Amazon’s new $250 Kindle Oasis eReader is now shipping, and early reviews suggest Amazon’s first waterproof Kindle offers one of the best experiences for reading eBooks… if you can justify the price tag.
But Amazon isn’t the only company with a premium, waterproof device with an E Ink display for reading eBooks. Last year Kobo launched a 7.8 inch model called the Aura One… and this year the company is updating the Kobo Aura One.
So what’s new? You can opt for a model with more storage. That’s… about it.
Last year’s model is still available for $230, and features 8GB of built-in storage.
The new version will be available in late November/early December, and offers 32GB of storage for folks willing to spend $280.
The rest of the features are pretty much unchanged. The Kobo Aura One has a 7.8 inch, 1872 x 1404 pixel E Ink Carta display with 300 dots per inch, Kobo’s front-light system with “ComfortLight Pro” for reducing blue light, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, a micro USB port, and the ability to survive a 1-hour dunk in up to 2 meters (6.6 feet) of water.
There’s no microSD card reader on this model. It supports a range of formats including EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and JPG (but not Amazon’s AZW3 format, so you’ll need to strip the DRM and convert any Kindle books you may own to read them on this device.
Oh, and one key feature Kobo makes sure to point out on its website? There are no ads in the user interface. All of Amazon’s Kindles have a starting price that includes “special offers” shown on the lock screen and the home screen. You have to pay extra to remove them.
“no ads” except the “top 50” and “you might also like” crap from the kobo store, which you cannot remove, even for money.
While larger than the 6″ screen most common on e-readers, for comparison, this device has a screen only about as big as the screen on an iPad mini.
Now we’re talking! The only reason to have a 7.8″ device is to read more complex files – graphic novels, full-page PDFs, etc., and 8GB with no SD card just wasn’t going to cut it. I’ll be watching closely for price drops/refurbs of this one.
I wonder if it’s difficult to achieve the higher waterproofing rating (or whatever it is) while having removable storage? Most older Kobo devices had MicroSD ports – including the Aura H2O, but they had a lower waterproof rating.
Wish they didn’t drop the SD card slots. I like to imagine having an ereader in the collapse where charging is hard to come by. The long battery life helps. Replaceable storage would really help too. Have an SD card full of farming books. Another card full of building techniques. Another with a copy of Wikipedia. Etc.