Amazon’s Kindles sell like hotcakes every year, and for a while it looked like it had driven all its other competitors into the ground, with Barnes & amp; Nobles’ Nook eReaders being one of the biggest casualties. Even Kobo, arguably Amazon’s biggest rival, went silent for a while, but now it’s back with an eReader that’s bigger and better than ever.
Enter the Aura One, the premium device with a massive 7.8in screen que has its sights firmly on September Amazon’s Kindle and Kindle Voyage Oasis. It’s Also the first eReader in the world to come with a front-lit display that’s Been Specifically designed to reduce the amount of blue light it produces, so it shouldnt be a little easier on the eyes at night. If que was not enough, it’s Also rated the IPX8 waterproof up to 2 meters for 60 minutes, so you can read in the bath or by the pool without Worrying about breaking it.
Find out the biggest differences between the Kindle and the Kobo
Design
However, the first thing you’ll notice is That It’s quite a lot larger than your typical eReader. Thanks to its 7.8in display, it’s almost more akin to a small tablet like the iPad Mini 4. This means more words per page, but it’s quite cumbersome Also Compared to the rest of its eReader rivals. For instance, it’s around 16mm wider than its rivals 6in Kindle, and its weight of 230g makes it almost twice as heavy as a standalone Oasis without a case. The Kindle Voyage, on the other hand, weighs just 180g.
The bigger display Also makes it more Difficult to hold one-handed, and the added girth takes some team getting used to. I’m much more at home with skinnier eReaders, for example, and I was not able to quite wrap one hand around this one, the Especially it’s pretty much the same size of your typical hardback.
As a result, the Aura One probably is not the best companion is packed commuter trains and buses. Of course, if you’re a reader or two-handed trend to read in bed or curled up on your sofa, you’ll feel right at home, even if the rear power button to wake it up is a little cumbersome to use.
It’s Also made out of rather cheap and tacky-looking plastic, Which pales in comparison to the stunningly designed Kindle Voyage and its even fancier sibling Oasis. You’ll be forever cleaning the Aura One as well, the it likes to keep hold off Those greasy fingerprints while you’re reading.
Display and features
Design niggles aside, though, the Aura One’s 1,872 x 1,404 resolution display looks stunning. With a pixel density of 300ppi, it’s just as sharp to the Kindle Voyage and Oasis, and it was only when i moved in super close I noticed some jagged edges around a few letters. At the normal reading distance, However, you should not have any problems.
That said, the Aura One’s E-Ink display Charter did look noticeably duller than the Oasis When I them Compared side by side, and black text did not look quite as deep. That’s not to say text looked bad; it’s just you do not get that striking sense of contrast When reading the same book on the Kindle.
However, the Aura One’s biggest attraction is the ambient light sensor, Which automatically tunes the screen brightness to match your current lighting conditions. The Kindle Voyage has this as well, but the Aura One goes one further with its ComfortLight Pro filter, Which filters blue light in October for a better reading experience after dark. Set a bedtime hour, for instance, and the will screen mimic the sun’s natural progression of it sets and rises, reducing the amount of blue light as it gets darker and making the screen Appear warmer.
It’s an incredibly useful feature and knocks out the hassle of having to tinker with Periodically display settings each Time you read before bed. I Normally read on my phone at night and get quite bad eye strain, but I had no such problems when i used the Aura One.
Interface
Kobo’s interface is simple and one, much like Amazon’s offerings, is incredibly easy to use. The homepage is nice and slick and your library can be navigated by touch without any hassle. The Aura One Gives you plenty of choice When it comes to font types and sizes When You’re reading, too, and you can adjust Also margins, highlight passages, write notes and look up words. These features are available in Amazon’s Kindles as well, but it’s welcome to see Them here nonetheless.
You can link it to Facebook to let your friends know what you ‘re reading – although I’m sure They do not really want to see you’re reading 50 Shades of Grey for the fourth time – but it lacks some of the other social features you’ll find on the Kindle, such as Goodreads support and the ability to post to Twitter passages.
It does, However, support more file formats than Amazon’s Kindles, giving you greater flexibility When it comes to buying books. Whereas the Kindle ties you into buying books exclusively from Amazon, the Aura One supports EPUB, EUB3, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ and CBR files. What’s more, Kobo’s library lending program means you can Also use your Aura One to borrow straight eBooks from your own public library for free as long as you have a library card.
Battery life and storage
the only downside is the Aura que One does not have a microSD card slot for expanding its storage, so you’ll have to make the with the 8GB of storage it has on board. However, this shouldnt still Provide plenty of room for all your eBooks, and you can always delete and redownload Them again at a later date if you find yourself running out of room.
Battery life, meanwhile, is rated to last for up to one month, but this will obviously decrease depending on how long you spend reading each day. I Often read for at least three hours a day, for instance, but it was still above 50% even after three days of use, so heavy bookworms shouldnt still get at least a week out of it before having to charge it up again.
Conclusion
The Kobo Aura One may have its downsides, but this is still one of the best Kindle competitors we’ve seen in recent years. Its ComfortLight Pro feature goes one better than the Kindle Voyage’s ambient light sensor and its waterproof protection means you read in more places without risk of breaking it. Its wide file support Also makes it more flexible than the Kindle, but Amazon still has the edge When it comes to pricing and overall range. Of course, at £ 190, it’s not exactly cheap, but if you’re after a book-sized eReader for reading at night, Then it’s definitely worth the extra investment. It wins the Recommended award.
Buy the Aura One now from Kobo
| Hardware |
| Screen size | 7.8in |
| Screen resolution | 1,872 x 1,404 |
| Storage | 8GB |
| Memory card | None |
| Dimensions | 195 x 138 x 6.9mm |
| Weight | 226g |
| Battery life | One month |
| Networking | 802.11n |
| Ports | USB Micro |
| Format support |
| eBook support | ePub, EPUB3, PDF, MOBI, CBZ, CBR |
| Other file support | JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF |
