Device Review: Kobo eReader Touch, another comparable contender in the market space

Device Review: Kobo eReader Touch, another comparable contender in the market space: From the Overdrive blog:
It’s amazing to think that there are so many different kinds of eBook readers to choose from nowadays. It wasn’t long ago that it was difficult to find anything besides the big names we’re all used to now.

A few months ago, Kobo released the eReader Touch Edition to compete against those big names. Overall, the Kobo Touch is a fair contender and the device offers some neat features. Let’s start with the positives.

The interface is super intuitive. I really feel that anyone could pick up this device without any instructions and start reading. The home screen only shows your five most recently opened or downloaded books. The largest cover image being the last book you had opened. Beyond that there are only three options beyond the home screen: ‘Library’, ‘Store’, ‘Reading Life’. ‘Library’ allows you to view your books, newspapers and magazines, 15 preloaded previews and your favorites. ‘Store’ will grant you direct access to the Kobo Store. ‘Reading Life’ is a neat feature; it creates and keeps track of your reading statistics. It will let you review minutes read each session, hours read, pages turned and other fun stats. If you are in to that kind of thing, you’ll get a kick out of it.

Let’s talk about the reading experience. Before I sit down to write a review, I check other sites to see what customers have said about their purchases. Most people were giving the Kobo Touch high marks all around. I, however, was only somewhat impressed with the touch functionality. Occasionally the responsiveness was fast but more often than not I felt it lagged or didn’t respond at all. Keep in mind, it could just be the unit we have in-house.

The 6” Pearl high contrast E Ink display was very crisp – I have no complaints there. With a 16 level gray scale, the quality is comparable to others currently available. Your Adobe EPUB or PDF eBooks will look great. I did find a slight glare to the screen though when I held it at various angles.

You’ll also have Wi-Fi connectivity, 2GB of storage space and (depending on personal usage) one month of battery life. The Kobo Touch even comes in four available colors for those that like having a little variety in their electronic toys.

Overall, the interface is my favorite part about the Touch. For $129.99, the Kobo Touch is priced right with its competitors. It’ll come to down to whether or not you want to go with one of those names that come to mind right away or with something different. Happy comparison shopping!

Megan Greer is an account specialist for OverDrive.