Kobo Aura HD Takes You Back to School! Review & CONTEST (~OVER~)!

Earlier this year, I wrote Do We Need Paper Books Anymore?, which was also republished on The Huffington Post.  While the article did attract many comments from people who are sentimental to books, we can all agree that paper books are greatly on the decline due to e-readers, tablets, smart phones, and other electronic reading options.  In addition, paper books are not an environmentally friendly option, requiring the destruction of trees to create a book.  And most persuasively, you can carry around a library of virtual books on an e-reader, but try that with paper books in your book bag!

I agreed to test out a Kobo Aura HD, my first real e-reader ever.  Yes, I already own a tablet, laptops, and smartphones, so I have done some e-reading on these devices.  But what would the experience be like on a Kobo?  Since I have summer reading all queued up for August, and I know that the kids will have lots of back-to-school reading to complete come September, I thought that I was up for the challenge.

The Kobo Aura Arrives Powered On!

My Impressions of the Kobo Aura HD

Once my Kobo Aura HD was delivered to me, my impression was "why, this is small!"  I guess that my point of reference was to the Apple iPad 2, which does have a larger screen.  Then, as I lifted it out of its box, I thought "this feels about the weight of a book, maybe a bit heavier"  I held the e-reader in my hand, and its thickness felt the way that a book does when I'm at the half-way point through my reading.  I did find that it fit comfortably into either one or both of my hands, and that I did not have to bend back pages to keep the new book from closing (joke).

When I looked at the Kobo Aura HD's screen, I did a double take, as it ships to the recipient turned on.  But what I loved about it, is it is extremely muted to look at.  It had been a concern for me that it would be glaringly bright and be hard to look at.  This is absolutely not the case, and the brightness can be increased if you prefer it otherwise, or if you read at night.

Looking inside the Kobo shipping box, I was a bit perplexed that it comes with only a USB charger and not a regular wall charger.  This means that out-of-the-box, you will have to charge your Kobo Aura HD using your computer's USB port.  Like my Samsung Galaxy S3 charger, I would have preferred a hybrid wall plug/USB charger.  I do use my HP laptop a lot, but I still find this charging option a bit inconvenient.  What would happen if I needed to charge my Kobo but had not brought my laptop along?

The Kobo Aura Muted Look Is Easy On the Eyes

Getting started on the Kobo Aura HD, I found the onscreen instructions very easy to follow.  I did have the choice of either connecting my Facebook to the Kobo, or creating a Kobo account without using my Facebook account.  Easy enough.  

The instructions for navigating the Kobo while reading were also easy: touch anywhere on the right hand side (or swipe right) to flip ahead, touch anywhere on the left hand side (or swipe left) to flip back, touch the centre of the Kobo to make the "home" icon appear, click the "home" icon to go to the main dashboard (housing the library, bookstore and reading life), long-hold any word you see to make the dictionary definition pop up, and long-hold over a sentence or paragraph to either highlight the passage or add a note.  There is a button to brighten/darken the screen, put the e-reader to "sleep" or shut down, as well as a port to connect the device to USB.  There is a slot that allows the Aura to expand from 4GB to 32GB with a Micro SD card.

I did have a bit of a challenge navigating around the built-in Kobo Bookstore, which did not seem to provide the same options that are available on KoboBooks.com.  For example, I had a hard time locating any free books to try out, and the built-in Kobo Bookstore seemed to only display books that could be purchased for money.  There also seemed to be no way to filter my search results by price, or by any other options.  I did not like that none of the books in the Kobo Bookstore contained a book synopsis.  (For those who are interested, here's where you can find millions of FREE Kobo eBooks!  There is a special place for them!)

Home Page & Storefront of Kobo Aura

As a newbie, it took me a while to figure out how to procure books for the Kobo, especially free ones.  I tried Amazon.com, but quickly learned that Kindle books are not compatible with the Kobo.  When I finally stumbled upon KoboBooks.com online, the browsing options were definitely better than the built-in Kobo Bookstore in Kobo Aura.  However, once again I could not find free book options, and instead searched for such books by listing all available books from "lowest to highest".

