Hands-on review: Kobo Glo HD

Hands on: Kobo Glo HD review

Many who already own an ereader are happy with their purchases and it's a real struggle for companies such as Amazon or Kobo to get them to upgrade as their so happy with their purchases.

Kobo's CEO Michael Tamblyn told me the aim of this device is to get into a new audience - those who have a passing interest in technology and read often, but have yet to make the jump from the page to the eink screen.

Design and screen

Kobo's Glo HD hasn't drastically changed since the original was released at the back end of 2012 – overall the design language is quite similar to what we've seen on the previous release.

Heavy set bezels surround the display giving a good amount of space to place your thumbs without touching the digital page.

Ereaders are one of the few gadgets where I breathe a sigh of relief at the sign of a thick bezel as it makes for a much more comfortable way of handling it than on smaller devices.

Along the bottom bezel sits a slightly raised up Kobo logo but apart from that there isn't much to distract your eye from the page you're supposed to be reading on the front of the device.

The sides of the device are reasonably thin and mean the device fits in the hand well while the microUSB slot for charging and data transfer sits on the bottom.

This is surrounded by a load of device specific information which used to ruin the look on some Kobo devices; this time around it's a little less obvious but it may be different on the white or lighter colour versions as we've yet to try them out.

The power button sits on the top edge which I find a poor position as it means you have to switch to two hands to press it comfortably. I'd much prefer this button on the right hand edge of the handset so it was easy for the thumb to thump it.

That said, you're unlikely to be pressing this button much - it's only real use is to set it into sleep mode when you've finished up reading.

Kobo's Glo HD comes with a soft touch back with a slight bobble design all over to enhance the grip, and it does help it stay in your hand a little bit easier.

Now for the display – arguably the only important part of an ereader. As is the nature of a book, you're going to be concentrating on it for quite long periods of time so it's going to need to be really comfortable on the eye.

This time around Kobo has upped the screen to the highest resolution available on an ereader, but it's the same as we've seen on other Amazon ereaders, for the cheapest price currently on the market.

It is a 6-inch Carta e-ink HD touchscreen with a pixel resolution of 1448 x 1072 ppi and once again it's the best experience I've had on an ereader. It gives for a much better reading experience than previous Kobo displays and would be more suitable for long reading periods.

In bright sunlight there is still no glare on the display, the photos I've taken show off the ereader on a very sunny day and it's still possible to read the display with ease.

I'll get to work on testing it in a different amount of lighting as well and give you a full rundown in the full review coming soon.

Store and battery

So far I've not managed to test out the battery properly but I've been told it'll give up to two months of battery if you're using it for 30 minutes a day with ComfortLight and Wi-Fi turned off.

As for the store, it's never going to stand up to the biggest book retailer in the world, but it sure tries. The Kobo Store is certainly more restricted than Amazon's but new books are added regularly with the option to download from other sources and port them in.

Plus Kobo also takes your likes into account by giving you the best experience for recommending other novels – it doesn't just rip your recommendations straight out of the top 50 books. It'll always compare your previous reads to what others like you read and enjoyed.

On top of that it takes note of books you haven't finished, if you got 10% into one book it won't make it's way into the formula to work out new books you'd like whilst a book you've read three times would count more.

Verdict

If you're in the market for a new ereader the Kobo Glo HD is certainly worth a look. It supplies a similar set up to the Amazon Kindle Voyage but the price difference is strong.

The design varies quite a bit but considering the Kindle Voyage is going to cost you £169.00 whilst the Kobo Glo HD is only going to cost you £109.99 ($129.99 or AUS179) it's difficult to argue for Amazon's option.

The price difference alone will mean many see Kobo's Glo HD as a stronger option. The display is exactly the same resolution, the design is a little smaller and it even offers the same amount of storage.

If you're already invested in Amazon's store it may be difficult to switch over but the selection of books and magazines in Kobo's store is growing and the fact you can add in books from other sources is an attractive prospect.

If you're in need of a full blown ereader it'll be difficult to go wrong with the Kobo Glo HD.

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