Comparison: Kobo and iPad

Having played with both the Kobo and iPad for a bit now, I thought it might be worth noting my thoughts on these two devices, as ereaders.

Kobo:

1. Light (221g), small, easy to hold in one hand. This makes the Kobo supremely portable and easy to carry around.
2. You press a button to turn pages. Depending on my mood I find this to be either unobtrusive and just part of the reading experience, or annoying and slightly tiring (usually after I’ve read several chapters).
3. I do get slightly annoyed because the buttons on the Kobo can get pressed while in my bag and I find myself right at the beginning of the book or looking at a completely different title altogether when I get the ereader out of my bag. It’s like having someone mess with your bookmark. I don’t have a case for it yet and do wonder what sort of case will prevent this sort of unwanted button pressing.
4. eInk is definitely easier on the eyes. I can read and read and read on the Kobo and not feel any eyestrain. Reading outdoors or in sunlight – no problem.
5. Buying from Borders is easy enough, pity they don’t have that many titles I want to read at present.
6. On the other hand, the range of public domain titles is HUGE. I find myself actually wanting to read some of these classics. The idea of reading them on a computer screen was utterly unattractive to me but the Kobo means I have this amazing number of free books available to me. For instance I have just started reading The Warden by Anthony Trollope. (Thank you, Tom, for mentioning Trollope in the first place!) Am trying to stop myself from going nuts and downloading everything I’ve ever thought I ought to read…
7. Lack of wireless connectivity is not a problem. This just means no distractions!
8. Similarly, the single function (read, read, read) is also not an issue. There is an Easter egg on the Kobo, which when I first stumbled on it made me have a slight turn – oh no my Kobo’s got a weird virus! If you click on Help in the menu, then Home, then Help again, and voila! a poker game appears. (Yes it is possible to do this accidentally – see point 3 above)
9. Long battery life. Because I keep connecting the Kobo to my pc to download things, I keep charging it, so I am not sure how long a full battery charge will actually last. However I can read for hours on it without decreasing the charge significantly. (the vendor says it can go for 2 weeks 0r 8000 page turns without needing a charge.)
10. Doesn’t currently handle PDFs all that well. Font sizes can be too small. You can increase the font size but then you need to scroll up and down and across to read the document, which is irritating.

iPad:

1. Heavier in comparison (wifi model 680g) with the Kobo. This is not a big deal but I do find it more comfortable to hold the iPad with both hands.
2. Touch screen is very nice, easy to flick from page to page.
3. No problems with accidental switching on while travelling.
4. I do find that the glare of the backlit screen can get a bit tiring after a while. I don’t find it very comfortable to look at outdoors, and in certain conditions the reflection on the screen makes it completely unreadable.
5. Backlighting does mean it’s possible to read without other lighting.
6. Where the iPad becomes an Uber ereader is the fact that I can use it with a range of booksellers – Borders, Amazon, Stanza. This means I potentially have a huge range of books available to me without having to go through any steps to remove DRM from ebook files, and convert them from one format to another etc.
7. Wireless delivery is a huge, convenient plus when it comes to buying books. It would be far worse for my credit card if everything I wanted to read was actually available to me as an Australian reader…
8. All the apps and alerts can be distracting. Oh wait, my Words game opponent has just made a move, let me go and see if I can beat their score…
9. Battery life on the iPad is impressive for all the bright and shiny things it’s able to do (~10 hours), however the Kobo definitely beats it.
10. PDFs display wonderfully on the iPad. In fact I think it will be The Device to use for catching up on all those stacks of journal articles and conference papers that I always seem to have following me around.

Other things: my iPad looks quite filthy. Dog hairs adhere to it, as do crumbs and lots and lots of finger prints. Luckily this doesn’t particularly bother me. Some of the apps for the iPad are amazing. There are loads of accessories for the iPad, too. Still waiting for Borders to start selling cases for the Kobo. I just hope they get enough stocks of whatever cases they choose to sell, given the huge run on Kobos (I believe they have sold out in Australia). The iPad seems to have sent ereader sellers into a spin and I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of change in this area over the coming months. What I really want is more content for Australian readers.