Kobo - worth buying? (ePub use & battery life)

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sxz

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#82509 30-Apr-2011 13:31

Kobo for 199 from whitcoulls.

Is it a good deal? Just want an e-reader.

My main worries are:

1) is the battery life as good as kindle etc?
2) is it easy/ quick to use?
3) is it easy to put books on, including ePub book or other books of whitcoulls goes under?

Cheers

semigeek

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#463928 30-Apr-2011 13:35

I had a play with a Kobo in Bond and Bond the other day. The thing that annoyed me was the way it turned pages.. seemed to be slow and sort of flick. You are probably better off with a Kindle or something that can use the Kindle app

freitasm

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#463932 30-Apr-2011 13:59

And if you decide for a Kindle, please use our links at the bottom of the pages to visit our affiliate page to buy the device and books (or anything else from Amazon for that matter)...

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PottsyNZ

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#467451 10-May-2011 11:02

Kindle 3, no ifs, buts or maybes :)

kiwired23

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#467775 10-May-2011 23:28

Considering it's only maybe $10-$15 more for a Kindle (depending on exchange rates - still not quite sure how their NZ$ price is calculated and charged), I'd suggest paying the little bit extra. (I'm planning on finally ordering one in the morning)

kyhwana2

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#467777 10-May-2011 23:48

kiwired23: Considering it's only maybe $10-$15 more for a Kindle (depending on exchange rates - still not quite sure how their NZ$ price is calculated and charged), I'd suggest paying the little bit extra. (I'm planning on finally ordering one in the morning)

Don't forget to the use the geekzone amazon affiliate link for the Kindle! (Top right corner of most pages)

mikebails

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#467792 11-May-2011 08:14

My wife has a Kobo and she loves it. Battery life seems to be about 2 weeks (or 3-4 books back to back).

Getting books on it is pretty easy through the Kobo or Whitcouls store or you can just copy ePub/PDF files directly to the device via USB.

I've not used a Kindle so I can't talk to the differences, but I would recommend the Kobo.

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NZtechfreak

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#467794 11-May-2011 08:23

I got a Kindle for the missus for Mothers day, she is loving it. I'd presume Kobo is similarly featured though, best idea would be to try them both a little (of course thats harder with the Kindle).

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#467795 11-May-2011 08:33

The feature missing on the Kobo is "connectivity" though. I really like the Kindle, and being able to buy books anywhere, anytime is great. You can be talking to someone about a book and have it on the device in a couple of minutes.

Battery life is exceptional, and I read every day. I'm getting about a month between charges.

Also I don't trust a company that don't reply to emails. And I'm looking at Kobo when I am saying this... On the other hand, Amazon service (not only on Kobo but all dealings with them) is beyond any comparison in the industry.

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#467803 11-May-2011 08:50

Another vote for the Kindle 3.

My wife has both a Kindle, and a CyBook, which is basically the same as a Kobo, just with a different badge. Semigeek is right about the page turns on the Kobo (Cybook) -- they are annoying, mainly because they are so slow. Kindle still blanks and refreshes the screen, but it happens way faster than the Kobo.

Another drawback with Kobo is the screen quality. Kindle leaves it for dead, in terms of clarity and contrast.

Amazon's eBook store leaves anything else in the dust for selection, and ease of use with their hardware (Kindle). Downloading a book is just so, so easy and happens very fast. We only have the WiFi version as my wife prefers to load up on books before we go on holiday. She takes lots of time making her deliberations, but when made, the books appear within seconds of ordering them.

The non-Amazon eBook world is fragmented into Mobipocket, ePub and Secure eReader. Over time, more and more publishers have signed exclusive deals with Amazon, so there are many fewer titles available in those other formats. Obviously, this issue wouldn't be a problem if you are only reading free titles such as Project Gutenberg. However, if you want to buy recently-released titles (including those only intended for US customers), Amazon is the way to go.

PottsyNZ

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#467877 11-May-2011 11:36

In response to the original question of epub compatibility, the Kindle + Calibre = fine for epub.

I had bought an epub book from the Whitcoulls estore (for like 4x the price of it's Kindle version, sigh) when I thought I was getting a Kobo.

Ended up getting a Kindle, used Calibre and some googling to strip the DRM (bleh) and convert to Mobi.

Book is 90% of the format quality of a native Amazon book, with that other 10% due the lack of tweaking in Calibre on my part. I can live with some overly "blocky" pages.

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#467907 11-May-2011 12:56

I have a KindleDX - very happy with it, and the 3G connection is great for buying books anywhere instantly.

A friend has a Kobo, returned it with a faulty screen, now second one is playing up too.

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da5id

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#476783 1-Jun-2011 18:30

I've had a Kobo for a while now and am pretty happy with it. As far as the 'flick' when pages are turned, I believe all the readers do that to some extent. That's because they only use power when changing from one page to another. If I could have bought a Kindle in NZ I probably would have, but the Kobo is working for me so far. Am using a little Python script to remove DRM from Kindle books and Cailbre to convert to ePub so I can load onto Kobo and it's working well.

Toiletduck

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#476816 1-Jun-2011 19:36

Kindle - I was all geared up to get a Kobo for the missus for Christmas (Whitcoulls had deals at the time and I had a play with one).
The battery life / the device itself /ease of downloading (even though she has wifi version) sells it for me.
Had no issues with book availability. As other people have commented - the page turning is superior.
I thought the epub vs the kindle format was the only negative which I had accepted at the time but I am not so sure that even that is an issue.

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

gchiu

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#486137 26-Jun-2011 17:12

I got a WiFi Kobo because I had been given several hundred $$ of Whitcoull vouchers .. and it seems to be okay. I bought Iain Banks' "Surface Detail" for $7.95 vs $29.95 for the paperback so I thought that was neat. Although it can read PDFs natively it can't enlarge the text so you have to convert PDFs to ePub format. I normally have hundreds of scientific papers I refer to so having them readily available for me to read is going to be great .. while I wait for the dust clouds to move on at the airport.