After I made several free book selections, I realized I had to "sync" my Kobo Aura in order for the new books to appear in my library.  Once synched, all my books appeared--except for the two children's picture books I selected.  I synched two more times, and even attempted to add another children's picture book, but the books did not appear.  I'm still not sure why these books are not appearing in my Kobo Aura library, although the books are listed in my KoboBooks.com library.

When I was searching for paid e-books, I was able to find many of the books I was looking for.  However, I did not notice a way to reserve a new release that had yet to be published online.  I think that this would have been a nice feature.

Meet the Kobo Aura HD Family!

Once I tried out one of my new e-books, I did enjoy the experience on the Kobo Aura HD very much.  Reading was effortless, and the default font and layout of the book was very similar to reading a paper book.  The clarity of the words were also excellent.  There is an option to change the default font, as well as font size, line spacing, margins, and justification.  

I did like how muted the "page" colour was, and it is a greyish-beige colour, rather than the whitish colour of a printed book.  I find the muted grey colour of the Kobo Aura easier on my eyes than a printed book.  If you are used to paper books, I think that you will find switching to the Kobo Aura not a stretch at all.  From a tactile perspective, the Aura screen was smooth and yet slightly grainy at the same time.  The surface was not the same as a tablet, and I liked this subtlety.

When I needed to put my book down, the Kobo Aura remembered my place (without a bookmark, of course), and I could easily switch between books.  I thought that the "reading life" feature of the Kobo was pretty cute, as it records your reading stats like total hours spent reading, page turns, average minutes per session, book progress (including by chapter), etc.  Fun stuff for those who enjoy personal statistics.

Some may say that I'm silly, but I was sorry that the book cover on the Kobo Aura was not in colour.  Naturally it was not, as the Aura is a grey scale device.  However, I thought I would put that out there, as I had not realized how much the book's cover had influenced me previously.  Though, I can quickly admit that the cost to add colour to the device merely to have a colourful cover would not have been worth the price.

The Kobo Aura HD can be purchased for $169.99 CDN, and is available in espresso, ivory or onyx colours.

BUY a KOBO AURA HD or other Kobo Model HERE!

Check Out the Koba Aura HD Specs:
Size - 175.7 x 128.3 x 11.7 mm (6.91 x 5.05 x 0.46")
Weight - 240g (8.4658 oz)
Processor - 1 GHz; 20% faster than other leading eReaders.
Display - 6.8" WXGA+ Pearl E Ink Screen.  ClarityScreen+: 265 dpi, 1440 x 1080 resolution.
Connectivity - WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and Micro USB.
Storage - 4 GB.  Option to expand up to 32 GB with a Micro SD card.

BACK TO SCHOOL WITH KOBO AURA!
The Back to School season is just around the corner!  My kids were expected to do oodles of reading homework last year, and I anticipate this even more so this school year.  Check out these literary works, all available from the Kobo eBookstore!

Children’s Classics: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Charlotte’s Web, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Best of Brit Lit: Pride and Prejudice, Oliver Twist, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre

Shakespeare Studies: The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Hamlet

English Class Reads: Diary of Anne Frank, The Outsiders, The Chrysalids, The Lord of the Flies, 1984, The Catcher in the Rye,Heart of Darkness

Other useful eReading resources available for students from Kobo include:

-Access to Cliff Notes-like summaries like “Quicklet on J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye”

-Downloadable books to learn another language like French, Spanish, German, and more

-Ability to borrow titles from local libraries!  Yes, you can borrow e-books from libraries now!

CONTEST (~OVER~)

FIVE WINNERS: Kevin L, Amy H, Seham M, Amy C & Judy C.

WIN 1 of 5 Kobo Minis from the SnyMed Blog!  Yes, I'm giving away FIVE Kobo Minis to my great readers!  (Please note, the Kobo Mini is different than the device I have reviewed in this blog post.)  Contest open to Canada, ends Tuesday September 3rd, 2013...just in time for going back to school!

How To Enter:

Leave a COMMENT below stating what you would like to read on your new Kobo Mini, OR where you would read with your Kobo Mini.  Then, use the entry form below to entry the contest.  GOOD LUCK!

WIN 1 of 5 Kobo Minis! CANADA - Ends Sept 3, 2013!