elegantlion Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 If you wanted a dedicated e-reader? If you own one do you like it? I like that it has a SD slot and I'm not too concerned about having to hook it up to a computer, I'm never far away from some laptop. Do you get books from someplace besides Borders? How do you like the interface? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plain jane Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Which Kobo are you looking at? I picked up the basic model this past week for my oldest since it was the least expensive I could find and I didn't want to compete with her to use mine. I was told that the older model is not much different from the newer one except for the wi-fi option. That is not true. It is significantly slower :toetap05: and there is no dictionary. :glare: That said, I quite like the interface. The other eReader I bought (for myself) has a touch screen but I don't mind the navigation button on the Kobo. I also prefer how the screen looks and that you can switch your font from either serifs or sans serifs. I much prefer to read a sans serif font. You can't, however, choose your font like I hear you can on a Kindle, just the size and with or sans serifs. I don't mind having to hook it up to my computer as I actually prefer browsing on the laptop than on the eReader (the one I bought myself has wi-fi and built in browser so I have something to compare to) and I also liked that it came pre-loaded with a decent selection of books. For a basic eReader, it does do the trick, but it is rather slow.- not at all up to speed with the newest Kindle or Sony eReader. I don't find this a huge deal, but I can see how it would bother some. I did play around with the Kobo that has wi-fi and dictionary at the store. The dictionary is not as easy to use as it is on an eReader with touch screen interface, but it's not overly difficult either. A couple button pushes and you're there, but you do need to use the navigation button to scroll through all the words on the page until the one you want is underlined. That said, this Kobo is faster so it's not a tedious ordeal. Overall, for the price, it's pretty decent, no-frills eReader. I plan to only get free books for my eReader (ones I have to pay for, I'll buy in print) so I can't comment about where to buy books from. It accepts ePub format and there are quite a number of free ones of those so I'll be busy enough for some time before I need to worry about paying for anything. I accidentally picked up a pirated copy of a book for dd (had no idea it was pirated and just assumed most books should be free :tongue_smilie:) and while I know better now, I must say it was pretty cool to have it on the Kobo and her reading it in under 3 min. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted February 20, 2011 Author Share Posted February 20, 2011 I didn't know there were two versions. I'll have to look into that, thanks for the review, Jane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparrow Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Yes. The way I understand it, Kobo was made for the Canadian market and the Chapters bookstores. I believe the highest percentage of Kobo users are Canadian and Australian, but don't quote me on that :001_smile:. I think I bought one book at borders.com. If I'm buying, it's typically from kobobooks.com or books.google.com. I also get free books from any number of sources, as well as check books out from the library. If you buy, I'd definitely go for the wi-fi at $99. I wanted it because it was faster and had the dictionary, though I've yet to use it. I've never bought a book wirelessly. I just hook up to my laptop. I don't find it slow, because despite playing around with Kindle and Nook, I don't have them in the house, so it's not around to constantly compare. It's a weird thing but I L-O-V-E the quilted backing. By far, it was the most comfortable e-reader I handled. Besides, I always have rooted for the underdog :D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plain jane Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 (edited) I didn't know there were two versions. I'll have to look into that, thanks for the review, Jane. The one I nabbed is the older model that I don't believe is available anymore. Ours is a refurbished one that was a really good price and included the same warranty as the new one. The new one has a dictionary, wi-fi capabilities and is much faster than the original. Edited February 20, 2011 by plain jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyeska Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 I got a Kobo for Christmas. It was under $100 at Walmart but I am not sure which model it was. After struggling with it for more than 6 hours, getting no customer service, and basically wanting to take a hammer to it, I returned it Dec 26 and ordered a Kindle. The difficulties I had with it were the inability to download books to it. I scoured the internet but was never able to find a user manual (it didn't come with one!) and I finally found a customer service number. When I called on Dec 26, they had no advice as that model was 'new' to them and they couldn't help. My opinion is that you should opt for an e-reader that has been on the market for some time. That way the kinks are worked out (that is the theory anyway! :)) and you will be able to get customer support if you need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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