Kobo Aura

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Kobo Aura
Kobo Aura logo.svg
Kobo Aura.jpg
Kobo Aura displaying its settings menu.
Manufacturer Kobo Inc.
Product family Kobo eReader
Operating system Kobo Firmware 3.19.5761
CPU 1 GHz Freescale i.MX507
Storage4 GB Sandisk embedded flash (SDIN7DP2-4G) [1]
Removable storage microSD card slot supporting up to 32GB cards
Display6 in diagonal,
16-level grayscale
1024 × 768
electronic paper
Input Capacitive Touchscreen
On-screen keyboard
Power3.7V 1500mAh
Dimensions150 x 114 x 8.1 mm
Mass174 g (6.1 oz)
Predecessor Kobo Glo
Successor Kobo Aura H2O

The Kobo Aura is the fifth generation of E-book readers designed and marketed by Kobo Inc. It was revealed 27 August 2013 at Kobo's Beyond the Book Event in New York City, along with three new Kobo Arc devices. [2] [3] Available for pre-order the same day, it cost $149.99 USD/CAD. [4]

Contents

Hardware

The Kobo Aura featured several improvements to its immediate predecessor, the Kobo Glo. The screen is now a flat plastic panel, featuring an 'edge to edge' display without a raised border found in predecessors. [5] It uses E Ink's Regal waveform technology along with Pearl HD, eliminating the need for a black refresh screen previously occurring every few pages. [6] The touch screen, now based on capacitive touch, is more responsive than the infrared touch present in its previous products and allows for the use of multitouch. [7] This can be used to control the frontlight built into the device, as well as pinch-to-zoom when reading PDF documents. [8] [9]

The Kobo Aura also featured a redesigned body. Shorter and more square than its competitors, the Kindle Paperwhite and Nook Glowlight, it was designed to be easier to grip. [5] [9] The back is of a similar design to the Kobo Aura HD, with an angular design reminiscent of crumpled pages of a book. [10] [11] The Kobo Aura shipped in 2 colours: black and pink. [12]

Kobo also sold an accessory to the Kobo Aura called the "Sleepcover", a case that would wake the Kobo Aura from sleep when opened and put the Aura to sleep when closed. This case uses magnets, similar to Apple's Smart Cover. [13]

Kobo claims the battery will last for over 2 months with 30 minutes of reading a day, ComfortLight turned on or off, and Wi-Fi turned off. [12]

Software

Kobo Aura runs on the Kobo Firmware, based on the Linux kernel. The software is available in 8 languages and 2 variants: English, French, Canadian French, Japanese, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Brazilian Portuguese. [12]

The main screen shows tiles that automatically update based on actions the user has performed. Tiles may appear for books, newspapers, magazines, store categories, or games the user has recently read, browsed, or played, respectively. The main screen is called "Reading Life". [14]

The main application, the digital reader, supports a variety of ebook formats: ePub, PDF, Adobe DRM, RTF, HTML, TXT, Comic Book Archive file, JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF, and TIFF. [15] By flicking or tapping a side of the screen, the user may advance to the next page or previous page. Highlighting, adding notes, and looking up definitions in the built-in dictionaries is also possible by long-tapping a passage in any part of the book. [12] With the introduction of the Kobo Aura, Kobo introduced a new software feature called "Beyond the Book". Similar to Amazon's X-Ray feature, Beyond the Book allows a user to find more information about part of the book, providing similar topics, books, and authors. [15] The Kobo Aura also provides statistics about reading progress: average reading time per session, total time read, pages turned, and the percentage of books completed.

Adding fonts is possible on the Kobo Aura: By creating a directory called "fonts" and putting any OTF or TTF font into this directory, a user can use any font on their Kobo Aura. [16] Adjusting the font is possible with a feature called TypeGenius: users can change the weight, sharpness, and font size of any preinstalled fonts on the Kobo. [15]

Books can be viewed in a list view or grid view in the user's library. They can be arranged based on title, author, file size, file type, and when they were last opened. Users can also arrange their books into collections.

