More information has emerged about the Kobo Vox device we mentioned the other day, thanks to a quickly-yanked premature listing on Canadian Best Buy subsidiary Future Shop. The Vox will apparently be Kobo’s entry into the 7” color Android reader market currently occupied by the Nook Color and Kindle Fire.
Judging from the specs on the listing, the Vox would have a 7”, 1024×600-resolution color LCD display; compatibility with Adobe DRM, ePUB, PDF, and Kobo e-book formats; 802.11b/g/n wifi; 8 GB internal memory plus an SD-card slot; and a speaker and headphone jack.
Perhaps most intriguingly, the listing talks about it having access to the Android market, which would imply it must be running Honeycomb since it lacks the 3G access otherwise needed to qualify. Neither the Nook Color nor the Kindle Fire offers native access to Google’s Android market—if the listing is not in error, this could be an important selling point for the Vox.
The price was listed at CA$249.99, which means it would probably cost the same in US dollars if and when it is sold down here—competing directly with the Nook Color, but still $50 above the Fire’s giveaway price point. I wonder when Kobo was planning to announce it officially? Probably soon, given the availability of a web store listing for it.
(Found via our sister blog, Gadgetell.)
The listing on the Future Shop site was very quickly pulled. And we have been told that there were errors in the listing, which, among other things, said that it did not have a camera–another one of those things that are a must-have for Android Market.
I must admit what an appealing design it has; I already use Kobo desktop reader with very happy results. I have not–as of yet–purchased an eReader. This one may just tempt me to… maybe when I know for certain what else it does.