Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Kobo eReaders overlooked in review



     I no more than published the article on eReader/Tablet Computer selection than I received a request for information on the Kobo. I had never heard of it but have learned a lot in a short time. There is an article in The Beacon (3-5 Dec 2012 pg 2A) about the Kobo being the savior of local book shops. I'm not sure how that applies when all of the usual sources are selling the Kobo.

NOTE - YOU CAN USE THE KOBO STORE BY INSTALLING THE KOBO APP ON OTHER DEVICES 

NOTE:  DRM is "Digital Rights Management" which requires a license to use content.  Adobe DRM provides, free,  a program for your computer that manages your DRM files. Example: eBooks you borrow from the public library.


Ref:
"Family Book Shop" DeLand
1301 N Woodland Blvd
Deland, FL 32720
(386) 736-6501

Kobo is a Canadian Company.  Learn more about them and their products:  Kobo - about us

Presently there are four models of the Kobo, Mini, Glo, Touch and Arc. Kobo eReaders Here are the specs for those and for the original models as well, with links to the reviews of each model:

Mini 5" e-Ink (b/w) 2GB memory, micro SD slot (32gb max); WiFi 802.11 b/g/n; wt 4.7oz White, USB Cable, WiFi 2GB Battery life over 2 weeks w/wi-fi off; $80 @ Best Buy

Glo 6" e-Ink, Card slot, ePub and all Adobe DRM; WiFi; USB; no headphone jack (no audio capability) wt: 6.52 oz $130 @ Best Buy, $120 @ Amazon

Touch , 6" e-Ink (b/w); 600x800 dpi max, USB & Card Slot, Browser, WiFi wt: 200gr supports ePub, PNG CBZ PDF JPEG HTML GIF CBR; 2GB built in memory;  $113 @ Amazon

Arc Android 4.0 ICS (UPGRADE TO JELLY BEAN WHEN AVAILABLE), 1GB RAM, 7" color, wt 364g; available in 8 or 16GB  [Kobo just announced that it will now be available in 16, 32 and 64 GB]; Micro USB connection, "Wi-Fi Direct"; 1.3 mp forward looking camera; 10hr reading w/WiFi off; Black or white w/ available blue or purple back. NO MICRO SD CARD SLOT; 

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ORIGINAL MODELS

N647-KBU-B  6" b/w 1GB expandable to 32GB in card slot wt: 8oz (1st gen Kobo) Supports ePub & pdf  $70 @ Target

WiFi eReader 6" eInk (16 levels of grey)  6" 1GB (as N647 w/Wi-Fi to Kobo store) supports ePub, PDF (Adobe DRM and non DRM) and TXT $85 @ Amazon

Vox (K080-Kbo-B) 7" Color 1024x600 7" Vivid Color, 8GB internal memory, Mini SD card, slot 32GB max, not included; micro USB port 802.11b/g/n; wireless; wt:14.2oz; up to 7 hrs battery life. Now Google certified with access to the Google Play Store apps. Headphone jack, no camera. $180 @ Amazon 

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