Users may also download books through the use of the Kobo Bookstore. Adding books to a wishlist, purchasing books, and browsing through the library can be done on the Kobo itself thanks to the Wi-Fi chip. Once purchased, books are saved in the cloud and can be redownloaded at any time if the user has deleted the book from his/her device. This feature also allows for reading location, bookmarks, highlights, and notes to be synced across many devices. [9] [15]

eBooks compatible with the Kobo Aura can be borrowed from many public libraries, including the Ottawa Public Library [17] and the Toronto Public Library. [18] These books with DRM require authentication from Adobe in order to be read on the device. Books may be added to the device with the Kobo Desktop app or third party apps such as Calibre. [9]

The Kobo Aura also includes integration with the read-it-later service Pocket. Once a user has signed in with their Pocket account, articles saved to Pocket can be read on the Kobo Aura. [9] [19]

Seven applications are included with the Kobo Aura: a web browser, sudoku, chess (removed from the latest update), Unblock it, Word Scramble, Solitaire, and a sketch pad. The web browser allows for downloading of files that can be read on the device. Kobo does not provide technical support for these applications.

Reception

Reception to the Kobo Aura was mixed to positive. Reviews generally praised the build quality [5] [7] [20] and the hardware of the device itself; [9] [11] [21] [22] they also appreciated an alternative to the Kindle and Nook. It was awarded with the PTPA Seal of Approval. [21]

The complaints included the pricing ($20–$30 more than competitors), [7] [11] [20] the smaller ecosystem, [9] and the lack of audio. [23]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E Ink</span> Electronic paper manufactured by E Ink Corporation

E Ink is a brand of electronic paper (e-paper) display technology commercialized by the E Ink Corporation, which was co-founded in 1997 by MIT undergraduates JD Albert and Barrett Comiskey, MIT Media Lab professor Joseph Jacobson, Jerome Rubin and Russ Wilcox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sony Reader</span> Line of e-book readers manufactured by Sony

The Sony Reader was a line of e-book readers manufactured by Sony, who produced the first commercial E Ink e-reader with the Sony Librie in 2004. It used an electronic paper display developed by E Ink Corporation, was viewable in direct sunlight, required no power to maintain a static image, and was usable in portrait or landscape orientation.

Mobipocket SA was a French company incorporated in March 2000 that created the .mobi e-book file format and produced the Mobipocket Reader software for mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDA) and desktop operating systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E-reader</span> Device for reading e-books

An e-reader, also called an e-book reader or e-book device, is a mobile electronic device that is designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital e-books and periodicals.

The following is a comparison of e-book formats used to create and publish e-books.

Amazon Kindle is a series of e-readers designed and marketed by Amazon. Amazon Kindle devices enable users to browse, buy, download, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines and other digital media via wireless networking to the Kindle Store. The hardware platform, which Amazon subsidiary Lab126 developed, began as a single device in 2007. Currently, it comprises a range of devices, including e-readers with E Ink electronic paper displays and Kindle applications on all major computing platforms. All Kindle devices integrate with Windows and macOS file systems and Kindle Store content and, as of March 2018, the store had over six million e-books available in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Accessible publishing</span> Approach to publishing and book design

Accessible publishing is an approach to publishing and book design whereby books and other texts are made available in alternative formats designed to aid or replace the reading process. It is particularly relevant for people who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print disabled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calibre (software)</span> E-book management and editing software

Calibre is a cross-platform free and open-source suite of e-book software. Calibre supports organizing existing e-books into virtual libraries, displaying, editing, creating and converting e-books, as well as syncing e-books with a variety of e-readers. Editing books is supported for EPUB and AZW3 formats. Books in other formats like MOBI must first be converted to those formats, if they are to be edited.

