Kobo, a manufacturer of e-readers battling with Amazon’s Kindle, has a new device that peaks on specs for a portable electronic book.
The Kobo Aura One has a 7.8-inch display packing 300 pixels per inch or just on the threshold of high-density panels. Its color temperature can be automatically or manually adjust according to the liking of the owner which is a good touch when reading in the dark. The reader is just 6.9mm thin and weighs 230 grams. It’s also water resistant with an IPX8 certification up to 2 meters of water.
Inside is a 1GHz processor and 512MB RAM that’s already a fast configuration for e-readers. The software of the Aura One allows for easy access to their store where you can buy or even lend books.
The Kobo Aura One will be available on September 6 forUS$229 or roughly Php 10,600.
Just an update: My sister flew to Japan 2 days ago. I sent her an email, telling her to buy me a Kobo Aura One from Rakuten then I’ll just pay her. She said she’ll look one for me. I hope she gets one for me–and hope it’s not lemon. Keeping my fingers crossed.
My niece bought her Kobo Glo from NBS late last year. A month or so later she had to return the item. However, I bought mine from GadgetPinas three years ago and never had a problem with it except when the screen would at times freeze when I load it up with new epubs, which I could easily fix by holding down the power button. It seems NBS no longer sells Kobo. Not sure if that’s the reason. I’m excited to get my hand on a Kobo Aura One, but don’t know where to buy locally. I also buy ebooks from Kindle (when the title is not available in or more expensive to buy from Kobo store) but I only read them using the Kindle app on my smartphone. I don’t like ads and hate the thought of paying premium price for their add-free ereader.
you left out 8GB storage
Kobo makes great ereaders but their customer service/warranty claims is so bad. They require you to ship out your device to Canada for replacement, at your expense, even if it’s still within warranty and you’ll also shoulder charges for shipping back the replacement/repaired unit to PH. No service center here in the PH even if they have NBS as their official distributor. Apparently same goes if you buy your device locally from NBS, too, and you get a faulty device. Cost of shipping to and from PH is almost the same as getting a brand new one.
Asked Amazon about this kind of situation and they said they’d reimburse and waive shipping charges to and from customers if we need to return ours for replacement and repair. Needless to say, 2 Kobo devices later (1 I broke and 1 lemon unit under warranty), I switched to a Kindle and I have no regrets.
well that sucks, looks like a nice price product.
Same here. I actually like Kobo than Kindle, maybe because of the more e-ink feel than the latter but we had 3 replacements from NBS and it was a HEADACHE. We almost threw them out. We sold the replacement Kobo then switched to Kindle. I have it for 6 mos, fell on the floor and it’s still dang working.