Kobo Touch e-reader

Hamster said:
Did you update the firmware and notice much of a positive change with the refreshing issue?
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Unfortunately I won't get my hands on it until Monday now, so I'm not sure about firmware etc. I'm not really worried about the screen refresh speed tbh. I am used to my wife's Kindle and that's why I noticed it but it is only a split second slower and I did like the touchscreen page turn. I haven't even looked into firmware updates, which is unlike me when it comes to electronic goods, because I would be quite happy with it out of the box.

I have tried to read ebooks on my phone and family iPad and an e-ink device wins hands down for reading comfort and eye strain. They may not be as fast to re-draw as LCD devices but you don't suffer the same glare and fatigue, so they win for me.

If you are going to look at the demo models make sure you compare the Touch to the basic model and you will see they are worlds apart. The basic Kobo isn't a patch on the Kindle but the Touch is a real alternative.
 
The screen refresh on the new Kindle is the fastest (or thereabouts) that you can get now and it only does a full pages refresh about every 6 pages. So I don't see how flicker can be a problem.

I mean, sure an iPad may be better for PDF files but they're a lot heavier, a lot more expensive and reading from an iPad screen is a good way to get eye strain.
 
Id definitely go with the kindle, absolutely love mine and the screen flicker used to annoy me but now i dont notice it at all.

LOL at doofus recommending an ipad lol lol...how pocketable is an ipad??? :p
 
Spawn said:
LOL at doofus recommending an ipad lol lol...how pocketable is an ipad??? :p
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I'm glad Steve Jobs knows more than you and didn't make a 7" iPad... :p

7" screen with, what, about 20 lines of text on a kindle?
10" screen and a full PDF on an iPad 1

no brainer IMO.

I've never seen anybody walk into an office without some kind of bag, even if it only held their sandwiches.

If the kindle's screen didn't invert then maybe I'd agree with you, but it does and it's annoying. Besides, when I've read a book I can watch a film, post on here, play a game, log into a PC remotely, play music, update a spreadsheet, look at pictures.
With a kindle, oh I guess I'll have to read another book then, boring.

Either way the OP has a tablet already, so obviously he's going to get one of these readers.
 
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Kindle Keyboard every time for me. Especially with 3g and the case with light.

Now, if they do a DX version of it I'd be happy to splash out the vast quantity of cash it would cost.
 
bitslice said:
Either way the OP has a tablet already, so obviously he's going to get one of these readers.
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Riiiighhhhhtttt so if the OP already has a tablet, why would you recommend him getting another tablet?? :confused:...beggars belief that does :/
 
Spawn said:
Riiiighhhhhtttt so if the OP already has a tablet, why would you recommend him getting another tablet?? :confused:...beggars belief that does :/
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*sigh*

because he didn't mention that little factiod until later on...? :rolleyes: (post 5)

anyway, my point is still valid for others considering the options.
 
bitslice said:
I'd rather read a book on an iPad, kindle's page flicker is really annoying, even on the new kindle which supposedly fixed all that, it's exactly the same.
This E-ink is very underwhelming at the moment.
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I've got both a iPad and the new Kindle. I couldn't possibly read on the iPad for long periods. It's just not comfortable on the eyes after a while, not to mention it's far heavier to hold.

Personally, I think the Kindle is about the platform more than the actual hardware. The just the fact your books are stored with Amazon and they sync your page history between devices was a instant win for me.
 
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Well this hasn't gone as well as I had hoped. I have spent the day at my Mum's trying to get her Kobo Touch up and running but the ***** thing will not activate using the PC setup software. It charges fine via USB and Win7 installs the device drivers but the Kobo software fails to recognise it is connected, therefore I cannot setup the account or transfer anything.

There is absolutely no solution on the web that I can find beyond factory resets and re-installing the software but it doesn't help. I have tried three PCs on two different internet connections just in case that may have been anything to do with it but nowt happening here.

I will try ringing WHSmiths tomorrow in the hope of support but I suspect it is going back for a refund. I will probably get a Kindle for her instead but it is a shame to lose the library lending ability of the Kobo.

As a side note, I as surprised to find out that Kobo have been bought out by the same company that owns Play.com. Not sure if they are trying to build up as a major competitor to Amazon but they sure are spending a lot on acquisitions.
 
bitslice said:
*sigh*

because he didn't mention that little factiod until later on...? :rolleyes: (post 5)

anyway, my point is still valid for others considering the options.
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I don't think it is - it hurts my eyes to read a book on a table. The kindle I find far superior, it's a great device to read in nigh on any light.

I've had my kindle for 6 months now and I wouldn't be without it.



M.
 
In relation to the prior point to mine the Kindle has a library feature on the latest firmware. Not sure if it's released in the UK but, if it hasn't, it's coming.

Now you see why people recommend Kindles. Out of the box you power them up and away you go.



M.
 
Had a look at the Kobo Touch at Smiths today and took a Kindle keyboard with me to compare. No real issues with the refresh times, it was quick enough with pdf files and not too bad at zooming into diagrams. It's also a nice compact device and the touchscreen works very well. The thing that put me off though was the contrast. Compared to the Kindle, the background was a little brighter and the text didn't stand out as well on the page even after trying all the different fonts and sizes. To look at the Kindle was far easier on the eye and seemed a lot more comfortable to read.
 
Success of sorts :)

I spoke to Kobo support this morning and they didn't know why it wasn't working and would pass it to Tier 2 support. I also suggested it may be a duff unit and I was thinking of getting it replaced and the support guy agreed it was possible and not a bad idea but he would still bump it up the support chain.

I popped back to WHSmiths as soon as I was off the phone and they swapped it without any problems. I decided to test it at home before getting my Mum's hopes up and it worked first time and the setup software automatically updated the software to the latest version.

It is much more responsive than the demo unit I looked at. The book loaded with very little delay (2-3 secs) and page turns are very quick, I would say near enough the same as my wife's Kindle keyboard.

We downloaded a few fee classics from the Kobo store to try and the sync was fast and trouble free. The local Library ebook service is a bit disappointing, as there are not many titles (99 in the fiction section) and you have to reserve copies as they have limited copies to lend at any one time. I didn't spot any recent titles but I suppose it is very early days in their trial, so hopefully things will improve.

I hope to get some more hands on time when I pop over another day but if this Touch doesn't suffer any hardware failures it should be a very nice bit of kit for reading.
 
A 'free' Kindle 4 should be on the way to me soon.
There was an offer of one as an incentive to open a 12month cash ISA with better interest than my current one so I readily took it up! Quite a few (thousand) books to choose from at Project Gutenberg :)
 
Hamster said:
A 'free' Kindle 4 should be on the way to me soon.
There was an offer of one as an incentive to open a 12month cash ISA with better interest than my current one so I readily took it up! Quite a few (thousand) books to choose from at Project Gutenberg :)
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There's quite a few free (and 99p) books on Amozon as well.
I've had an ereader for about two and half years now and probably spent less than £50 on ebooks, because of the free and cheap book offers I've found.
 
Tomsk said:
There's quite a few free (and 99p) books on Amozon as well.
I've had an ereader for about two and half years now and probably spent less than £50 on ebooks, because of the free and cheap book offers I've found.
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Thanks, I'll have a look. Do I need to have the Kindle before downloading books from Amazon?
 
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