ebook Book-length publication in digital form

An ebook, also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Although sometimes defined as "an electronic version of a printed book", some e-books exist without a printed equivalent. E-books can be read on dedicated e-reader devices, but also on any computer device that features a controllable viewing screen, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barnes & Noble Nook 1st Edition</span> First generation Nook e-reader developed by Barnes & Noble

The Nook 1st Edition is the first generation of the Nook e-book reader developed by American book retailer Barnes & Noble, based on the Android platform. The device was announced in the United States in October 2009 and was released the next month. The Nook includes Wi-Fi and AT&T 3G wireless connectivity, a six-inch E Ink display, and a separate, smaller color touchscreen that serves as the primary input device. In June 2010 Barnes & Noble announced a Wi-Fi-only model of the Nook. On June 5, 2018 Barnes and Noble announced support for logging in to BN.com and adding new content to the device will end on June 29, 2018. The second-generation Nook, the Nook Simple Touch, was announced May 25, 2011 with a June 10 release date.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kobo eReader</span> Family of e-book readers

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Rakuten Kobo Inc., or simply Kobo, is a Canadian company that sells ebooks, audiobooks, ereaders and tablet computers. It is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, and is a subsidiary of the Japanese ecommerce conglomerate Rakuten. The name Kobo is an anagram of book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kobo Touch</span>

The Kobo Touch is the third generation of the Kobo e-reader device designed by Kobo Inc. It was revealed on 23 May 2011 and was released in the U.S. on 10 June 2011 at a price of $129.99.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barnes & Noble Nook</span> Android-based tablet and e-reader

The Barnes & Noble Nook is a brand of e-readers developed by American book retailer Barnes & Noble, based on the Android platform. The original device was announced in the U.S. in October 2009, and was released the next month. The original Nook had a six-inch E-paper display and a separate, smaller color touchscreen that serves as the primary input device and was capable of Wi-Fi and AT&T 3G wireless connectivity. The original Nook was followed in November 2010 by a color LCD device called the Nook Color, in June 2011 by the Nook Simple Touch, and in November 2011 and February 2012 by the Nook Tablet. On April 30, 2012, Barnes & Noble entered into a partnership with Microsoft that spun off the Nook and college businesses into a subsidiary. On August 28, 2012, Barnes and Noble announced partnerships with retailers in the UK, which began offering the Nook digital products in October 2012. In December 2014, B&N purchased Microsoft's Nook shares, ending the partnership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kobo Glo</span>

The Kobo Glo is the fourth generation of Kobo eReader devices designed and marketed by Kobo Inc. It was revealed on 6 September 2012 and arrived at retail 14 October 2012 with a price of $129.99 USD/CAD. It is the successor to the popular Kobo Touch was introduced alongside the Kobo Mini and Kobo Arc. The Glo was succeeded in 2015 by the higher-resolution Glo HD, with 4GB built-in storage but no microSD removable storage.

The Kobo Mini is a miniature, touch-based e-book reader produced by Kobo Inc.

The Kobo Aura HD is a limited-edition Kobo eReader device designed and marketed by Kobo Inc. It was revealed 15 April 2013 and allowed for preorders the next day at a price of 169.99 USD/CAD. It arrived in stores in Canada and the United Kingdom on 25 April 2013. The marketing slogan of the Kobo Aura HD was "The eReader, reimagined." In October 2014 the Kobo Aura H2O was launched, it has a similar screen resolution to the Kobo Aura HD but has a waterproof coating. Kobo's CEO announced in March 2015 that the Kobo Aura HD was officially discontinued.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oyster (company)</span> Commercial streaming service for digital e-books

Oyster was a commercial streaming service for digital e-books, available for Android, iOS, Kindle Fire, and NOOK HD/HD+ devices. It was also available on any web browser on a desktop or laptop computer. Oyster held over 1 million books in its library, and as of September 2015, the service was only available in the United States.

