Software
As go the screen, so goes the UI. The
software on the Mini is almost similar to what you have with the Glo -
everything is just smaller and a little more cramped. But in some cases, the
scaled down version proves effective. Example is the home page. Everything looks sparser than on the Glo,
but in the case of the Mini, it fits perfectly.
Reading
software
In the middle, you have images of the last
opened files. In the first part, you can toggle between Read mode (default
homepage) and Discover mode, which provides introductions. Along the bottom is
the link to the Library, Find Books and Reading Life, social reading experience
of Kobo, which is awarded with Foursquare style. If you add everything to the
wish list, you will be able to access it at the bottom of the page. At the top,
we have a home button, the amount that you have read in the current selection,
a battery icon and a link to some settings like Wi-Fi, synchronization and
search.
Find
books in Reading software
As you think, reading experience is a bit
more cramped, and fairly minimal UI of the Kobo seems to be convenient for
that. At the top is the title; at the bottom is the process. Of course, in the
middle is the text - not as much as what you will get from the 6 inch one.
Press down a word and you will see its definition, thanks for the kind people
at Merriam-Webster. Along the bottom is the options to add notes, search words
on all the text and post your findings to Facebook. Typing the text and you
will find the convenient toolbar located on the home page above and buttons to
convert pages, adjust text attributes and settings along the bottom.
Reading Life is also back, persuading you
reading on, if you have actually bought one dedicated reader which does not
provide enough motivation. Using this feature, you can track reading stats
(pages, hours, books ... etc.) and the time you spent with activities such as
downloading books.
Wrap-up
The
Kobo mini reader
Kobo has a small interesting product on its
hands with the Mini. The hardware is not very appealing, but it is hard to
criticism a 79 dollars device that it looks a bit tedious. In addition, Kobo
minimal software fits with the device at this small size. Amazon still provides
a $69 device in the 4th Kindle generation, but there are sacrifices to be made
here, including advertising in the Special Offers form and more importantly,
the lack of touch screen or physical keyboard. So the question we continue
coming back is who this device is for? Regular visitors? Those who like to
travel lightly? Those who do not want to spend more than $100 for 1 new reader?
We doubt that many people will find a second device, more portable to
supplement the 6 inch reader - and if they find, they have already owned a Kobo
device or have downloaded Kobo applications to take advantage of the company
synchronous technology. However, if you are looking for a small device, slight
to put in your pocket, the Kobo Mini is the perfect choice (and cheap).
Kobo Mini’s technical specs and price
General
·
Screen type: E Ink
·
Color: Monochrome (16 grayscale levels)
·
Screen size: 5 inches
Connectivity
·
Wi-Fi: 802.11 b, g, n
·
Wi-Fi encryption: WEP, WPA, WPA2
·
USB: 2.0 (Micro-USB port, USB charging)
Reading / content
·
Downloadable media: Books
·
Text format support (native): EPUB, Adobe PDF
(pdf), Plain text (txt), Rich text (rtf), HTML pages (html)
·
Integrated dictionary: Yes
Media
·
Photo viewer: Yes
·
Image format support: GIF, JPEG, PNG
Storage
·
Internal storage: 2 GB
Size and weight
·
Dimensions: 5x5.24x0.41 inches
·
Weight: 4.73 ounces
Price: $79
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