it up, connecting to a serial port, and much much more involved than how you did the PW1. The method you used is no longer possible and likely to not ever be possible if someone hasn't figured it out yet.

Kobo readers manage collections very nicely, you can set up Calibre to automatically put the books into the proper collections as you transfer them to the reader. You can also add your own fonts to Kobo readers (another thing you can't do with a Kindle). There's also better font adjustments on the Kobo where you can darken/thicken the font (again, not possible on the Kindle).

I have the Kobo Glo HD and I love it. Very even screen coloring, a bit on the softer/warmer side, and zero problems with it. I ordered mine from Chapters in Canada and the total price after the exchange rate was $120 ($129 for the reader, $15 shipping, CAD prices). You just have to decide if you think you need the water-resistance of the H20 or not, if it's worth the higher price for you. I've read outdoors in a slight drizzle and have gotten some drops of water on the reader without any problems. If you read in the tub a lot or at the beach, the water-resistant model might be a better choice for you, otherwise I'd save the money and go with the Glo HD.

[eschwartz]

Yup, the Kindles are right out -- there is no telling if or when they may be able to be jailbroken again in software.

Collections management on Kindles is not going to be possible for the foreseeable future.
However, it can still be done on Kobos, which don't require jailbreaking or a plugin.


Amazon, another customer lost.

[crissman]

Thank you Ripplinger and eschwartz.

I was leaning more towards the Kobo's just because of Amazon being such a control freak!! which is really unfortunate as I really loved kindles.

I agree though another Amazon customer lost.

[invention13]

I ran over my H2o (don't ask) and was shopping for a replacement e-reader. I looked at the kindle paperwhites and as much as I liked them, couldn't get past the 6" screen - the extra 0.8" on the kobo did make a difference. I was also considering the kindle because, even though I am happy with the kobo for epubs, the pdf handling sucks.
I ended up getting a new h2o and installing koreader. The pdf handling is much, much better.
For me, it all came down to:

open platform
has sd card
extra screen size.

[crissman]

Thanks for everyone's opinion, I place my order for the Kobo Aura H20, I just don't like the direction that Amazon is taking the kindle. I guess what I really don't like is the fact that they forceably updates a product that you have ownership over. Silent updates that force you to jailbreak and install the backdoor hack in order to prevent the updates is just bad. To make matters worse not being able to customized it to suit the customers needs and, and to go to such lengths to prevent this, is ultimately what made me say good bye to the kindle product line.

I chose the Kobo Aura H20 because I do read in the tub, and do read alot at the beach with the sand and water. I also chose it because of the Micro SD card which is a feature I wished I had on the Paperwhite.

As for the price, well thanks to GOAT https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ght=kobo+codes

Using the Code: "PERKOPOLIS gives (Canadians only?) a 10% discount on Kobo Glo HD, H2O and the Aura."

Which I can confirm works in the US gave me $18.00 off and July 4th "Free Shipping at Kobo (us) gave me an extra $7.00 off for a total price of $162 well worth it in my opinion.

Now just need to wait for it to arrive to test it out.

Thanks
crissman