Kobo's $149 eReader gets reviewed
By Paul Miller 
posted April 11th 2010 6:14AM
posted April 11th 2010 6:14AM
posted April 11th 2010 6:14AM
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E-reader here, e-reader there. *Sigh*
What we need is a freakin portable journal!
@Saad A journal with a qwerty keyboard right? Maybe the keyboard can double up as some sort of a cover to protect the screen from getting scratched too! And whatever space is left on that cover/keyboard we can probably make room for speaker..maybe even a usb port on the side for some extra functions?
This is why I'm still looking at netbooks. Specifically, netbook tablets.
@Saad like a notebook....we have those
@jasonhaley Give me something I can write on...cough* courier.
I like the direction the Kobo is going in..I hope to see a sub $100 quality e-book reader soon, even if it only reads books.
@Saad The way I see it, I don't need the massive amount of features they cram into devices like the Kindle. When I go read a book, Id rather not be distracted by the fact I can go look at random things - When its time for reading, it is time for reading. Opinions. http://j.mp/reader-by-kobo-view
@menadiosa I have, and love, my Kindle... but I'd love to know what massive amount of features you think it has. It displays books, and does almost nothing else (I don't even include web browsing as a features, since it works so poorly that nobody would ever realistically use it). I'm not sure that 3G is an extraneous feature, since it only operates in the background in order to make sure you can more conveniently get more books to read.
@menadiosa I agree, besides the WiFi issues that I had with the iPad, there are too many things that distracted me while I tried to use it as an eReader. I'd look at a book for a few minutes and next thing I know I'm playing with an app or something. I love my kindle because it's lightweight and I only have to focus on one thing.
@Saad COURIER!!!
@menadiosa
Exactly! This is exactly what I have been waiting for. I have a phone for all the rest of the BS. with this I can load a bunch of books and read them at my leasure. When I'm done I can load more! Plus I don't have to worry about anyone taking away my books ;)
Any idea how good the PDF support is?
Does it do flash? If it doesn't do flash, that's a dealbreaker for me.
@Frozenbytes What? It's an e-reader...
@Frozenbytes
What's Flash? HTML5 is the way.
@rederikus You know that thing that lets us watch 99% of all online video and play almost every browser-based game? Idiot.
Well done on creating a nice product (seemingly). There is no point in more features really... Why add audio playback and all that other stuff when people will also use smartphones or whatever else in conjunction with this product?
@lexitu - exactly. Make sure the core functionality works well, and cut everything not related to the core functionality to lower the price - voila, perfect single-purpose device.
Can't wait till these things become available below the 99€ mark. I'm getting the first decent one at that price...
@NewL I really think that's the sweet spot for avid fans of reading who aren't already sold into an e-reader. At that price, people who value the e-ink experience would even jump in after having a new age tablet sans-e-ink.
Very interesting product, indeed. Cheap, and no useless features that my phone does anyway, supports open formats. Gonna keep an eye on this one...
Impressive at that price instead of an ipad i'm leaning towards the next ipod touch and one of these.
Yes, a nice device.
I'd really like one of these that will still work if I drop it in the bath tub. In the tub is where I do most of my book reading. It's the only time I get peace and quiet.
Waterproof would be best but spashproof is a good start. I hate it when the e-ink runs...
@rederikus
Ziplock bag. Problem solved unless you have a really really deep tub.
cheap and simplicity FTW XD
This would certainly be interesting depending on how well the PDF support has been implemented and if it supports organizing books/documents in ways other than one huge-ass list.
More of the same.
I'm all for dedicated readers. I just wish they were good. There is not a single dedicated ebook reader out there that is really good at displaying books yet. They're all pretty much junk, and we just keep churning out more of them. How many identical crap devices do we need before we start innovating and making them better for reading?
E-Ink has recently shown with new demos that its new screens (improved monochrome and color) can handle reasonable refresh speeds (if not video-capable, at least fast enough for flipping through pages pretty quickly). Higher contrast and brighter base gray and potential for good resolution suggests that the hardware will be good enough for decent readers soon. Competition from Liquavista and Qualcomm will also help on that front, in addition to better controllers and processors (the TI kit with LiquavistaColor looks rather shite though). How many years will it take for reader software to be good? When can people expect to read an epub on a dedicated reader with hyphenation and good justification? When will ebooks start looking like professionally-finished products, rather than a child's work in Microsoft FrontPage?
I'd love a good e-reader. I eagerly await a nice one, while all the companies seem capable of lately is "oh! uhh sure, yeah me too, whatever" products. We need better, not more.
@BubbaJ
PocketBook devices like the 360 already have hyphenation and support full justification. Get beyond Kindle and nook and you'll find several companies whose firmware correctly display the books
Still too expensive. When I can buy PMP players with a 5 inch screen that play all media as well as ebooks for $120 than they are all too expensive. No, the PMP doesn't have e-ink but so what? If all this thing does is ebooks than I would expect it to come in around $50... no more.
Brilliant.
Everyone is saying ipad will kill these things off...