Bluefire Reader is an e-book reader application for Android, iOS and Windows operating systems that supports white-labelling. It supports the EPUB and PDF formats for digital publications and incorporates facilities for browsing online catalogs, and downloading them directly into the user's personal library. The application features a library that lets users navigate their collection of eBooks, as well as provides a customizable reading experience through configurable font and background color, font size and type, margin size, display brightness, page turn mode, etc. Additionally, the application allows users to import their own books to read them on the go.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foliate (software)</span> E-book reading application for Linux

Foliate is a free e-book reading application for desktop Linux systems. The name refers to leaves, meaning "(getting) leafy" or "…-leaved".

References

  1. ↑ Cottafavi, Stefano (2014-07-15). "Kobo Aura Hacks". Stefano Cottafavi. A Quarter to Seven. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
  2. ↑ "Kobo Launches Fleet of New Devices, Kids Ebook Store, Partnership with Pocket". dbw. F+W Media. 2013-08-27. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  3. ↑ "Kobo Announces Three New Tablets, the Kobo Aura eBook Reader, and an eBookstore for Kids". The eBook Reader. The eBook Reader Blog. 2014-08-27. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  4. ↑ Carnoy, David (2013-10-18). "Kobo Aura eReader Review: A Kindle competitor with a classy design". CNET. CBS Media. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  5. 1 2 3 Heater, Brian (2013-09-05). "Kobo Aura Review: Is spending $150 on an e-reader ever worth it?". Engadget. AOL Media. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  6. ↑ Kozlowski, Michael (2013-09-05). "The Truth Behind e Ink Regal and Carta". Good E-Reader. Oak Branch Media Inc. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  7. 1 2 3 "Kobo Aura Quick Review". The eBook Reader. The eBook Reader Blog. 2013-10-18. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  8. ↑ Bell, Lee (2013-10-17). "Kobo Aura Review: Page 3". The Inquirer. Incisive Financial Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved 2014-05-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sorrel, Charlie (2014-06-05). "Escape Amazon's evil Kindle empire with the cheeky Kobo Aura". Cult of Mac. CULTOMEDIA Corp. Retrieved 2014-06-06.
  10. ↑ Limer, Eric (2013-04-29). "Kobo Aura HD Review: A Beautiful Reader Screen Trapped in an Ugly Body". Gizmodo. Gawker Media. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  11. 1 2 3 Attkisson, Anna (2013-09-06). "Kobo Aura Review". LaptopMag. TechMedia Network. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Kobo Aura Tech Specs". Kobo. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  13. ↑ "Kobo Aura Sleepcover". Kobo. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  14. ↑ "Kobo Aura: Reading Life". Kobo. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  15. 1 2 3 4 "Kobo Aura: Overview". Kobo. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  16. ↑ Kozlowski, Michael (2011-07-03). "Tutorial – How to Load in Your Own Fonts to the Kobo Touch e-Reader". Good E-Reader. Oak Branch Media Inc. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  17. ↑ "Kobo (Original, Touch, Mini, Glo, and Aura)" (PDF). Ottawa Public Library. Retrieved 2014-05-24.
  18. ↑ "Toronto Overdrive Library".
  19. ↑ "Pocket: Connecting Pocket to Kobo".
  20. 1 2 Carnoy, David (2013-10-18). "Kobo Aura eReader Review: A Kindle competitor with a classy design (page 2)". CNET. CBS Media. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  21. 1 2 Suppa, Julie (2014-01-30). "Renewed Reading: Kobo Aura Review". Parent Tested Parent Approved. PTPA Media Inc. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  22. ↑ Haselton, Todd (2013-08-28). "Kobo Arc 7, Arc 10HD, and Aura Hands-on". TechnoBuffalo. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  23. ↑ McClintock, Dave (2013-09-23). "Kobo Aura Review and Ratings". Computer Shopper. Ziff Davis, LLC . Retrieved 2014-05-25.


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