kobo.jpgI spent two hours at Kobo Central yesterday, and wow, have I got a lot to tell you! I have a demo unit of the upcoming Kobo reader in my hot little hands, I got to play with their spiffy new iPad app, I got all the dirt from Kobo CEO Michael Serbinis on where Kobo—and the ebook industry as a whole—seems to be heading, and overall us e-geeks had a grand old time. I will be posting a full review of the Kobo Reader device next week, and sharing some other goodies along the way, but I thought I would start by answering some of your questions about the new device, since everyone seems very eager for news about it, and I have one of the only six readers Kobo has circulating right now.

Overall, my first impressions are positive. There are some ‘power user’ features lacking (wifi, dictionary support, text to speech etc.) but they are aiming this reader more at general readers than at the power market, and I think that, once any ‘beta’ glitches are smoothed out (the one I have is still a little rough around the edges) it will be a very solid choice for this group. I showed it to half a dozen people at work today and one thought it would be perfect for her mother, another thought it would be perfect for her son, and they all loved how sleek and simple and beautiful it was to use. And at the price point they’re selling it for, it has a real shot at being a serious contender.

Stay tuned, as I said, for a full review next week. In the meanwhile, here are some answers to your initial questions.

Will it support DOC and JPG files?

Not right now. But this may not be the only device, eventually, and other models may support other feature sets. It is very much a basic, just reading, entry-level sort of device and definitely not a swiss army knife with every format under the sun and fancy features. It is a budget-priced entry-level reader.

When will it exactly comes out in the U.S?

It will be sold retail at Borders. There is already a deal for that. He said they are hoping May, but don’t hold me to that as a promise.

How fast is the page turn (compared to Kindle)?

A bit slower. I found my Sony slower than the Kindle too though, and it is on par with that.

Any likes? Dislikes?

Too soon to say. I will be posting a full review on Teleread once I have had the full week to play with it. First impression is good though, and all my co-workers loved it. They ooh’d and ahh’s over the bookshelf view and I heard more than one person say it would be perfect for a parent, husband, child etc.

How do you hold this device? Can you hold it and operate it with one hand?

Easy to hold and use with one hand. You hold it like you would hold a closed book, I guess. It’s the only ebook reader I have tried where I did not immediately go shopping for a case for it. It’s sturdy and very comfortable to hold.

Will it be sold in Europe, too?

Probably eventually. I know there are deals in place already for retail distribution in Canada the US, and Australia/New Zealand/Singapore. I know they want to get everywhere. But I’m not sure Europe has been nailed down yet.

Does it support on-screen dictionary function?

No. See above. I got the definite impression, from some of my questions, that there were features their techies could do from a technical standpoint but chose not to in order to keep the cost low and the device easy to use for a beginner. This is not, in my opinion, a device for the hard-core power user. It’s an everyday reader for the ‘average’ budget-conscious customer who has not been in the market yet.

It says it supports e-pub, but what about timed digital ARC’s in Adobe Digital Editions from the publisher?

I have no idea what these are. Sorry.

How is PDF handling? Does it have reflow? What other PDF features does it have?

Still experimenting. Stay tuned for my full review next week.

Does it read Hebrew ePubs properly?

No clue. If you can point me toward a free one on-line, I’ll try it out for you. I can tell you they are very eager to get the device working with as many local markets as possible, customizing the content offerings and pairing up with local content partners. So it is not an unreasonable goal, but as to a timeline, I couldn’t tell you.

Will it work with Linux?

I do not have a Linux machine to test it on. But I can tell you the desktop software on the demo is Mac/PC. That said, it was not yet operational and Calibre didn’t pick it up. So I used drag and drop on my Macbook and was fine.

More Kobo questions?

Post a comment. If I don’t know it yet, I can find it out for you

11 COMMENTS

  1. What version (number) of Adobe Reader Mobile is installed? And is the full Reader Mobile used, or have some features been disabled?

    If it’s a full Reader Mobile, that should mean that the ability to deal with ‘timed’ e-books is present. Those are typically e-books that you check out from the library (the question that you’d been given earlier was about Advance Review Copies of upcoming books, which would use the same mechanism).

  2. The big blue button looks just “too” goofy for me.
    If the Kindle allowed DRM’d ePub the KoboReader wouldn’t be necessary. Frankly, I think Indigo is making a mistake on this one. Surely in Canada they could have struck a deal with a telcom to bring 3G to this device. If they want to sell to the non-techie crowd 3G would have made the whole process of buying books, etc. so much easier. And, like they say you get what you pay for. $160+ isn’t really a bargain.

  3. I’m looking at getting one of these from the Chapters.ca website.

    I think the biggest question I have right now is will it work on Linux? Does it appear as a USB mass storage device or does it have it’s own proprietary transfer protocol?

    Also, how are the PDF capabilities? Is viewing a 8.5″x11″ graphic intensive PDF on the 6″ e-ink screen good?

    Can’t wait for your full review this week.

  4. Any idea if ebooks purchased at the Sony Reader Store (in ePub format) can be used on this device? – I can’t get an answer from Sony as to whether or not their files are locked to Sony readers.

    Same question for ebooks from Barnes and Nobel!

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