But I would be quite happy if they just became a lower priced commodity.
I would like a larger screen myself.
But otherwise this looks to have everything I need.
Wi-fi would be nice I suppose... but given the screen refresh issues I would probably be more like to just use and SD card or plug it in with USB anyway.
So.. no big loss really.
If it was a little bigger screen and got to the $99 mark for the holidays I think they would sell like hotcakes.... ipad be damned.
We are coming close to that magic $99 price point, probably as soon as next fall we'll see an eReader at that price when the pricier units are using color epaper or Pixel Qi, and adoption will truly kickoff.
@Dinochicken
absolutel !
99 is the magic number for me...
@Dinochicken Yup. With netbooks, tablets and iPads offering more general functionality for the same price as a kindle, they've got to find a price that's more fitting for a limited use device.
Does anyone know how the actual book navigation is? Can you skip to any page (something which the nook still seems to lack)? Can you bookmark your place?
Lets stop worrying about e-readers and just get ipads
I had a chance to handle a RTM-build Kobo at the latest DemoCamp Toronto - the founders are Canadian and Canadian bookstore chain Chapters Indigo is heavily invested in them. Thoughts:
It's incredibly light and basic. Everything is made out of plastic or rubber so it doesn't feel fancy but it sure keeps the price and weight low. I didn't detect any sluggishness with the UI; I actually found it more responsive than the Sony ereader.
The quilted rubberized back is a nice touch and reminds me of the faux leather back of the Blackberry Bold.
@Hylic: Yes, you can bookmark your place in multiple books.
@junglejuice: Kobo books can also be read on iPhone, iPad and PC so you're not tied to the hardware.
@quanta
Thanks, what about navigating to a specific page?
@Hylic I only had a few minutes to handle it - I think a flyout menu comes out when you press one of the side buttons. The "bookshelf" can also be sorted by last read.
You can download the free Kobo PC or iPhone app; the interface is basically identical.
OMFG :
The ipad is not E-BOOK.
The ipad is a *POCKETPC* without windows-ce
Anyways, $150 is afaik the cheapest e-book around here but, i agree with some comments, i will wait for the magic 99 number.
So how does this compare to an iPad exactly?
Screw this e-reader garbage.
When do we get one of those "electronic" pieces of paper like on Caprica?
My biggest problem with Kobobooks is their foreign transaction fee if you live in the US. Since they are a Canada based company, whenever you buy their books online, you get charged an additional fee for the foreign exchange. Not a big deal, I guess, but it still adds to the price of the ebook, making it not as competitive to other alternatives.
I'm with other people here. I would like a low cost, no frills e-reader. Maybe $50-100 with good support. Hell for $50 i would jump on it in a heartbeat. To me things that cost $300+ should be tablet PCs/netbooks
Can I read books on it? That's good enough for me.
This is a review? That doesn't tell me anything.
@maythetechbewithyou This isn't a review, so as much letting the reader know that Electronista has a review. To see it, click on the link at the end of the article that refers to the source.
I'm still waiting for an e-book that has a screen about the size of an iPad that uses color e-ink and has a good enough refresh rate for decent page turning. This kind of device would now allow us to not only read our books, but I could easily see it replacing our paper magazines as well. I would love to have an e-reader like this that would allow me to subscribe to magazines and be able to display it in color on my new e-reader. That is the next revolution in e-readers: the ability to not only read books, but to read any magazine or newspaper.
I'll wait till that day to get one.
I'm a big fan of my Kindle. Your reading a book, fast Refresh for ebook isn't a big deal. It's more then fast enough. It's faster then turning the page in a real book except I can do it with one hand!!! The Kindle does what it needs to great!!! This Low cost ebook reader looks alright. I'd miss all the Kindle features as I'm used to. I do use the Web Browser also once in a while. It comes in handy being able to access the Internet for FREE anywhere there's 3G access!!! ZERO monthly costs. It's pretty Basic, and not very fast, but for the simple things I want to get access to, it's great!!! A nice Bonus. The only thing I can think of in needing color I guess it the Sunday Newspaper Comic's!?!?! I forgot the last time I read a book with color pictures. Now School Text books or something is a different story. A larger Color eInk display would be better for that purpose.
One think with all these ebook readers, it'll causes the prices to drop faster, so the $99 ebook reader isn't long in coming.
@JBDragon
The speed is a big deal for quite a lot of people. Not everyone uses an ebook reader in a completely linear, slow fashion, even when reading novels. Flipping one page very slowly is fine, if that's all you do. It's ridiculous to think that everyone has such low reading standards though. I find myself constantly cross-referencing and moving around text, whether it's an office document, an academic journal, or a novel. Ebook readers like the Kindle just can't do that satisfactorily.
You can say "you don't need that because you're (or as you said, your) reading!" all you want, but it's simply not true for a lot of people.
Forget size, battery, color, speed, and the rest. What I want to see is a cheap e-reader ($149 or less) that can read TXT, PDF and JPG. It seems like none of the cheap ones can read all three yet. Also, reading .doc would be a plus.