Software
If reader manufacturers’ purpose is to have
“disappear” hardware, said Serbinis, that will burden on software. Kobo’s users
have known what they expect here. Start Aura and you will be welcomed by a
homepage having cover of your most recent book, together with percentage read
and left time. On the right of these, there are two more latest books displayed
in a quarter of the size. Company also puts a small introduction module below
it, in order to help you keep reading/buying habit.
Meanwhile, the farthest column on the right
is for social reading foundation of Kobo, Reading Life. This program is an
effort to keep you committed to read by providing souvenirs named as “Night
Reader”, “Word Up”, and “Juggernaut”. Kobo has changed its features to become
an important part of Vox advertising, but after that it seemed a bit decrease.
Company still holds it, but do not advertise it as an extremely important
point. And while we can see the attraction of socializing traditionally alone
reading experience, those who saw such these features necessary for readers can
want to wait and see what Amazon has already prepared for its recent Goodreads
trade.
Kobo
has changed its features to become an important part of Vox advertising, but
after that it seemed a bit decrease.
Along the bottom of screen, you can see a
link directing to library is divided into many sections including Books, News
& Magazines, Previews and Shelves. They all are understandably arranged,
except Shelves that allows you to customize your collections according to your
favorite. On the right of it, there are links leading to homepage of Reading
Life and Kobo Bookstore. The stores are also able to be found by using a tool
on the top of homepage (which can search out your collections, depending on
which circle you mark). Company doesn’t seem interested in pushing you to a
focused store, not similar to competitors. Instead, it prefers to let you seek
out through homepage or via list of categories.
Along
the bottom of screen, you can see a link directing to library is divided into
many sections.
On reading aspect, you have pretty much
what you expected: a page is occupied almost whole text. At the top is book’s
name and at the bottom shows which chapter and which page you are in. To add
more options, tape the page’s bottom (not really intuitive, but quite good once
you are accustomed to). It will bring home button, battery life and many
options like searching, browsing the book and changing text’s attributes. Touch
and keep one word, you can highlight, share text via Facebook, and find out the
definitions in Collegiate Dictionary of Merriam-Webster.
On
reading aspect, you have pretty much what you expected: a page is occupied
almost whole text.
Consequently, everything does not inspire
or be much user friendly on software side. Kindle users might remember the
intuition of their favorite devices. It is not awful, but if Kobo is really
expecting to consider its operating system as main specialty, the company will
have a lot of work to do in that side. However, company maintains its strong
collection of readable file formats, including Epub, PDF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF,
TEXT, HTML, RFT, CBZ and CBR.
Conclusion
In the first time Kobo launched Aura HD, it
seemed as if the company itself had shot to its foot by declaring it as a
limited version. After playing with the device, it’s easy to understand why
company gets into that decision. While some products truly supply some best
features, consisting of 6.8-inch screen, 1,440x1,080 and 4GB of storage (can
expand up to 32 GB), such these things are able to be overweighed by size and
price of 169USD of device for most common readers. If you stick into Kindle or
Nook ecosystem, it’s even more difficult to be sold.
In
the first time Kobo launched Aura HD, it seemed as if the company itself had
shot to its foot by declaring it as a limited version.
If you own Kobo looking for upgrading – or
haven’t carried out the jump to e-book – and you see that you usually put your
nose in the book whenever having chance, the specifications provide an
interesting thing even Kobo still has lots of work to do on software side.
However, if you can wait a few more months, it is not difficult to image that
Amazon and Barnes & Noble will get their hands into the highest resolution
screen of E Ink, which makes Aura HD not be new anymore.
Info
·
Price: 169 USD
Strong points
·
Big screen, high resolution
·
Strong front light
·
Much capacity for electrical reading device
Weak points
·
Expensive
·
Big size
·
Still lack of software
Main point
·
This reader has stable specifications, but price
and limitation of size will probably destroy wide attraction.
Technical specs
|
Hardware
·
Height: 6.92 inches
·
Width: 5.05 inches
·
Thickness: 0.46 inches
·
Weight: 0.53 inches
·
Primary orientation: Portrait
·
Color: Black, Brown, White
Display
·
Screen size (diagonal): 6.8 inches
·
Resolution (X): 1080 px
·
Resolution (Y): 1440 px
·
PPI: 256
·
Technology: E Ink Pearl
Processor
·
Clockspeed: 1 GHz
Software
·
Notable apps: Web browser, Dictionary
·
File support: ePUB, PDF, RTF
Storage
·
Internal size: 4GB
·
External storage: Yes
·
External type: microSD
·
Max, external size: 32 GB
Connectivity
·
Wi-Fi: Yes
·
Wi-Fi support: 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b
Ports
·
Data connections: Micro USB
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